The OpenSSL Heartbleed Bug Strikes The Internet

As many Phoronix readers have already reported in, a very serious OpenSSL security vulnerability was discovered that allows for attackers to read memory in 64k memory chunks. A very serious bug in OpenSSL 1.0.1/1.0.2-beta is leaking information since the bug's introduction in 2011.

As explained in the OpenSSL.org advisory, "A missing bounds check in the handling of the TLS heartbeat extension can be used to reveal up to 64k of memory to a connected client or server."

For security experts and system administrators out there, a ton more information is revealed via the Heartbleed.com web-site setup that covers all of the details for this massive OpenSSL security vulnerability. New versions of OpenSSL have already been released to address this security vulnerability now present in major operating systems.