Although Internet Explorer (IE) is no longer the most popular browser, it continues to command a significant market share. Which is why it is alarming news that a newly-discovered zero day vulnerability affects all versions of Internet Explorer.
No version of the browser is safe from this zero-day vulnerability. Given IE’s 26% share in the browser market, this means that 1/4th of the entire browser market is vulnerable to attacks right now.
Explaining the nature of the vulnerability, Microsoft wrote, “The vulnerability exists in the way that Internet Explorer accesses an object in memory that has been deleted or has not been properly allocated. The vulnerability may corrupt memory in a way that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user within Internet Explorer. An attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit this vulnerability through Internet Explorer and then convince a user to view the website.”
Microsoft is apparently looking into the issue and will probably dish out a patch to take care of the vulnerability. However, if you are still using the now-expired Windows XP, the security patch wouldn’t be available for your OS. Many organizations who continue to use Windows XP and need Microsoft’s live support, have been asked to pay up huge sums of money.
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