Microsoft Releases Fix It Tool to Address IE Security Zero-Day

Microsoft has pushed out a tool to help users address a zero-day vulnerability affecting Internet Explorer.

The Fix it tool is aimed at addressing a vulnerability discovered in the wild roughly a week ago. According to Microsoft, the issue affects IE versions 6, 7 and 8. Internet Explorer 9 and 10 are not impacted.

The bug exists in the way that IE accesses an object in memory that has been deleted or not properly allocated. As a result, memory can be corrupted in a way that would allow an attacker to remotely execute code with the rights of the logged on user. The release of the tool follows Microsoft’s decision to issue an advisory on the bug during the weekend. 

“This easy, one-click Fix it is available to everyone and prevents the vulnerability from being used for code execution without affecting your ability to browse the Web,” blogged Dustin Childs, group manager of Microsoft Trustworthy Computing. Additionally, applying the Fix it does not require a reboot. While we have still observed only a few attempts to exploit this issue, we encourage all customers to apply this Fix it to help protect their systems.

According to Microsoft, the vulnerability is only being used in limited, targeted attacks. The vulnerability was first spotted being used to target visitors to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

Microsoft said it is still working on a patch for the issue, and did not say when that would be available.