Exchange Server administrators who are behind on their cumulative and security updates should take note. Microsoft has announced that the Exchange Emergency Mitigation Service (EEMS) may stop functioning on versions of software that are significantly out of date.
EEMS was launched in September 2021 and it interfaces with the Office Configuration Service (OCS) to assess the current status of mitigations. The security vulnerabilities that are linked with Exchange Server are so notorious that Microsoft postponed the release of the latest version until deep into 2025.
This has left Exchange Server 2019 as the most advanced version, while it addressed these issues, EEMS serves as a valuable resource. However, if administrators neglect to stay current with Exchange Server updates, the service may become dysfunctional for them.
One of the older certificate types which were utilized by OCS is being phased out. Luckily, Microsoft ensures that “any server updated to any Exchange Server Cumulative Update (CU) or Security Update (SU) newer than March 2023 will still be able to check for new EEMS mitigations.”
Nonetheless, the company cautioned that EMS on Exchange versions before March 2023 will probably struggle to connect with OCS for new mitigation definitions.
No proper clarification regarding the implications of the March 2023 Security update itself since newer than March has been given by Microsoft.
There is a fix that was included in the March 14, 2023, Security Update for Exchange Server 2019, 2016, and 2013. This fix addresses the issue of EEMS not responding after the TLS endpoint certificate update. The fix suggests that if the server of users is updated to at least March 2023, they are in good shape. From the viewpoint of EEMS, Microsoft has characterized an Exchange Server which is so far behind in the update cycle as it is out of date. Several updates have been released since that time for both Exchange Server 2019 and 2016.
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