14 DAY TRIAL // Yahoo Messenger, the most popular instant messaging client on the Internet, was updated again after the parent company Yahoo discovered a highly critical vulnerability. According to the reports, the security flaw was able to allow an attacker to connect to an affected system and take over the control using the administrator privileges. The vulnerability concerned the conference feature of Yahoo Messenger able to be exploited using a malicious script distributed via e-mail or websites.
Today, the giant portal released an updated version of the application containing several security patches especially built to correct the recently discovered vulnerability.
"Some impacts of a buffer overflow might include being involuntarily logged out of a Chat and/or Instant Messaging session, the crash of an application such as Internet Explorer, and in some instances, the introduction of executable code. For this specific security issue, these impacts could only be possible if an attacker is successful in prompting someone to view malicious HTML code, most likely executed by getting a person to visit their web page," the company described the security flaw.
Yahoo Messenger is the most advanced instant messaging client ever designed because it includes numerous impressive functions that allow users to enhance their chatting experience. For example, you are able to communicate with your friends using the webcam function, the emoticons, the conference ability or even send files using the file transfer options.
Although it is one of the oldest instant messaging clients on the Internet, Yahoo Messenger is still the leader in its category, being challenged by a lot of other similar applications. Take for example Windows Live Messenger, the continuously improved Google Talk and even the old-fashioned AIM or ICQ. If you want to download the latest version of Yahoo Messenger, you can take it from Softpedia.