A major security flaw has been detected in Internet Explorer and Microsoft will be rushing out an emergency fix today. The flaw has been flagged as critical and is currently being exploited by hackers out in the wild.

MS (Microsoft) describe the patch as protection from “remote code execution”. 

Users are stongly advised to get this one in ASAP

The bug is mainly used to steal passwords at the moment, but it may also be potentially be used to get at more sensitive data from users as well.

Microsoft will be releasing the patch for download today (Wednesday) at 1pm EST (6pm UK time). It will either come in the form of an auto-update or will be available from the Windows Update site.

The flaw is also known to affect several versions of Internet Explorer, not just the current version 7, but also 5,6 and the forthcoming version 8.

Users are strongly advised to update as soon as the patch is available.

Tags: Fix, Internet, Internet Explorer, microsoft, Patch, Security