Microsoft patches "Google hack" flaw in Internet Explorer

Microsoft patches "Google hack" flaw in Internet Explorer
By Emil Protalinski | Last updated January 20, 2010 3:45 PM
Microsoft patches "Google hack" flaw in Internet Explorer

Microsoft has issued an Advanced Notification for the out-of-band security bulletin it is releasing tomorrow for Internet Explorer at approximately 10 am PST. The patch will fix vulnerabilities in IE6, IE7, and IE8 on supported editions of Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2—vulnerabilities notably exploited in the recent series of Chinese-based attacks against Google and 30 other tech companies.

Microsoft has previously insisted that the publicly posted exploit code only affects IE6 and as such recommended its users to upgrade. While the software giant says the attacks it sees in the wild are still only successful against IE6, Redmond has rated the flaw "Critical" for all versions of the browser.

"This is a standard cumulative update, accelerated from our regularly scheduled February release, for Internet Explorer with an aggregate severity rating of Critical," a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars. "It addresses the vulnerability related to recent attacks against Google and a small subset of corporations, as well as several other vulnerabilities. Once applied, customers are protected against the known attacks that have been widely publicized."

The fact that the update is being released out-of-band (meaning that Microsoft is not going to wait until its next Patch Tuesday on February 9) shows how serious the company is taking this particular vulnerability. The company admitted that its own investigations into the highly organized hacking attack in late December against various companies (including Google) had concluded that a Remote Code Execution vulnerability in IE was used by the perpetrators. That vulnerability is triggered by an attacker using JavaScript to copy, release, and then later reference a specific Document Object Model element; attack code may be executed if it is successfully placed in a random location of freed memory.

We will update this post when Microsoft releases the patch for all supported versions of Windows. The company will also be hosting a webcast to address customer questions on the out-of-band bulletin tomorrow at 1:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada).