New cyber vulnerability poses 'severe risk,' DHS says

The vulnerability is linked to a commonly used piece of software called Log4j, a utility that runs in the background of many commonly used software applications.

Late Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an urgent statement about a new cyber vulnerability that could touch a wide swath of the internet.

"This vulnerability, which is being widely exploited by a growing set of threat actors, presents an urgent challenge to network defenders given its broad use," CISA Director Jen Easterly said in a statement.

"To be clear, this vulnerability poses a severe risk," Easterly said.

The vulnerability is linked to a commonly used piece of software called Log4j, a utility that runs in the background of many commonly used software applications.