Security experts have warned of a new vulnerability in Microsoft Access which is being used by cyber-criminals to install malware on victims' computers.

PandaLabs said that the security hole is exploited through specially crafted Access files (.mdb) embedded with malicious code.

The flaw is being used to distribute the Keylogger.DB Trojan which is designed to steal confidential data by logging keystrokes.

PandaLabs said that this is a similar security problem to that discovered a few months back, categorised as CVE-2007-6026, but the new flaw also affects the msjet40.dll library, albeit at a different point.

Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs, said: "Whenever a vulnerability of this type appears cyber-crooks will try to take full advantage.

"We can therefore expect to see more malicious Access files in circulation that contain this Trojan and other types of threat."