As per the information forwarded by the Microsoft Security Response Center, for the forthcoming Patch Tuesday, December 8, Microsoft will release six security bulletins - three of which have been rated as 'critical,' and three as 'important.'

Saying that at least five patches will necessitate a restart of the system, the Microsoft Security Response Center added that the rating of all the three 'critical' vulnerabilities was based on their remote code execution impact, which gives a hacker potential control of an infected computer.

The software affected by the vulnerabilities includes the newly-released Windows 7, along with Windows 2000, Windows XP, Vista, Server 2003, Server 2008, Office XP, and Office 2003. Moreover, Project 2000, Project 2002, Project 2003, Microsoft Works 8.5, and Microsoft Office Converter Pack have also been said to be vulnerable.

Earlier, in a late last month statement, Microsoft had disclosed that it was investigating an IE vulnerability after someone released proof-of-concept code that affected IE 6 and IE 7 that could be exploited to gain control of computers.

Meanwhile, it is also being said that the forthcoming Patch Tuesday will include one or more non-security, high-priority updates on Windows Update (WU) and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS); as well as Microsoft Update (MU) and WSUS. In addition, an updated version of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool would also likely be released.