News

IE Patch Flawed

Microsoft put out a new version of a cumulative security patch for Internet Explorer originally released last week due to problems with users being locked out of some subscription-based Web sites and their MSN e-mail.

Microsoft said the problem primarily affected consumers and the company emphasized that the problem had nothing to do with the underlying security issue addressed by the patch.

"It is important to note that this hotfix corrects a very specific non-security issue, and that the security patch discussed in this Security Bulletin was, and still is, effective in removing the vulnerabilities discussed later in this bulletin," Microsoft officials wrote.

The original patch, MS03-004, was issued last Wednesday as a "critical" issue and fixed two security flaws in IE's cross-domain security model, which prevents windows of different domains from sharing information.

The flaw affected IE 5.01, 5.5 and 6.0.

It was the second fixed patch issued in a week. Last Friday, Microsoft reissued a patch from late 2002 that had been causing Windows NT 4.0 systems to crash.

About the Author

Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.

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