Microsoft has patched a potentially dangerous flaw on its www.xbox360.com website after security experts warned the software giant of a cross-site scripting vulnerability which could be exploited by hackers to launch phishing attacks.

The vulnerability could be used by web criminals to gather personal and confidential information, such as email address, home address and credit card number, from innocent consumers wishing to pre-order Microsoft's forthcoming gaming console.

IT security firm Finjan Software said that it provided Microsoft with full technical details on 19 May, including proof-of-concept, in order to assist the company with the fix.

Within 12 hours of Finjan's report Microsoft had removed the flaw from its website, which is no longer exposed to this specific vulnerability.

Shlomo Touboul, chief executive and founder of Finjan Software, said: "This discovery is another example of our co-operation with Microsoft and other leading software vendors to fix vulnerabilities before they are exploited by the hacking community."