Author: Sean Michael Kerner (eweek)
Two weeks ago, Microsoft first warned its users that it was investigating public reports about a zero-day vulnerability in its Internet Explorer (IE) Web browser. It’s a vulnerability that still has not been patched in a full update and is now actively being exploited by attackers. There is a simple step however that enterprise users can take to mitigate the risk.
Microsoft declined to provide any specific timing about when a full patch for the issue, now known as CVE-2013-3893, would be available.
“We are aware of a limited number of targeted attacks; customers who have installed the Fix It are not at risk from this issue,” a Microsoft spokesperson said. “We encourage customers who have not applied the Fix It provided by Security Advisory 2887505 to do so to help ensure they are protected as we continue work on a security update.”
The Fix It is a “Band-Aid” approach to the security issue, providing a fix for users who physically visit the Fix It site and click the Fix It button. A full patch, in contrast, is made available to all Microsoft users through the Windows Update mechanism that all Windows users have access to and many users have set for fully automated patching.
