SQL Server - Varbinary Column - Extremely Slow Statistics Update
This can be addressed in two additional ways:


Enable Asynchronous Auto Update Statistics and the database level (not my preference). If your production is stuck because due to this issue then this is the quick fix as it is instantaneous but it globally affects the database and can produce sub-par query plans since the plan is generated prior to the stats update.

ALTER DATABASE [DatabaseName] SET AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS_ASYNC ON WITH NO_WAIT

Remove the auto generate stat and replace it with a manually created one with no-recompute. The downside is that, while this is a surgical approach, it takes some time to create the statistic and will cause blocking.

DROP STATISTICS [dbo].[TableName].[_WA_Sys_00000004_7D78A4E7]
GO
CREATE STATISTICS [_Manual_Stat_Name] ON [dbo].[TableName]([Column]) WITH NORECOMPUTE;
GO



When we were forced to deal with a similar issue we went with option 1 first and later option 2. During a "green zone" we reverted the database wide setting and then replaced the column's statistic with the manually created NORECOMPUTE one.