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With Exploit Out, Microsoft Rushes IE 7 Fix


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#1
Major Payne

Major Payne

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Microsoft finally stepped up work on a patch to address vulnerabilities in the way Internet Explorer 7 interacts with other programs. But with no fix available at press time, using IE 7 on Windows XP machines is risky business.

The problem lies in how IE 7 interacts, via its URI (uniform resource identifier) handler, with products such as Adobe's Acrobat Reader or Mozilla's Firefox. At first, Microsoft stonewalled, pointing a finger at Firefox; then, after acknowledging that the problem was its own, the company dragged its feet on a fix because no exploit existed. That changed when a PDF Trojan horse attack started making the rounds in October. Adobe patched Reader (see below), but that covers only one end of the worm hole.


More...

Like patching a leaky old boat!

Ron

Related:
Microsoft Patch for 'URI Handler' Security Bug
Microsoft's December Patches Squash Security Bugs

Edited by Major Payne, 26 December 2007 - 06:41 PM.

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#2
Ltangelic

Ltangelic

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Oh dear, I do have IE7 installed on my computer. I guess I should be more careful about using it now.
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#3
Major Payne

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I just received some critical updates from M$ today. Forgot to notice if they were for IE 7 or not, but you'll always have some problem with any browser. May I suggest using Firefox? It has it's security problems, too, but is not as targeted as IE is for now. If you install the IE Tab extension, you can use FF on sites that require IE. Or you can use Maxthon which uses the IE Engine. Maxthon may have the same vulnerabilities as IE since it uses the same engine though.

Ron

Edited by Major Payne, 09 January 2008 - 11:32 AM.

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#4
Ltangelic

Ltangelic

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Yes, my default browser is Firefox, it's just that I use IE for some online scans that require them. Thanks for the information though. :)
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