Ivanti’s recent disclosure of a new high-severity flaw in its Connect Secure VPN devices marks the fifth such vulnerability revealed over the past couple of months. This alarming trend sheds light on a broader issue plaguing the cybersecurity landscape – the relentless targeting of network edge devices by malicious actors.
Attackers are increasingly drawn to network edge devices due to their strategic importance. These devices, by definition, are accessible over the public Internet, making them prime targets for exploitation. Moreover, the lack of endpoint protection for this kind of VPN technology means they are far less monitored and creates fertile ground for potential security loopholes.
The discovery of multiple vulnerabilities within Ivanti’s VPN devices highlights a disturbing pattern seen in the cybersecurity realm – once vulnerabilities are exposed in a particular product, it often triggers a ripple effect, prompting further scrutiny and uncovering additional weaknesses. This phenomenon has been observed in previous incidents involving prominent vendors like Fortinet and Cisco appliances.
Recommendations / Remediations
While patch management is undoubtedly crucial in mitigating vulnerabilities, it alone is insufficient in addressing the evolving threat landscape. By nature, patch management will always lag behind vulnerability exploitation. There will virtually always be a time gap between a vulnerability’s exploitation by threat actors and a patch issued by a vendor. Additionally, it takes time for organizations and security teams to apply patches. This time gap is critical because attackers are known to share, and even sell, information on zero-days. They will also reverse engineer vendor patches, so that once a patch is issued, attackers will use it to discover the vulnerability and exploit it before the customer patches it.
Vulnerabilities, once exploited, can pave the way for further infiltration and compromise within an organization’s network. Therefore, the importance of hardening network edge devices through robust IT practices cannot be overstated.
Effective hardening strategies encompass a multifaceted approach, combining solid IT practices such as segmentation and the implementation of strong passwords with proactive monitoring measures. By bolstering the security posture of network edge devices, organizations can fortify their defenses against potential cyber threats and mitigate the risk of unauthorized access.
Furthermore, the significance of continuous monitoring is critical. Attackers often exploit vulnerabilities in network edge devices as a foothold to gain entry into an organization’s network. Once inside, they employ various tactics, such as stealing credentials and executing lateral movement, to navigate undetected through the network.
Log aggregation tools, such as SIEM, play a pivotal role in this regard and enable organizations to monitor and analyze network activity as well as activities occurring within network devices such as command execution, privilege assignments, policy manipulation, and more in near real-time. By scrutinizing log data for anomalous behavior and indicators of compromise (IOCs), security teams can swiftly identify and respond to potential threats before they escalate into full-blown security incidents.
In light of these recent VPN vulnerability disclosures, organizations must prioritize the hardening of their network edge devices and bolster their detection posture to defend against emerging cyber threats. Organizations should establish a proactive detection engineering function responsible for collecting and crafting detections for advanced zero-day threats along with assessing and validating detection coverage against MITRE ATT&CK to enhance threat detection across their environment and be alerted when stolen credentials, lateral movement, and other attempts of known adversary tactics and techniques occur.
In conclusion, the recent vulnerabilities in Ivanti’s Connect Secure VPN devices serve as a stark reminder of the increasingly agile threat landscape facing organizations today. By embracing a comprehensive security strategy that encompasses patch management, robust hardening measures, and proactive, threat-informed detection engineering, organizations can enhance their resilience to cyber threats and safeguard their network infrastructure against potential attacks.