The United States Department of Homeland Security urged users to completely remove media player QuickTime for Windows on their computers due to an unpatched security loophole that might render their systems vulnerable to hacking.

While Apple did not immediately respond to this, the tech giant recently confirmed that it is ending support for QuickTime for Windows after its 11-year run.

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Apple said that it will no longer release patches or security updates for the PC version of its multimedia player. This leaves users who are still using the software literally vulnerable to hackers.

About a week ago, security firm Trend Micro exposed two security loopholes hidden deep in the code of QuickTime 7 for Windows. The security firm added that it had informed Apple of the security threat in November 2015.

Apple has yet to release an official statement regarding dropping support for QuickTime for Windows. However, on April 18, the tech giant confirmed its future plans regarding the software to The Wall Street Journal.

Trend Micro was able to launch heap overflows by simply directing QuickTime to a malicious website or force it to playback an infected file. Heap overflow bugs are one of the most common attack strategies. It involves hackers installing malware that can gather sensitive user data. This opens the door for hackers to do a remote code execution. 

Despite the major security threat that QuickTime flaw presents, Trend Micro said that it has not seen any instance of a hacking incident that exploited the vulnerability. The company added that the only fool-proof way to make sure that the hole will not be exploited is by completely removing QuickTime on a computer.

As part of its effort to completely deprecate QuickTime for Windows, Apple posted a step-by-step guide on how to uninstall the program on its official support page back in March.

Tagsapple, Apple QuickTime, QuickTime, QuickTime for Windows, Apple QuickTime for Windows, QuickTime vulnerability, QuickTime exploit