Select Page

You may have seen the news about a Linux vulnerability branded ‘Dirty COW’, which affects many Linux servers. An overview of the vulnerability is below and what you need to do.

What is Dirty COW?

Dirty COW is a new Linux vulnerability referred to technically as CVE-2016-5195. The name came from the fact that it exploits a mechanism called ‘copy-on-write’ and is known as a privilege escalation bug. This means that if attackers manage to get a foot inside your system they can then use Dirty COW to take total control, so it’s crucial to protect yourself. The bug has only recently came to fruition but has been around for nine years – which means it’s likely that many Linux servers have been affected.

What do you need to do?

Install the latest Linux patches available on your Linux web server. Speak to your web hosting company to get this updated. Clients hosting with us, our web servers have been patched as soon as the vulnerability was made public.

We strongly recommend running a manual server check if an automatic patch isn’t available to you. If you have any questions regarding the vulnerability or your solution please contact me and I can talk you through the solution.

For those interested in the more technical details behind the exploit, read all about Dirty COW.

The following two tabs change content below.

Michael Cropper

Founder & Managing Director at Contrado Digital Ltd
Michael has been running Contrado Digital for over 10 years and has over 15 years experience working across the full range of disciplines including IT, Tech, Software Development, Digital Marketing, Analytics, SaaS, Startups, Organisational and Systems Thinking, DevOps, Project Management, Multi-Cloud, Digital and Technology Innovation and always with a business and commercial focus. He has a wealth of experience working with national and multi-national brands in a wide range of industries, across a wide range of specialisms, helping them achieve awesome results. Digital transformation, performance and collaboration are at the heart of everything Michael does.