Zeroday in ubiquitous Log4j tool poses a grave threat to the Internet

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Exploit code has been released for a serious code-execution vulnerability in Log4j, an open-source logging utility that’s used in countless apps, including those used by large enterprise organizations, several websites reported on last Thursday.

Word of the vulnerability first came to light on sites catering to users of Minecraft, the best-selling game of all time. The sites warned that hackers could execute malicious code on servers or clients running the Java version of Minecraft by manipulating log messages, including from things typed in chat messages. The picture became more dire still as Log4j was identified as the source of the vulnerability and exploit code was discovered posted online.

A big deal

“The Minecraft side seems like a perfect storm, but I suspect we are going to see affected applications and devices continue to be identified for a long time,” HD Moore, founder and CTO of network discovery platform Rumble, said. “This is a big deal for environments tied to older Java runtimes: Web front ends for various network appliances, older application environments using legacy APIs, and Minecraft servers, due to their dependency on older versions for mod compatibility.”