Today is the monthly 'Windows Update' day, with over 400 vulnerabilities being fixed.
The monthly Windows Update, which delivers security updates and bug fixes for Windows, has been released. The Windows Update released on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, includes 6 updates with the highest severity level of 'Critical' and 6 updates with the highest severity level of 'Important'.
August 2026 Security Updates (Monthly)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/msrc/blog/2026/08/202608-security-update
Microsoft has released its August 2026 monthly security updates. These updates will be automatically applied by default. For organizations managing updates, we have published an overview on our blog. Please refer to it and deploy the updates as soon as possible. https://t.co/QTZa4QHaJO #security #updates #microsoft pic.twitter.com/XfFWovrLgM
— Microsoft Security Team (@JSECTEAM) August 12, 2026
The following is a list of security updates for August 2026.
Product Family | maximum severity | The biggest impact | Related support articles or support web pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows 11 v26H1, v25H2, v24H2, v23H2 | emergency | Remote code execution is possible. | v26H1: 5121000 v25H2, v24H2: 5121003 v25H2, v24H2 Hotpatch: 5120994 v23H2: 5120240 |
| Windows Server 2025 (including Server Core installation) | emergency | Remote code execution is possible. | 5120233 Hotpatch: 5120228 |
| Windows Server 2022 (including Server Core installation) | emergency | Remote code execution is possible. | 5120242 Hotpatch: 5120229 |
| Windows Server 2019, 2016 (including Server Core installation) | emergency | Remote code execution is possible. | Windows Server 2019: 5120238 Windows Server 2016: 5120418 |
| Microsoft Office | emergency | Remote code execution is possible. | https://learn.microsoft.com/officeupdates |
| Microsoft Exchange | emergency | Remote code execution is possible. | https://learn.microsoft.com/exchange Released: August 2026 Exchange Server Security Updates |
| Microsoft SQL Server | important | Remote code execution is possible. | https://learn.microsoft.com/SQL |
| Microsoft Dynamics 365 | important | Remote code execution is possible. | https://learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365 |
| Microsoft Azure | important | Elevation of privileges | https://learn.microsoft.com/azure |
| Microsoft .NET | important | Remote code execution is possible. | https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet |
| Microsoft Visual Studio | important | Remote code execution is possible. | https://learn.microsoft.com/visualstudio |
| Microsoft Defender | important | Information leak | https://learn.microsoft.com/defender |
In particular, the privilege escalation vulnerability in the Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock, ' CVE-2026-68820 ,' has been found to have been exploited before the security update was released, so Microsoft is urging users to 'apply the update as soon as possible.'
The August 2026 Windows Update fixed over 400 bugs, a significant increase compared to the 119 bugs fixed in the same month of the previous year . Regarding this, technology media outlet BleepingComputer points out that 'Microsoft had warned that Patch Tuesday security updates would increase because they have begun using an AI-powered vulnerability detection system to identify more security flaws across their software products.'
Additionally, while the ' Malicious Software Removal Tool' updated in August 2026 did not add any new supported families, the tool itself has been updated.
In addition, Microsoft has released non-security updates, including KB5121003 and KB5120240 for Windows 11, and KB5120249 for Windows 10.
Windows Update is released on the second Tuesday of each month in US time, and the next update is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, September 9, 2026 in Japan time.
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