August 2019 Updates: Issues with VB6, VBA and VBScript

Posted on 2019-08-15 by guenni

[German]As of August 2019, Microsoft will cut VBScript support in Internet Explorer. Now there are problems with the Windows security updates from August 2019 in connection with Visual Basic (VB6, VBA and VBScript).

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Sometimes things are 'laying in the air'. I had already intended yesterday to write a blog post about the end of VBScript support in Internet Explorer – just a reminder to admins, if VBScript suddenly causes issues after August Patchday. Then I got a mail from blog reader Jan V. with a hint about Visual Basic issues (thanks for that). So here is a short list of what you should know.

Internet Explorer restricts VBscript use

I had mentioned it in early August 2019 in the blog post Microsoft deactivates VBScript in IE as of August 2019, Microsoft discontinued support for VBscript in Internet Explorer for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 for Web Zones.

The change to disable VBScript will take effect in the upcoming cumulative updates for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 on August 13, 2019. VBScript is disabled by default for Internet Explorer 11 and WebOCs for Internet and Untrusted Zones on all platforms with Internet Explorer 11.

For Windows 10, this has been the case since July 9, 2019. Everything concerning unsafe content (Internet zone, WebOCs) can no longer run VBscript in the browser by default.

Also VBA, VB6, VBScript affected

But there seems to be something else happening at the August 2019 patchday. Because there is a bigger impact from the updates. Blog reader Jan V. wrote me about it:

August patchday has potential for issues with VB6, VBA, VBS based applications..

Jan referred me to the support article for KB4512488 (Monthly Rollup for Windows 8.1/Server 2012 R2). There Microsoft has made the following addition since the first release:

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After installing this update, applications that were made using Visual Basic 6 (VB6), macros using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), and scripts or apps using Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) may stop responding and you may receive an "invalid procedure call§ error.

Microsoft is presently investigating this issue and will provide an update when available.

After the installation there are issues when using Visual Basic 6 (VB6), macros with Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and scripts or applications that use Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript). The programs suddenly stop responding and there is an invalid procedure call error.

A German reader left a comment to my German blog post: The problem occurs when assigning arrays to VARIANT variables. Then the program crashes with Error 5. Another reader left a comment: It seems to me that only applications that use ParamArrays in a certain way are affected.

Anyway, this does not only affect KB4512488 for Windows 8.1. Jan had XenApps affected.  According to the 'known issues' in the KB articles, the following updates are affected:

This means that practically all Windows versions are affected. Jan wrote to me: "We currently have two ivanti/RES consoles for the Automation Manager and the Workspace Manager. Any other of you who are affected?

Addendum: Microsoft has begun to release updates to fix this issue – see my blog-post Fix for VB6, VBA, VBScript bug? for further details.

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11 Responses to August 2019 Updates: Issues with VB6, VBA and VBScript

  1. Jörn Jaenecke says:
    2019-08-15 at 20:58

    I just run into this problem (today, 15th of Aug): assigning empty arrays to variant variables does not work any longer:
    Dim Arr as variant
    and then
    Arr = Array()
    causes "invalid procedure call error"
    I solved this by:
    Arr = Array(Empty)

    Reply
  2. Getdownunder says:
    2019-08-16 at 9:27

    Did you manage to get Res Workspace working after the patch?

    Reply
  3. Sylvain D says:
    2019-08-16 at 14:23

    We've also got the problem on windows server 2016.

    we had to update the code of our program and upgrade it on all our customers, awesome work…

    Reply
  4. Adam Adamczyk says:
    2019-08-16 at 15:08

    yes, confimed – at least in my tests
    it looks remove variant as type and it working fine,
    It requires fix all programs written in Vb6

    Reply

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  8. EP says:
    2019-08-17 at 4:58

    guenni

    MS has just released the KB4517297 update for Win7, KB4517301 update for Server 2008 SP2, KB4517298 update for Win8.1 and KB4512494 update for Win10 v1709 that fixes the recent problems with VBA (Aug. 16)

    all other Win10 versions including 1809 & 1903 don't have the VBA fixes yet but may come later on

    Reply
  10. Fredscl says:
    2019-09-03 at 0:22

    Hello everyone,
    I Think that it was resolved to 1903:
    https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB4512941

    Reply

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