Microsoft is investigating another flaw in the Internet Explorer. The flaw can cause an unauthorized disclosure of information for users running the browser on older operating systems.

The flaw is different from the one used to attack Google and other companies.

The latest flaw has greater chances of affecting windows XP. Joris Evers, McAfee’s spokesman, said, “Although the latest issue doesn't allow the attacker to gain full control of a system, it nonetheless represents a serious vulnerability that can expose personal information or system information that may be used in a follow up attack".

The disclosure is the latest security problem to affect IE. Last month, an undisclosed vulnerability in IE 6 was used in attacks that targeted more than 20 U. S. companies, including Google, which blamed China. The vulnerability has since been fixed by Microsoft.

Google, thus announced, that it would phase out support for IE 6, starting with Google Apps and Google Sites, in March.

"Protected Mode prevents exploitation of this vulnerability and is running by default for versions of Internet Explorer on Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008", said Microsoft officials.