Symptoms
When you update to Windows 8.1 and Internet Explorer 11, some sites may be unreachable. You may be unable to connect to certain wireless networks in coffee shops, schools and so on. Additionally, you may receive the following generic error message:
This page can’t be displayed
Note This is a generic error page of Internet Explorer. So, you could receive it for many other reasons.
Cause
This issue occurs because the navigation or connection fails when Windows 8.1 and Internet Explorer 11 first attempt to connect to a secure site or server by using a cipher suite that is not based on RC4 to improve security. This is because researchers have recently shown that RC4 is susceptible to exploits. As per TLS negotiation rules, servers are supposed to give an appropriate response to the client if they require RC4. Unfortunately, some servers are buggy and do not negotiate or fallback correctly.
Resolution
After you apply the hotfix, when the first negotiation fails, Internet Explorer 11 will attempt to connect to these servers that use TLS 1.0 with RC4 enabled. This fix makes sure servers that use more secure cipher suites do not use RC4 and those servers that respond unfavorably are still reachable to users.
Update information
To resolve this issue, install the most recent cumulative security update for Internet Explorer. To do this, go to Microsoft Update.
For technical information about the most recent cumulative security update for Internet Explorer, go to the following Microsoft website:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/current.aspxNote This update was first included in security update 2909921.
For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
2909921 MS14-010: Cumulative security update for Internet Explorer: February 11, 2014
Status
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.
References
See the terminology that Microsoft uses to describe software updates.
