Adobe claims Windows 8 vulnerable to attack

Adobe confirmed on Friday that Microsoft’s soon-to-be-released Windows 8 platform may suffer from hacker exploits through Internet Explorer 10’s integrated Flash Player, Computerworld reports.

Despite Adobe having released two separate Flash updates in August that fixed a total of eight security issues – some given Adobe’s highest-possible threat rating – Microsoft announced it would not release any patches until the Windows 8 platform is in general release on 26 October, when the first Windows 8 PCs go on sale.

“We will update Flash in Windows 8 via Windows Update as needed,” a spokeswoman said. “The current version of Flash in the Windows 8 RTM [release to manufacturer] build does not have the latest fix, but we will have a security update coming through Windows Update.”

Commenters on Adobe and Microsoft support forums have pointed out that since Windows 8 is on limited release through volume license agreements and trial downloads, Microsoft are not off the hook regarding release of a patch.

In late May at the release preview of the new operating system, Microsoft announced that Internet Explorer 10 would integrate Flash Player to negate the need for a managed plug-in. This duplicates Google’s approach with Chrome to integrate the media player into the browser. With Chrome, however, Google has earned a reputation of being proactive with patch releases, sometimes making them available ahead of Adobe.