A couple of patches were released today by Microsoft regarding holes that could allow a file that is either Excel or Movie Maker to install malware on a user’s PC.

Movie Maker versions 2.1, 2.6, and 6.0 are affected on Windows XP, Vista, and 7. Producer 2003 is also affected by the same bug in Movie Maker but the company has not released a patch for this software yet.

The Movie Maker bug is exploited by opening a malicious .mswmm file. It can received by web download or e-mail attachment. XP shipped with version 2.1 and Vista users have version 6.0 when the operating system (OS) shipped.

The patch does not let a user’s OS automatically open .mswmm files.

The Excel versions that are affected are XP, 2003, and 2007 in Windows. Mac versions 2004 and 2008 are also affected.

The article at PCWorld notes that two security holes present in Internet Explorer are not yet fixed. One of the holes affect Windows 2000 and XP users. No known attacks have been reported but users are advised to be cautious when a site asks him or her to hit the key ‘F1′ on the keyboard.

The second flaw was just announced today. This bug does not need the user to hit F1 or a different key.

Source: PCWorld