The dust is still settling on Microsoft’s February 2026 Patch Tuesday, and it’s shaping up to be one of the more consequential monthly releases in recent memory. Microsoft shipped fixes for roughly 60 vulnerabilities across Windows, Microsoft Office, and other components, including six zero‑day flaws that were already being exploited in the wild. Security researchers and enterprise defenders immediately flagged this batch as a “do not skip” month because those zero‑days give attackers reliable entry points into unpatched environments. A week later, the conversation has shifted from “what did Microsoft patch?” to “how do we safely roll all of this out?”
February 2026 Patch Tuesday Zero-Days
Several of the zero‑days targeted core Windows components and Office features that are widely deployed in enterprise environments. Details vary by CVE, but the broad picture is familiar: a mix of privilege escalation bugs, remote code execution paths, and security feature bypasses that are ideal for attackers chaining multiple flaws together. In some cases, attackers were already using these vulnerabilities to move laterally or maintain persistence inside compromised networks, which is why both Microsoft and agencies like CISA strongly encouraged rapid patching.
What complicates February’s story is that some of the same cumulative updates delivering these Windows 11 fixes and reliability changes on a subset of systems. Windows 11’s KB5077181 update, which is part of the February stack, has been tied to black screens and boot loops affecting certain 24H2 and 25H2 devices. That puts admins in a tough spot: delay deployment and live with known exploited vulnerabilities, or push the updates and risk a wave of help desk tickets and recovery work when boot problems appear.
Security outlets that track Patch Tuesday every month have been clear about the math: six actively exploited zero‑days is a big deal, and ignoring the February release entirely is not a realistic option. Instead, they recommend prioritizing vulnerable internet‑facing systems, high‑value endpoints, and Office installations that handle lots of external content. Where possible, organizations are encouraged to use staged rollouts, starting with pilot or canary groups to make sure nothing catastrophic happens before pushing the patches to the wider fleet.
Microsoft 365 Patch Tuesday Updates
The Office side of this month’s release also deserves attention. At least one of the February zero‑days involves Microsoft Office and an OLE‑related security bypass that allows attackers to abuse document handling and content embedding. That kind of bug is particularly dangerous because it can be triggered by opening a malicious file, which remains one of the most common attack vectors in phishing campaigns. Combined with the Windows kernel and platform fixes, this Patch Tuesday is really about closing off multiple layers of the attack surface at once – from Office and Exchange security updates to Intune‑managed endpoints.
For admins trying to turn all this into an actionable plan, a few priorities stand out. First, identify which of the patched zero‑days are being actively exploited and confirm whether those components are in use in your environment. Second, map the relevant updates (Windows, Office, Exchange, and others) to specific device groups and business units so you can stage deployment intelligently instead of flipping a single global switch. Third, line up recovery options—boot media, tested rollback procedures, and documented steps for uninstalling problematic patches—before you push anything to thousands of endpoints.
For more practical walkthroughs on Windows update recovery, rollbacks, and patch management, check out our how‑to guides.
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