Yet Another Windows 10 Update Bug Leaves Nearly 50 Million PCs at Risk

Microsoft's problems with Windows 10 updates seem to be never-ending. Its latest update, KB4501375, addresses multiple glitches that have been in existence so far. However, alongside an unresolved non-default language issue with the latest v1903, Microsoft has disclosed a significant vulnerability that can potentially affect a significant majority of PCs that have VPNs (virtual private networks) installed in them.

Given how many mainstream users also use VPNs nowadays to access region-locked content on streaming platforms or simply enhance network privacy from surveillance tools, the issue is calculated to have the potential range of affecting a staggering 50 million PCs running Windows 10's latest version, across the globe. Microsoft's official website for the update reads, "The Remote Access Connection Manager (RASMAN) service may stop working and you may receive the error “0xc0000005” on devices where the diagnostic data level is manually configured to the non-default setting of 0. You may also receive an error in the Application section of Windows Logs in Event Viewer with Event ID 1000 referencing “svchost.exe_RasMan” and “rasman.dll”. This issue only occurs when a VPN profile is configured as an Always On VPN (AOVPN) connection with or without device tunnel. This does not affect manual only VPN profiles or connections."

In simpler terms, a simple non-default setting of a VPN tool may not match with your PC's security entry in Windows registry, which in turn can break all forms of internet connectivity on your machine. Seeing how much of our work (and lives in general) depend on the internet, this is a critical flaw that will be rather difficult to recover from. Microsoft estimates that a long term fix to this should be issued in the end-July update to Windows 10, but in the meantime, has a rather complex solution to it that can be read here.

It remains to be seen how this issue gets resolved. Microsoft's issues with Windows 10 updates have been long published, and has been recurrent in nearly every update of late. Given that Microsoft has over 800 million PCs around the world running Windows 10, the potential danger of these glitches can be crippling to users at a rather large scale.