Micrsoft: XP's MS10-15 BSOD Caused by Malware

That pesky malware is always up to no good.

Thursday we reported that many Windows XP users were experiencing the Blue Screen of Death after installing Microsoft's latest batch of security updates. Security blogger Brian Krebs pinned the problem to MS10-15, a security update that addresses a 17-year-old kernel bug in all 32-bit versions of Windows XP. Users suffering the BSOD after installing the update were told to boot from the original Windows XP installation disc and fix the OS in the Recovery Console.

On Thursday Microsoft acknowledged the problem as stated in this blog, however at the time the Redmond company could not verify if the issue was specific to MS10-15, or if it was an interoperability problem with another component or third-party software. Microsoft pulled the patch from Windows Update until it could determine the source behind the BSOD issue.

However on Friday the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) issued a report stating that malware installed on the systems were causing problems with the MS10-15 security patch. The MSRC team said that the BSOD issue is still under investigation, and has not yet ruled out other potential causes. Consumers experiencing the BSOD issues are asked to submit memory dumps if possible.

"In order to get the information we need to fully analyze the issue, some of our support engineers have actually driven to customer locations and picked up affected systems so we can get the needed crash data directly and help inform our investigation," the MSRC report said.

Microsoft customers were also advised to keep anti-virus software running and up-to-date in order to help prevent malware infections.