All Windows users are advised to remove Apple's QuickTime video player from their computers as soon as possible as new security vulnerabilities have been discovered in the program and Apple has no plans to patch them.
Security firm Trend Micro says it has discovered two critical vulnerabilities in the latest version of QuickTime 7 media player designed for Microsoft Windows users, which could be used by hackers to hijack computers if users accidentally were to click on a malicious link or open a malicious file.
Usually, Apple would patch any vulnerabilities found in its programs, but in this case, Apple is phasing out QuickTime 7 and the official advice from Apple is to completely uninstall the software. But what makes this story particularly interesting is the fact US Department of Homeland Security is advising that users uninstall QuickTime too.
"Computers running QuickTime for Windows will continue to work after support ends. However, using unsupported software may increase the risks from viruses and other security threats," the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) wrote on an alert page.
Trend Micro admitted to The Register that it has not seen any active attacks that make use of these vulnerabilities yet, but if Apple will no longer be updating the software to keep it safe, there's no point in keeping the program around (if you haven't already, we highly recommend VLC media player).
Of course, we have to be clear, this doesn't affect Mac user at all. But apart from letting Trend Micro know in March that QuickTime will be "deprecated on Windows" and that removal instructions would be published, Apple hasn't actually told anyone else that it's getting rid of the 24-year-old software for good.
Apple is depreciating QuickTime for Windows—meaning they will no longer provide security updates for the application on the Windows platform. Two new critical vulnerabilities were discovered affecting QuickTime for Windows (ZDI-16-241 and ZDI-16-242) that could be exploited to allow remote code executioin, but since Apple is no longer providing security updates for QuickTime on Windows, these two bugs are never going to be patched.
Currently, there are no known active attacks against these vulnerabilities. However, it is strongly recommended to uninstall QuickTime now to protect systems from possible exploit. To uninstall Apple QuickTime for Windows from the Apple website, visit https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205771
The warning does not apply to QuickTime for Apple’s Mac computers.
Source:- ibtimes
