The confusion around Microsoft updates continues. Just as it releases the last Patch Tuesday of 2024, with a new zero-day amongst 71 vulnerabilities, it also warns 400 million users they risk losing access to future security fixes if they update their PCs.

Yesterday was the last Patch Tuesday of 2024, and with it Microsoft has provided a number of security updates, eliminating 71 security vulnerabilities across various Microsoft apps and services. Microsoft categorizes 16 of these vulnerabilities as “critical” and classifies all but one of the remaining issues as “high risk.

Microsoft has patched a publicly disclosed zero-day vulnerability that was actively exploited to gain system-level privileges on Windows PCs.

As a zero-day security vulnerability posing significant risk to users is confirmed as under active exploitation—the DHS and Microsoft have urged millions to update now.

Microsoft just closed out its Patch Tuesday updates for 2024 by releasing fixes for 72 security flaws across its software portfolio: 17 rated Critical, 52 rated Important and one rated Moderate, and one that has been actively exploited in the wild.