Chinese team mistakenly released IE7 exploit

"Chinese security researchers mistakenly released the code needed to hack a PC by exploiting an unpatched vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 browser, potentially putting millions of computer users at risk -- but it appears some hackers already knew how to exploit the flaw.

"At one point, the code was traded for as much as US$15,000 on the underground criminal markets, according to iDefense, the computer security branch of VeriSign, citing a blog post from the Chinese team.

"The problem in Internet Explorer 7 means a computer could be infected with malicious software merely by visiting a Web site, one of the most dangerous computer security scenarios. It affects computers running IE7 on Windows XP, regardless of the service pack version.

"Microsoft has acknowledged the issue but not indicated when it will release a patch."

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