Security News > 2022 > June > CISA warns of hackers exploiting PwnKit Linux vulnerability
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has added a high-severity Linux vulnerability known as PwnKit to its list of bugs exploited in the wild.
PwnKit is a memory corruption bug that unprivileged users can exploit to gain full root privileges on Linux systems with default configurations.
This is even more pressing given that, according to Qualys' advisory, exploiting the PwnKit privilege escalation bug is possible without leaving traces on the compromised system.
The US cybersecurity agency also gave all Federal Civilian Executive Branch Agencies agencies three weeks, until July 18, to patch their Linux servers against PwnKit and block exploitation attempts.
According to a binding operational directive issued by CISA in November to reduce the risk of known exploited bugs across US federal networks, FCEB agencies must secure their systems against bugs added to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog.
CISA has also urged government agencies and private sector orgs using Microsoft Exchange to expedite the switch from Basic Auth legacy authentication methods to Modern Auth alternatives.
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