Content Missing from the Microsoft October Release

[mbartosh]

Why wasn’t this content included in the October release?

2021-10 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5, 4.7.2 and 4.8 for Windows Server 2019 for x64 (KB5006765)
2021-10 Security and Quality Rollup for .NET Framework 3.5, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8 for Windows Server 2012 R2 for x64 (KB5006763)
2021-10 Security and Quality Rollup for .NET Framework 3.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8 for Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64 (KB5006761)

[bma]

Those look like existing updates just bundled under new wrapper KB numbers. Below, I’ve listed the individual KBs that comprise each wrapper KB and their corresponding fixlet ID.

KB5006765

• KB5005543 - fixlet id: 500676509
• KB5005540 - fixlet id: 500676503

KB5006763

• KB4578953 - fixlet id: 500487303
• KB4578956 - fixlet id: 500487309
• KB5006064 - fixlet id: 500676309
• KB5006067 - fixlet id: 500676311

KB5006761

• KB4578952 - fixlet id: 457895205
• KB4578955 - fixlet id: 457895527
• KB5006061 - fixlet id: 500606105
• KB5006060 - fixlet id: 500606005

[DerrickD]

KB5005543

Ok, so I am having a big issue with this ongoing issue I have with HCL where it’s not clear that a Preview release moved to production and the inconsistency of Superseded patches.

Here we are where there is no patch now for October Server 2019 .NET 4.8.

KB5006765 - Server 2019 .NET

KB5005543 - fixlet id: 500676509 - Cumulative Preview is still available
KB5005540 - fixlet id: 500676503 - Cumulative Preview is marked as Superseded with no replacement

[trn]

I don’t think HCL are doing anything wrong - they are just providing fixlets for the content Microsoft release

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/what-is-a-cumulative-update-preview/46a14732-18dd-45fd-8829-f65426cd9adc

The previews are simply the updates anticipated to be in the following month’s cumulative update without the security patches.

The previews never do become ‘production’, nor do they supersede the cumulative security updates.

[DerrickD]

When MS brings out a “Preview” release, we do NOT deploy those to any endpoint servers. We wait for the official monthly release from Microsoft typically on patch Tuesday.

Related directly to that, here we see KB5006765 in the catalog for October

Looking deeper, we see a link to: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/5006765

That link says we should install 2 KB articles depending on the .NET release of the endpoint:

• 5005543 - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/5005543
• 5005540 - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/5005540

Both of these relate back to the Preview Releases from September that were moved to “Production” according to MS. HCL often doesn’t update the fixlet when a preview moves to production and you have to just figure this out on your own. In this case though, they marked one of these 2 patches as superseded, when it is not superseded. So not only is there no new/updated fixlets without the preview in the name, but they marked one as superseded when it should not be.

So unless I am missing something, HCL made a mistake here and it is not the first time. I have complained multiple times about this.

[DerrickD]

Ok… I missed something here that I just noticed. There are actually duplicate preview fixlets. There are two that are still relevant… so I think I am actually OK after all that

[trn]

The page for KB5006765 says “Parts of this update were previously released in the Cumulative Update that’s dated September 21, 2021”.

Something released at that part of the month is a preview.

The links are in a section that says “The following articles contain additional information about this update as it relates to individual product versions.”

I don’t see anything that says either of the two preview patches need to be installed

[DerrickD]

The 2 preview releases from September 21st is what MS actually released as “Production” for October patch Tuesday.

If you want to be compliant with the latest patches, then yes, you would need to install them. They are showing up in our SCCM/WSUS environment for example.

“2021-10 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5, 4.7.2 and 4.8 for Windows Server 2019 for x64 (KB5006765)”

Here is a server I patched today, showing it needed KB5005543 from KB5006765 to be compliant.

[DerrickD]

Coming around full circle on this, it appears HCL has removed the duplicate fixlets and renamed the preview release fixlets.