Zero-day Internet Explorer flaw to be finally patched by Microsoft on Patch Tuesday

Internet Explorer security holeMicrosoft is soon expected to finally patch a zero-day vulnerability that has been actively exploited by hackers in targeted attacks.

The CVE-2013-3893 vulnerability is now pretty much available for anyone to be used against anyone.

The flaw, which was originally directed in targeted attacks against installations of Internet Explorer 8 and 9 in Japan and Taiwan – but which could potentially affect all versions of the web browser – was the subject of a temporary “Fix-It” tool last month, but the world has been waiting for a permanent, proper patch to be rolled out.

So it’s good to see that the critical vulnerability is likely to be included amongst those patched in Microsoft’s October Patch Tuesday bundle, due on 8th October.

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In all, Microsoft is expected to release four “critical” security bulletins, and four rated as “important”. Affected products include Internet Explorer, Microsoft .NET Framework, Windows and Microsoft Office.

As Paul Ducklin at Naked Security notes, even Mac users don’t escape the need for patches – with a fix being rolled out for a remote code execution vulnerability for Office for Mac 2011.

So, be sure to keep your eyes open for when the patches become available – and roll them out across your computers as soon as possible. If you don’t, you run the risk of malicious hackers turning their attention to your network next.

Further preliminary details of this month’s Patch Tuesday fixes are included in an advisory from Microsoft.


Graham Cluley is an award-winning keynote speaker who has given presentations around the world about cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. A veteran of the computer security industry since the early 1990s, he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows, makes regular media appearances, and is the co-host of the popular "The AI Fix" and "Smashing Security" podcasts. Follow him on Bluesky and Mastodon, or drop him an email.

One comment on “Zero-day Internet Explorer flaw to be finally patched by Microsoft on Patch Tuesday”

  1. Gavin

    Hmmm… I think that this month, I shall wait a few days in case there are any more glitches with the patches. My laptop has still got a hangover from last month's wonky set of updates.

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