Microsoft has warned of the new issue affecting Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022, with the company explaining that some devices could end up experiencing data damage when they're equipped with the most recent supported processors.

"Windows devices that support the newest Vector Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) (VAES) instruction set may be prone to data damage. The affected Windows devices play one of the following on new hardware: AES XEX-based tweaked-codebook mode with ciphertext stealing (AES-XTS); AES with Galois/Counter Mode (GCM) (AES-GCM)," the organization warns.

The Redmond-based software giant says it has already released an area, and it is available in the late-May and June updates. In other words, if your device is already up-to-date, the fixes should be there in your device.

Latest updates also resolve the slowdown

However, the company states that devices where these patches have already been deployed could experience performance degradation, particularly when using BitLocker, TLS, or disk throughput.

"To prevent further data damage, we addressed this problem in the May 24, 2022 preview release and also the June 14, 2022 security release. After applying those updates, you may notice slower performance for nearly one month after you set them up on Windows Server 2022 and Windows 11 (original release)," Microsoft says.

In some instances, the AES-based operations could be 2 times slower.

Microsoft, however, has addressed the slowdown, and users are increasingly being told to set up the June 23 or July 12 updates for Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022.

"We added new code paths towards the Windows 11 (original release) and Windows Server 2022 versions of SymCrypt to take advantage of VAES (vectorized AES) instructions. SymCrypt is the core cryptographic library in Windows. These instructions act on Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) registers for hardware using the newest supported processors," Microsoft further notes.