August’s Patch Tuesday is a monster: 751 fixes, with an exploited Windows flaw

Microsoft’s August 2026 Patch Tuesday closes at 751 CVE entries (across all product families), with 108 rated as critical. One flaw is already exploited, CVE-2026-68820 , an elevation of privilege in the Windows WinSock driver (afd.sys). Two more were disclosed but not exploited, CVE-2026-62832 ( User Profile Service ) and CVE-2026-72971 . This security-only release earns Patch Now for Windows , Office and Exchange ; no SQL Server updates this month. Unfortunately, several critical issues affect server roles: Windows DNS Server carries a cluster of critical RCEs; Windows DHCP Server is the mos