Apple Patches QuickTime Vulnerability

Apple released yesterday a patch for a recently discovered vulnerability that affects its QuickTime software for Windows XP and Vista.

The flaw is related to how QT handles URLs in the qtnext field in QTL files and may allow for arbitrary execution of code, if an unsuspecting user of the aforementioned operating systems opens a specially crafted QTL file sent by an attacker.

The update released on October 3 addresses this issue, but Apple insisted that it’s only meant for Windows users, QuickTime for Mac OSX being unaffected.

For most Windows users, Apple’s Software Update application should indicate immediately after connecting to the Internet that an upgrade is available for download and installation. If not, Windows users should go directly to Apple’s support site.