Minecraft server administrators should lock their Echo Shards. According to the Minecraft Malware Prevention Alliance (MMPA), a vulnerability affecting many Minecraft servers has been discovered that can be exploited by hackers trying to take over players' machines.

"The vulnerability is well known in the Java community and has been fixed before in other mods," the MMPA blog post notes (via Tom's Hardware). This is not the first time it has happened. Nevertheless, the post clarifies that "nothing of this magnitude has ever been done in the Minecraft community."

One computer science student known as Dogboy21 on GitHub found something like 36 mods vulnerable to the so-called Bleeding Pipe exploit. They warn: "Playing with unpatched mods is completely dangerous.

"Attackers have already attempted (and in some cases succeeded) to steal Microsoft access tokens and browser sessions. But the possibilities are endless, as attackers can literally execute any code they want on the target system.

The exploit takes advantage of the Java deserialization attack/gadget chain, which can exploit "insecure use of Java serialization capabilities in network packets sent from server to client or from client to server."

Thankfully, Dogboy21 (what a name) is working with other helpful users to provide a fix on their GitHub page.

Mods such as EnderCore, AetherCraft mode, LogisticsPipes, Immersive Armors, and ttCore are just a few of those affected, but on the Git page, next to the (almost) complete list, there is a note that says "This list is not complete Keep in mind that this list is not complete."