In an announcement which marks a turnaround on Microsoft's earlier decision to roll out a patch for Flash Player vulnerability within Internet Explorer 10 (IE10) only after the General Availability of Windows 8, the software company said on Tuesday that it will fix the mentioned vulnerability `shortly.'

With Microsoft's Windows 8 OS scheduled to be launched on October 26, the company has decided to patch the IE10's Flash Player vulnerability at the earliest possible, instead of waiting for the general release of its new OS.

The critical vulnerability which Microsoft will soon fix is essentially a flaw in the embedded Flash component of the IE10, and it enables the hackers to either crash an affected system or take control of it.

Noting that it will be for the first time that Microsoft will be patching an OS before its officially release, Fahmida Rashid - networking and security analyst at PCMag - said that Microsoft will have to patch the IE10's Flash Player vulnerability rather than Flash Player's creator Adobe because Flash Player is built into Windows 8 and is not a standalone plug-in.

About releasing the fix for Flash Player ahead of the Windows 8 release, Yunsun Wee - director of trustworthy computing at Microsoft - said in a statement: "Microsoft is working closely with Adobe to release an update for Adobe Flash in IE10 to protect our mutual customers. This update will be available shortly."