Earlier this month Microsoft announced that .NET Framework 4.8 is available on Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), and Microsoft Update (MU) Catalog.
The latest framework version was announced earlier this year, in April. The new release includes quality and reliability fixes in multiple product areas, including ASP.NET, Windows Forms, and WPF. All fixes were based on feedback received since the .NET Framework 4.8 initial release.
The new framework release includes multiple fixes intended to harden ASP.NET against malicious JSON attacks. It also contains fixes for bugs related to HTTP handling and cache-related issues, among others. All fixes directly affect System.Web.dll.
Most of the fixes for Windows Forms were related to controls and interaction. However, there were also vulnerability fixes included in the release - one of them related to a scenario that might lead to remote code execution. Another important vulnerability fixed was related to the System.Windows.Forms.Clipboard APIs.
WPF, on the other hand, had most of its fixes related to stability. Lots of bugs related to situations leading to WPF crashing were corrected. Other bugs resolved by the release included performance and memory usage problems. Two security vulnerabilities related to pasting text into different components were also fixed.
Other areas affected by the release were: BCL, ClickOnce, CLR, Networking, SQL, WCF, and WorkFlow. In particular, Networking, WCF, and WorkFlow had security vulnerabilities eliminated. A complete list of all fixes included in this release can be found here.
The new .NET Framework 4.8 release is available for Windows 7+ and Windows Server 2008 R2+, and it is being offered as a *Recommended* update through the Automatic Updates service. All reliability fixes will be co-installed with .NET Framework 4.8. The update is also being offered to Windows Server through the WSUS admin console and the MU catalog. As an alternative, it can be downloaded here.
It is important to notice that .NET Framework 4.8 will not be updated automatically if it was installed via Download site earlier. In this case, you will have to re-install the product using the updated download links. Previous installations from Windows Update/WSUS, however, will be updated automatically. For Windows 10 users, the reliability fixes will be available via the next .NET Framework Cumulative update for Windows 10 May Update (Version 1903).