The issue was traced back to a defective configuration update for CrowdStrike’s Falcon Sensor software, which is used by organizations to monitor and protect their systems from malicious activity. The update contained an ill-formed `.sys` configuration file that triggered an out-of-bounds memory read, resulting in invalid page faults and causing Windows systems to crash and display Blue Screens of Death (BSODs).
Widespread Impact
The outage was monumental, affecting an estimated 8.5 million Windows PCs and servers globally, which is less than one percent of all Windows devices, according to Microsoft.
