Microsoft admits to Windows bug, releases update

BOSTON, US: Microsoft Corp on Tuesday released a new security update after admitting to a new bug in its Windows operating system which could allow remote access of infected personal computers by hackers.

This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows.The bug was first disclosed two months ago by a Google Inc researcher, who came under fire at the time for publicizing the flaw.

In an advisory on Tuesday, Microsoft said hackers had launched "targeted attacks," a term generally used by security experts to refer to cyber attacks on corporate or government targets, with espionage and sabotage as the motive.

The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted media file. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the local user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

The security update is rated critical for all supported releases of Windows, excluding Itanium-based editions of Windows servers. For more information, see the subsection, Affected and Non-Affected Software, in this section.

The security update addresses the vulnerability by modifying how Windows Media Player opens certain media files. For more information about the vulnerability, see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) subsection for the specific vulnerability entry under the next section, Vulnerability Information.

Recommendation: The new security update will be downloaded and installed automatically. Customers who have not enabled automatic updating need to check for updates and install this update manually.

For administrators and enterprise installations, or end users who want to install this security update manually, Microsoft recommends that customers apply the update immediately using update management software, or by checking for updates using the Microsoft Update service.