
That’s the NSA code name
for an exploit against the Windows operating system, used by the NSA for
at least five years before 2017, when the Russians stole it from that agency.
EternalBlue exploits a vulnerability in Microsoft’s implementation of the
Server Message Block (SMB) protocol, which controls client–server
communication. Because of the manner in which the SMB was coded,
sending a carefully crafted data packet over the Internet to a Windows
computer allowed an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the receiving
computer, and thereby gain control over it. Basically, the NSA was able to
exploit EternalBlue to remotely commandeer any Windows computer on the
Internet.