Storms was referring to news from Jerry Bryant, a group manager with the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC), who said that among the 11 updates would be two that patch previously-acknowledged vulnerabilities. Microsoft disclosed the bugs in November 2009 and March 2010.

The March security advisory warned Windows XP users when prompted by a Web site, Microsoft's response to a report by Polish security researcher Maurycy Prodeus of a vulnerability in VBScript that attackers could exploit to hijack PCs running Internet Explorer (IE).

The November 2009 warning was prompted by reports of a (Server Message Block), a Microsoft-made network file- and print-sharing protocol, within and Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft's newest operating systems. At the time, the flaw was the first Microsoft-confirmed zero-day vulnerability for Windows 7.

"That's a little long...for the SMB bug," said Storms, talking about the five-month stretch between Microsoft acknowledging the vulnerability and fixing it. "I'd say that it's more than likely that it affected more [code] than they expected, or they just didn't see a lot of need for a patch, considering the threat landscape."

Of the 11 updates, those Microsoft today marked as "Bulletin 1" and "Bulletin 2" were the most interesting to Storms because both were marked "critical," and both affected all supported versions of Windows -- from Windows 2000 to Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.