Latest Microsoft Patch Tuesday updates stamp out a record 622 security vulnerabilities, as the company's AI-enhanced bug hunt looks to bear fruit

As much as AI has its drawbacks, it'd be wrong to say it doesn't have its uses. Case in point, Microsoft's previous commitment to leverage AI vulnerability detection in Windows security updates looks to be bearing fruit, as the latest Patch Tuesday release fixes an astonishing 622 CVEs across its products.

Which is a new record, according to The Register, more than tripling the previous 206 CVE figure. Over 500 of those security fixes are Windows-related, including a fix for a zero-day vulnerability in Windows BitLocker, possibly related to exploits uncovered by security researcher Nightmare-Eclipse earlier this year.

The new cumulative update for Windows 11 is entitled KB5101650, and it's not just CVE issues that receive a tune-up. The update also patches a nasty little bug that could potentially take up 500 GB of your storage space unnecessarily, related to a file within the Capability Access Manager.

The feature is responsible for Windows 11 app permissions, but a file entitled "CapabilityAccessManager.db-wal" could potentially balloon in size, taking up precious storage space amid the current SSD and memory crisis—which is unfortunate timing. Anyway, the bug is reportedly squashed, so we can all sleep easy in our beds tonight.

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KB5101650 also allows users to defer Windows updates to a specific day with a 35-day period, which is an Insider feature that now looks to be rolling out to all Windows 11 PCs. Windows Latest has experimented with delaying further than the 35-day limit, and found that you can un-pause and then re-pause an update for as long as you want. Which might come in handy, if anything particularly system-breaking comes up.

Speaking of which, Microsoft warns that "This update might not be available for a limited number of Dell devices with Intel processors," which is apparently down to an incompatibility issue that can "potentially cause unexpected shutdowns, poor performance, increased heat, and battery drain."

"We are working together with Dell to prevent the affected models from experiencing the issue and plan to release a resolution for affected devices in the coming days," says MS. Well, it couldn't all be good news, could it?