Exchange Updates – March 2021

The Exchange Team released the quarterly Cumulative Updates for Exchange Server 2019 as well as Exchange 2016. Be advised that both of these CUs include the March security update KB5000871. AExchange 2016 will receive its final CU in March, 2021.

Links to the updates as well as a description of changes and fixes are described below. The column Schema and AD indicate if the CU contains Schema (/PrepareSchema) and Active Directory (PrepareAD) changes compared to the previous CU.

VersionBuildKBDownloadUMLPSchemaAD
Exchange 2019 CU915.2.858.2KB4602570Download NY
Exchange 2016 CU2015.1.2242.4KB4602569DownloadUMLPNY

Exchange 2019 CU9 fixes:

  • 5001181 Certain search scenario can’t return expected result in Outlook online mode in Exchange Server 2019
  • 5001182 Can’t use keyword “TMM” in a special pattern to search email in Exchange Server 2019
  • 5001183 Attachment is treated as bad zip file on Edge Transport server in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016
  • 5001184 EAC has no option to select the correct tenant for an Office 365 mailbox in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016
  • 5001185 EAC has no option to select an archive domain for cloud-based archive in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016
  • 5001186 Encoding of special characters isn’t preserved which causes missing text in Outlook in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016
  • 5001188 Incorrect MRM properties stamped on mail item delivery when sending to multiple mailboxes on the same database in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016
  • 5001189 Mailbox Audit log searches and Outlook both tied to MaxHitsForFullTextIndexSearches in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016
  • 5001190 MonitoringGroup can’t control the placement of CAS monitoring mailboxes in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016
  • 5001192 Microsoft Teams fails to show calendar because Autodiscover v2 isn’t site-aware in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016
  • 5001193 New health mailboxes for databases are created every time Exchange Health Manager service is restarted
  • 5001194 RFC certificate timestamp validation in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016
  • 5001195 UPN specified when creating mailbox is overwritten automatically causing login failures in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016
  • 5000631 Event IDs 1003, 1309 and 4999 are logged after installing Exchange Server 2019 CU8
  • 4583558 PDF preview function in OWA leads to download action unexpectedly

Exchange 2016 CU20 fixes:

  • 5001183 Attachment is treated as bad zip file on Edge Transport server in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016
  • 5001184 EAC has no option to select the correct tenant for an Office 365 mailbox in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016
  • 5001185 EAC has no option to select an archive domain for cloud-based archive in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016
  • 5001186 Encoding of special characters isn’t preserved which causes missing text in Outlook in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016
  • 5001188 Incorrect MRM properties stamped on mail item delivery when sending to multiple mailboxes on the same database in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016
  • 5001189 Mailbox Audit log searches and Outlook both tied to MaxHitsForFullTextIndexSearches in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016
  • 5001190 MonitoringGroup can’t control the placement of CAS monitoring mailboxes in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016
  • 5001192 Microsoft Teams fails to show calendar due to Autodiscover v2 isn’t site aware in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016
  • 5001193 New health mailboxes for databases are created every time Exchange Health Manager service is restarted
  • 5001194 RFC certificate timestamp validation in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016
  • 5001195 UPN specified when creating mailbox is overwritten automatically causing login failures in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016
  • 4583558 PDF preview function in OWA leads to download action unexpectedly

Notes:

  • If these Cumulative Updates contain schema changes compared to the Cumulative Update you have deployed, you need to run Setup with /PrepareSchema. If they contain Active Directory changes, you need to run /PrepareAD. Alternatively, permissions permitting, you can let Setup perform this step. Consult the Exchange schema versions page for object version numbers.
  • When upgrading from an n-2 or earlier version of Exchange, or an early version of the .NET Framework, consult Upgrade Paths for CU’s & .NET.
  • Don’t forget to put the Exchange server in maintenance mode prior to updating. Regardless, setup will put the server in server-wide offline mode post-analysis, before making actual changes.
  • When using Exchange hybrid deployments or Exchange Online Archiving (EOA), support requires you to trail at most one version (n-1).
  • If you want to speed up the update process for systems without internet access, you can follow the procedure described here to disable publisher’s certificate revocation checking.
  • Cumulative Updates can be installed directly; no need to install RTM prior to installing Cumulative Updates.
  • Once upgraded, you can’t uninstall a Cumulative Update nor any of the installed Exchange server roles.
  • The recommended upgrade order is internet-facing, non-internet-facing servers first, followed by Edge Transports.

Caution:

As for any update, I recommend to thoroughly test updates in a test environment prior to implementing them in production. When you lack such facilities, hold out a few days and monitor the comments on the original publication or forums for any issues.

Exchange Updates – December 2020

The Exchange Team released the quarterly Cumulative Updates for Exchange Server 2019 as well as Exchange 2016. Be advised that Exchange 2016 will receive its final CU in March, 2021.

Links to the updates as well as a description of changes and fixes are described below.

VersionBuildKBDownloadUMLPSchemaPrepareAD
Exchange 2019 CU815.2.792.3KB4588885VLSC NY
Exchange 2016 CU1915.1.2176.2KB4588884DownloadUMLPNY

Exchange 2019 CU8 fixes:

  • 4588297 Attachments can’t be downloaded or previewed from Outlook Web App
  • 4583531 Design change about inline images will be forced to download but not open in a new tab of OWA in Exchange Server 2019
  • 4583532 ELC MRM archiving fails due to DomainName in AuthServer in Exchange Server 2019
  • 4583533 Exchange Server 2019 installation fails with error “The user has insufficient access rights” 
  • 4583534 Event ID 65535 System.Runtime.Serialization errors in Application log in Exchange Server 2019
  • 4583535 New-Moverequest, Resume-Moverequest, and Remove-Moverequest not logged in Audit logs in Exchange Server 2019
  • 4583536 Set-MailboxFolderPermission is included in Mail Recipient Creation in Exchange Server 2019
  • 4583537 Update Korean word breaker in Exchange Server 2019
  • 4583538 Microsoft Teams REST calls exceed the default value of maxQueryStringLength in Exchange Server 2019
  • 4583539 Non-breaking space is visible in message body in Outlook in Exchange Server 2019
  • 4583542 Server assisted search in Outlook doesn’t return more than 175 items in Exchange Server 2019
  • 4583544 Lots of LDAP requests for FE MAPI w3wp lead to DDoS on DCs in Exchange Server 2019
  • 4583545 Make DomainName in Authserver a multivalued parameter in Exchange Server 2019
  • 4593465 Description of the security update for Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 and 2016: December 8, 2020

Exchange 2016 CU19 fixes:

  • 4588297 Attachments can’t be downloaded or previewed from Outlook Web App
  • 4583531 Design change about inline images will be forced to download but not open in a new tab of OWA in Exchange Server 2016
  • 4583532 ELC MRM archiving fails due to DomainName in AuthServer in Exchange Server 2016
  • 4583533 Exchange Server 2016 installation fails with error “The user has insufficient access rights” 
  • 4583534 Event ID 65535 System.Runtime.Serialization errors in Application log in Exchange Server 2016
  • 4583535 New-Moverequest, Resume-Moverequest, and Remove-Moverequest not logged in Audit logs in Exchange Server 2016
  • 4583536 Set-MailboxFolderPermission is included in Mail Recipient Creation in Exchange Server 2016
  • 4583537 Update Korean word breaker in Exchange Server 2016
  • 4583538 Microsoft Teams REST calls exceed the default value of maxQueryStringLength in Exchange Server 2016
  • 4583539 Non-breaking space is visible in message body in Outlook in Exchange Server 2016
  • 4583545 Make DomainName in Authserver a multivalued parameter in Exchange Server 2016
  • 4593465 Description of the security update for Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 and 2016: December 8, 2020

Notes:

  • These Cumulative Updates contain schema changes compared to the previous Cumulative Update. This requires you to run /PrepareSchema. Also, Active Directory changes require you to run PrepareAD (which also can perform the schema update, depending permissions). Consult the Exchange schema versions page for object version numbers.
  • When upgrading from an n-2 or earlier version of Exchange, or an early version of the .NET Framework, consult Upgrade Paths for CU’s & .NET.
  • Don’t forget to put the Exchange server in maintenance mode prior to updating. Regardless, setup will put the server in server-wide offline mode post-analysis, before making actual changes.
  • When using Exchange hybrid deployments or Exchange Online Archiving (EOA), you are allowed to trail at most one version (n-1).
  • If you want to speed up the update process for systems without internet access, you can follow the procedure described here to disable publisher’s certificate revocation checking.
  • Cumulative Updates can be installed directly; no need to install RTM prior to installing Cumulative Updates.
  • Once installed, you can’t uninstall a Cumulative Update nor any of the installed Exchange server roles.
  • The order of installation shouldn’t matter with the “every server is an island” concept, yet recommended is to upgrade internet-facing, non-internet-facing servers first, followed by Edge Transports.

Caution:

As for any update, I recommend to thoroughly test updates in a test environment prior to implementing them in production. When you lack such facilities, hold out a few days and monitor the comments on the original publication or forums for any issues.

Security Updates Exchange 2010-2019 (Dec2020)

A quick blog on security updates for Exchange Server 2013, 2016 and 2019 released December 8th. These fixes address the following vulnerability:

Exchange 2016 / 2019

  • CVE-2020-17117: Microsoft Exchange Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
  • CVE-2020-17132: Microsoft Exchange Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
  • CVE-2020-17141: Microsoft Exchange Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
  • CVE-2020-17142: Microsoft Exchange Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
  • CVE-2020-17143: Microsoft Exchange Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Exchange 2013

  • CVE-2020-17117: Microsoft Exchange Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
  • CVE-2020-17132: Microsoft Exchange Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
  • CVE-2020-17142: Microsoft Exchange Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
  • CVE-2020-17143: Microsoft Exchange Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Exchange 2010

  • CVE-2020-17144: Microsoft Exchange Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

The exploits can be fixed by single security update, which you can find in the table below per current Exchange version.

ExchangeDownloadBuildKBSupersedes
Exchange 2019 CU7Download15.2.721.6KB4593465KB4588741
Exchange 2019 CU6Download15.2.659.11KB4593465KB4588741
Exchange 2016 CU18Download15.1.2106.6KB4593465KB4588741
Exchange 2016 CU17Download15.1.2044.12KB4593465KB4588741
Exchange 2013 CU23Download15.0.1497.10KB4593466
Exchange 2010 SP3 RU31 Download14.3.509.0KB4593467

Be advised that these security updates are Cumulative Update level specific. You cannot apply the update for Exchange 2016 CU17 to Exchange 2016 CU16. Also, the security update download has the same name for different Cumulative Updates, and I would suggest tagging the file name with the CU level, e.g. Exchange2019-CU6-KB4588741-x64-en.msp.

Also, run the Security Update from an elevated command prompt, to prevent issues during installation. And on a final note, as with any patch or update, I’d recommend to apply this in a acceptance environment first, prior to implementing it in production.

Security Updates Exchange 2013-2019 (Nov2020)

A quick blog on security updates for Exchange Server 2013, 2016 and 2019 released November 10th. These fixes address the following vulnerability:

  • CVE-2020-17085: Microsoft Exchange Server Denial of Service Vulnerability
  • CVE-2020-17084: Microsoft Exchange Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
  • CVE-2020-17083: Microsoft Exchange Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

The exploits can be fixed by single security update, which you can find in the table below per current Exchange version.

ExchangeDownloadBuildKBSupersedes
Exchange 2019 CU7Download15.2.721.4KB4588741KB4581424
Exchange 2019 CU6Download15.2.659.8KB4588741KB4581424
Exchange 2016 CU18Download15.1.2106.4KB4588741KB4581424
Exchange 2016 CU17Download15.1.2044.8KB4588741KB4581424
Exchange 2013 CU23Download15.0.1497.8KB4588741KB4581424

Be advised that these security updates are Cumulative Update level specific. You cannot apply the update for Exchange 2016 CU17 to Exchange 2016 CU16. Also, the security update download has the same name for different Cumulative Updates, and I would suggest tagging the file name with the CU level, e.g. Exchange2019-CU6-KB4588741-x64-en.msp.

Also, run the Security Update from an elevated command prompt, to prevent issues during installation. And on a final note, as with any patch or update, I’d recommend to apply this in a acceptance environment first, prior to implementing it in production.

Security Updates Exchange 2013-2019 (Oct2020)

A quick blog on security updates for Exchange Server 2013, 2016 and 2019 released October 13th. These fixes address the following vulnerability:

  • CVE-2020-16969: Microsoft Exchange Information Disclosure Vulnerability
    An information disclosure vulnerability exists in how Microsoft Exchange validates tokens when handling certain messages. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could use this to gain further information from a user.

    To exploit the vulnerability, an attacker could include specially crafted OWA messages that could be loaded, without warning or filtering, from the attacker-controlled URL. This callback vector provides an information disclosure tactic used in web beacons and other types of tracking systems.

    The security update corrects the way that Exchange handles these token validations.

The exploits can be fixed by single security update, which you can find in the table below per current Exchange version.

ExchangeDownloadBuildKBSupersedes
Exchange 2019 CU7Download15.2.721.3KB4581424KB4577352
Exchange 2019 CU6Download15.2.659.7KB4581424KB4577352
Exchange 2016 CU18Download15.1.2106.3KB4581424KB4577352
Exchange 2016 CU17Download15.1.2044.7KB4581424KB4577352
Exchange 2013 CU23Download15.0.1497.7KB4581424KB4536988

Be advised that these security updates are Cumulative Update level specific. You cannot apply the update for Exchange 2016 CU17 to Exchange 2016 CU16. Also, the security update download has the same name for different Cumulative Updates, and I would suggest tagging the file name with the CU level, e.g. Exchange2016-CU17-KB4581424-x64-en.msp.

Also, run the Security Update from an elevated command prompt, to prevent issues during installation. And on a final note, as with any patch or update, I’d recommend to apply this in a acceptance environment first, prior to implementing it in production.