Microsoft recently resolved an issue that occurred after the November 2024 Security Update for Exchange Server. Users experienced problems, including broken transport rules and disrupted email traffic.
The problems particularly affected Exchange Server users in hybrid and on-premises configurations. Exchange Online had already received the necessary patches, but the update actually caused disruptions for other configurations.
During the update’s rollout, users discovered that it disrupted transport rules and e-mail traffic. This was a major problem because an e-mail server such as Exchange Server is designed precisely to keep e-mail traffic running smoothly and uninterrupted.
Specifically, users with transport or data loss prevention (DLP) rules set up experienced the most disruption. After installing the update, these rules no longer worked correctly, and systems had to be rebooted to restore functionality.
Bug now fixed
After reports of these problems, Microsoft stopped the November 2024 Security Update rollout and launched an investigation into the cause. The tech giant has since identified and fixed the problem. The update has now been re-released as a restored version.
Microsoft did not disclose what exactly went wrong with the first version of the update. However, the company has revealed that the re-release of the Security Update (SU) has fixed the problem.
Advice to end users
Microsoft is advising end users who manually installed the original version of the November 2024 Security Update (Nov 2024 SUv1) and did not experience any problems installing the new version (Nov 2024 SUv2).
Users who received the update through Windows Update must wait until the second version is available. Its rollout has been delayed until December 2024. This postponement prevents the automatic installation of the update over Thanksgiving weekend in the U.S., when many IT administrators are away. This ensures that adequate support will be available should an unexpected problem arise.
Also read: Microsoft 365 has suffered outage for hours, fix near