Microsoft pulls security update for Windows and Windows Server

After Windows users reported problems with Microsoft's security update 2823324, part of security bulletin MS13-036, the company has pulled the update from its automatic update service for Windows 7, Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Windows 2008 R2.

The company recommends users uninstall the patch. The security fix for the NTFS kernel-mode driver that was rolled out as part of Microsoft's regular Patch Tuesday this month has caused some machines to crash with a "STOP: c000021a {Fatal System Error}" Blue Screen of Death (BSoD), and others to run the chkdsk utility on every boot. The update is the second patch this year that Microsoft has been forced to pull from Windows Update after incompatibility problems were reported.

On its support page for the problem, Microsoft also says that conflicts with anti-virus products from Kaspersky have been observed; Kaspersky has confirmed this. The problem can cause Kaspersky products to falsely claim that their licence is not valid. The issue seems to be most widespread with Portuguese language versions of Windows 7, with most reports of the problem coming from Brazilian users. The support page for the problem has details of how to uninstall the update and how to remove it from a system which is already suffering problems.

Microsoft has said that it is investigating the problem and working to correct the security update. The security bulletin with the affected patch was rated "important" by Microsoft, the vulnerability itself, however, was only rated as a "moderate" risk. To exploit it, an attacker would require physical access to the target system.

(fab)