Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Network Security

Microsoft, Samba Preparing Patch for Severe “Badlock” Flaw

Microsoft and Samba developers are working on patching a severe vulnerability that is said to affect almost every version of Windows and Samba.

Samba is an open-source interoperability software suite that provides file and print services to SMB/CIFS clients. In addition to Windows, Samba also runs on UNIX, Linux, IBM System 390, OpenVMS and other operating systems.

Microsoft and Samba developers are working on patching a severe vulnerability that is said to affect almost every version of Windows and Samba.

Samba is an open-source interoperability software suite that provides file and print services to SMB/CIFS clients. In addition to Windows, Samba also runs on UNIX, Linux, IBM System 390, OpenVMS and other operating systems.

Stefan Metzmacher, an employee of SerNet and member of the Samba Core Team, reported discovering a critical vulnerability that has been dubbed “Badlock.” Details of the issue will be disclosed on April 12 when Microsoft and Samba developers release patches. It’s worth noting that April 12 is the next Patch Tuesday, which means the Badlock fix will be released as part of Microsoft’s regular security updates.

SerNet, which created a website and even a logo for Badlock, believes the vulnerability will likely be exploited once its details become public.

“The coordinated efforts are meant to ensure a reasonable time to get the maximum number of systems repaired in short time,” the company said.

While the 20-day pre-notification is meant to ensure that system administrators apply the patch as soon as possible, some have called it a marketing campaign that could benefit the bad guys.

Experts believe malicious hackers could independently find the Badlock bug based on the available information and exploit it before a patch is released. Researcher David Litchfield already has some theories on what the vulnerability might be.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Risk Based Security noted that there are more than 40 file names containing the string “lock” in the current Samba distribution, but there is plenty of time to find the right one before the patch is released.

Others also pointed out that there are 463 source code files signed by Metzmacher and it’s possible that the vulnerability exists in one of his files.

More than 100 vulnerabilities have been found in Samba over the past years. The most serious issue patched in 2015 is a remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2015-0240) that had been assigned a CVSS score of 10.

Written By

Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a managing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join the session as we discuss the challenges and best practices for cybersecurity leaders managing cloud identities.

Register

SecurityWeek’s Ransomware Resilience and Recovery Summit helps businesses to plan, prepare, and recover from a ransomware incident.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Identity & Access

Zero trust is not a replacement for identity and access management (IAM), but is the extension of IAM principles from people to everyone and...

Cybersecurity Funding

Network security provider Corsa Security last week announced that it has raised $10 million from Roadmap Capital. To date, the company has raised $50...

Network Security

Attack surface management is nothing short of a complete methodology for providing effective cybersecurity. It doesn’t seek to protect everything, but concentrates on areas...

Application Security

Virtualization technology giant VMware on Tuesday shipped urgent updates to fix a trio of security problems in multiple software products, including a virtual machine...

Identity & Access

Hackers rarely hack in anymore. They log in using stolen, weak, default, or otherwise compromised credentials. That’s why it’s so critical to break the...

Application Security

Fortinet on Monday issued an emergency patch to cover a severe vulnerability in its FortiOS SSL-VPN product, warning that hackers have already exploited the...

Cyberwarfare

Websites of German airports, administration bodies and banks were hit by DDoS attacks attributed to Russian hacker group Killnet

Network Security

A zero-day vulnerability named HTTP/2 Rapid Reset has been exploited to launch some of the largest DDoS attacks in history.