The US-CERT has issued an advisory stating that a new unpatched vulnerability is present in Microsoft Word. An attacker can gain control of a computer if it reads a specially crafted Word document. There are reports that such documents are being sent via e-mail. Microsoft is currently indicating that a patch for this vulnerability will not be released until their standard patch release date on the second Tuesday in June. Until a patch is available, users should view any e-mailed Word document with suspicion and NOT open any document that is unexpected.

Users running McAfee VirusScan updated with Friday's signature file will detect some infected documents. Users should not rely upon anti-virus software for absolute protection from this threat.

The US-CERT advisory can be read at www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/446012.