Microsoft Corp. today a software update was released to patch at least 570 security holes in it Windows operating systems and other software, nearly triple the number of vulnerabilities the software giant released in its record-breaking Patch Tuesday release last month. Microsoft said the growing patch count is due to artificial intelligence-assisted vulnerability detection.
About 60 bugs that disappeared in Tuesday’s July Patch received a “severe” severity rating, meaning hackers or malware could use them to remotely control a Windows device with little or no help from the user. Microsoft also faced three zero-day vulnerabilities that are already being exploited in the wild.
Two of the zero-day vulnerabilities allow an attacker to elevate their user privileges on a Windows system, as do nearly 250 other special vulnerabilities that have been fixed this month; include CVE-2026-56155 – i Active Directory Federation Services bug – and CVE-2026-56164, a Microsoft Sharepoint to be vulnerable.
CVE-2026-50661 is a bypassed security feature Windows BitLocker which may allow attackers to gain access to encrypted data if they have physical access to the device. Microsoft said the bug has been widely described publicly, but that it is not aware of any active exploits.
In a blog post on July 9, Microsoft Vice President Pavan Davuluri he wrote that Windows users will notice a “higher volume of security updates included in each security release” thanks to AI that helps detect vulnerabilities.
“The pace of vulnerability detection is changing with advances in AI making it possible to find more problems, faster, across more code, in new ways that can speed up detection and analysis,” Davuluri wrote.
Jack Bicerdirector of risk analysis e Action 1called attention to CVE-2026-48561, a remote code execution flaw in Microsoft Copilot (with threat implications 9.6 CVSS) that allows an unauthorized attacker to execute code on a network. Microsoft says an attacker can exploit this bug by hosting a malicious website that causes Microsoft Edge for Android to automatically send targeted information to Copilot when a user visits the site.
As AI improves the state of vulnerability detection and remediation, it makes it easier for attackers to quickly develop exploits for known software flaws. Microsoft has long documented security bugs using an “exploit index,” which is Redmond’s best guess at how likely it is that attackers will be able to find a reliable way to exploit a particular vulnerability.
But Satnam Narangsenior staff research engineer e It is usableargues that Microsoft’s exploit index needs to do a better job of changing the speed of machine detection. For example, Microsoft initially gave this month’s SharePoint zero-day vulnerability rating of “low risk,” even though the flaw was added to CISA’s Vulnerable Exploit List on July 1.
“The Anthropic Red Team’s own findings on known vulnerabilities (n-days) reveal just how fragile this system has become, as its Mythos Preview model was able to generate proof-of-concepts for 13 of 14 vulnerabilities rated ‘Slightly Exploitable’ or ‘Exploitable Not Possible,'” “What this means is that our approach to Patch Tuesday has changed, because the exploit index it’s focused on people, not AI tools, and as these tools continue to improve, defenses need to evolve alongside them.”
Chris Goetl of Ivanti noted that the record-breaking numbers from Microsoft come as a number of other major software makers are increasing their patch cadence, including Adobe which announced today that it will move to bi-monthly security updates published on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month (Adobe also cited AI for speeding up their patch cycles). Cisco, Mozilla again The Oracle and they are sending updates more often, while Google’s June 2026 patch batches include more than 900 security fixes, Goettl noted.
Backing up your Windows system and/or data is always a good idea before installing operating system updates. Given the volume of patches covered this month it may be wise for end users to wait a few days before applying these fixes. It’s not uncommon for security patches to introduce system stability issues, and those chances are likely to increase slightly with the large patch released today.
Further reading:
Action1’s Patch Tuesday blog
Automox switch
