Home : Security : News

Microsoft releases emergency Windows patch

Microsoft deems patch critical enough to be rushed out outside its usual 'patch Tuesday' cycle.

By Asavin Wattanajantra, 23 Oct 2008 at 12:09

Microsoft has rushed out a emergency ‘critical’ security patch for Windows users, the first time it has released one outside of its patch cycle for more than a year.

There was little information about the out-of-band security update, but it did say the critical vulnerability could result in remote code execution, enabling an attacker to take control of a target’s computer.

The operating systems affected ‘critically’ are Microsoft Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003. Marked ‘important’ were Windows Vista and Server 2008.

Microsoft spokesman Christopher Budd said that the update will be released today at 5pm, with a restart required.

According to reports, the last time an emergency patch was issued was in April 2007, due to a flaw that was publicly known and resulted in attack code hosted on hundreds of websites.

Davey Winder blogs about the patch here.

Email to a friend

Print this page

< Previous Security : News Next >

Be the first to comment on this article

You need to Login or Register to comment.

Latest Security Analysis & Insight

Who to trust after the VeriSign hack?

Davey Winder questions what data was stolen from VeriSign and wonders why the company hasn't been more forthcoming.

More Security Analysis & Insight

Latest Security Reviews

Check Point 2210 Appliance review

Rating:

Check Point's new 2200 Appliances combined enterprise level network security with an SMB price tag. Its software blades provide a wealth of features, but do they complicate deployment? Read this exclusive review to find out.