Warnings about the bugs began emerging over the weekend, unnerving businesses and consumers scrambling to fend off growing threats from computer viruses that are able to evade anti-virus software.

Oracle urged computer users to install the latest version of the program as soon as possible.

Java is a language that enables programmers to write software using just one set of code that will run on virtually any type of computer. It is widely used on the Internet so that Web developers can make sites accessible from multiple browsers running on Microsoft Corp Windows PCs or Macs from Apple Inc.

The security firm Rapid7 said in a statement that it had tested Oracle's update, and the update appeared to have fixed the flaw.

The free update is available on Oracle's website at java.com/en/download/index.jsp

(Reporting By Jim Finkle; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

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