Today, we released Security Advisory 2847140 regarding an issue that impacts Internet Explorer 8. Internet Explorer 6, 7, 9 and 10 are not affected by the vulnerability. This issue allows remote code execution if users browse to a malicious website with an affected browser. This would typically occur by an attacker convincing someone to click a link in an email or instant message.
Internet Explorer 9 and 10 are not affected by this issue, so upgrading to these versions will help protect you from this issue.
While we are actively working to develop a security update to address this issue, we encourage customers using affected versions of Internet Explorer to deploy the following workarounds and mitigations included in the advisory to help protect themselves:
- Set Internet and local intranet security zone settings to "High" to block ActiveX Controls and Active Scripting in these zones
This will help prevent exploitation but may affect usability; therefore, trusted sites should be added to the Internet Explorer Trusted Sites zone to minimize disruption. - Configure Internet Explorer to prompt before running Active Scripting or to disable Active Scripting in the Internet and local intranet security zones
This will help prevent exploitation but can affect usability, so trusted sites should be added to the Internet Explorer Trusted Sites zone to minimize disruption.
We also always encourage people to follow the "Protect Your Computer" guidance of enabling a firewall, applying all software updates and installing anti-virus and anti-spyware software. We also encourage folks to exercise caution when visiting websites and avoid clicking suspicious links, or opening email messages from unfamiliar senders. Additional information can be found at www.microsoft.com/protect.
We are monitoring the threat landscape very closely and will continue to take appropriate action to help protect customers.
Thank you,
Dustin Childs
Group Manager, Response Communications
Trustworthy Computing