The Bourne Again SHell (Bash) is one of the most common utilities used by Mac OSX and Linux. Yesterday, a bug was revealed in this command shell that could potentially allow remote hackers to take over any system that listens for network connections over the web. This does not affect most everyday users of these OS’s unless they have specifically set up listening services on their device. However, it is a major issue for anything that runs as a server including web servers, IoT connected devices, and home routers.
Many companies and communities have already released patches to address this problem, and it can be avoided alltogether through the use of a simple firewall. Regardless, the impacts of this bug are only beginning to be realized as it has existed for 25 years, and with the combination of sporadic updates from device manufacturers with users who don’t update their devices regularly this problem is likely to get more complicated before it is completely fixed.
