Microsoft Windows Security Updates March 2020 overview

Welcome to the overview for Microsoft’s March 2020 Patch Day; the company released security updates for all supported versions of Microsoft Windows as well as other company products.

The overview provides you with important information about released patches. It includes links to support articles and summaries of patches, links to security advisories, non-security updates, as well as direct download links for Windows updates.

Feel free to check out the February 2020 Patch Day overview here.

Microsoft Windows Security Updates March 2020

windows-security updates march 2020

You may download the following Excel spreadsheet to get a full tabular listing of patches and updates that Microsoft released on the March 2020 Patch Day. Click on the following link to download the Excel spreadsheet to your local system: microsoft-security-updates-windows-march-2020

Executive Summary

Microsoft released updates for all supported versions of the Windows operating system.

Updates were also released for Microsoft Edge (classic and new), Internet Explorer, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Office, Windows Defender, Visual Studio, Azure, Azure DevOps, Microsoft Dynamics.

The Microsoft Update Catalog lists 113 patches.

Operating System Distribution

Windows 7 (extended support only):39 vulnerabilities: 3 critical and 36 important
- CVE-2020-0684 | LNK Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0881 | GDI+ Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0883 | GDI+ Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Windows 8.1: 55 vulnerabilities: 3 rated critical and 52 rated important
- CVE-2020-0684 | LNK Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0881 | GDI+ Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0883 | GDI+ Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Windows 10 version 1803: 71 vulnerabilities: 7 critical and 64 important
- CVE-2020-0684 | LNK Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0809 | Media Foundation Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0801 | Media Foundation Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0807 | Media Foundation Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0869 | Media Foundation Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0881 | GDI+ Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0883 | GDI+ Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Windows 10 version 1809: 73 vulnerabilities: 7 critical and 66 important
- same as Windows 10 version 1803

Windows 10 version 1903: 75 vulnerabilities: 7 critical and 68 important
- same as Windows 10 version 1803

Windows 10 version 1909: same as Windows 10 version 1903

Windows Server products

Windows Server 2008 R2 (extended support only): 47 vulnerabilities, 5 critical, 42 important
Windows Server 2012 R2: 55 vulnerabilities: 3 critical and 52 important.
- CVE-2020-0684 | LNK Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0881 | GDI+ Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0883 | GDI+ Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Windows Server 2016: 71 vulnerabilities: 6 critical and 65 important.
- CVE-2020-0684 | LNK Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0809 | Media Foundation Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0801 | Media Foundation Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0869 | Media Foundation Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0881 | GDI+ Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0883 | GDI+ Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Windows Server 2019: 72 vulnerabilities: 7 critical and 65 are important
- Same as Windows Server 2016 plus
- CVE-2020-0807 | Media Foundation Memory Corruption Vulnerability

Other Microsoft Products

Internet Explorer 11: 6 vulnerability: 6 critical
- CVE-2020-0768 | Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0824 | Internet Explorer Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0830 | Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0832 | Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0833 | Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0847 | VBScript Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Microsoft Edge: 14 vulnerabilities: 13 critical, 1 important
- CVE-2020-0768 | Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0811 | Chakra Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0812 | Chakra Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0816 | Microsoft Edge Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0823 | Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0825 | Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0826 | Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0827 | Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0828 | Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0829 | Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0830 | Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0831 | Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability
- CVE-2020-0848 | Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability

Microsoft Edge on Chromium:
- see here (latest security patches from the Chromium project)

Windows Security Updates

Windows 7

Monthly Rollup: KB4540688

Security-only: KB4541500

Improvements and fixes:

Fixed an issue that might prevent icons and cursors from appearing as expected. (monthly-rollup only)

Security updates

Windows 8.1

Monthly Rollup: KB4541509

Security-only: KB4541505

Improvements and fixes:

Fixed an issue that might prevent ActiveX content from loading.

Fixed an issue that might prevent icons and cursors from appearing as expected.

Security updates

Windows 10 version 1803

Support article: KB4540689

Improvements and fixes:

Security updates

Windows 10 version 1809

Support article: support

Improvements and fixes:

Security updates

Windows 10 version 1903 and 1909

Support article: KB4540673

Improvements and fixes:

Fixed an issue that prevented some users from upgrading the operating system “because of corrupted third-party assemblies”.

Security updates.

Other security updates

KB4540671 — 2020-03 Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer

KB4540694 — 2020-03 Security Only Quality Update for Windows Embedded 8 Standard and Windows Server 2012

KB4541504 — 2020-03 Security Only Quality Update for Windows Server 2008

KB4541506 — 2020-03 Security Monthly Quality Rollup for Windows Server 2008

KB4541510 — 2020-03 Security Monthly Quality Rollup for Windows Embedded 8 Standard and Windows Server 2012

KB4539571 — 2020-03 Servicing Stack Update for Windows Server 2019 and Windows 10 Version 1809

KB4540670 — 2020-03 Cumulative Update for Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10 Version 1607

KB4540681 — 2020-03 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1709

KB4540693 — 2020-03 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1507

KB4540705 — 2020-03 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1703

KB4540721 — 2020-03 Servicing Stack Update for Windows 10 Version 1507

KB4540722 — 2020-03 Servicing Stack Update for Windows 10 Version 1703

KB4540723 — 2020-03 Servicing Stack Update for Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10 Version 1607

KB4540724 — 2020-03 Servicing Stack Update for Windows 10 Version 1803

KB4540725 — 2020-03 Servicing Stack Update for Windows 8.1, Windows RT 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2

KB4540726 — 2020-03 Servicing Stack Update for Windows Embedded 8 Standard and Windows Server 2012

KB4541338 — 2020-03 Servicing Stack Update for Windows Server, version 1909, Windows 10 Version 1909, Windows Server, version 1903, and Windows 10 Version 1903

KB4541731 — 2020-03 Servicing Stack Update for Windows 10 Version 1709

KB4550735 — 2020-03 Servicing Stack Update for Windows Embedded Standard 7, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2

KB4550736 — 2020-03 Servicing Stack Update for Windows Server 2008

Known Issues

Windows 7

May receive “failure to configure Windows updates. Reverting Changes. Do not turn off your computer” if the update is installed on non-ESU systems.

Certain operations that are performed on files or folders on Cluster Shared Volumes may fail with the error “STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)”.

Windows 8.1

Certain operations that are performed on files or folders on Cluster Shared Volumes may fail with the error “STATUS_BAD_IMPERSONATION_LEVEL (0xC00000A5)”.

Windows 10 version 1809

After installing KB4493509, devices with some Asian language packs installed may receive the error, “0x800f0982 – PSFX_E_MATCHING_COMPONENT_NOT_FOUND.”
- Mitigation: uninstall and reinstall the language pack, then install the April 2019 Cumulative Update. If that does not help, Microsoft suggests Resetting the PC.

May encounter issues in Windows Server containers and 32-bit applications and process.
- See: Windows container version compatibility.

Windows 10 version 1903 and 1909

May encounter issues in Windows Server containers and 32-bit applications and process.
- See: Windows container version compatibility.

Security advisories and updates

Non-security related updates

KB890830 — Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool – March 2020

Microsoft Office Updates

You find Office update information here.

How to download and install the March 2020 security updates

Security updates for all supported version of Windows and products included in Windows, e.g. Microsoft Edge, are made available via Windows Update, WSUS, and other update distribution systems. Administrators may download standalone patches to systems to apply these directly without using Windows Updates.

We recommend that backups are created of important date or, better, the entire system, before patches are installed.

Do the following to check for new updates:

Open the Start Menu of the Windows operating system, type Windows Update and select the result.

Select check for updates in the application that opens. Updates may be installed automatically when they are found or offered by Windows; this depends on the operating system and version that is used, and update settings.