Chinese cyber-security firm warns about impending attacks on Oracle WebLogic servers.
Security researchers have spotted a new zero-day vulnerability impacting the
Oracle WebLogic server that is currently being targeted in the wild.
Oracle has been notified of the zero-day, but the software maker just released its quarterly security patches four days before this zero-day's discovery.
Because the company releases security updates every three months, an update to address this issue won't be released for three more months, until July.
In the meantime, over
36,000 publicly accessible WebLogic servers will remain vulnerable to attacks, and server owners will have to deploy workarounds to counteract any possible breaches.
The zero-day
The zero-day was first spotted on Sunday, April 21, by
KnownSec 404, the company behind ZoomEye, a search engine for discovering internet-connected devices.
The company says that attackers are targeting Oracle WebLogic servers running the WLS9_ASYNC and WLS-WSAT components. The first component adds support for server asynchronous operations, while the second is the server's security component.
A vulnerability exists in these two that can trigger the deserialization of malicious code that allows a hacker to take over the targeted system.
To prevent attacks, KnownSec 404 is recommending that companies either remove the vulnerable components and restart their WebLogic servers, or put firewall rules in place to prevent requests being made to two URL paths exploited by the attacks ( /_async/* and /wls-wsat/*).