Microsoft To Issue Emergency IE Patch

CWmike writes "Microsoft will release its emergency patch for Internet Explorer on Thursday, the company said, as it also admitted that attacks can be hidden inside rigged Office documents. 'We are planning to release the update as close to 10:00 a.m. PST as possible,' said Jerry Bryant, a program manager with the IE group. Microsoft has updated the security advisory it originally published last week when it acknowledged a zero-day IE vulnerability had been used by hackers to break into the corporate networks of Google and other major Western companies. Google has alleged that the attacks were launched by Chinese attackers. Subsequently, security experts have offered evidence that links the attacks to China."

Comments

Shows difference between IT and politics

[thijsh]

It only shows that warnings are never heeded when coming from the insiders and professionals. It takes global companies and several countries to ring the bell for MS to step up and patch exploits faster...
It's not really news that lots of exploits could (and probably were) abused for espionage (both corporate and international). But only now that 'teh evil chinese' are happily hacking along some action is taken.
This is exactly the kind of problem that could be avoided by listening to security experts.

Thanks M$ for giving a crap about the security of users, companies and countries... You're a few years too late stepping up the game, but please keep it up, we might as well have security as an afterthought instead of no security at all.

Re:Yikes

[goldaryn]

I have Windows 7 Home Premium x64 Edition. Did you forget to copy that part of the list or have my early-adoption habits finally been rewarded? If so then at last all the years of no driver support, software incompatibility and system instability were worth it!

Windows 7 for x64-based Systems
Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems
Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-based Systems
Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 on Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
Internet Explorer 6 for Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows XP Service Pack 3, and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer 6 for Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 with SP2 for Itanium-based Systems, and Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Windows XP Service Pack 3, and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer 7 for Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 with SP2 for Itanium-based Systems, and Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer 7 in Windows Vista, Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows Vista Service Pack 2, Windows Vista x64 Edition, Windows Vista x64 Edition Service Pack 1, and Windows Vista x64 Edition Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer 7 in Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems and Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer 7 in Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems and Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-based Systems Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer 7 in Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems and Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer 8 for Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows XP Service Pack 3, and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer 8 for Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2, and Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer 8 in Windows Vista, Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows Vista Service Pack 2, Windows Vista x64 Edition, Windows Vista x64 Edition Service Pack 1, and Windows Vista x64 Edition Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer 8 in Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems and Windows Server 2008 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer 8 in Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems and Windows Server 2008 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer 8 in Windows 7 for 32-bit Systems
Internet Explorer 8 in Windows 7 for x64-based Systems
Internet Explorer 8 in Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems
Internet Explorer 8 in Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-based Systems
Non-Affected Software
Internet Explorer 5.01 Service Pack 4 for Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4

Hahahaha. Take that Firefox/Chrome/Opera users! I'm running Internet Explorer 5.01 Service Pack 4 for Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4! SucNO CARRIER

Re:Yikes

[Hurricane78]

Looks like a basic architectural problem. Or else it would nor persist as long, trough so many changes.

No need to bash MS on top of the usual, because Win7 still has it. Think of a basic core library that just works since back then and does not need changing. You overlooked something, and someone found a way that you did no think about.
That’s normal, an can happen to anyone.

It’s usually not the bugs that are the problem. Everything has bugs.
It’s the way MS handles fixing them. With massive denial, attacking others for mentioning it, and then a very very late, half-assed patch that needs another patch to patch the patch.
That’s the real problem.

Would MS just have a normal bugzilla, and in the normal case quickly fix the important bugs, I would have no problem with that. Mozilla does it just like that. And even Mozilla has a couple of long-standing bugs. I guess every big software has them. Because every software has a base architecture that you can only re-build every so many years in the complete rewrite. So bugs that don require that architecture to change can’t simply be fixed.
Oh, that reminds me, that for IE, that rewrite is long overdue. That’s the reason there are so many big bugs in there. But I don’t see MS doing a complete rewrite, unless they are forced to completely throw away the old Trident engine.