Microsoft to fix 17 year old computer bug

The BBC News Technology team have reported that the February update for Windows will include closing the loophole that involves the venerable DOS operating system.

Making it's first appearance in Windows NT3.1, the vulnerability has been transferred into almost every Windows version that has appeared since. There are also another 25 holes in Windows that will be addressed in February's security update.

The bug was discovered by Google security researcher Tavis Ormandy in January 2010 and invovles a utility that allows newer versions of Windows to run programs that date from the DOS era. Mr Ormandy has found a way to exploit this utility in Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and 2008 as well as Windows Vista and Windows 7. The fix for this vulnerability will appear in the the February security update. Five of the vulnerabilities being patched at the same time allow attackers to effectively hijack a Windows PC and run their own programs on it. As well as fixing holes in many versions of Windows, the update will also tackle bugs in Office XP, Office 2003 and Office 2004 for Apple Macintosh machines.

In January 2010, Microsoft released an "out of band" patch for a serious vulnerability in Internet Explorer that was being exploited online. The vulnerability was also thought to be the one used to attack Google in China. Following the attack on Google, many other cyber criminials started seeking ways to exploit the loophole.

Also this week, the BBC Technology team has reported that a security researcher has reported the discovery of a vulnerability in Internet Explorer that allows attackers to view the files held on a victim's machine. Microsoft has issued a security bulletin about the problem and aims to tackle it at a future date. At the moment there is no evidence that this latest find is being actively exploited online.