The cyber threat landscape continues to evolve. As more people connect to the Internet to work remotely, shop online and communicate with friends and family, vulnerabilities continue to impact systems that support critical services, utilities and public health.
Federal agencies must remediate known exploited vulnerabilities by the timelines set by CISA-managed vulnerability catalogs. Join Cyolo security researchers for a technical session on the latest research into high- and critical-severity vulnerabilities.
Identifying Vulnerabilities
Vulnerabilities are weaknesses in software that hackers can exploit to gain access to information that shouldn’t be accessed, like credit card numbers or private data. Identifying vulnerabilities is essential to helping developers and organizations take corrective action before they are breached.
Creating a standard way to reference these vulnerabilities makes it easier for companies, researchers and end-users to find information on them. The CVE system, including Fortinet’s CVE-compatible products and services, provides a consistent naming scheme and centralized database to track flaws over time.
When a vulnerability is discovered, the person or organization must report it to a CVE program partner. A CVE Numbering Authority (CNA) then assigns a unique ID to the vulnerability and reserves it for future communications.
The CVE entry for each vulnerability includes a brief description and references to other resources like security advisories or technical reports. Authorized Data Publishers (ADP) can also enrich a CVE record by adding risk scores or lists of affected products.
This process is thorough and systematic, ensuring that all entries in the CVE database are accurately documented and verifiable. It also raises awareness about vulnerabilities among organizations, security professionals and the public in general. This knowledge can help them prioritize the fixes that need to be made to keep their systems secure.
Identifying Sources of Vulnerabilities
Mistakes happen when building and coding technology. These mistakes are known as vulnerabilities and can expose organizations to cyber attacks, ranging from data breaches to ransomware. These can cost companies millions of dollars and lead to customers losing access to critical services.
Vulnerabilities can be discovered in several ways, including by security tools and researchers, organizations reporting them to CVE or by finding them in open-source software. Once a vulnerability is known, it is given a unique CVE identifier, making it easier to share and use information about the exposure.
Each CVE identifier includes a name, description, impact and reference for further information. The description includes a brief overview of the vulnerability and how attackers can exploit it. The impact and reference points help cybersecurity professionals understand the severity of the vulnerability and how to prioritize remediation efforts.
The CVE identifiers are also used to track and record changes to the vulnerability over time. This allows organizations to keep track of their vulnerabilities and quickly identify and fix any issues before attackers exploit them. The CVE system also encourages a culture of sharing and collaboration across the cybersecurity community by providing a common naming standard and enabling the easy communication of vulnerabilities between different tools and vendors. This approach has been instrumental in reducing the impact of many significant cyberattacks, such as the ransomware WannaCry, which spread via the EternalBlue vulnerability.
Identifying Fixes
Identifying and fixing vulnerabilities is expensive for most organizations. However, information sharing with other organizations can help them reduce the impact of exposure before attackers can exploit it.
The CVE Program aims to catalog publicly disclosed cybersecurity vulnerabilities by assigning them unique identifiers and publishing them online. The standardized approach makes it possible for IT and cybersecurity professionals to communicate consistent descriptions of these vulnerabilities so they can collaborate and prioritize their mitigations accordingly.
Once a vulnerability is identified, the responsible party files a report with a CVE Numbering Authority (CNA) to get a CVE ID assigned. The process also involves notifying vendors of the flaw so they can develop and test fixes to resolve it. This ensures that enterprises will be protected when a patch is available. Often, the details of the CVE are withheld until the corresponding vendor is ready to release a fix.
While some worry that listing vulnerabilities in the public can give hackers a window of time between their publication and when patches are made available, this is not the case. The list only includes vulnerabilities and exposures that have been discovered and reported, so hackers could not find and exploit the vulnerabilities even if they were not listed in the CVE database. Moreover, the CVE system allows for comparisons between vulnerability scanning tools by providing a common set of attributes that can be used across different products and systems.
Sharing Information
There is a wide agreement in the cybersecurity landscape that vulnerability information must be shared. This is one of the surest ways to reduce cyberattacks, especially when combined with robust cybersecurity solutions that back up this knowledge. A critical component of this process is CVE, which provides standardized identifiers for vulnerabilities. This system allows cybersecurity professionals to track vulnerabilities from multiple sources, resulting in efficient patch management and mitigation strategies.
Vulnerabilities and exposures are often the root cause of security breaches and unauthorized access to customer data. Exposures can occur due to misconfigurations, design flaws, or other factors, leaving systems susceptible to attack or compromise. CVE helps organizations understand the scope of their vulnerability management efforts by dividing threats into two categories: vulnerabilities and exposures.
The centralized catalog of vulnerability information enables researchers, developers, and vendors to identify and manage issues in their respective environments.
CVE is complemented by Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE), which tracks programming errors that lead to cyber-attacks. These standards facilitate collaboration and communication among software developers, fostering more secure code practices. By providing a comprehensive understanding of vulnerabilities and their impact, CVE and CWE support businesses in making informed investments in cybersecurity solutions that help protect against the most significant threats.