Well, this is embarrassing. Way back in October, Oracle released another version of Java. Somehow I contrived to miss the announcement, if there was one.

Oracle’s quarterly Critical Patch Update for October 2016 includes information about Java, but doesn’t mention the new version. It only lists affected versions. The release notes for Java 8 Update 111 make it clear that the new version includes fixes for several security issues.

Anyone who still runs a web browser in which Java is enabled should make sure they’re running version 8 Update 111 (or 112, which is basically the same thing but with some new features). Default Java runtime installations are configured to update themselves automatically, but it’s a good idea to check.

I’ve noticed that the pace of Java security fixes seems to have slowed somewhat, which is a relief. There’s also slightly less urgency about Java updates because many popular Java-based software packages (e.g. Minecraft) now include their own embedded version instead of using any available system-wide version.