Microsoft has now issued a hot fix for Internet Explorer 8, about a week after a zero day exploit was first reported in the web browser that has been blamed as the cause of attacks that have created malware infections on a number of websites.
Microsoft announced the "Fix it" patch on its security blog late on Wednesday, stating that downloading and installing the patch will not require a reboot of the PC. The blog added, "The Fix it is an effort to help protect as many customers as possible, as quickly as possible. We continue to work on a security update to address this issue and we’re closely monitoring the threat landscape."
Keep in mind that this patch is just for Internet Explorer 8. People who have other versions of IE installed on their PC are not affected by the exploit and therefore don"t need to download this hot fix.
The new patch comes just ahead of when Microsoft usually issues its quick summary of the security updates it plans to release on the second Tuesday of each month, otherwise known as "Patch Tuesday." This month, the updates will be released on May 14th. The summary that will be released on Thursday offers how many security bulletins it will release on May 14th, along with if the bulletins are considered to be "Important" or "Critical", depending on the software that is affected.
Source: Microsoft | Image via Microsoft