A patch has been widely released for a vulnerability in the OpenOffice.org productivity suite, a problem rated as "highly critical" by one security vendor. The flaw could be exploited by creating a malicious file in the Windows Metafile (WMF) or Enhanced Metafile (EMF) formats. If the file was opened by a user, it could start running unauthorized code on a computer, according to an advisory by Linux distribution vendor Red Hat, which offers the OpenOffice.org suite with several of its products.
OpenOffice.org is a free software suite that includes a word processor, spreadsheet and a presentation program. It"s a competitor to Microsoft Corp."s Office suite, although it"s not as widely used. OpenOffice.org has published a patch, which in turn is being distributed by Red Hat.