Google outs unpatched Windows 8.1 vulnerability, and debate rages on both sides

[Eugene]

Source: PCWorld

Google outs unpatched Windows 8.1 vulnerability, and debate rages on both sides

Grant Gross
Jan 2, 2015 1:40 PM

A Google researcher has disclosed an unpatched vulnerability in Windows 8.1 after Microsoft didn’t fix the problem within a 90-day window Google gave its competitor.

The disclosure of the bug on Google’s security research website early this week stirred up a debate about whether outing the vulnerability was appropriate.

The bug allows low-level Windows users to become administrators in some cases, but some posters on the Google site said the company should have kept its mouth shut. Google said it was unclear if versions of the Windows OS earlier than 8.1 were affected by the bug.

“Automatically disclosing this vulnerability when a deadline is reached with absolutely zero context strikes me as incredibly irresponsible and I’d have expected a greater degree of care and maturity from a company like Google,” one poster at the Google site wrote.

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Read more: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2864312/google-discloses-unpatched-windows-vulnerability.html

[MohRokTah]

1. The only thing I find irrespnsible is giving them 90 days.

Knowing about an unpatched vulnerability gives admins something to watch until there is a patch.