Serious Vulnerability in Windows Media Player, Windows and MSN Messenger

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Panda Software has announced that it has discovered a serious, and seriously exploitable, vulnerability in the way that a certain type of graphics files, PNG files, are processed and displayed by programs including Windows Media Player, Windows Messenger, and MSN Messenger.

The vulnerability is such that malicious code inserted into the image files could be executed when the image is displayed by the Windows Media Player or Messenger programs.

Explains Luis Corrons, director of PandaLabs, “Every time a security problem is detected in a popular program, the creators of malicious code start trying to find an exploit as quickly as possible… Judging by past experience, it is clear that the time gap between the discovery of a vulnerability and the emergence of a virus that takes advantage of it is shortening. For this reason it is important to stay up-to-date on the latest releases for the programs you have on your computer.”

In otherwords, folks, hurry up and apply the patch for this vulnerability, which Microsoft is offering [Page no longer available – we have linked to the archive.org version instead].

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One thought on “Serious Vulnerability in Windows Media Player, Windows and MSN Messenger

  1. Fortunately, this vulnerability does not effect WM 10 or WM 9 running on XP
    SP2. Another good reason to be security conscious keep up to date!

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