Vulnerable Software Vectors

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Vulnerable software contains a flaw in its code or design that can be exploited to circumvent access control or to crash the process.

• commonly exploited threat vector
• attack surface can be reduced by:
  • consolidating to fewer products
  • using the same version of products across the org

Unsupported Systems and Applications

An unsupported system is one where its vendor no longer develops updates and patches.

• highly vulnerable to exploits

Info

• One way to deal with unsupported apps that cannot be replaced
  • isolate them from other systems
  • idea is to reduce opportunities for a threat actor to access the vulnerable app and run exploit code
• Using isolation as a substitute for patch management is an example of a compensating control

Client-Based versus Agentless

Scanning software helps organizations to automate the discovery and classification of software vulnerabilities.

• can be used by threat actors as part of reconnaissance against a target
• can be implemented as a client-based agent
  • agent runs as a scanning process installed on each host and reports to a management server
• can also use agentless techniques
  • scan a host without requiring any sort of installation
  • most likely to be used in threat actor reconnaissance