Question

Describe how the Heartbleed attack happens. What is the type of this attack? Where does the vulnerability exist? Describe the vulnerability and how it is exploited? Describe the consequences of the attack?

Answer 1

The Heartbleed bug was a serious flaw in OpenSSL, encryption software that powers a lot of secure communications on the web.

How the Heartbleed attack happens:

The SSL standard includes a heartbeat option, which allows a computer at one end of an SSL connection to send a short message to verify that the other computer is still online and get a response back. So it's possible to send a cleverly formed, malicious heartbeat message that tricks the computer at the other end into divulging secret information. Specifically, a vulnerable computer can be tricked into transmitting the contents of the server's memory, known as RAM.

The heartbeat message has three parts: a request for acknowledgement, a short, randomly-chosen message, and the number of characters in that message. The server is simply supposed to acknowledge having received the request and parrot back the message.

The Heartbleed attack takes advantage of the fact that the server can be too trusting. Occasionally, one of the computers will send an encrypted piece of data, called a heartbeat request, to the other. The second computer will reply back with the exact same encrypted piece of data, proving that the connection is still in place. Crucially, the heartbeat request includes information about its own length.

What is the type of this attack:

Heartbleed is a security bug so it is a security attack.

Where does the vulnerability exist:

The vulnerability exists in OpenSSL, which is a popular cryptography library.

Describe the vulnerability and how it is exploited:

The Heartbleed bug allows anyone on the Internet to read the memory of the systems protected by the vulnerable versions of the OpenSSL software. This compromises the secret keys used to identify the service providers and to encrypt the traffic, the names and passwords of the users and the actual content. This allows attackers to eavesdrop on communications, steal data directly from the services and users and to impersonate services and users.

Describe the consequences of the attack:

The Heartbleed attack works by tricking servers into leaking information stored in their memory. So any information handled by web servers is potentially vulnerable. That includes passwords, credit card numbers, medical records, and the contents of private email or social media messages. Attackers can also get access to a server's private encryption key. That could allow the attacker to unscramble any private messages sent to the server and even impersonate the server. These are the consequences of the attack.