While Microsoft is slated to issue one patch next week, Oracle announced it will release an eye-popping 41 security vulnerability fixes that touch hundreds of applications. Oh joy.Not that Microsoft's patch will necessarily be a smooth spring drive. It's issuing a single security patch on Tuesday that will affect all versions of Windows: from Windows 2000 through Vista and Windows Server 2008. In older versions of Windows the flaw is ranked as critical by Microsoft, while in the more recent Vista and Server 2008 software it's moderate.

However, many operation teams and an awful lot of database admins will be focused not on the single OS patch shipping from Redmond on Tuesday, but the 41 patches that will be fired from Redwood Shores that same day:

This Critical Patch Update contains 41 security fixes across hundreds of Oracle products. Some of the vulnerabilities addressed in this Critical Patch Update affect multiple products. Due to the threat posed by a successful attack, Oracle strongly recommends that customers apply Critical Patch Update fixes as soon as possible. Oracle Database software will be the recipient of 10 of the new vulnerabilities. Fortunately, none of these are remotely exploitable by parties unauthorized to the system.

This Critical Patch Update contains 10 new security vulnerability fixes for the Oracle Database. None of these vulnerabilities may be remotely exploited without authentication. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the nine vulnerability patches slated for Oracle Secure Backup -- all these vulnerabilities may be remotely exploited without authentication

There are simply too many applications and vulnerabilities to look at individually here. But if I were an Oracle user, I'd take a hard look at this advisory and see what applications of mine are affected -- and get ready to patch.