The California company urged Windows users to apply the update in the next 72 hours after rating the fix as "Priority 1" in its three-step system. That ranking indicates "vulnerabilities being targeted, or which have a higher risk of being targeted, by exploit(s) in the wild."

Google released an update for the Windows version of Chrome, which includes Flash Player, at 10 a.m. PT.

And although Microsoft dated the Internet Explorer 10 (IE10) for Windows 8 update as Oct. 5 on its , on Monday a spokeswoman for the Redmond, Wash. developer said that the date was incorrect. Like Google, Microsoft began pushing the IE10 update via Windows Update today at approximately 10 a.m. PT.

Of the 25 vulnerabilities, 14 were classified as buffer overflow bugs, and the remaining 11 were characterized as memory corruption flaws. All could "lead to code execution," Adobe said in its Monday .

Microsoft's swift patching of IE10 on Windows 8 today was in contrast to last month, when the company first said it would not fix Flash flaws until late October. After being blasted for its laissez-fair attitude, , saying it would issue an update. It did so on Sept. 21, when a company executive promised closer coordination with Adobe.