ACSC releases an alert notice to warn Australians about BlueKeep vulnerability

• The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2019-0708, affects some 50,000 Windows systems in Australia.
• The BlueKeep vulnerability affects the RDP of older versions of Windows operating systems.

The Australian Signals Directorate’s (ASD) Australian Cyber Security Center (ACSC) has released a warning regarding BlueKeep vulnerability. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2019-0708, affects some 50,000 Windows systems in Australia.

What does the report say?

In a notification, the ACSC has disclosed that a security researcher who goes under the Twitter handle @zerosum0x0 has revealed his Remote Desktop (RDP) exploit for the BlueKeep vulnerability to Metasploit.

It is believed that the chance of attempted exploitation of unpatched systems increases, once the RDP exploit is made available to the public.

Rachel Noble, the Head of ASD’s ACSC noted that up to 50,000 devices in Australia could be affected by the BlueKeep vulnerability. This includes some computers owned by the government and critical infrastructure operators.

The BlueKeep vulnerability affects the RDP of older versions of Windows operating systems such as Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows XP, Server 2003, and Server 2008.

What actions are being taken?

The ACSC has already notified governments and critical infrastructure operators across Australia.

Meanwhile, a patch for the vulnerability is already released by Microsoft. Ignoring the patch could result in the compromise of systems. The attackers can exploit the vulnerability to steal or modify data, install malware, and conduct other malicious activities.