Open-source software enables code review and reuse, but known vulnerabilities and unmaintained dependencies can create cybersecurity risks.
Search across headline titles and summaries.
Background for this topic.
Open source is software whose source code is available under a license that permits use, inspection, modification, and redistribution. It may be developed by a community, an organization, or a small group of maintainers; “open” does not guarantee that the code is actively reviewed, supported, or secure.
For security teams, the main concerns are vulnerabilities in dependencies and the software supply chain: a maintainer account, release process, or package can be compromised, while an unmaintained component may retain known flaws. Public code can enable review and faster fixes, but visibility alone is not a control. Maintain an inventory or SBOM of open-source components, pin and verify versions or signatures where possible, monitor vulnerability advisories, and apply updates through a controlled process.
The Bitwarden open-source password management service has introduced a new inline auto-fill menu that addresses the risk of user credentials being stolen through malicious form fields. [...]
A recently open-sourced network mapping tool called SSH-Snake has been repurposed by threat actors to conduct malicious activities
A threat actor is using an open-source network mapping tool named SSH-Snake to look for private keys undetected and move laterally on the victim infrastructure. [...]
Cybersecurity researchers have identified two authentication bypass flaws in open-source Wi-Fi software found in Android, Linux, and ChromeOS devices that could trick users into joining a malicious clone of a legitimate network or allow an attacker to join a trusted network without a password
Millions of Websites Potentially at RiskCross-site scripting vulnerabilities in Joomla, a widely used free-source content management system, were fixed in a patch published Tuesday by the open-source project that maintains the software. The flaws potentially expose millions of websites to attacks that can end with remote code execution.