Microsoft discovered a rather significant security flaw in the Windows 10 operating system last week and today the company has fixed it with a new security update. The security flaw itself allowed for attackers to take advantage of certain privilege settings which would allow them to potentially install and run applications. Russian hackers were said to have been taking advantage of the situation. Here’s Microsoft’s official statement on the fix:
This security update resolves vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows. The most severe of the vulnerabilities could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker logs on to an affected system and runs a specially crafted application that could exploit the vulnerabilities and take control of an affected system.
This security update is rated Important for all supported releases of Windows. For more information, see the Affected Software and Vulnerability Severity Ratings section. The security update addresses the vulnerabilities by correcting how the Windows kernel-mode driver handles objects in memory.
The security update should have already installed in the background on most Windows 10 devices. If not, an update can be force by opening up Settings, Update & security, and clicking on ‘Check for updates’.
