Microsoft has announced that it has developed a fix to plug a security hole in its Explorer browser that has worried users across the world in recent days.

“A vulnerability has been found in the browser that means that criminals would be able to use the browser as a back door to introduce harmful code onto a machine. Microsoft has now closed the hole,” Shezad Ahmad of DK-cert tells Ritzau.

The security update will be part of Microsoft’s updates available tomorrow, although a fix can be downloaded today.

In its technical explanation, Microsoft accepts that the browser has been vulnerable.

“A remote code execution vulnerability exists in the way that Internet Explorer accesses an object in memory that has been deleted or has not been properly allocated. The vulnerability may corrupt memory in a way that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code…,” Microsoft says.

“An attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit this vulnerability through Internet Explorer and then convince a user to view the website,” it adds.

Those who wish to apply the Microsoft fix immediately, rather than wait until Friday, can download it from the following address: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2757760#FixItForMe

Yunsun Wee, head of the Microsoft Trustworthy Computing Group says in a news release that installing the fix now will not affect browsing and does not require a computer re-start.

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