Microsoft recently fired the optional updates for the month of May for Windows 11 into orbit, with the release known as KB5014019 or build 22000.708 for users of the latest version of the operating system.
Optional the update may have been, but that’s not stopping from it posing a challenge to Trend Micro.
As in, the ransomware protection of the security suite.
The company has released a statement to address the issue, indicating that the update is affecting the User Mode Hooking (UMH) engine that aids in ransomware protection. In simpler terms, this means that users are now susceptible to attacks by hackers due to this security gap.
Lowdown:
“The UMH component used by several Trend Micro endpoint and server protection products is responsible for some advanced features such as ransomware protection. Trend Micro is aware of a potential issue where customers who apply the optional Microsoft Windows 11 or Windows 2022 optional preview patches (KB5014019) and reboot would then find that the Trend Micro UMH driver would stop.
Trend Micro is currently investigating this issue further in order to address it before the optional Windows patch becomes mandatory.”
The security firm advises that customers who have already applied the optional Windows patch have the option to either uninstall the patch temporarily or contact it for further assistance with a UMH debug module.
Trend Micro assures that it is looking into the problem, and aims to resolve it before KB501409 is pushed to all Windows 11 systems.
As for the update itself, it features two key improvements centered around Windows Spotlight and Family Safety verification experience. These may be optional now, but will broadly be made available to all Windows 11 users after broader testing, and fixes for this particular issue.
