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Microsoft Rushes To Get IE Patch Ready
Doug Caverly
Staff Writer
2006-09-26
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
Microsoft is prepared to break with tradition in order to patch the latest flaw in Internet Explorer. That's right - the company will release the patch before Patch Tuesday - assuming it can get a patch ready in time.
This is the same vulnerability, of course, that a group of researchers (unrelated to Microsoft) already patched, as our David Utter reported. Microsoft may be left feeling a little embarrassed that it was "shown up" like this. "We have been working nonstop on an update," one employee wrote on a blog.
CNET's Joris Evers wrote about the situation as it currently stands. "The IE flaw allows malicious software to be loaded onto a Windows PC unbeknownst to the user after clicking on a malicious link on a Web site or an e-mail message. Microsoft has also been monitoring the threat, but contrary to many security groups it has not seen widespread attacks."
Evers also noted how rarely Microsoft has released a fix on any day other than Patch Tuesday. "The last time the software maker rushed out a fix was in January, when another image-related flaw in IE was being used to compromise Windows PCs through malicious Web sites."
The vulnerability that we've been discussed up to this point, it should be noted, "lies in a Windows component called ‘vgx.dll.'" But, "as attention focuses on the VML flaw, spyware specialist Sunbelt Software warned on Monday that another yet-to-be-patched IE flaw is now also being used by miscreants to load malicious software onto Windows PCs."
This second flaw "is related to daxtcle.ocx, an ActiveX control for multimedia features," according to Evers. He also noted, "Microsoft provides work-arounds that protect against each of the IE flaws on its Web site."
Additionally, Microsoft "recommends users keep their security software updated and take caution when browsing the Web."
Tag: Microsoft
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About the Author:
Doug is a staff writer for SecurityProNews, InternetFinancialNews, SearchNewz, and WebProNews.
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