Microsoft confirmed on Wednesday that the company plans to push out a security fix for a critical security hole in Windows 7 next Tuesday.

Microsoft officials posted an advanced security bulletin today that confirms Windows XP will have 6 critical holes patched, Windows Vista 5 critical holes and Windows 7 only one. Microsoft's critical rating is the highest out of all definitions used by the company, described as "a vulnerability whose exploitation could allow the propagation of an Internet worm without user action."

Microsoft will ship a total of 13 updates on Tuesday, eight of them marked as critical. Previously the company released a record of 12 updates in both February 2007 and October 2008. Next Tuesday will set a new record. This is Windows 7's first critical patch and initial information suggests Internet Explorer 8 is at fault.