Microsoft 'maximum severity' alert: Users urged to patch immediately
Microsoft has warned of a flaw in its Windows operating system that could be exploited by hackers to remotely run malicious applications on a victim's PC.
The Redmond giant explained that the remote code execution vulnerability, which it rates "maximum severity rating: important", concerns the way that Web View in Windows Explorer handles certain HTML characters in preview fields.
"By persuading a user to preview a malicious file, an attacker could execute arbitrary code in the context of the logged on user. The vulnerability is documented in the 'Vulnerability Details' section of this bulletin," Microsoft stated.
The flaw means that, if a user is logged on with administrative rights, an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system.
