Microsoft and Google are squabbling over this major security hole

Hey, look, it's the 4,985th round of a clash between major tech companies - somebody get the popcorn.

While these notorious battles can often involve the folks over at Apple or Samsung, Google and Microsoft are the worthy contestants duelling it out on this occasion.

But why?

Well, like most things within the tech community, it started with a kiss security loophole.

It turns out Microsoft isn't best pleased with Google, as the search engine giant's Threat Analysis Group publicly revealed a major vulnerability in Windows - all before Microsoft had the chance to patch it.

Google handily discovered the flaw, which involves a file called Win32k.sys, on October 21 before privately informing the Big M about it.

The company then decided to reveal it to the world yesterday, despite Microsoft not having fully fixed the issue. You can see where this is going.

Posting on its blog, Google said: "After seven days, per our published policy for actively exploited critical vulnerabilities, we are today disclosing the existence of a remaining critical vulnerability in Windows for which no advisory or fix has yet been released. The vulnerability is particularly serious because we know it is being actively exploited."

While we're unsure whether Google's announcement ended with any literal keyboard drops or dabbing, we do know that Microsoft's response was filled with that special kind of diplomatic language that still conveys the "we're pissed" message.

In a statement to VentureBeat, Microsoft said: "We believe in coordinated vulnerability disclosure, and today's disclosure by Google puts customers at potential risk.

"Windows is the only platform with a customer commitment to investigate reported security issues and proactively update impacted devices as soon as possible. We recommend customers use Windows 10 and the Microsoft Edge browser for the best protection."

Burn.

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