covering the week's top tech stories
with a slight linux bias microsoft is
urgently advising windows server
customers to patch a vulnerability that
allows attackers to take control of
entire networks
with no user interaction and from there
rapidly spread from computer to computer
the vulnerability dubbed cigred by
researchers at checkpoint who discovered
it
resides in windows dns a component that
automatically responds to requests
to translate a domain into the ipi
address computers need to locate it on
the internet
by sending maliciously formed queries
attackers can execute
code that gains domain administrator
rights and then from there
take control of the entire network the
vulnerability is present in all windows
server versions from
2003 to 2019. both microsoft and the
researchers said that it's wormable
meaning it can spread from computer to
computer in a way that's akin to
falling dominoes with no user
interaction required
computer worms have the potential to
propagate rapidly just by virtue of
being connected
and without requiring end users to do
anything at all
when a worm's underlying vulnerability
easily allows malicious code to be
executed
exploits can be especially harmful as
was the case with both the wannacry and
not pecha attacks from 2016
that shut down networks worldwide and
caused billions of dollars in damage
checkpoint researchers said that the
effort required to exploit sig red was
well within the means of skilled hackers
while there's no evidence that the
vulnerability is actively underexploited
at the moment
checkpoint and said that's likely to
change and if it does the destructive
effects would be high
microsoft rated the chances of
exploitation as more likely
many outside researchers concurred
security reacher
researcher marcus hutchins fears
attackers will exploit cigred
in an attempt to wage crippling
ransomware campaigns
in that scenario attackers would take
control of a network's dns server and
then use it to push malware to all
connected client computers
microsoft issued a fix as part of this
month's update tuesday
organizations that use windows dns
should carefully assess the risks and
install tuesday's patch as soon as
possible
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