Category Archives: Microsoft patch MS15-038

The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000018)

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Issue: Applications fail to start after installing Microsoft patch MS15-038 on Windows 7 64 bit devices when Data Loss Prevention Endpoint is installed.

It appears the issue relates to KB3045999 that has been pushed out to windows 7 64bit Devices which conflicts with McAfee DLP Endpoint 9.3.x.

I isolated the windows security Update to April Software Update Group

(Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit (32-bit is not affected)

Issues Defined

After you install this security update on x64-based versions of Windows 7 that has McAfee Data Loss Prevention Endpoint (DLP Endpoint) 9.3.x installed, some programs may intermittently not start. When the problem occurs, you may receive an error message that resembles the following:

The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000018). Click OK to close the application.

The affected programs include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Cmd.exe
  • Explorer.exe
  • Internet Explorer
  • MMC-based applications
  • Windows PowerShell

This problem may occur intermittently between restarts when the DLL is dynamically registered in different address spaces.

Example start up errors include:

  • csc.exe- Application Error — The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000142)
  • iexplore.exe- Application Error — The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000018)
  • mmc.exe- Application Error — The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000018)
  • cmd.exe- Application Error — The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000018)

Impact

Minimal, the issue is random, I managed to create the issue but a rebuild fix it.

Workaround 

Either remove Microsoft patch MS15-038 (Note Microsoft do not recommend that you uninstall any security update) or disable the affected components in DLP Endpoint.

 Solution 

Intel Security has released DLP Endpoint 9.3 Patch 4 Hotfix 25 to resolve this issue which need to be packaged and pushed out by DLP Administrator.

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