+44 (0)203 88 020 88

Menu

Search

Cyber Security News & Articles

 

Cyber Security
News & Articles

Trusted Cyber Security Experts
25+ Years Industry Experience
Ethical, Professional & Pragmatic

Bluekeep – critical Windows vulnerability

Microsoft included a fix for a serious RDP remote code execution vulnerability known as BlueKeep in the May patch Tuesday update.

The vulnerability, which has become known as BlueKeep or CVE-2019-0708, remains unpatched on millions of internet connected systems.  It affects all Windows-NT based operating systems ranging from Windows 2000 and Windows XP up to Windows Server 2008 R2.

According to Microsoft’s Director of Incident Response Simon Pope:

This vulnerability is pre-authentication and requires no user interaction. In other words, the vulnerability is ‘wormable’, meaning that any future malware that exploits this vulnerability could propagate from vulnerable computer to vulnerable computer in a similar way as the WannaCry malware spread across the globe in 2017.

The BlueKeep vulnerability exists because the RDP protocol performs significant processing before the client is required to authenticate to the server. The RDP protocol manages the data exchange between the client and the server over 32 virtual channels.  The protocol exchanges initialisation data over a pre-determined virtual connection named “MS_T120” which is bound to virtual channel 31.  If a malicious client forms a connection to MS_T120 on any channel other than 31, it causes a heap memory corruption in the RDP driver which can then be leveraged to force a remote code execution.

A detailed explanation is available on the McAfee blog.

How to protect your network against BlueKeep

Consider these mitigation steps:

  • Apply the patches from Microsoft as soon as possible
  • It is good practice to reduce the attack surface of your servers by disabling any services which are not required. If RDP is not needed, turn it off by disabling the service on the server
  • Block port 3389 on your internet firewall to prevent external access or only allow access through a VPN

Your routine vulnerability scans should identify unpatched systems on your network which are vulnerable (you do run automated vulnerability scans at least once a month don’t you?).  However, for additional reassurance, you can make use of the RDPscan tool which will check a given IP address range for vulnerable systems.

This free tool is available for download from security researcher Robert Graham’s GitHub account.

 

 

 

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter today

If you’d like to stay up-to-date with the latest cyber security news and articles from our technical team, you can sign up to our monthly newsletter. 

We hate spam as much as you do, so we promise not to bombard you with emails. We’ll send you a single, curated email each month that contains all of our cyber security news and articles for that month.

Why Choose SecureTeam?

Customer Testimonials

“We were very impressed with the service, I will say, the vulnerability found was one our previous organisation had not picked up, which does make you wonder if anything else was missed.”

Aim Ltd Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

"Within a very tight timescale, SecureTeam managed to deliver a highly professional service efficiently. The team helped the process with regular updates and escalation where necessary. Would highly recommend"

IoT Solutions Group Limited Chief Technology Officer (CTO) & Founder

“First class service as ever. We learn something new each year! Thank you to all your team.”

Royal Haskoning DHV Service Delivery Manager

“We’ve worked with SecureTeam for a few years to conduct our testing. The team make it easy to deal with them; they are attentive and explain detailed reports in a jargon-free way that allows the less technical people to understand. I wouldn’t work with anyone else for our cyber security.”

Capital Asset Management Head of Operations

“SecureTeam provided Derbyshire's Education Data Hub with an approachable and professional service to ensure our schools were able to successfully certify for Cyber Essentials. The team provided a smooth end-to-end service and were always on hand to offer advice when necessary.”

Derbyshire County Council Team Manager Education Data Hub

“A very efficient, professional, and friendly delivery of our testing and the results. You delivered exactly what we asked for in the timeframe we needed it, while maintaining quality and integrity. A great job, done well.”

AMX Solutions IT Project Officer

“We were very pleased with the work and report provided. It was easy to translate the provided details into some actionable tasks on our end so that was great. We always appreciate the ongoing support.”

Innovez Ltd Support Officer

Get in touch today

If you’d like to see how SecureTeam can take your cybersecurity posture to the next level, we’d love to hear from you, learn about your requirements and then send you a free quotation for our services.

Our customers love our fast-turnaround, “no-nonsense” quotations – not to mention that we hate high-pressure sales tactics as much as you do.

We know that every organisation is unique, so our detailed scoping process ensures that we provide you with an accurate quotation for our services, which we trust you’ll find highly competitive.

Get in touch with us today and a member of our team will be in touch to provide you with a quotation. 

0

No products in the basket.

No products in the basket.