Each release of the tool helps detect and remove current, prevalent malicious software. This malicious software includes viruses, worms, and Trojan horses. Microsoft uses several metrics to determine the prevalence of a malicious software family and the damage that can be associated with it.

Introduction. The Fix it solution described in this section is not intended to be a replacement for any security update. We recommend that you always install the latest security updates. However, we offer this Fix it solution as a workaround option for some scenarios.

A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Visual Studio software if the software does not check the source markup of a file for an unbuilt project. To learn more about the vulnerability, go to CVE-2018-8172.

The .NET Framework Repair Tool provides an option to repair the versions of .NET Framework that are installed on the computer (step 3 of the process in the "Repair Tool options" section). The tool requires the redistributable files of those versions to be available at the time of repair.

Resolves a vulnerability in the .NET Framework that could allow denial of service if an attacker sends a few specially crafted requests to an affected .NET-enabled website.

An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability could execute code in the context of the SQL Server Database Engine service account. To learn more about the vulnerability, go to CVE-2018-8273. IMPORTANT.

Security update package 954459 for MSXML 6.0 is a complete installation package. You can use this package to install MSXML 6.0 on a computer that has no earlier versions of MSXML 6.0 installed. You can also use this package to update an existing installation of MSXML 6.0.

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. Additional information about this security update.

Release Deployment Table. Provides deployment information for the December 11, 2018 Microsoft security release.

This security update resolves vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office that could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted Office file. To learn more about these vulnerabilities, see Microsoft advisory ADV170017. Note To apply this security update, you must have the release version of Office 2016 installed on the computer.