What is Heartbleed?

The Heartbleed Bug is a significant vulnerability in the OpenSSL cryptographic software library.

What is it?

💡Heartbleed is a buffer over-read vulnerability that was introduced into OpenSSL in 2012 and publicly disclosed in April 2014. It allows an attacker to read more data than should be allowed, thus leaking the contents of the victim’s memory.

How does it work?

💡If the server version is vulnerable to Heartbleed, cybercriminals can obtain the private key and impersonate the server. They can steal the information protected under normal conditions by the SSL/TLS encryption used to secure the Internet.

What’s the impact?

💡The Heartbleed vulnerability weakens the security of the most common Internet communication protocols (SSL and TSL). Websites affected by Heartbleed allow potential attackers to read their memory.

What’s the solution?

💡A fixed version of OpenSSL was released on the same day Heartbleed was publicly disclosed. However, as of July 2019, some devices were still reported to be vulnerable.

This vulnerability highlights the importance of regular system updates and the use of secure, up-to-date software.