Sunday, February 7, 2010

Microsoft Patching 17-year-old Windows/DOS Bug

A patch is on the way to fix up that ancient Virtual DOS Machine flaw.

Last month we reported that Tavis Ormandy, a security researcher at Google,discovered a security flaw in the Virtual DOS Machine that can allow a nefarious user to inject code into the kernel and possibly install malware.
The flaw spanned iterations of Windows operating system over the last 17 years, including:
  • Windows 2000
  • Windows XP
  • Windows Server 2003
  • Windows Vista
  • Windows Server 2008
  • Windows 7
According to the BBC, Microsoft will be rolling out a fix to this bug in a February Security Update. The update will fix five vulnerabilities that allow attackers to hijack a Windows PC and run their own programs on it.
The patch is expected to hit on Tuesday, February 9 but it's a good idea to have automatic updates turned on so that your OS will do the checking for you.

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