Best Practices for CVE Handling and Remediation
An effective vulnerability remediation program requires the right tools, team, policies, controls, reporting, etc. Here are a few best practices for establishing and running such a program. Some cybersecurity experts believe researchers should publicly report discovered automates ticket creation and management vulnerabilities, allowing organizations to patch them quickly. Others prefer responsible disclosure, in which a researcher reports a flaw privately to an organization and then only publishes details once the vulnerability has been fixed.
Use a Vulnerability Assessment Tool
Vulnerability assessment identifies, classifies, and prioritizes vulnerabilities that expose organizations to cyber threats and risks. It is typically done using automated scanning tools that identify and report system weaknesses.
The vulnerability assessment process begins with defining a system baseline. It includes an inventory of all the assets on a network, including software, hardware, and web servers that perform critical business functions such as database and content management systems. The next step is to scan for vulnerabilities in these assets. It can be performed manually or automatically using various tools, such as network security scanners and other vulnerability detection tools.
A good vulnerability assessment tool should be able to find all known and emerging vulnerabilities in these assets. It should also include features that detect misconfigurations, risky software, and active ports to help further protect the organization against cyber attacks. It should also allow for continuous monitoring to catch new vulnerabilities as they appear so that they can be immediately remedied.
Categorize Vulnerabilities
Vulnerability classification helps businesses understand which threats to prioritize so that they can implement an appropriate vulnerability remediation strategy. This process is crucial to helping companies avoid wasting resources by scanning and patching every identified vulnerability.
When a new vulnerability is discovered, it must be assigned a CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) ID. It is done through a federated system of CNAs that includes software vendors, bug bounty services, coordination centers, and research groups. Each of these CNAs assigns a unique ID to the vulnerabilities they discover and submit to the CVE system.
However, not all vulnerabilities are created equal. Some are more serious than others and will likely be exploited by cybercriminals. In these cases, the best option may be to accept the vulnerability, despite its potential impact. A short-term fix can be implemented that reduces the risk and doesn’t impact the operations or users of the affected systems.
Prioritize Vulnerabilities
When handling vulnerabilities, businesses must determine how to prioritize them based on their risk and impact. They must also consider which assets a vulnerability exposes and whether threat actors are weaponizing it.
A common method for prioritizing vulnerabilities is to use a CVSS score. However, this is ineffective because it needs to consider the impact the asset would have if compromised and if attackers are exploiting the vulnerability.
It is why a context-aware approach is needed for vulnerability management at scale. Incorporating context with vulnerability prioritization helps security teams save time and resources by first focusing on the most dangerous vulnerabilities. The result is a more efficient remediation process and better data protection compliance. It is possible by integrating vulnerability scanning results with contextual information such as attack correlation, threat intelligence, and asset inventory from CMDBs, pen tests, bug bounty programs, and more. It enables security teams to make practical remediation decisions without relying on the limited availability of human and financial resources.
Automate Vulnerability Remediation
Getting the right patches deployed at the correct time can be challenging, especially without automation. Remediation processes must consider that not all vulnerabilities are equal and must be treated differently. Simply applying a CVSS score to determine vulnerability severity is not enough.
The best way to remediate vulnerabilities is by leveraging the capabilities of an integrated security platform that automates scanning, prioritization, and patching. This full-circle approach to vulnerability management eliminates the need for manual processes and speeds up the cycle.
Risk-based vulnerability management and automated patching capabilities enable a complete process from scanning to assessing, prioritizing, and remediating vulnerabilities. The platform also automates ticket creation and management through out-of-the-box playbooks that can be customized for specific environments, lines of business, or work sites. It ensures all tickets are closed once they have been remediated or mitigated. It reduces the impact of vulnerabilities not addressed on time, a major cause of data breaches.
