Microsoft has issued a software patch designed to fix a security glitch in the Macintosh version of its Outlook Express 5.0 e-mail client.
The vulnerability could allow attachments of HTML mails to be automatically downloaded onto a user's computer, according to a bulletin issued yesterday by Microsoft's security notification service. Outlook Express isn't supposed to download mail attachments until a user requests it to do so.
The bug, which affects only the Macintosh version of the program, doesn't provide a way for a malicious user to launch attachments once they have been downloaded, according to Microsoft. However, "it poses a security risk because a user might later run a downloaded file without realizing where it came from," the company says.
The patch also provides replacements for several digital certificates included in Internet Explorer for Macintosh that will expire on Dec. 31. Outlook Express ships as part of Internet Explorer.
More details, including information about where to download the patch, are available at www.microsoft.com/security.
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