Windows 8.1 version is having a vulnerability which has remained unpatched and the loophole has been disclosed by a Google researcher. Google gave a 90-day window to Microsoft to fix the problem but the Redmond tech giant hasn’t fixed the issue yet.
The bug was disclosed on Google’s security research website earlier this week and a confusion arose since then if the detected vulnerability was appropriate or not. With this bug present in the system, low-level Windows users can become administrators in certain cases. Google didn’t make it clear if the earlier versions of Windows OS have also been affected by this bug or not.
A poster on the Google website said, “Automatically disclosing this vulnerability when a deadline is reached with absolutely zero context strikes me as incredibly irresponsible and I’d have expected a greater degree of care and maturity from a company like Google.” One more poster said that billions of computer users have been using the affected versions of Windows, which is an exaggerated statement no doubt. Google has been praised as they have maintained their deadline for Microsoft team to fix the bug.
In their response Microsoft said in a statement where the company has declared to release a security update regarding this vulnerability, “It is important to note that for a would-be attacker to potentially exploit a system, they would first need to have valid logon credentials and be able to log on locally to a targeted machine.” This announcement has been made by a spokesperson in an email, as mentioned by ITWorld.
Microsoft further added, “We encourage customers to keep their anti-virus software up to date, install all available security updates and enable the firewall on their computer.” Google has thoroughly defended to release the information on the vulnerability as the deadline to fix it was not met.
