Microsoft suddenly released an update for Edge on Windows 7 and 8

In fact, Microsoft stopped supporting Edge on Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 in January 2023. That means Edge 109 is the last browser update available for these operating systems. However, Microsoft itself has hinted many times that the company is willing to release intermittent security updates, as well as important patches to keep old versions of Windows stable if necessary. One such patch has just been released, bringing users of Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and Server 2012 R2 versions some important tweaks.

Specifically, this patch is built on Edge 109, the last version to support older Windows releases, and adds nothing but fix options targeting security vulnerabilities, especially bugs. Heap buffer overflow in WebP in Chromium versions prior to 116.0.5845.187, allows remote attackers to conduct out-of-bounds memory write attacks using a specially crafted HTML page.

Microsoft briefly describes the changes in the update documentation as follows:

Version 109.0.1518.140 : September 15, 2023

This update is made to support Windows version M109, applicable to Win 7, 8 and 8.1 (including Server 2012 R2 based on Win 8.1).

Microsoft has a fix for CVE-2023-4863 for Microsoft Edge Stable Channel (Version 109.0.1518.140), which was reported by the Chromium team to contain a vulnerability that is being exploited in the wild.

It's worth noting that Microsoft will soon stop releasing even rare security updates like the above. The M109 low-level extended support update for Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and Server 2012 R2 will end on October 20, 2023. After that, Firefox will become the only mainstream browser to actively support these The Windows version is now discontinued. The Mozilla Foundation plans to continue releasing security updates for Firefox for another year. As expected, the Extended Support Release (ESR) of Firefox 115 will end in September 2024.