Microsoft has said that the bugs exploited by Fewer in IE8 were , the new the company launched last month.

"But I would have expected Microsoft to say they were going to patch the Pwn2Own bugs in the MSRC blog, which they didn't," said Storms, referring to the Microsoft Security Response Center's blog post of Thursday that spelled out a of what will be patched next week.

June may be a more likely target for patching IE's Pwn2Own vulnerabilities, Storms added, because exploited in last year's contest in June 2010.

Whatever Microsoft ends up patching on Tuesday, it's going to be a big day for IT administrators.

"I'll use a word my son sometimes uses...ginormous," said Storms. "This is a ginormous month. And a prime candidate for prioritization."