Yahoo Plugs Security Hole In Web-Mail Service

Yahoo Inc. has fixed a security flaw in its Yahoo Mail service that could have let attackers destroy files and steal personal information--virtually anything a user types, including passwords, user names, and credit-card information. People using the Yahoo Mail service and had scripting enabled on their Web browsers were vulnerable to attack.

Malicious scripts used to attack these flaws are often written in ActiveX, HTML, Java, JavaScript, and VB Script.

The malicious script execution flaw was reported to Yahoo on Nov. 11, the company says. The flaw was fixed on Yahoo's servers and doesn't require customers to take any action.

The flaw was discovered by the Mobile Code Research Center at security firm Finjan Software Ltd.

In a statement, Yahoo said it takes security very seriously and "employs rigorous and aggressive measures to help protect our users.

"We are unaware of any users who were affected by the issue which no longer affects Yahoo Mail," the statement read.

Just last week, security researchers warned of a flaw in Yahoo's instant-messaging app that could allow attackers access to users' systems. That flaw has also been fixed.