Earlier this month, Internet Explorer 8 was hit with a pretty nasty zero-day exploit. Microsoft sprung to action with a quick fix, but there wasn’t a permanent patch solution available just yet. That day has finally come with the patch hitting Windows PCs later today.
The Microsoft Security Response Center reported on Sunday that a patch for Internet Explorer 8 and below would be hitting Windows Update at 10 a.m. PST today. The company said that only a few users have been affected by the issue, but encourage all Windows users to download the update. Of course, those who are using Internet Explorer 9 and 10 need not worry as those browsers have better built-in security protections that prevented this latest attack.
Microsoft also says that those who downloaded the quick fix released earlier this month will want to download this latest patch. In good news, however, you won’t have to uninstall the fix to apply the latest patch.
The zero-day exploit that hit Internet Explorer was just the beginning to an already eventful 2013 in malware and Web exploits. Java was recently hit yet again with a zero-day exploit that Oracle has just fixed. It followed a report from AVG that said 2013 was going to be another big year for Web-based exploits with Java and Internet Explorer both cited as major security risks.
Those who want to know more about the exploit and how Microsoft fixed it, the company’s security team will be holding a live Webcast later today at 1 p.m. PST. You can register for it here.