Echoes of Heartbleed: A New OpenSSL Exploit

LOS ANGELES — With adult webmasters still reeling from unexpected vulnerabilities in OpenSSL that were exploitable by Heartbleed, a new threat has emerged, adding to the concerns over Internet safety.

Heartbleed targeted the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol that underpins “secure” online exchanges, allowing malicious users and government agents to steal usernames and passwords, to infiltrate online banking accounts, and to gain access to data and websites thought to be well under lock and key.

While the Heartbleed exploit was quickly addressed, it was not the end of the woes for SSL, with the OpenSSL Foundation recently revealing another security problem when it issued a warning about the newly exposed SSL/TLS MITM vulnerability:

“An attacker using a carefully crafted handshake can force the use of weak keying material in OpenSSL SSL/TLS clients and servers. This [is exploitable] by a Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack where the attacker can decrypt and modify traffic from the attacked client and server,” the organization warns. “The attack can only be performed between a vulnerable client *and* server. OpenSSL clients are vulnerable in all versions of OpenSSL.”

Currently, only those servers that are running OpenSSL 1.0.1 and 1.0.2-beta1 are vulnerable, but users of OpenSSL servers earlier than 1.0.1 should upgrade anyways, as a precaution.

According to Remik Kolodziejs, Red Apple Media CTO and co-founder, this latest issue is not nearly as serious as the recent Heartbleed exploit.

“Web browsers used by regular Internet users are not vulnerable to this,” Kolodziejs explains. “Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera on the desktop, and Safari on iOS devices do not use OpenSSL and are thus not affected.”

This vulnerability only affects server-to-server connections using OpenSSL on both ends to generate a secure handshake, and seems aimed at Android.

“As of right now, only Google’s Chrome on Android devices use OpenSSL and may be vulnerable to this exploit,” Kolodziejs advises, adding that “Apple’s iOS devices are not vulnerable.”

Kolodziejs says that this newly discovered vulnerability affects only server communications with other servers, and even then, the attacker must be in a privileged network position to manipulate data between servers — something not easily done from the public Internet.  These possible attacks also need a man-in-the-middle position between the victim and non-OpenSSL clients

“In other words, this is good news,” Kolodziejs offers. “Nonetheless, all OpenSSL users should be updating their server-side OpenSSL packages to protect their servers from possible hacking attempts and break-ins.” 

Related:  

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

France Reinstates Age Verification Rule for EU Sites

France’s highest court, the Council of State, on Tuesday reinstated age verification rules for EU-based sites under the country’s Security and Regulation of the Digital Space (SREN) law, ruling in favor of the French government and against Hammy Media.

Whisper Fans Joins Pineapple Support as Supporter-Level Sponsor

Whisper Fans has joined the ranks of over 70 adult businesses and organizations committing funds and resources to Pineapple Support.

Utherverse Launches 'Red Light Center' Virtual World

Virtual reality and metaverse technology company Utherverse has launched its new virtual world, RedLightCenter.io.

European Commission Approves AV Guidelines, Unveils Prototype App

The European Commission on Monday released its final, approved guidelines for protecting minors online under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and made public a “white label” age verification app intended to help sites and platforms comply with age verification rules under the DSA.

New Membership Site 'Sluts Corner' Launches

R18 Entertainment has launched a new membership site, SlutsCorner.com.

Roxie Rae Relaunches Site Through XSiteAbility

Roxie Rae has relaunched her site through XSiteAbility.

Federal Appeals Court Vacates FTC 'Click to Cancel' Rule Pending Review

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit on Tuesday vacated the Federal Trade Commission’s “click-to-cancel” rule aimed at making it easier for consumers to cancel online subscriptions, pending further review.

FSC Drops Florida AV Lawsuit in Wake of SCOTUS Decision

A U.S. district court judge granted on Tuesday a motion by Free Speech Coalition to dismiss the trade association’s lawsuit over Florida’s age verification law, a case that had been on hold pending the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on the constitutionality of state AV laws.

Ukrainian President Responds to Porn Legalization Petition

President Volodymyr Zelensky responded Tuesday to an OnlyFans model’s petition to decriminalize pornography in Ukraine, stating that he would wait for the legislative process to play out “in accordance with established procedure.”

Show More