Vulnerabilities
Heartbleed (CVE-2014-0160)
Also known as: CVE-2014-0160, OpenSSL heartbeat bug
Definition
A 2014 buffer over-read in OpenSSL's TLS heartbeat extension that let attackers read up to 64 KB of process memory per request, leaking keys, sessions, and passwords.
Examples
- Attackers retrieving the TLS private key of a popular SaaS to decrypt captured traffic.
- Mass scraping of session cookies from authenticated users of vulnerable servers.
Related terms
Buffer Overflow
A memory-safety flaw where a program writes past the end of an allocated buffer, corrupting adjacent memory and often enabling code execution.
Memory Corruption
An umbrella term for vulnerabilities where a program writes outside the bounds of intended memory, undermining type-safety, control flow, or data integrity.
TLS (Transport Layer Security)
TLS (Transport Layer Security) — definition coming soon.
CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures)
A public catalogue that assigns a unique identifier to each disclosed software or hardware vulnerability so they can be referenced unambiguously across the industry.
Known Exploited Vulnerability (KEV)
A CVE that the U.S. CISA confirms is being actively exploited and adds to its public KEV Catalog, triggering remediation deadlines for U.S. federal agencies.
Perfect Forward Secrecy
A protocol property ensuring that the compromise of long-term keys does not allow decryption of past session traffic.