MS15-111: Description of the security update for Windows Kernel: October 13, 2015

Windows 10Windows Server 2012 R2 DatacenterWindows Server 2012 R2 Standard

Summary

This security update resolves vulnerabilities in Windows. The more severe of the vulnerabilities could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker logs on to an affected system and runs a specially crafted application.

Note Customers who are using local and remote reporting attestation solutions should review the details of CVE-2015-2552. This is discussed in the Microsoft security bulletin that is mentioned in the following paragraph.

To learn more about the vulnerability, see Microsoft Security Bulletin MS15-111.

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Important
  • All future security and nonsecurity updates for Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 require update 2919355 to be installed. We recommend that you install update 2919355 on your Windows RT 8.1-based, Windows 8.1-based, or Windows Server 2012 R2-based computer so that you receive future updates.
  • If you install a language pack after you install this update, you must reinstall this update. Therefore, we recommend that you install any language packs that you need before you install this update. For more information, see Add language packs to Windows.

Known issues in this security update

  • After you install this security update, on certain Lenovo-based computers, you may receive an error message on a blue screen that resembles the following:
    Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. We're just collecting some error information and then you can restart.
    Lenovo has confirmed that this is a problem in the Lenovo USB Blocker application version 1.0.0.37. Lenovo USB Blocker application version 1.0.0.62 does not have this issue. Please contact Lenovo to download this updated version of the application.

    For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
    3107998 Remove Lenovo USB Blocker version 1.0.0.37 to avoid a system crash
    The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, about the performance or reliability of these products.

How to obtain and install the update

Method 1: Windows Update

This update is available through Windows Update. When you turn on automatic updating, this update will be downloaded and installed automatically. For more information about how to turn on automatic updating, see
Get security updates automatically.

Note For Windows RT and Windows RT 8.1, this update is available through Windows Update only.

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