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Comment by sp332

12 years ago

How would a client be compromised? I mean I guess a malicious server could send these bad heartbeat packets and sniff the keys, but if the server is pwned then your secrets are already revealed, right?

Imagine you've got a script that, among other things, does a 'wget' against some innocent plain HTTP URL. But an attacker intercepts your request, and redirects you to an HTTPS URL of their choosing.

Yes, wget uses OpenSSL, and follows redirects silently by default.

Now that server uses heartbleed to x-ray your client process memory, collecting all sorts of confidential information, including perhaps credentials to other services.

This bug has a lot of nasty, unintuitive permutations and repercussions that will take time to fully grasp.