Microsoft Windows update patches critical XP flaw

Tech News

By Stevie Smith Nov 14, 2007, 14:08 GMT

In the latest of its traditional ‘update’ Tuesday offerings, American software behemoth Microsoft Corporation has released a new patch addressing a "critical" vulnerability found in the Windows XP operating system and also in Windows Server 2003 – with Internet Explorer 7 installed. Microsoft's traditional 'update Tuesday' reveals fixes for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Credit: Microsoft.

Microsoft's traditional 'update Tuesday' reveals fixes for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Credit: Microsoft.More pointedly, the update fixes a potentially dangerous flaw that cyber criminals have been attempting to exploit for around a month. According to a report in the Washington Post, the Net’s lowest common denominator has been dispatching masses of spam e-mail that contain malicious content such as URL links and PDF files, which, if clicked upon, attempt to strike the user with harmful data-stealing spyware programs.Ben Greenbaum, a senior research manager for anti-virus software manufacturer Symantec Corp., offered that the addressed security gap is of particular concern "as it’s a publicly known issue that puts computer users at risk."The first wave of these particular attacks began surfacing in October when Adobe release a security patch designed to stop its PDF file format from being used for exploitative purposes via the Windows operating system. The patch was almost immediately broken down in order to isolate its vulnerabilities, which then led to this latest flurry of spyware-spam attacks.The second issue addressed by Redmond-based Microsoft, which it classified as "important" concerns the business world insofar as it affects Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 Server systems. The bug fix relates directly to a Server exploit allowing hackers to use the software to redirect online traffic from legitimate Web sites through to fake malicious destinations.Users eager to secure Microsoft’s latest security update can install it by either downloading it directly from the Microsoft Update Web site, or by simply having their system install it automatically via the handy Automatic Updates feature.

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Microsoft Windows update patches critical XP flaw

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