Microsoft to fix critical hole in IE

In a rare move, Microsoft on Friday said it would be releasing security updates on Tuesday--outside of its monthly patch cycle--for a critical vulnerability in Internet Explorer and a moderate vulnerability in Visual Studio.

The two security bulletins will address one overall issue and are being released separately "to provide the broadest protections possible to customers," Microsoft said in a statement.

The vulnerabilities affect Windows 2000, Windows XP, Vista, Windows Server 2003 and 2008, Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8, Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003, Visual Studio 2005 and 2008 and Visual C++ 2005 and 2008, according to the security bulletin advance notification.

"While we can't go into specifics about the issue prior to release, we can say that the Visual Studio bulletin will address an issue that can affect certain types of applications," the statement said. "The Internet Explorer bulletin will provide defense-in-depth changes to Internet Explorer to help provide additional protections for the issues addressed by the Visual Studio bulletin."

"The Internet Explorer update will also address vulnerabilities rated as critical that are unrelated to the Visual Studio bulletin that were privately and responsibly reported," Microsoft said.

Customers who are current with their security updates are protected from known attacks related to the updates, the company said. The updates will be released through the Microsoft Update, Windows Update, and Windows Server Update services.

A Webcast to address customer questions is scheduled for Tuesday from 1 p.m. PDT to 2 p.m. at this site.

Microsoft typically releases security patches on a monthly basis, the second Tuesday of every month, and did not say why it is making this rare, out-of-cycle release.

[cvaldes1831]

Yay! A zero-day flaw! Hooray for Patch Tuesday!

[Vegaman_Dan]

But they aren't saying what it is. No exploits exist as a result.

It's the Apple model in action. Looks like Microsoft is learning from Cupertino.

[cvaldes1831]

Good for Microsoft. I would like MSFT to perform as well as AAPL has done over the past five years, +200% increase in ROI.

Hey Steve, don't forget about increasing shareholder value, 'kay? Thanks!

[Random_Walk]

"Looks like Microsoft is learning from Cupertino."

...you mean they're finally starting to fix vulns in a timely manner? ;)

Nah - just ribbin' you.

By the way, no vendor (Apple, Microsoft, or otherwise) would publish details (let alone exploits FFS) to vulns that they themselves discover and patch in-house. You can do better than that...

[dhavleak]

Dan -- not sure what you mean about MS learning from Cupertino..

On the matter of patching vulnerabilities, MS since around 2004 onwards has a much better track record than Apple (one of the best in the industry in fact).

[Vegaman_Dan]

@Random_Walk:

So.. have you send that check to Apple for $599 yet for product you stole from them yet? :)

[Random_Walk]

What stolen product? Please, show me what I have stolen, or call the Portland (OR) police department to report this "theft" (or you could just cease your libel...)

Ah, but I expected you to resort to lies and libel, since your argument fell flat... a sure sign of defeat.

[baconstang]

People still use IE?

[cvaldes1831]

Yeah, like 60-80% of all browsers, dominating on Windows PCs (and therefore in places like Southeast Asia) and in business, lower in Europe (higher use of Firefox due to ongoing litigation re: antitrust practices), and particularly low on handheld devices (like smartphones).

[The_Decider]

Yes, sadly some people are just too ignorant to change.

All the moronic web "developers" that learned how to create web pages for IE are going to be in a world of hurt soon since they don't have to background to learn how to do it properly.

[lennie22]

so you're saying I'm ignorant because I choose to use IE8 as my browser of choice? wow, you seem like a very enlightened person.

[monkeyfun14]

@The_Decider

IE8 stops the need for proprietary code.

[cvaldes1831]

@The_Decider:

Dang, I wish I could 86 Internet Explorer on my work PC (running Windows XP), but there's some stuff that runs better on IE (like Microsoft Sharepoint) than on Firefox.

For everything else, I run Firefox on this Windows PC.

Microsoft should really rewrite IE based on WebKit.

[Vegaman_Dan]

The_Decider is a long term Apple supporter. Of course they don't use IE... it's not avaialble on the Mac.

[cvaldes1831]

@Vegaman_Dan:

MSIE was available on Macs. It was preinstalled on my first iBook (circa 2002) running OS X 10.1. It was Microsoft who bailed from Mac OS X. Apple never prevented them from creating a web browser.

[Random_Walk]

"Of course they don't use IE... it's not avaialble on the Mac."

Dude - you should've gone to bed or something...

(Trivia: did you know that there was even a version of IE for UNIX at one time? ;) )

[McDaveH]

"The_Decider is a long term Apple supporter. Of course they don't use IE... it's not avaialble on the Mac"

Even if it was it would have negligible market share on the Mac - why would people elect to install the worst browser of the pack? The only reason it's got desktop/notebook market share is the same reason Windows has high market share - because it's incumbent and people never get to know any better.

McD

[Vegaman_Dan]

Apparently there is lack of reading comprehension going on. No worries, I'll make it simple.

IE isn't available for the Mac currently. Yes, there was a version years ago, but it isn't avaialble now.

[The_Decider]

What they are finally ditching this substandard piece of swiss cheese?

That is the only way it will be secure.

[Vegaman_Dan]

Please keep on topic. We are talking about Microsoft products, not Apple.

(hey, if you want to take cheap pot shots at Microsoft, be ready to get the same back at Apple)

[ckh1272]

@Vegaman_Dan--It would be nice to see you go after the Microsoft shills with the same vigor that you deliver to the Apple shills. Maybe then, it wouldn't seem to show bias on your part. Just a thought.

[monkeyfun14]

@ckh

Same for you.

[amoose136]

@The_Decider has IE personally cause you pain man?

@Vegaman_Dan, although not an apple user myself, one can hardly call their products substandard pieces of swiss cheese. Apple is WAY over priced but that's all. From my short usage of them before, I can tell that if Apple could have the user base that Microsoft has the world of computers would function better. I don't like Microsoft but I'm not willing to pay the 40% Apple tax.

@ckh1272, IMHO people (other than news organizations) shouldn't try to eliminate their biases but rather openly admit them and move on. You can never completely rid yourself of bias. My bias: I am current torn between Firefox and a beta of Chrome with extensions.

[Vegaman_Dan]

@ckh1272:

You know, that is excellent advice you have given. It's advice you may want to take to heart as well.

BTW, I'm typing this on my MacBookPro, a 15" model. My iPhone is charging from the USB port. I don't even have any PC's powered up. My day job pays me money to *FIX* broken PC's.

Bias? Yes, against idiots and trolls, hence why I call them as I see them. If you feel attention is being unduly brought upon you, then... yeah.

[Seaspray0]

This IBM report is calling it swiss cheese.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10154662-83.html

The Macintosh and base Linux kernel operating systems have dominated the top spots for vulnerabilities by operating system over the past three years

[Random_Walk]

"BTW, I'm typing this on my MacBookPro, a 15" model. My iPhone is charging from the USB port. I don't even have any PC's powered up. My day job pays me money to *FIX* broken PC's."

So you won't even use or buy the products that you preach for?

Wow - when even the Microsoft cheerleaders refuse to use their own objects of worship...

[amoose136]

@Seaspray0 number of disclosures are not an indicator of vulnerability. That report also has no written evidence backing up what they are saying. What are the unpatched vulnerabilities? Did IBM just do all this research and then not bother to tell the devs just what needs to be patched?

[gertruded]

I just can not believe that Vista and IE8 have a "critcal hole". We have been assured that they are safe and it is only XP that has holes.

[Vegaman_Dan]

Every OS and product has flaws. If a product was perfect, there woudl be no need for companies like Apple, Red Hat, Google, and Microsoft to ever produce a newer version.

[lennie22]

I dont' see anything about win7 though....it seems that the problem lies in the trident engine because all those programs use that engine to render certain parts......so fixing the engine should, more or less, fix the dependents.

[solitare_pax]

Things like this explains Microsofts "hole-ier than thou' approach to marketing, doesn't it? :)

[ITRiskSpace]

Obviously Internet Explorer is only the attack target but the source comes from the used development platform. I'm sure that we will see more patches and updates the next couple of weeks coming from major software vendors who have either used the same development platform or the same libraries to compile their software code. You can find more about my theory at my Risk Management blog at <a href="http://itriskspace.com/2009/07/25/1248487800000.html">http://ITRiskSpace.com</a>

-Andreas
http://ITRiskSpace.com

[cherku]

Wow.. This is the 6th article on the main page of today's CNET with news about Microsoft not one appreciative of it. I am not sure if this magazine covered the news about the recent (July 15th, 2009) bugfixes apple made to its Itunes software.

[cvaldes1831]

Of course, they did.

As a matter of fact, they publish several articles, probably hoping to milk that sucker for all it was work, hundreds of thousands of pageviews.

Since you posted to this particular article, I will point out that this bad news (critical IE hole) originates from Microsoft itself. Much of today's bad Microsoft news originates from yesterday's bad news from Microsoft (poor earnings results). These aren't concocted articles. Microsoft has been communicating a bunch of bad news because they don't have much good to announce.

It's not Cnet's fault (heck, Microsoft is probably an advertiser here, I don't know since I use AdBlock Plus).

Sorry about that.

Oh, and today's article about Microsoft opening retail stores wasn't negative.

[Vegaman_Dan]

CNET has been pretty unbiased in their coverage. They rip into Apple at times about AT&T, iPhone heat failures, battery issues on the MacBooks, security flaws in OS X. They also go into stories about Google, Linux, etc.

Things go in cycles. Sometimes you perceive more news about this or that subject than at other times because of the way it's reported and what is on the radar. Remember a couple of years ago when all we had were nearly non-stop news stories in the summer about shark attacks? There weren't really that more attacks taking place, but the focus of the news got turned on it so that was the public perception.

[sanjayb]

Yeah and don't forget Molly Wood. Her shrill bashing of Apple is equal to 10 negative articles about Microsoft!. :-)

[Hokulea]

Wasn't it just last week that Firefox 3.5 had a critical vulnerability?

Frankly, I'm more concerned about the issue with Adobe Flash that is being exploited.

I use both IE8 and Firefox 3.5. I feel more secure using IE8 in protected mode in Vista than I do using Fx 3.5 in XP.

[AppleSuxLeo]

Protected mode ( "sandboxed") is the safest. That is how IE8 runs in Vista/7.
None of these Mac users would know such a thing and should stick to commenting on Macs.

[tm_anon]

I feel safer walking outside and giving a random stranger my social security card than I do running XP.

As is, I'm using firefox 3.5 on Ubuntu 9.04, I'm plenty safe.

[ckh1272]

@AppleSuxLeo--Maybe you should take your own advice for once and stop commenting on Apple discussions.

[FF2009]

protected Mode means nothing when hackers find holes on IE. Which is the core of Windows itself. When hackers find a hole on IE they basically get access to OS not just IE.

That means you are unprotected

[quasi42vt]

@Hokulea - It was about two weeks ago actually and that vulnerability has already been patched so I'm wondering...why are you still running Firefox 3.5 when 3.5.1 has been available for nearly a week already? ;)

Note: No browser is 100% secure be it IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera or whatever. As long as there are people there will be holes punched through the security of OS's and browsers and all we can do is keep up with the patches.

[ikramerica--2008]

But, but, the sandbox!

iPhone is sandboxed, too, yet there have been proof of concept exploits of that.

Mac Users do know about sandboxing, and how it isn't the panacea of there are leaks in the sandbox (or a cat comes and takes a dump in it).

So far, the only sandbox I've seen that can really be described as such is running a virtual machine without a shared disk. Anything that happens in there stays in there, because there is no way out. IE8 is NOT a virtual machine, it interacts with the rest of the OS, and thus there are ways out...

[Vegaman_Dan]

@ikramerica--2008:

VHD's are pretty good about sandboxing. I'd like to see an OS use that for web browsers on any platform.

[rapier1]

@FF2009:

It really depends on the type of hole. However, snadboxing/protected mode really does add a significant layer of security. It would be good to see something similar on Safari.

[AppleSuxLeo]

Now if Apple would just admit to the Zero-Day exploit on the iPhone`s OSX , that allows root access , total control of all phone functions. So much for Mac security !
http://twit.tv/sn206

[AppleSuxLeo]

Quiet...Apple doesn`t want you to know.

[cvaldes1831]

You're confusing iPhones, OS X, Macs, and iPhone OS.

Would you like to start again? Just to rebuild your credibility?

[AppleSuxLeo]

Yes...as Steve Jobs proclaimed over two years ago , iPhone runs on OSX ! That is a fact.

[cvaldes1831]

Yeah, but Apple has since changed the moniker for the phone's OS. Historical declarations that have been subsequently changed are no longer valid for these discussions.

Would you like to correct your statement to regain your credibility once again, or do you want to keep going down this path?

It's up to you.

[ckh1272]

Don't try to reason with AppleSuxLeo. They only want that attention more and more with every negative post. It's called not having a life and being a shill. That is a FACT. Prove me wrong Leo.

[cvaldes1831]

@ckh1272:

I'm speculating that every time AppleSuxLeo opens his mouth he damages a few more of his existing brain cells.

There's no clear evidence so I will continue my analysis. Please stay tuned. Thank you.

[ikramerica--2008]

iPhones are not Macs.

[Vegaman_Dan]

Wow... look at the Mac fanboys scramble and apologize, even for a product that isn't even mentioned in the story.

Come on guys, just let the product stand on its own. It doesn't need you to make apologies for it.

I, for one, have an iPhone and was curious to read the information. I don't care to try and change the subject or dismiss it as irrelevant as you guys have done. I really don't care to stick my head in the sand like that.

[Random_Walk]

Someone forgot to include the word "jailbroken". tsk tsk...

[AppleSuxLeo]

I run the "Splashtop" browser on Express Gate to be absolutely safe...and TOR !

[Random_Walk]

...too bad that it hasn't helped your faulty reasoning any. :/

[jz33040]

Most Mac users are such a pain in the neck. They watch a few "i'm a mac adverts", get brain washed, pay for an over priced, over rated system. Then in order to feel good, whenever they spot some ie vulnerability they must jump into comments and make the most uninformed snobby posts. And they ALWAYS think the world is learning from Apple, and the world is copying them. It's actually sort of a sickness in a sense and relates to the personality type of an apple owner, but not all of them. They usually wonder when will the world get smart and figure it out. First off this is an obscure problem that won't affect most users anyway, but

IE is hacked upon 24 hours a day by scammers. Why? Because usually no one is going to spent tons of time coding malware for a desktop that is only on 10-15% of systems like osx. But mac users think it's because their mac is built so sturdy, and it's so shiny, osx is wonderful that it's impervious to this sort of thing. But if osx could suddenly be on 90% of deskotps tomororw, it would be hacked within days or weeks. But even this doesn't matter much since macs are getting attacked by malware anyway these days. Even apple issued a warning that it's users should run anti-virus, only to retract it later because it's embarrassing to say that after lying to their customers by hinting they didn't get malware. And yes, I know it gets less malware, but the point is that it's not because Microsoft is a giant bumbling idiot that messes up all the time. That is an illusion. Their company is billions and have been through a lot in the last decade. This illusion that they are stupid is nothing more than an illusion. It's that their software install base is huge, and their products are wide reaching. And that is a fair statement. So there are lots more people looking for ways into it.

But for those who can't read. If you update your machine, just like you do on an imac, the vulnerability is taken care of. Yet the appletard jokes continue. Like gertruded who said sarcastically, "We have been assured that they are safe and it's only XP that as holes". Well I can show you several mac vulnerabilities right now even if they were also patched. And I could also say, sarcastically, "But we all know macs are impervious to attack and have no issues". People. ALL OS's have holes. Get over it. It's just a mater of how big the target is.

[McPlot]

Will you marry me? That was just beautful.

[McPlot]

And before you start cutting on me for beautiful spelled wrong, my wireless keyboard needs new batteries. I pressed the I, I swear!

[ckh1272]

Watch out for nose bleed jz33040. It is a common occurrence for people who stand on their soapbox. I am not foolish enough to think that OS X is perfect, but I have heard so many rants like yours that I can't help but laugh a little inside. If people are foolish enough to think that their OS is perfect, then shame on them, but you would be doing yourself a favor by not lumping Apple users together like that. Apparently the biggest vulnerability is one's pride. So touchy it is.

[quasi42vt]

Without all the haughtiness involved (really, no offense intended) I have to basically agree with you. The bottom line is that hackers go after market share, the OS/browser involved is irrelevant to that end. That's it.

Now I use and have been using Windows machine ever since Windows 3.1 (3.0 and prior were a bad joke) and DOS before that although s small business I had once used an Apple IIE (can anyone say "Open-Apple-Reset?). Now I dual boot between XP and Ubuntu but I have to admit...

Them new iMacs sure are beautiful. :D

[lazycat202]

Real hackers are interested in hacking into servers; not stupid desktop/laptop computers. Servers hold all critical/secret information. Look! All companies/governments run on Win and Linux severs! Get it mac fans!?? they don't have time to sneak in your damn little Mac boxes and look at your naked pictures. lol
I'm afraid that I'll be beaten by hardcore mac fans :(

Like jc3340 said before :"ALL OS's have holes. Get over it. It's just a mater of how big the target is."

[amoose136]

@ckh1272 well said. Do not "lump" ANY group of people together. That breeds stereotypes.

[Vegaman_Dan]

@ckh1272:

"Watch out for nose bleed jz33040. It is a common occurrence for people who stand on their soapbox. I am not foolish enough to think that OS X is perfect, but I have heard so many rants like yours that I can't help but laugh a little inside."

Wow... apparently you don't even read your own comments. :)

[Seaspray0]

@ckh1272. "I am not foolish enough..." Maybe not, but alot of your cohorts who post here... are.

Well said, jz33040.

[shycelticwitch]

@Seaspray...

I'm going to ask (for the umpteenth time) what Mac model do you own that you can give opinions on it's performance and stability?

@ all other AppleBashingSociopathicMSZombies (sorry, couldn't resist)... please list the Mac models you own, and the current Mac OS you run.

When you've done that... I'll be delighted to read your comments along with the intelligent postings here. Otherwise, I will simply skip them as "non-informative jabberwocky".

: )

PS. I own both Mac (MacPro QuadCore/OSX/OSX Server) and PC (Dell/XP, was not impressed with W7 beta test).

[jz33040]

I do want to add that I think there is nothing wrong with osx what so ever and I have used mac on many occasions. I don't use it much any more, but I have one. But my point is that a lot of people get false expectations out of an OS, especially osx. That said, there is nothing I can't do with my pc that I would need a mac for. Also my system is at 3.6ghz, has QQ, 4gb, 1TB hd, great 8800 gfx and is quite a bit faster at rendering video than the best macs I've used. And the amazing part is it cost me $580. Basically if you know where to shop for a computer and what to get, you can get an amazing pc. Running the correct updates and all, and it's no problem. But some mac users (not all) make it sound like the pc will fall apart on you in ever respect. Just hideous.

[rcardona2k]

At least you don't pirate OS X and run a hackintosh. For most people the video they render is YouTube so they don't need an 8800 for that. Have fun WoWing and rendering that high-fps fullscreen pr0n.

[EcuadorHomesOnline]

It's really amazing how good of a machine you can get (or build!) for less money than I spent for my very first 1200 baud modem! I had to use a Mac for a few years at work and just HATED it (admitedly, it was a while back and I know that Apple has done some minor improvements).

I have 6 computers in the house, I use IE as my browser, and I've never had a virus, malware, or any problems whatsoever.

[ikramerica--2008]

The amazing part is that you are lying. $580 (uh-huh) and it's faster than the best macs you've used. Considering there are no 3.6GHz quads, it must be a dual core. And it certainly doesn't have Ultimate or Business OS (unless it's cracked). Wait, you never said what the best mac you have used is. So if it's like an iMac 2.4, you are probably right. If it's an 8-core nehalam with 12GB of triple channel RAM, uh-huh...

[Drew.0]

My Quad Q6600 is clocked at 3.6 GHz air cooled on an evga 680i sli board (under 350 for the combo)

[monkeyfun14]

@ikramerica

HAve you ever heard of overclocking? Thats another benefit us pc users get to use ;)

[ebbtides]

GASP! AGAIN?????????? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

[thru9]

From the standpoint of programming and developing websites to run seamlessly on the various web browsers, the nightmare has always come to the IE browsers, each version uses a different rendering engine and interprets the code differently, So when writing clean standard based code and your website looks pretty much the same and runs the same across browsers Firefox, Safari, and Opera, we spent just as long writing specific hacks so that users viewing with IE6, IE7, and IE8 would see the site how it was designed...

And "The_Decider" was right, those who only learned how to program websites for IE are definitely going to be in a world of hurt when their continued market share decreases more and more and people start complaining that websites are not working/displaying properly, especially in the now booming smartphone market. More and more designers/programmers are almost giving up on making their sites render properly on IE browsers. If your site is written in standards it should work. I'm thrilled to see IE market share plummeting.

[monkeyfun14]

IE8 no longer needs proprietary coding.

[amoose136]

@monkeyfun14, the problem is not IE8, although it is the slowest browser and is missing the most standards. The problem is the masses of uninformed general PC users who simply haven't bothered to update to the latest IE or better yet, switch to anything other than IE. A good portion of the people using IE just aren't horribly tech savvy for one reason or another and quite frankly, I don't think they really want to learn how to use a new browser or even know the difference between IE and Firefox. The biggest step we can take to help the proprietary coding problem is to educate the masses.

[jcm1963]

I prefer to use a Mac because I personally like the way the OS looks and feels and how I navigate through it. Mac also runs the music software that I have spent the last 10 years recording with. I suppose I am a complete idiot for using a Mac according to some people in here. It's ridiculous argument. (As is the argument the PC's running Windows are a joke. I would never use Windows myself, but I have no reason to waste any energy telling others not to). However, I do have a problem with Internet Explorer. Sure, it's on 80% of the computers out there because it comes pre-installed. But build a website and then upload it and go view it in Firefox, Safari, Opera, and IE6, 7, and 8. You'll find almost without fail that it loads and displays properly the first time everywhere except for in IE (all versions). So you go back and have to keep re-tweaking and messing with code until you get it to look right in IE.

[SJ2571]

Why is it a "rare move" to patch it outside the monthly cycle? Microsoft do it all the time. I've read of at least five other such "rare moves" here on cnet in the past. Doesn't make it so rare, does it? ;)

[rbrown653]

Did anyone else notice that thats an old IE logo or am I just a freak

[antech71]

I love it when i see Mac and Windows users claw it out in the usual "who's better " debates. It gets so bad that people forget what the topic was about.
@ all the Mac Lovers ...Don't take it personally i know you all love your macs but you are not the best, what u get doesn't justify the price, you are not virus proof and your market share is far too small to be a part of ... sorry
I know i opened a can of worms but i'm happy with my PC even with all its so called windows flaws. Why? because i saved a bunch, i have the choice to thinker with my PC as much as i want and here's the kicker i have a large support group so please Apple-day-Adventists stop trying to preach to the world how much better you mac is cause under all that so called great OS you still have a PC!!! Thank you all for your time and please bash on me all you want cause i don't plan to follow up on this post.

[DiJac]

My IP is AOL & IE8 gives me a "Blank Page" every time I try to close "My Pictures". What Gives? How do I control this on my Dinosaur Dialup? (Highspeed not available in my hood)

[DiJac]

I'm sorry, it is not "Blank Page"........ It says "about:blank".
Is there a way I can get around this?
On Dailup, it takes forever!

[FF2009]

You should use Opera Browser 10 . It has a new feature for Dailup users called (Opera Turbo ) for faster browsing on slow connections..

Give it a try. It's much better than IE8.

Copy & past this url to Opera's download website > http://www.opera.com/browser/next/

[DiJac]

I tell you what...... I'll give Opera a try. I'm in desperate need of somthing! That IE8 seems to be giving me NOTHING but PROBLEMS. At least the combo of AOL & IE8..... I think? Thanks again, I'll give it a try.

[DiJac]

I tell you what...... I'll give Opera a try. I'm in desperate need of somthing! That IE8 seems to be giving me NOTHING but PROBLEMS. At least the combo of AOL & IE8..... I think? Thanks again, I'll give it a try.

[DiJac]

I tried to d/l Opera, twice. Both times I got a "File Corrupt"? Any more ideas for my Dinosaur? I did everything I was told to d/l it........ I bet that IE8 has somthing to do with it! I'll give it another try with Firefox 3.5.1

[DiJac]

I'm going back to EI6! I've tried 4 times to d/l Opera.

[GEO2003]

Firefox 3.5.1 - That is the point, while it has been available for a week, the bug was discover and patched.

So is the samething with IE 8, the bug was discovered and will be patch tomorow. What is the difference ?

The bottom line and final point is that BOTH have vulnerabilites and are being patch. There is not point in making a big deal about either or how either is better then then other since 98 percent of software is bound to have bugs.