Security
Skype Patches Critical Flaws in Its Software
By
Oct 29, 2005, 01:04

IDG News Service alert

Skype users are being urged to upgrade to the latest version of the popular Internet telephony client, thanks to a number of critical flaws in the software that were disclosed Tuesday by Skype's maker, Skype Technologies.

If exploited, two of the flaws could allow attackers to take over a Skype user's system, the company said in an advisory published Tuesday. These flaws affect a number of Windows versions of the software ranging between versions 1.1 and 1.4, the statement said.

The first of these flaws could be exploited by tricking a Skype user to click on a specially crafted URL, while the second would require a Skype user to import a malicious vCard. vCard is an electronic business card format used by some e-mail programs.

Mac, Linux Users Affected

Security research firm Secunia has rated the flaws "highly critical," and listed a third type of error, which affects Mac OS and Linux clients as well, that could be exploited to crash the Skype client. The Secunia advisory also tells users to update to the latest version of the software.

At this time there is no known malicious software that takes advantage of these bugs, according to Secunia.

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