Slashdot Mirror


Over 300,000 Servers Remain Vulnerable To Heartbleed

An anonymous reader writes Even though it's been a couple months since the Heartbleed bug was discovered, many servers remain unpatched and vulnerable. "Two months ago, security experts and web users panicked when a Google engineer discovered a major bug — known as Heartbleed — that put over a million web servers at risk. The bug doesn't make the news much anymore, but that doesn't mean the problem's solved. Security researcher Robert David Graham has found that at least 309,197 servers are still vulnerable to the exploit. Immediately after the announcement, Graham found some 600,000 servers were exposed by Heartbleed. One month after the bug was announced, that number dropped down to 318,239. In the past month, however, only 9,042 of those servers have been patched to block Heartbleed. That's cause for concern, because it means that smaller sites aren't making the effort to implement a fix."

36 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. Better Career Path by Austrian+Anarchy · · Score: 4, Funny

    If those servers would have studied engineering instead of history, they probably would not be servers and not be suffering from broken hearts.

    --
    Time Bomber the Book coming soon.
    1. Re:Better Career Path by plover · · Score: 3, Funny

      You bleeding heart liberals never know when to change.

      --
      John
    2. Re:Better Career Path by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      300,000 seems like a small number, if you stop and consider how many sub amateurs setup web servers.
      You were told that Linux is very secure and you don't have to worry about hacks and viruses. You installed your favorite distribution, and got what ever web stuff you wanted and then you left the server running ranking up Uptime and not touching the server ever again. Heck I am willing to bet for some of these systems the Hard Drive failed years ago, and they are running off of ram alone.
      Web Page still works, everything is A-OK.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  2. Hosting? by houstonbofh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I wonder how many of these are dirt cheap hosting servers, and no one who should care even knows the hosting company is asleep at the switch...

    1. Re: Hosting? by Torp · · Score: 1

      Also, the laws are a bit idiotic. It's not like the ones actually exploiting the vulnerability will care that it's illegal.
      They need a whistleblower exception :)

      --
      I apologize for the lack of a signature.
    2. Re:Hosting? by ruir · · Score: 1

      Actually Debian forced restarts after the 3rd or 4th upgrade cycle due to update corrections due to SSL. Maybe a week or two after the original problem. Probably for a good reason...

  3. Yeah, unfortunate reality of infosec by astralagos · · Score: 1

    This is to be expected, the only organizations that were going to aggressively patch HB were going to be the googles, the microsofts, the ones with millions of assets and awareness of how much damage that it can cause. The ones that aren't going to patch are going to be your Bob and Joe's Bait Shop with the inexplicable online shop that's being managed by their nephew whenever he's in town from college, if he knows to.

    1. Re:Yeah, unfortunate reality of infosec by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      This is to be expected, the only organizations that were going to aggressively patch HB were going to be the googles, the microsofts, the ones with millions of assets and awareness of how much damage that it can cause. The ones that aren't going to patch are going to be your Bob and Joe's Bait Shop with the inexplicable online shop that's being managed by their nephew whenever he's in town from college, if he knows to.

      Or the "smart" software developer who sees Apples and Googles and Microsfots charging 30% for their app store, and thinking they can just "save the money" and "do it themselves".

      After all, it's just a few web servers, HTML and anyone can download Ubuntu and get it working. And after you set it up once, it's all you need. Right?

      Why pay Apple/Google/Microsoft 30% when you can do it yourself? After all, it's just a one-time set up cost and then the devs can get back to developing the product, the site doesn't need maintenance or anything.

  4. Different websites, different passwords by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This is why at different websites, you need different passwords. This way, it minimizes damage when it's not patched.

    Just watch the video at http://www.komonews.com/news/consumer/Getting-passwords-under-control-261725121.html

    A more secure password has at least nine characters and has a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. You can use a core password that's easy to remember, then put characters ahead of it and after it to vary it for different websites. So, for example, your core could be B@seball9, then for Amazon your password could be B@seball9AZ and for Facebook your password could be B@seball9FB.

    In the video, they show as a more secure password for Amazon.com to be B@aseball9amazon

    I don't think we should trust the video.

  5. Let's put teenagers in jails by Jorge666 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why would someone patch the web server?
    We don't like smart and taking initiative teenagers, here in the USA

    1. Teenager sends email to administrators advising them about unpatched server.
    2. SWAT raids the home of the kid.
    3. DA sends the kid to private jail for life and announces running for another term.
    4. ?
    5. Profit or reality of life in the USA

  6. Re:and yet cryptocurrencies remain immune...! by plover · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You've packed a lot of wrong into such a short post. If a system is insecure a "good" architecture is irrelevant - you're still screwed. And either way, neither architecture nor cryptocurrencies have anything to do with this problem, which is unpatched OpenSSL.

    --
    John
  7. servers of what? by rubycodez · · Score: 1

    most servers on the internet don't do anything important. this is sensationalist tripe.

    1. Re:servers of what? by rubycodez · · Score: 1

      does slashdot even kick into https for passwords?

      any slashdotter who uses the same password as for banking or auction or bitcoin site deserves what they get

    2. Re:servers of what? by rubycodez · · Score: 1

      aw too bad, I was hoping my account would be hijacked by mean spirited trolling sociopath, and no one would notice

    3. Re:servers of what? by ruir · · Score: 1

      And why nobody would notice, because you are one, and the comments would not change? ;) I cant get tough I people think SSL is enough. I am using google two factor authentication, and even then who knows. Pity slashdot does not support it yet. There are a lot of avenues to get your password. Your mother could be watching you type it, or that babe in Starbucks. Your Windows can be hijacked by a malware capturing passwords. The NSA can use their standard backdoor in Windows and probably OSX and get in. Your keyboard maybe compromised. They can film you while you type your password. Your employeer can be running a SSL middle in the man attack with their firewall just for the sake of security. You can answer to that fine emails about lost passwords, that really arent coming to the place that would be the proper one (dont laugh, some of our executive secretaries already fell for it...more than once). Your network can be compromised, for instance by a disgruntled employee or an hacked machine. Your DNS is poisoned... people always forget SSL is just a leaf on the forest.

    4. Re:servers of what? by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      does slashdot even kick into https for passwords?

      any slashdotter who uses the same password as for banking or auction or bitcoin site deserves what they get

      Nope, and to be honest, they even have a handy "auto login" link that puts your password in the URL.

      To be certain, well, there's nothing at risk for /. - so what - someone can post as yourself? I've been to worse sites that demanded way more stringent policies for far less than what /. offers.

  8. Re:and yet cryptocurrencies remain immune...! by jaeztheangel · · Score: 1, Insightful

    If a system is insecure a "good" architecture is irrelevant - you're still screwed.

    Dear John

    Please can you explain how BitCoin is vulnerable to Heartbleed?

    I think good architecture is essential to good security. That's why I posted.

    Many Thanks

    Jawad Yaqub

  9. Re:And that's what you get! by rubycodez · · Score: 1

    they should have been using mac servers! they come with X and remote desktop and art so you don't have to break a nail doing command line like a neanderthal!

  10. Online wallet by tepples · · Score: 2

    Bitcoin itself is not vulnerable, as I understand it. But an online wallet using HTTPS with certain heartbeat-enabled TLS stacks may be vulnerable.

  11. Hosting? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Maybe some of them are patched but nobody restarted apache/nginx/lighttpd/whatever so they still use old and vulnerable openssl version

  12. Re:Maybe by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

    So why are they using SSL in the first place?

  13. what about the Bob and Joe's Bait Shop by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    who does not want to pay the X3 rate to get some out there now to fix it and will just wait for the next visit in there plan with there Outsourced IT plan.

  14. As expected by Virtucon · · Score: 2

    Only 50% found it critical enough to deal with the problem quickly. The rest either have embedded systems or dependencies that are preventing them from upgrading or they aren't savvy enough to know that they're system is vulnerable. For example systems on Ubuntu 13.04 didn't get the heartbleed fix because 13.04 is at end of support, necessitating to first upgrade to 13.10 before getting the fix. You can of course roll your own and build it yourself etc. but most organizations aren't going to do that. There's also that small percentage that will never upgrade no matter what because they're is some other reason not to, org blow back or systems are near end of life for example.

    --
    Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
    1. Re:As expected by Rick+Zeman · · Score: 1

      For example systems on Ubuntu 13.04 didn't get the heartbleed fix because 13.04 is at end of support, necessitating to first upgrade to 13.10 before getting the fix. .

      End of life'd after just a year. Just wow. That would really want me to put Ubuntu into a production environment. Not.

    2. Re:As expected by Ingenium13 · · Score: 5, Informative

      13.04 wasn't an LTS release. LTS releases come out every 2 years and are supported for 5 years (12.04, 14.04, etc). The non-LTS releases can be thought of as betas for the LTS releases.

    3. Re:As expected by John+Bokma · · Score: 1

      More like alphas. At least at the desktop.

    4. Re:As expected by bipbop · · Score: 1

      The LTS releases are more or less like that, too.

  15. Re:and yet cryptocurrencies remain immune...! by tysonedwards · · Score: 4, Informative

    Bitcoin used a vulnerable version of OpenSSL and required an update to Bitcoin Core to stop it from revealing the contents of it's memory to a remote attacker. That is why 0.9.1 came out in such short order after the disclosure of the Heartbleed vulnerability. See the Bitcoin Foundation's website: Heartbleed

    --
    Thirty four characters live here.
  16. Not suprising... by Lumpy · · Score: 1

    There are servers out there still broadcasting the "code red" worm...

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  17. Certificate renewal by manu0601 · · Score: 1

    Certificate Authorities (CA) could help here: if a secured server was mandatory to get certificate renewal, things would be cleaned up.

    Problem is: each CA has no interest into doing this extra work, and no central authority can force them to do so. Major browsers could push them, though, by telling users that some CA are more trustable than others.

    1. Re:Certificate renewal by Torp · · Score: 2

      LOL. Most certificate authorities are just saying 'here's what this guy told us his name is'. Basically worthless.
      But it's nice to have a near monopoly service that's no better than a self signed certificate.

      --
      I apologize for the lack of a signature.
    2. Re:Certificate renewal by jandrese · · Score: 1

      Certificates are renewed on multi-year timeframes. We're talking about 2 months here, relatively few of the websites in question would have needed to re-up their certs.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
  18. Re:This number might be too high..... by philip.paradis · · Score: 1

    It seems you don't actually understand the topic you're speaking on here. Various bridged (inline) WAFs are capable of blocking Heartbleed attacks; Imperva offers one such solution. It is not necessary for the WAF to operate in a conventional proxy mode to accomplish this task, and there is no race condition involved. Why are you posting in an authoritative tone when you have no idea what you're talking about?

    --
    Write failed: Broken pipe
  19. Re:Maybe by jafiwam · · Score: 1

    So why are they using SSL in the first place?

    Looking for the "lock symbol" is the one thing the masses have managed to learn about Internet security.

    People (the inexperienced ones) cause customer service headaches when they can't / won't learn that this system doesn't need it. "Where is the lock?" "How come you don't have a lock?" "My grandson says the lock means you are secure." etc.

    For $40 a year, a company can head off 40 tech support calls with the worst type of users (the ones that don't even understand enough to put the answers in context and need 15 minutes of explaining to understand the answer) by slapping an SSL cert on every server. Sometimes it's even people in the "IT department" that have this gap in knowledge.

    The company I work for does exactly this. I even got kudos for suggesting a wildcard cert would be cheaper and easier than individual certs for all the hostnames. Now it's standard procedure to slap the the cert on everything public facing. And, there's only one renewal date to deal with as opposed to a trickle of them every other week all year.

  20. Update in haste? by satch89450 · · Score: 1
    How critical is the bug for the particular server? That will vary. For example, my little mail server is running CentOS 4, and does not have the HeartBeat "enhancement" because the updates to that particular distribution stopped before that little throb was introduced. (Sometimes is pays to stay away from the "bleeding edge" of progress!) Yes, it's time to upgrade, but I'm taking my time and doing it slow, because I want to use CentOS 7 when it's released. I'm replacing hardware, too, and I'm testing that hardware before I place all my marbles there. (Not that it matters much.)

    Also, I have SSH locked down to specific IP address, no Web service of any kind -- indeed, it's a "mostly closed" system with public-facing holes only for SSH (limited by tcpwrappers), SMTP (not SMTPS or SUBMISSION), DOMAIN (severely rate-limited and with blocks for ANY), NTP, and TRACEROUTE. This effectively blocks any access to heartbleed.

    When the first alerts came out, the first thing I did was run the web-based exploit detectors. They didn't get through. At that time, I reviewed the services not blocked by the firewall, and to the best of my knowledge, none of the services I list above use the Secure Shell library. So I satisfied myself that my mail server was tight.

    Everything else on my network is behind the same firewall, using NAT to gain access to the outside world. There is no open path to my desktop computers or internal-only servers.

    I'm very much of the school "if it ain't broke, don't fix it in a hurry." In my case, I'm rebuilding servers (some celebrating 10 years of service or more) with the latest proven software one at a time, with the mail server being last in the chain. I'm replacing hardware as well as software, one by one. (I'm probably going to update the old hardware so I have standbys if the new hardware experiences infant mortality, but that's a detail.)

    So, in come cases carefully researched, there isn't any need to take action against Heartbleed, because the exploits are blocked upstream.

  21. Re:and yet cryptocurrencies remain immune...! by Copid · · Score: 1

    On a similar note, my coffee machine is not vulnerable to HeartBleed. Another point for the engineers over at Saeco over the morons at OpenSSL, right?

    --
    An interesting anagram of "BANACH TARSKI" is "BANACH TARSKI BANACH TARSKI"