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Software vulnerabilities are a major threat to organizations today. The cost of these threats is significant, both financially and in terms of reputation. Vulnerability management and patching can easily get out of hand when the number of vulnerabilities in your organization is in the hundreds of thousands of vulnerabilities and tracked in inefficient ways, such as using Excel spreadsheets or multiple reports, especially when many teams are involved in the organization. Even when a process for patching is in place, organizations still struggle to effectively patch vulnerabilities in their assets. This is generally because teams look at the severity of vulnerabilities and tend to apply patches to vulnerabilities in the following severity order: critical > high > medium > low > info. The following sections explain why this approach is flawed and how it can be improved. Why is Patching Difficult? While it is well known that vulnerability patching is extremely important, it

Cisco has patched a critical security vulnerability impacting its Enterprise Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure Software (NFVIS) that could be exploited by an attacker to take control of an affected system. Tracked as  CVE-2021-34746 , the weakness has been rated 9.8 out of a maximum of 10 on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) and could allow a remote attacker to circumvent authentication and log in to a vulnerable device as an administrator. The network equipment maker said it's aware of a publicly available proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit code targeting the vulnerability, but added it's not detected any successful weaponization attempts in the wild. CVE-2021-34746 issue is caused due to an incomplete validation of user-supplied input that's passed to an authentication script during the sign-in process, enabling an attacker to inject parameters into an authentication request. "A successful exploit could allow the attacker to bypass authenti

VMware on Wednesday shipped  security updates  to address vulnerabilities in multiple products that could be potentially exploited by an attacker to take control of an affected system. The six security weaknesses (from CVE-2021-22022 through CVE-2021-22027, CVSS scores: 4.4 - 8.6) affect VMware vRealize Operations (prior to version 8.5.0), VMware Cloud Foundation (versions 3.x and 4.x), and vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager (version 8.x), as listed below - CVE-2021-22022  (CVSS score: 4.4) - Arbitrary file read vulnerability in vRealize Operations Manager API, leading to information disclosure CVE-2021-22023  (CVSS score: 6.6) - Insecure direct object reference vulnerability in vRealize Operations Manager API, enabling an attacker with administrative access to alter other users' information and seize control of an account CVE-2021-22024  (CVSS score: 7.5) - Arbitrary log-file read vulnerability in vRealize Operations Manager API, resulting in sensitive information disclosure

Taiwanese networking equipment company Zyxel is warning customers of an ongoing attack targeting a "small subset" of its security products such as firewall and VPN servers. Attributing the attacks to a "sophisticated threat actor," the firm noted that the attacks single out appliances that have remote management or SSL VPN enabled, namely in the USG/ZyWALL, USG FLEX, ATP, and VPN series running on-premise ZLD firmware, implying that the targeted devices are publicly accessible over the internet. "The threat actor attempts to access a device through WAN; if successful, they then bypass authentication and establish SSL VPN tunnels with unknown user accounts, such as 'zyxel_slIvpn', 'zyxel_ts', or 'zyxel_vpn_test', to manipulate the device's configuration," Zyxel said in an  email message , which was shared on Twitter. As of writing, it's not immediately known if the attacks are exploiting previously known vulnerabilities

Apple may be changing the way it delivers security patches to its devices running iOS and iPadOS mobile operating systems. According to code spotted in iOS 14.5, the iPhone maker is reportedly working on a method for delivering security fixes independently of other OS updates. The changes were first reported by  the 9to5Mac  website. While Google's Android has had monthly security patches rolled out that are completely divorced from the OS-related updates, iOS has traditionally bundled security updates along with an upgrade to the latest version of the OS. For instance, Apple rolled out iOS 14.4.1 earlier this month just to address one security vulnerability in WebKit that could have allowed adversaries to run arbitrary code on devices via malicious web content. But with this new setting called "Install Security Updates" added to the software update menu, it's expected that Apple will let users choose between either installing the entire iOS update or just the

Microsoft has  released emergency patches  to address four previously undisclosed security flaws in Exchange Server that it says are being actively exploited by a new Chinese state-sponsored threat actor with the goal of perpetrating data theft. Describing the attacks as "limited and targeted," Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) said the adversary used these vulnerabilities to access on-premises Exchange servers, in turn granting access to email accounts and paving the way for the installation of additional malware to facilitate long-term access to victim environments. The tech giant primarily attributed the campaign with high confidence to a threat actor it calls HAFNIUM, a state-sponsored hacker collective operating out of China, although it suspects other groups may also be involved. Discussing the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of the group for the first time, Microsoft paints HAFNIUM as a "highly skilled and sophisticated actor" that m

Cybersecurity researchers today disclosed a new highly critical "wormable" vulnerability—carrying a severity score of 10 out of 10 on the CVSS scale—affecting Windows Server versions 2003 to 2019. The 17-year-old remote code execution flaw ( CVE-2020-1350 ), dubbed ' SigRed ' by Check Point, could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to gain domain administrator privileges over targeted servers and seize complete control of an organization's IT infrastructure. A threat actor can exploit SigRed vulnerability by sending crafted malicious DNS queries to a Windows DNS server and achieve arbitrary code execution, enabling the hacker to intercept and manipulate users' emails and network traffic, make services unavailable, harvest users' credentials and much more. In a detailed report shared with The Hacker News, Check Point researcher Sagi Tzadik confirmed that the flaw is wormable in nature, allowing attackers to launch an attack that can spread

The last Patch Tuesday of 2019 is finally here. Adobe today released updates for four of its widely used software—including Adobe Acrobat and Reader, Photoshop CC, ColdFusion, and Brackets—to patch a total of 25 new security vulnerabilities. Seventeen of these flaws have been rated as critical in severity, with most of them carrying high priority patches, indicating that the vulnerabilities are more likely to be used in real-world attacks, but there are currently no known exploits in the wild. The software update for Adobe Acrobat and Reader for Windows and macOS operating systems addresses a total of 21 security vulnerabilities, 14 of which are critical, and rest are important in severity. Upon successful exploitation, all critical vulnerabilities in Adobe Acrobat and Reader software lead to arbitrary code execution attacks, allowing attackers to take complete control of targeted systems. Adobe Photoshop CC for Windows and macOS contains patches for two critical arbitrary

Recently uncovered two huge processor vulnerabilities called Meltdown and Spectre have taken the whole world by storm, while vendors are rushing out to patch the vulnerabilities in its products. The issues apply to all modern processors and affect nearly all operating systems (Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, macOS, FreeBSD, and more), smartphones and other computing devices made in the past 20 years. What are Spectre and Meltdown? We have explained both , Meltdown (CVE-2017-5754) and Spectre (CVE-2017-5753, CVE-2017-5715), exploitation techniques in our previous article. In short, Spectre and Meltdown are the names of security vulnerabilities found in many processors from Intel, ARM and AMD that could allow attackers to steal your passwords, encryption keys and other private information. Both attacks abuse 'speculative execution' to access privileged memory—including those allocated for the kernel—from a low privileged user process like a malicious app running on a

UPDATE: Researchers have finally disclosed complete technical details of two kernel side-channel attacks, Meltdown and Spectre — which affect not only Intel but also systems and devices running AMD, ARM processors —allowing attackers to steal sensitive data from the system memory. ____________ The first week of the new year has not yet been completed, and very soon a massive vulnerability is going to hit hundreds of millions of Windows, Linux, and Mac users worldwide. According to a blog post published yesterday, the core team of Linux kernel development has prepared a critical kernel update without releasing much information about the vulnerability. Multiple researchers on Twitter  confirmed that Intel processors (x86-64) have a severe hardware-level issue that could allow attackers to access protected kernel memory, which primarily includes information like passwords, login keys, and files cached from disk. The security patch implements kernel page-table isolation (KP

You should be extra careful when opening files in MS Office. When the world is still dealing with the threat of 'unpatched' Microsoft Office's built-in DDE feature , researchers have uncovered a serious issue with another Office component that could allow attackers to remotely install malware on targeted computers. The vulnerability is a memory-corruption issue that resides in all versions of Microsoft Office released in the past 17 years, including Microsoft Office 365, and works against all versions of Windows operating system, including the latest Microsoft Windows 10 Creators Update. Discovered by the security researchers at Embedi , the vulnerability leads to remote code execution, allowing an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute malicious code on a targeted system without requiring user interaction after opening a malicious document. The vulnerability, identified as  CVE-2017-11882 , resides in EQNEDT32.EXE, an MS Office component which is responsibl

As part of its "October Patch Tuesday," Microsoft has today released a large batch of security updates to patch a total of 62 vulnerabilities in its products, including a severe MS office zero-day flaw that has been exploited in the wild. Security updates also include patches for Microsoft Windows operating systems, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Skype, Microsoft Lync and Microsoft SharePoint Server. Besides the MS Office vulnerability, the company has also addressed two other publicly disclosed (but not yet targeted in the wild) vulnerabilities that affect the SharePoint Server and the Windows Subsystem for Linux. October patch Tuesday also fixes a critical Windows DNS vulnerability that could be exploited by a malicious DNS server to execute arbitrary code on the targeted system. Below you can find a brief technical explanation of all above mentioned critical and important vulnerabilities. Microsoft Office Memory Corruption Vulnerability (CVE-2017-11826) T

" Always keep your operating system and software up-to-date ." This is one of the most popular and critical advice that every security expert strongly suggests you to follow to prevent yourself from major cyber attacks. However, even if you attempt to install every damn software update that lands to your system, there is a good chance of your computer remaining outdated and vulnerable. Researchers from security firm Duo Labs analysed over 73,000 Macs systems and discovered that a surprising number of Apple Mac computers either fails to install patches for EFI firmware vulnerabilities or doesn't receive any update at all. Apple uses Intel-designed Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) for Mac computers that work at a lower level than a computer's OS and hypervisors—and controls the boot process. EFI runs before macOS boots up and has higher-level privileges that, if exploited by attackers, could allow EFI malware to control everything without being detecte

Adobe may kill Flash Player by the end of 2020, but until then, the company would not stop providing security updates to the buggy software . As part of its monthly security updates, Adobe has released patches for eight security vulnerabilities in its three products, including two vulnerabilities in Flash Player, four in ColdFusion, and two in RoboHelp—five of these are rated as critical. Both of the Adobe Flash Player vulnerabilities can be exploited for remote code execution on the affected device, and both have been classified as critical. None of the patched vulnerabilities has reportedly been exploited in the wild, according to the company. The critical Flash Player flaws are tracked as CVE-2017-11281 and CVE-2017-11282 and were discovered by Mateusz Jurczyk and Natalie Silvanovich of Google Project Zero, respectively. Both the security vulnerabilities are memory corruption issues that could lead to remote code execution and affect all major operating system, includi

By now I am sure you have already heard something about the WannaCry ransomware , and are wondering what's going on, who is doing this, and whether your computer is secure from this insanely fast-spreading threat that has already hacked nearly 200,000 Windows PCs over the weekend. The only positive thing about this attack is that — you are here — as after reading this easy-to-understandable awareness article, you would be so cautious that you can save yourself from WannaCry, as well as other similar cyber attacks in the future. Also Read — Google Researcher Finds Link Between WannaCry Attacks and North Korea . Since this widely spread ransomware attack is neither the first nor the last one to hit users worldwide, prevention is always the key to protect against such malware threats. What is WannaCry? How to Protect your Computer from WannaCry Ransomware? Follow These Simple Steps. TWEET THIS In this article, we have provided some of the most important primary secu

Last weekend a security researcher publically disclosed a zero-day vulnerability in Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Server editions after Microsoft failed to patch it in the past three months. The zero-day memory corruption flaw resides in the implementation of the SMB (server message block) network file sharing protocol that could allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to crash systems with denial of service attack, which would then open them to more possible attacks. According to US-CERT, the vulnerability could also be exploited to execute arbitrary code with Windows kernel privileges on vulnerable systems, but this has not been confirmed right now by Microsoft. Without revealing the actual scope of the vulnerability and the kind of threat the exploit poses, Microsoft has just downplayed the severity of the issue, saying: "Windows is the only platform with a customer commitment to investigate reported security issues, and proactively update impacted devices as soon as