A significant Linux vulnerability that affects most Linux servers was announced yesterday. We are currently systematically patching and rebooting all our Linux servers in the next few hours to address the vulnerability.
The vulnerability, named GHOST, allows unauthorised remote access to Linux servers. While our servers are unlike to come under attack in the short term, we are not taking any chances. The root of the problem lies with a buffer overflow bug in the GNU C Library (glibc). We are currently systematically installing an updated version of glibc and dependent packages. For the updates to take effect, a reboot of each of the servers is required.