Deploying a web application firewall (WAF) signature is a way to detect and block attempts to exploit the Heartbleed vulnerability on the web server. A WAF signature is a pattern that matches a known attack vector, such as a malicious heartbeat request. By deploying a WAF signature, the company can protect its web application from Heartbleed attacks until the underlying vulnerability is fixed.
Updating the OpenSSL library is the ultimate way to fix and mitigate the Heartbleed vulnerability. The OpenSSL project released version 1.0.1g on April 7, 2014, which patched the bug by adding a bounds check to the heartbeat function. By updating the OpenSSL library on the web server, the company can eliminate the vulnerability and prevent any future exploitation.
B. Fixing the PHP code is not a way to resolve or mitigate the Heartbleed vulnerability, because the vulnerability is not in the PHP code, but in the OpenSSL library that handles the SSL/TLS encryption for the web server.
C. Changing the web server from HTTPS to HTTP is not a way to resolve or mitigate the Heartbleed vulnerability, because it would expose all the web traffic to eavesdropping and tampering by attackers. HTTPS provides confidentiality, integrity, and authentication for web communications, and should not be disabled for security reasons.
D. Using SSLv3 is not a way to resolve or mitigate the Heartbleed vulnerability, because SSLv3 is an outdated and insecure protocol that has been deprecated and replaced by TLS. SSLv3 does not support modern cipher suites, encryption algorithms, or security features, and is vulnerable to various attacks, such as POODLE.
E. Changing the code from PHP to ColdFusion is not a way to resolve or mitigate the Heartbleed vulnerability, because the vulnerability is not related to the programming language of the web application, but to the OpenSSL library that handles the SSL/TLS encryption for the web server.
https://owasp.org/www-community/vulnerabilities/Heartbleed_Bug
https://heartbleed.com/
