The flaw can lead to a complete compromise of data confidentiality and website integrity Credit: Ilya Pavlov/Unsplash The Drupal project has released a patch to fix a critical access bypass vulnerability that could put websites at risk of hacking.The vulnerability does not have the highest severity level based on Drupal’s rating system, but is serious enough that the platform’s developers decided to also release a patch for a version of the content management system that’s no longer officially supported.Successful exploitation of the vulnerability can lead to a complete compromise of data confidentiality and website integrity, but only Drupal-based websites with certain configurations are affected.To be vulnerable, a website needs to have the RESTful Web Services enabled and to allow PATCH requests. Furthermore, the attacker needs to be able to register a new account on the website or to gain access to an existing one, regardless of its privileges. The Drupal 7.x branch is not affected, but Drupal 8 users should upgrade to the newly released 8.3.1 or 8.2.8 versions.“While we don’t normally provide security releases for unsupported minor releases, given the potential severity of this issue, we have also provided an 8.2.x release to ensure that sites that have not had a chance to update to 8.3.0 can update safely,” the Drupal developers said in an advisory. Drupal is the third most popular content management system after WordPress and Joomla. It powers the websites of many businesses, government agencies, universities, news agencies and other organizations. Its high-profile users include the White House, the French government, the Mayor of London, the BBC and Oxford University. Related content feature 3 ways to fix old, unsafe code that lingers from open-source and legacy programs Code vulnerability is not only a risk of open-source code, with many legacy systems still in use — whether out of necessity or lack of visibility — the truth is that cybersecurity teams will inevitably need to address the problem. By Maria Korolov Nov 29, 2023 9 mins Security Practices Vulnerabilities Security news Amazon’s AWS Control Tower aims to help secure your data’s borders As digital compliance tasks and data sovereignty rules get ever more complicated, Amazon wants automation to help. By Jon Gold Nov 28, 2023 3 mins Regulation Cloud Security news North Korean hackers mix code from proven malware campaigns to avoid detection Threat actors are combining RustBucket loader with KandyKorn payload to effect an evasive and persistent RAT attack. By Shweta Sharma Nov 28, 2023 3 mins Malware feature How a digital design firm navigated its SOC 2 audit L+R's pursuit of SOC 2 certification was complicated by hardware inadequacies and its early adoption of AI, but a successful audit has provided security and business benefits. By Alex Levin Nov 28, 2023 11 mins Certifications Compliance Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe