Microsoft urges update on browser crash patch

gallery

Microsoft has been forced to re-issue one of the security patches it issued last week as it can cause users' browsers to crash and is urging users to repatch their systems.

The MS06-042 patch was issued as part of Microsoft's monthly Patch Tuesday update earlier this month, which highlighted that critical patch requirement levels have reached a record high.

But some users on Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) blog reported several issues with the patch.

"This August security update has caused tremendous errors and crashes," said one post.

"Our web application is now crashing.... It never happened before."

Another poster was equally dismayed by the issues, adding: "I'd love to see Microsoft release a patch to fix this bug ASAP as it affects sites such as ours which take advantage of compression to save time and bandwidth for visitors."

"Losing visitors means we're losing valuable advertising money, not to mention how this bug hurts our reputation since IE works fine on other sites which doesn't [sic] use compression, but is crashing on our site."

Microsoft, however, is adamant the problem is limited to certain circumstances. It claims it only affects those running a combination of IE 6 with Service Pack 1 installed who visit sites using hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) 1.1 and data compression protocols.

The company has made a hot fix available and will issue a new patch to deal with the problem on August 22.

"Microsoft recommends customers to apply the security update immediately," said a spokesperson.

"The update prevents memory corruption from occurring in these instances as well as addressing the cause of the other vulnerabilities."

But the software giant advised that only users who've experienced the specific crash issue should use the interim fix.

Email to a friend

Print this page