This diagram explore the top exploited vulnerabilities and vendors by a number of vulnerabilities and exploits available.
Exploits operate at the heart of the vulnerability landscape, targeting what’s exploitable within software systems. Threat actors keenly scrutinize vulnerabilities, seeking entry points into digital fortresses. This predatory process often begins with a vulnerability being discovered and documented. What sets the wheels in motion is the presence of published exploits in various sources, forming a chain of potential threats. These exploits, with their ominous potential, find their way into widely adopted vulnerability tools like ExploitDB, MetaSploit, and Nuclei, adding to their malevolent arsenal.
What truly underscores the gravity of an exploit’s existence is its designation in tools like the Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), where an EPSS score above a certain threshold, say 0.5 or 0.6, marks a vulnerability as “high exploited.” This correlation between exploit availability and a high EPSS score serves as a beacon of warning for cybersecurity practitioners and underscores the significance of vulnerability management and robust application security measures. In this complex ecosystem, understanding the interplay between exploitability, exploits, vulnerabilities, and the management thereof is paramount to safeguarding digital assets and maintaining a resilient security posture.
As organization look to prioritize vulnerabilitie, you should consider which vendor is more prone to explotis. As threat actors scour the digital landscape for vulnerabilities, they focus their attention on those ripe for exploitation. Here, popularity can be a double-edged sword. Exploits that gain notoriety tend to attract more attention from attackers, as they are likely to yield more significant results. This means that widely used software from vendors like Oracle, Microsoft, Red Hat, Apache, and others can become prime targets. The evidence lies in the multitude of links scattered across various sources, leading to these exploits.
These exploits, once discovered, often find their way into widely adopted vulnerability tools such as ExploitDB, MetaSploit, and Nuclei. Their accessibility through these tools amplifies their malicious potential. Moreover, the seriousness of the threat is underscored when a vulnerability achieves a high exploitation score in the Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), crossing the threshold, perhaps at 0.5 or 0.6, indicating active exploitation in the wild.
In this dynamic landscape, understanding the intricacies of exploitability, vulnerabilities, and the critical role of vulnerability management and application security is paramount. Organizations must remain vigilant, employing proactive security measures to shield their digital assets from the relentless pursuit of threat actors.
The top exploitable product isn’t defined solely by its popularity or widespread use, but by a combination of factors that elevate its exploitability. It boasts a high-value target status, driven by a trifecta of factors: a substantial probability of exploitation, verified exploits in the wild, and its popularity among attackers. This product stands at the intersection of these elements, making it an attractive target for cybercriminals. Its susceptibility to exploitation, coupled with the availability of proven attack vectors, emphasizes the importance of vigilant vulnerability management and proactive application security measures to safeguard against the ever-present threats lurking in the digital landscape.
Exploit code isn’t synonymous with exploitability – not in the realm of cybersecurity where realism matters. While it undeniably contributes to the likelihood of a vulnerability being exploited, it’s only part of the equation. That’s where the Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS) comes into play, assessing various facets to gauge the true exploit potential.
In addition to collecting live exploitation data, the EPSS casts a wide net across sources like MetaSploit, Exploit-DB, and GitHub. Its mission? To determine if there’s published exploit code for the CVE at hand. While the presence of code correlates with the likelihood of exploitation, it’s no guarantee – a lesson we’ve learned through years of cybersecurity diligence.
Enter the world of open source security tools, the double-edged swords of ethical and unethical hackers alike. Tools like Intrigue, Sn1per, Jaeles, and Nuclei are in the EPSS spotlight. Why? Because understanding their capability to exploit a given CVE is essential. It’s a reminder that the same tools wielded by defenders can also be leveraged by attackers.
Just because exploit code surfaces online doesn’t mean you can realistically attack a vulnerability in your network. Real-world scenarios demand more than just code availability. Reachability analysis is key, and the EPSS knows it.
So, if you’re ready to unravel the intricacies of vulnerability exploits, CWE, and leverage the insights from our extensive threat intelligence sources, join us on this journey. In a world where the digital battleground is ever-evolving, understanding the true exploit potential of vulnerabilities is your best defense.
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Derek Fisher – Head of product security at a global fintech. Speaker, instructor, and author in application security.
Derek is an award winning author of a children’s book series in cybersecurity as well as the author of “The Application Security Handbook.” He is a university instructor at Temple University where he teaches software development security to undergraduate and graduate students. He is a speaker on topics in the cybersecurity space and has led teams, large and small, at organizations in the healthcare and financial industries. He has built and matured information security teams as well as implemented organizational information security strategies to reduce the organizations risk.
Derek got his start in the hardware engineering space where he learned about designing circuits and building assemblies for commercial and military applications. He later pursued a computer science degree in order to advance a career in software development. This is where Derek was introduced to cybersecurity and soon caught the bug. He found a mentor to help him grow in cybersecurity and then pursued a graduate degree in the subject.
Since then Derek has worked in the product security space as an architect and leader. He has led teams to deliver more secure software in organizations from multiple industries. His focus has been to raise the security awareness of the engineering organization while maintaining a practice of secure code development, delivery, and operations.
In his role, Jeevan handles a range of tasks, from architecting security solutions to collaborating with Engineering Leadership to address security vulnerabilities at scale and embed security into the fabric of the organization.
Jeevan Singh is the Director of Security Engineering at Rippling, with a background spanning various Engineering and Security leadership roles over the course of his career. He’s dedicated to the integration of security practices into software development, working to create a security-aware culture within organizations and imparting security best practices to the team.
In his role, Jeevan handles a range of tasks, from architecting security solutions to collaborating with Engineering Leadership to address security vulnerabilities at scale and embed security into the fabric of the organization.
James Berthoty has over ten years of experience across product and security domains. He founded Latio Tech to help companies find the right security tools for their needs without vendor bias.
Chris Romeo is a leading voice and thinker in application security, threat modeling, and security champions and the CEO of Devici and General Partner at Kerr Ventures. Chris hosts the award-winning “Application Security Podcast,” “The Security Table,” and “The Threat Modeling Podcast” and is a highly rated industry speaker and trainer, featured at the RSA Conference, the AppSec Village @ DefCon, OWASP Global AppSec, ISC2 Security Congress, InfoSec World and All Day DevOps. Chris founded Security Journey, a security education company, leading to an exit in 2022. Chris was the Chief Security Advocate at Cisco, spreading security knowledge through education and champion programs. Chris has twenty-six years of security experience, holding positions across the gamut, including application security, security engineering, incident response, and various Executive roles. Chris holds the CISSP and CSSLP certifications.
Jim Manico is the founder of Manicode Security, where he trains software developers on secure coding and security engineering. Jim is also the founder of Brakeman Security, Inc. and an investor/advisor for Signal Sciences. He is the author of Iron-Clad Java: Building Secure Web Applications (McGraw-Hill), a frequent speaker on secure software practices, and a member of the JavaOne Rockstar speaker community. Jim is also a volunteer for and former board member of the OWASP foundation.
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