Wednesday, 15 November 2006

Microsoft Releases Five Critical Security Updates

Microsoft has released six security updates, five of them with the software maker's highest threat rating. The company said the five critical updates address vulnerabilities that could allow hackers to get remote access to and take control of people's computers.

"A successful exploitation of this vulnerability could result in a complete system compromise," Symantec said in its advisory. "This issue can be exploited by remote anonymous attackers on Windows 2000, Windows XP and possibly Windows Server 2003 systems." Symantec added that this issue affects a wide variety of component technologies and services.

Three of the critical updates affect Windows XP, the latest version of Microsoft's operating system. A fourth affects Internet Explorer and Windows 2000, and is considered a low threat to users running Windows XP. The fifth affects Microsoft's XML Core Services, which software developers use to build certain applications. Microsoft rated a sixth update as an important patch for users of both Windows 2000 and XP and a moderate threat for users of its Windows Server 2003 software.

In an unusual step, Microsoft also issued a patch for five vulnerabilities affecting Adobe's Flash Player software. Customers can download all the patches via Windows Update or Microsoft Update.