DigitMemo.com

Security researchers disclosed a bug in AIM that could enable a hacker to remotely execute malicious code, affecting all AIM versions under Windows.

America Online is working on a patch for what security researchers are calling a “major vulnerability” in the company’s highly popular Instant Messenger application.

Researchers at Core Security Technologies Wednesday disclosed a bug that they say could severely impact the millions of registered users of AOL’s instant-messaging service, AIM. The flaw, according to Core Security, would enable a series of attacks — enabling a remote hacker to execute malicious code, exploit Internet Explorer bugs, and inject scripting code in the IE browser.

“This vulnerability poses a significant security risk to millions of AIM users, Core Security has alerted AOL to this threat and has provided full technical details about the vulnerability so that they can address it in their products. Since we notified AOL, this vulnerability has emerged on several public bug-tracking Web sites. Therefore, we believe it is necessary to bring precise details about this issue to light immediately, so that AIM users and organizations using AIM can be made aware of the threat, assess their risk, and take the appropriate measures to ensure that they are protected.”

According to Core Security, the vulnerability affects AIM V6.1, as well as the V6.2 beta, which is the latest version of AOL’s instant messaging application. It also affects AIM Pro, the instant messaging version for corporate users, and AIM Lite, a simplified version of the client application.

An AOL spokesman said AOL has known the issue and its technicians are working on the problem.