Number: IRCNE2013041830
Date: 2013/04/25
According to “computerworld”, a recently patched Java remote code execution vulnerability is already being exploited by cybercriminals in mass attacks to infect computers with scareware, security researchers warn.
The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2013-2423, was one of the 42 security issues fixed in Java 7 Update 21 that was released by Oracle last week, on April 16.
According to Oracle's advisory at the time, the vulnerability only affects client, not server, deployments of Java. The company gave the flaw's impact a 4.3 out of 10 rating using the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) and added that "this vulnerability can be exploited only through untrusted Java Web Start applications and untrusted Java applets."
The vulnerability started being targeted by attackers one day after an exploit for the same flaw was added to the Metasploit framework, an open-source tool commonly used by penetration testers, the F-Secure researchers said.
Users who need Java on their computers and especially in their browsers are advised to upgrade their Java installations to the latest available version -- Java 7 Update 21 -- as soon as possible.
Users should only agree to run Java applets from websites that they trust and which normally load such content. Browsers like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox also have a feature known as click-to-play that can be used to block plug-in-based content from executing without explicit consent.
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