zero-day vulnerability
1
9.6
- noun
- /ˈziːroʊ deɪ vʌl.nəˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/
- Specialized
:
vulnerabilidad de día cero
- These previously unknown vulnerabilities (so-called zero-day vulnerabilities) are especially critical to find and fix.
What is a zero day vulnerability and then a zero day exploit or attack?
- What is a zero day vulnerability and then a zero day exploit or attack?
Examples
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For sure, many zero-day vulnerabilities get exploited quickly and publicly with chatter on hacking sites, inclusion in Metasploit/exploit kits, and submissions to VirusTotal.
Blog text (29) -
With a chilling hint of the not-so-distant future, researchers at the Usenix Security conference have demonstrated a zero-day vulnerability in your brain.
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What is a zero day vulnerability and then a zero day exploit or attack?
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New Java zero-day vulnerability has been spotted in the wild.
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I assume that any browser has zero-day vulnerabilities, and therefore I don't count on it as my only layer of protection.
Blog text (29) -
How does one accurately deduce whether a browser with a zero-day vulnerability is being actively exploited or not?
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The recent zero-day vulnerability in Internet Explorer caused many (present company included) to urge Internet users to consider surfing the web with a different browser until Microsoft issued a patch.
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If the malware is exploiting a zero-day vulnerability, the endpoint protection (anti-virus) might not be able to catch and block the malware.
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If zero-day vulnerabilities have to be taken into consideration too, they don't really do much to change the balance: Google Chrome 6, Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, and Mozilla Firefox 4.
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Cybersecurity analysts are working tirelessly to find and patch the latest zero-day vulnerability that could expose millions of users to risk.
Synonyms
A hole in software that attackers use before developers release a fix
How Hidden
- Specialized
3
9.8
- Specialized
9
7.2
- Specialized
2
8.0
- Specialized
1
9.6
156
5.1
- Specialized
211
2.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
zero-day + vulnerability
While 'vulnerability' (a susceptibility to harm) is transparent, the compound 'zero-day' is a technical term whose specialised sense ('unknown to the developer and exploitable immediately') is not predictable from knowing just 'zero' and 'day' for a B1 learner. The phrase gives a partial clue (a vulnerability linked to an initial or 'day-zero' moment) but the exploit-before-disclosure aspect requires domain-specific knowledge, so the MWE is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Zero-day vulnerability comes from the idea of having zero days to fix a software vulnerability. If attackers find and use the flaw right away, developers have 'zero days' to fix it, so the phrase means a security flaw used before it is 'known' or 'fixed'.