What is an Exploit?

What is an Exploit?

An exploit can be a piece of program, software, sequence of commands, malicious file, code snippet, or any other adversary program element that takes advantage of any vulnerability (usually in software) or security loopholes. Through these exploits, cybercriminals can perform unintended behavior on the target system or try to take an application, network, server, website, or extensive system. When attackers use exploits, these exploits can enable attackers to gain remote access to the target system.

With exploits, attackers can compromise a system because of the design flaw that permits cybercriminals to construct the means to access the victim system and operate it against the interest of the owner. Typically, an exploit can be a Trojan horse, ransomware, malicious plug-ins, libraries, etc. To defend against such an exploit-driven attack, security professionals issue a fix or patch the application as a repair mechanism.

How Do Exploits Work?

Since we have gathered insights into what an exploit is - let us now understand how exploits work. Often when developers create apps & operating systems, due to inherent imperfections, flaws appear. Cybercriminals try to identify those flaws & manipulate them through malicious code or programs. Attackers often look for these exploits in networks, systems, applications, servers, databases, IoT connections, etc. Exploit writers are elite programmers who understand these flaws and design an exploit in the form of files, malware, code snippet, or any command that takes advantage of that entry point.

Once the attacker deploys the exploit, the exploit can start working on it (automatically), or the owner of the exploit can control it remotely. For automated exploits, the program or file will detect the vulnerability & will work as coded. For exploits run remotely by the attacker, they can create backdoors to let the attacker initiate a persistent threat to the system. Many companies offer bug bounties to those who exploit the systems and report it back to the site, app, or system owner.

The Different Types of Exploits

Exploits often vary depending on the various parameters and factors. These are:

a.Hardware: Hardware exploits are hardware-based flaws where the attacker targets the hardware as an entry point to exploit the system, corrupt the memory or other peripheral devices, or freeze the operation in which the exploit runs. Often attackers target the operating system to take advantage of the hardware vulnerabilities.

b.Software: These are program-based exploits that take over the applications & software programs used in PCs and servers. Often software developers lack in providing complete protection for the software leaving flaws. If these apps don't get patched, attackers can identify and use exploits to take advantage of these vulnerabilities.

c.Network: Since networks are getting complicated, more and more connections can often leave vulnerabilities and insecure entry points in the network system. Also, a network system comprises different hardware, programs, and configurations. Attackers keep looking for vulnerabilities in these network components and try to exploit the weakness and insecure ports, vulnerable network configurations, unpatched apps running on network devices, etc.

d.Personnel: Every personnel of an enterprise is vulnerable to the enterprise. Anyone can fall prey to cyber attacks like social engineering, spear phishing, physical hacking, dumpster diving, etc. Therefore, employees should securely dump or keep personal belongings. Also, proper education, training, & setting access control policies can help prevent such vulnerabilities.

e.Physical Site: Attackers can also exploit the system on-site if the site lacks adequate physical security, access control mechanisms, etc. Like a thief, a cybercriminal can take advantage of natural disasters, weak physical security, flawed surveillance system, etc., and break in to steal data from the server room, steal peripheral devices &flash drives for information stealing, or other illicit purposes.

Let us now jump into the next topic, where we will understand how exploits can be categorized.

Groups in Which Exploits Can Be Categorized

Exploits can be either known to the system's owner that is getting exploited or remains unknown. Based on this perspective, there are two principal categories we can subdivide the exploits. These are:

Zero-day Exploits:

These types of vulnerabilities are unknown to the application or system owners. Usually, cybercriminals or security professionals identify or disclose those vulnerabilities but do not get patched. Cybercriminals try to exploit these zero-day vulnerabilities. Thus, enterprises should take proper mitigation strategies to mend all known vulnerabilities. For unknown vulnerabilities, enterprises must employ penetration testing periodically to discover them.

Known Vulnerabilities:

Such vulnerabilities are known & get documented so that security professionals and ethical hackers can learn from them. Mechanisms to patch these known vulnerabilities also remain explained in the documents. Cybercriminals get hold of the documents (usually from Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures CVEs) to study them well. Then they design exploits to harm those systems that have such vulnerabilities & are unpatched.

How Do Exploits Occur?

Exploits occur based on where & how they get deployed. There are three main categories through which we can determine where exploits can occur.

Remote Exploits:

These are exploits that operate from external systems. They leverage the vulnerability remotely without any prior access to the vulnerable system. Such remote access is possible through the intranet or other networks. Attackers use such exploits to install malware, steal data, or persist in a large network cluster to do more harm to the business.

Local exploits:

These exploits will execute if the malicious program or party access the vulnerable system. Once the system admin or the system owner permits access, these exploits will increase the privilege of the vicious person executing the exploits. Such exploits take over a system via a compromised account.

Client exploits:

These are exploits where the adversary attacks the user by misleading them. The attackers use deceptive methods to trick the victim into downloading malware or redirecting them to a phishing page to compromise a network, system, or device. Attackers orchestrate such exploits so that the user or employees trigger it against their will and unknowingly.

What is an Exploit Kit?

Exploit kits are automated programs meant to exploit a vulnerable system silently. These are usually a pack of toolkits that uses a vulnerable machine when users browse a site or explore a network. Due to their stealth mode of operation, they have become a well-known method to distribute mass malware or Remote Access Trojans (RATs) by cybercriminal groups. Cybercriminals and exploit creators design these kits to seek profit from exploits. These exploits can steal sensitive data, spy on the system, manipulate the employees' workflow within the network, detonate malware, and trigger other attacks.

The main goal of such exploit packs is to gain control of devices in an automated and simplified manner without the intervention of the attacker. The exploit kit performs a sequence of actions to ensure the attack is successful. The exploitation starts with a landing page redirection, followed by running the exploit, then delivering the payload to the target system, and finally enabling the exploit kit owner to take control of the host system. Magnitude, RIG, and Neutrino are three popular exploit kits.

How to Recognize an Exploit Attack?

Since exploit-based attacks utilize security opening in an app or any programming bug, they aren't ordinary. A security professional can't recognize these attack vectors until and unless they see distinct behaviour in the system. Here are some behaviours that can help someone determine an exploit attack.

a.Slow Performance: Security professionals can recognize an exploit attack if they notice that the entire app or system becomes slow or not working smoothly. b.Frequent Crashes or Freezes: If the app encounters frequent crashes or gets stuck, it means the automated exploit kit or any malware exploit utilizes processing and memory. c.Unexplained Changed Settings: If any app settings or configuration change without the user's or the owner's prior intervention, there could be a chance of an exploit attack. d. Tons of Pop-ups or Ads Where they Should Not Be: If the system encounters multiple pop-ups and ads that should be there in the first place, there is a chance that your system got compromised through an exploit. e.Loss of Storage Space: Since exploit kit executes various exploits and programs once they compromise a system, they usually eat-up lots of storage space. Security professionals can identify that storage pattern to determine an exploit attack.

Well! It is time to comprehend how to mitigate exploit attacks.

How to Mitigate an Exploit Attack?

Experts recommend implementing virtual patching as the most trusted mitigation technique against exploit attacks. According to virtual patching, any exploit takes a definable path to and from an app to leverage an application bug. Security professionals can set particular rules at the network layer so that any communication to the target software gets through this filter. Also, by scanning individual protocols that the app uses, the data packets, and network traffic heading toward the software, security professionals can mitigate the exploit attack to some extent.

How to Prevent an Exploit?

Preventing your enterprise systems and applications from exploits is inevitable. Rather than fixing the damage, it is better to take preventive measures against such exploit attacks. Here is a list of distinct strategies enterprises can take to stay ahead of any attack.

• Preventing hardware exploits: It is essential to keep all the latest hardware and operating systems up-to-date. Enterprises must also periodically monitor access points and hardware configuration to identify any irregularities.
• Preventing software exploits: Enterprises should ponder patching all the applications & software used in their enterprise workflow. Also, they must deploy anti-malware scanners and firewalls for frequent checks.
• Preventing network exploits: Enterprises must train their employees to practice safe computing habits and leverage access control measures. To secure the network from exploits, enterprises must incorporate zero-trust principles. Also, monitoring the network for unusual activity can prevent the enterprise network and its systems.
• Preventing personal exploits: Enterprises must train their employees to maintain cyber hygiene, such as not saving their login credentials anywhere or not downloading any email attachments from any sender.
• Preventing physical site exploits: Enterprises must also maintain consistent surveillance systems and CCTV recording. Also, employees must receive access cards so that no one can enter the premise without prior permission or get a chance to do tailgating.

Apart from all these techniques, we can also use strategies for detecting and monitoring exploits. These strategies are:

• Signature-based variant detection: Exploits have unique digital signatures that AI and ML algorithms can identify and eradicate to prevent exploits from running.
• Behavior-based monitoring: Malware often exhibits specific behaviour when proving an attack. While scanning a network, behaviour detection algorithms can prevent cyber attacks and exploits from executing.
• Statistics-driven monitoring: Anti-malware firms often release stat reports and datasets that exploit detection tools can use to identify threats and exploits.
• Hybrid detection technique: Numerous tools like Identity and Access Management (IAM) systems leverage all the mentioned three techniques (hence hybrid) to identify exploits and threats.

Let us closely look at some examples of exploits.

A Few Examples of Exploits

On August 11, 2021, Microsoft provided a security update to patch vulnerability in the Netlogon protocol. It has a CVE score of 10/10. In 2016, Yahoo disclosed an exploit that survived for a long time. It leads to a massive data breach of about 1 billion users. Another exploit got detected in Sophos XG Firewall. In this, the cybercriminals could exploit the firewall through SQL injection in the Postgre SQL database. Through this exploit, cybercriminals can change the firewall configurations and settings. There are endless vulnerabilities that cybercriminals have exploited in large and small companies.