Apple patches Windows QuickTime bug

Look before you link

Windows users of QuickTime, Apple's popular media player software, need to apply an update following the discovery of a serious security bug.

The vulnerability allows hackers to inject malicious code onto vulnerable systems providing users are tricked into opening a maliciously-constructed QTL (QuickTime Link) file. These files could be hosted on websites and disguised as links to movie clips or smut.

Apple published an update on Wednesday for QuickTime 7.2 on Windows Vista and XP SP2 that fixes the flaw. Users of QuickTime for Mac OS X are immune to the bug.

In a security notice, Apple explains the bug stems from flaws in the way Windows versions of QuickTime handle URLs in the qtnext field of QTL files. The fix involves improving the handling of these URLs. ®