Zoom patches conference software after Tenable discovers security vulnerability

Tenable was behind one software update to fix security flaws that’s circulating this week.
The research arm of the Columbia-based cybersecurity company discovered a vulnerability in Zoom’s conferencing platform that would allow attackers to take control of a user’s desktop remotely during a meeting.
After being alerted, Tenable said that Zoom quickly updated the software.
According to Tenable, the security flaw, if exploited, would allow attackers to do the following:

• Hijack control of a screen, allowing them to download and execute malware.
• Impersonate others in the meeting through chat messages.
• Kick out other attendees of the meeting.

A blog post from the company states the vulnerability was discovered by Tenable’s David Wells.
“This impacts both one-on-one (P2P) meetings as well as group meetings streamed through Zoom servers,” the blog post states, adding that the vulnerability could also be exploited over Wide Area Network (WAN).
The vulnerability could’ve put 750,000 companies that use Zoom at risk.
To fix the vulnerability, Zoom patched servers and released new versions of the software. The company is urging users to ensure their software is up-to-date.
This vulnerability is the perfect example of the cyber attack surface that is expanded by seemingly innocuous services, like Zoom,” Tenable CTO Renaud Deraison said in a statement.
In September, the recently IPO’d company released research on a vulnerability in security cameras used around the world.