Exploitability Analysis
In the realm of cybersecurity, "exploitability analysis" refers to the process of evaluating how easily an attacker can take advantage of a vulnerability within a system. It's a critical component of vulnerability management, helping security professionals prioritize which weaknesses to address first. Here's a breakdown:
Core Concept:
Exploitability assesses the ease with which a vulnerability can be turned into a successful attack.
It goes beyond simply identifying vulnerabilities; it aims to understand their practical risks.
Factors Considered:
Availability of Exploits: Whether known exploits or proof-of-concept (PoC) code are available.
Complexity of Exploitation: The level of skill and resources required to carry out an attack.
Accessibility: Whether the vulnerability can be exploited remotely or requires local access.
Potential Impact: The severity of the damage that could result from a successful exploit.
The presence of active exploitation in the wild: If malicious actors currently use the vulnerability.
Importance:
Risk Prioritization: It helps organizations focus on the most dangerous vulnerabilities.
Effective Mitigation: It informs the development of appropriate security measures.
Proactive Defense: It enables organizations to anticipate and prevent potential attacks.
Tools and Resources:
Organizations use various tools and resources to perform exploitability analysis, including:
Vulnerability scanners.
Penetration testing tools.
Threat intelligence feeds.
The CISA known exploited vulnerabilities catalog.
The Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS).
National Vulnerability Database (NVD).
An exploitability analysis bridges the gap between identifying vulnerabilities and understanding their real-world risks.
Here's an explanation of how ThreatNG helps with exploitability analysis:
ThreatNG performs external unauthenticated discovery without using connectors. This is crucial for exploitability analysis as it allows security professionals to see the organization's attack surface from an attacker's perspective, identifying potential entry points that might be vulnerable to exploitation.
ThreatNG provides various external assessment ratings that directly contribute to exploitability analysis:
Web Application Hijack Susceptibility: This assesses the likelihood of attackers being able to hijack web applications by analyzing externally accessible parts. High susceptibility indicates a higher risk of exploitation.
Subdomain Takeover Susceptibility: ThreatNG evaluates the risk of subdomain takeover by analyzing DNS records, subdomains, and SSL certificate statuses. Subdomain takeovers can lead to various exploits, so this assessment is vital.
Cyber Risk Exposure: This considers domain intelligence parameters like certificates, subdomain headers, vulnerabilities, and sensitive ports. Exposed sensitive ports and known vulnerabilities increase exploitability.
Code Secret Exposure: ThreatNG discovers code repositories and checks for sensitive data. Exposed credentials and API keys significantly increase a system's exploitability.
Breach & Ransomware Susceptibility: This is derived from factors including exposed sensitive ports and known vulnerabilities and key exploitability indicators.
Mobile App Exposure: ThreatNG assesses the exposure of mobile apps and the presence of access and security credentials within them. Exposed credentials in mobile apps can be a significant avenue for exploitation.
Search Engine Attack Surface: ThreatNG helps identify information exposed via search engines, such as susceptible files and folders, that can be exploited.
3. Reporting
ThreatNG provides various reports, including technical and prioritized reports. These reports can highlight key exploitability findings, allowing security teams to focus on the most critical areas. For example, a prioritized report might emphasize systems with high Cyber Risk Exposure or Web Application Hijack Susceptibility.
ThreatNG's continuous monitoring of the external attack surface, digital risk, and security ratings ensures that changes in exploitability are detected promptly. This allows for timely intervention and reduces the window of opportunity for attackers.
ThreatNG's investigation modules provide detailed information that is highly relevant to exploitability analysis:
Domain Intelligence: This module provides insights into DNS records, subdomains, and WHOIS information. This data helps identify potential attack vectors and vulnerabilities. For example, the Subdomain Intelligence feature can reveal vulnerable subdomains or exposed ports.
IP Intelligence: Information about IPs, ASNs, and country locations can help identify potentially malicious sources or infrastructure.
Certificate Intelligence: Analyzing TLS certificates can reveal vulnerabilities or misconfigurations.
Sensitive Code Exposure: This module discovers exposed code repositories and sensitive information like API keys and credentials. This is critical for identifying and mitigating the risk of credential compromise and code injection.
Mobile Application Discovery: This module helps discover mobile apps and identify security issues, such as exposed credentials.
Search Engine Exploitation: This module helps identify website control files and search engine attack surfaces that could be exploited.
Cloud and SaaS Exposure: This module identifies sanctioned and unsanctioned cloud services and potential misconfigurations.
Dark Web Presence: Monitoring the dark web for compromised credentials and ransomware events is crucial for understanding the exploitability landscape.
ThreatNG's intelligence repositories contain valuable data for exploitability analysis, including:
Dark web data (compromised credentials, ransomware events).
Known vulnerabilities.
Mobile app indicators (exposed credentials).
This information helps in assessing the likelihood and potential impact of exploitation.
7. Working with Complementary Solutions
The document does not explicitly detail ThreatNG's integrations with specific complementary solutions. However, its capabilities suggest it would work well with:
SIEM systems: ThreatNG's findings could be fed into a SIEM for correlation with other security events.
Vulnerability management tools: ThreatNG's external view could complement internal vulnerability scans.
SOAR platforms: ThreatNG could trigger automated responses in a SOAR platform.
In summary, ThreatNG provides a comprehensive platform for exploitability analysis by combining external discovery, assessment, reporting, continuous monitoring, and in-depth investigation modules with rich intelligence repositories.
