Microsoft delivered six patches on Tuesday, five of which address critical vulnerabilities, as part of its regular patch Tuesday update cycle.

Two of the five critical patches address flaws that have been actively exploited by hackers this month - a flaw in XML Core Services (MS06-071) and an Internet Explorer remote code execution flaw (MS06-067).

The other three critical updates resolve flaws in Macromedia Flash Player version 6 from Adobe (which ships with XP Service Pack 2 and XP Professional x64 Edition), flaws in Workstation Service, and bugs in the Remote Agent component of Windows.

Redmond also issued an "important" update designed to address a security bug in client service for NetWare.

Microsoft's bulletin summary can be found here. ®