Sydney: Microsoft has reportedly released an emergency fix after hackers exploited an undetected bug in its Office software to infect the PCs of its users with spammed Word documents.
Microsoft said that, the patch known as a `Fix It` is a temporary measure until it provides an update that will automatically patch computers to protect against the new threat.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Microsoft revealed that a very limited number of attacks had exploited the newly discovered ` zero day ` security bug, mainly in the Middle East and South Asia.
The report said that the flaw affects customers using Office 2003 and Office 2007 as well as those running Office 2010 on Windows XP and Server 2003.
Chief Executive of cyber security firm Cylance, Stuart McClure said that businesses using vulnerable versions of Office should install the Fix It to prevent attacks.
Fix Its are pieces of software for ameliorating security flaws that must be manually downloaded and installed on PCs.
These patches are designed to protect customers while Microsoft prepares official updates, automatically delivered via the internet to be installed on computers, the report added.
