High Priority Patch Released to Fix .ANI Vulnerability

Microsoft released a patch today addressing the animated cursor vulnerability. MS07-017 addresses seven vulnerabilities, only three of which pertain to Windows Vista. The animated cursor vulnerability is considered critical as it could allow a potentially dangerous execution of code by a remote user. Microsoft says the threat of exploiting this vulnerability is high, and although they have seen limited attacks, they decided to release this update one week early in an effort to stave off an increase in problems. Security analysts concur that regardless of the patch, attackers will continue to center their efforts on the vulnerability, so it's important for all Windows users to download the patch.