Microsoft claims DoS attack flaw is not serious

Microsoft has issued one of its first Microsoft Security Advisories, responding to reports of a flaw in Windows that could allow denial of service attacks.

In the advisory, Microsoft acknowledged the issue. The software giant also said the problem was fixed with a patch it released in April and systems running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) and Windows Server with SP1 are not vulnerable.

The Microsoft Security Advisory is part of a pilot programme Microsoft announced earlier this month. The advisory service is meant to confirm reports of flaws and provide information on how users can protect themselves, either by pointing to patches or providing a workaround.

In this latest advisory, Microsoft is responding to reports from French Security Incident Response Team about a flaw in Microsoft's implementation of TCP/IP, a network component in Windows.

Microsoft has acknowledged that an attacker could exploit the flaw to disrupt network connectivity. However, the company is unaware of any attacks that exploit the vulnerability and has not had reports of any customer impact, according to the advisory.

The advisory said: "We do not consider this to be a significant threat to the security of the internet."

Joris Evers writes for CNET News.com