What's New: MS Won't Patch XP To Fix Networking Flaw

Microsoft says it will not issue a patch for Windows XP to fix two bugs it recently fixed in the primary networking protocol for Windows Vista, Server 2003, and Server 2008. "We're talking about code that is 12 to 15 years old in its origin, so backporting that level of code is essentially not feasible," said security program manager Adrian Stone. Microsoft had previously said it would not be able to update Windows 2000.

Such an attack would result in a denial of service (DoS) by making the PC unresponsive. Microsoft points out that the TCP/IP networking attack is limited on Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or higher, since it is not by default configured to allow traffic for the affected service through the Windows firewall, and also that Windows will recover when the continual stream of packets from the denial of service attack ends.

Tuesday, Sep 15, 2009 08:36 am CDT

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