Windows 7 - Microsoft to release fix for Windows Shortcut flaw on Monday

Microsoft has announced plans to release of an out-of-band update on Monday to address the Windows Shortcut flaw revealed less than two weeks ago. The software giant has been keeping a close watch on the use of .LNK files exploiting the vulnerability and has concluded that it needs to act faster than usual.

Hope it will not be the same as already told here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/news/98814-fix-released-security-advisory-2286198-a.html

MS preps emergency patch for Windows shortcut peril

Warning of an uptick in attacks, Microsoft plans to issue an emergency update to patch a critical Windows vulnerability that hackers are exploiting to seize control of PCs.

The patch, which fixes the way Windows parses shortcut icons, will be released on Monday at around 10 a.m. California time. It comes two weeks after reports surfaced that unknown hackers were exploiting the flaw in an attempt to install malware on systems that control the operations of power plants and other critical infrastructure. At least two customer of SCADA, or supervisory control and data acquisition, software offered by Siemens have been hit by a computer worm that exploits the bug.

“We are releasing the bulletin as we've completed the required testing and the update has achieved the appropriate quality bar for broad distribution to customers,” Christopher Budd, Microsoft's senior security response communications manager,” wrote. “Additionally, we're able to confirm that, in the past few days, we've seen an increase in attempts to exploit the vulnerability. We firmly believe that releasing the update out of band is the best thing to do to help protect our customers.”

Microsoft plans to release a patch on Monday for a flaw involving how Windows handles shortcut files, after seeing the hole being used to spread a particularly nasty and fast-spreading virus, the company said Friday.

Initially, the Windows flaw was used to spread the Stuxnet worm via USB drives. The vulnerability, which is in all versions of Windows, is in the code that processes shortcut files ending in ".lnk," according to the Microsoft advisory from two weeks ago that included information on a work-around.

Now there are copycat attacks in which the .lnk hole, or "shortcut hole," is being used in combination with a virus dubbed "Sality.AT," which has spread faster than the Stuxnet worm, Microsoft said in a Microsoft Malware Protection Center blog post.