Using computers is notoriously unsafe, as there are always people out there looking to inject your system with harmful software. Not to fearmonger, but that’s the case, and we rely on companies delivering fixes to software that put us at risk. Thankfully, Microsoft patched a critical vulnerability in Windows 11 that could have compromised a lot of people.
The company posted about this issue in a recent blog post letting people know that it addressed the issue. It centered around the ms-appinstaller URI scheme. Basically, this is a protocol in the system that would install apps directly onto your computer without you needing to download the install packages. It saves space on the computer and makes getting apps much easier.
Microsoft said that threat actors were using “engineering and phishing techniques to target Windows OS users and utilizing the ms-appinstaller URI scheme.” Using this protocol, the threat actors could then install malicious software onto the victim’s computer. So, several users could have malware installed on their computers without even knowing.
Microsoft fixed this Windows 11 vulnerability
Rest assured, the issue has been fixed. The company wouldn’t release information about it if it wasn’t already patched up. In order to fix the problem, Microsoft had to disable the protocol. This means that the software won’t automatically install the MSIX packages. People who want to install those files will need to download the packages to their computers and install them manually. This way, your system’s local antivirus software will be able to scan the package before the installation.
It’s unfortunate that the company had to disable this feature in order to keep the system safe, but it’s important that the software is safer for users. We’re not sure if the company is working on bringing that feature back to Windows 11 in the future with security improvements.
If you want to know if your system is at risk, you can read this section of the blog post.
2023-12-29 15:04:41