What are Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE)?

CVE-2021-44228, CVE-2017-5753, CVE-2024-50624...to the uninitiated, these strings of characters make no sense. In cybersecurity, we call them Common Vulnerability and Exposure IDs, a.k.a CVE IDs. CVE is a system that categorizes and identifies cybersecurity threats. 

They're uniquely structured IDs that represent an IT vulnerability. They're a critical tool for IT professionals who rely on this database to remediate risks in their own systems. Let's discuss how to decrypt the CVE IDs, their significance, and some famous CVEs.

What are Common Vulnerabilities and Exposure (CVE)?

CVE is a collection of globally recognized cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The MITRE group officially launched the program in 1999. Its purpose is to share threats that could affect everyone worldwide.

What are the Components of a CVE Entry?

CVE entries consist of several key facts to assist in identification and resolution. CVE IDs will always be in the following format: CVE-<YEAR>-XXXX. The "year" part indicates the year when someone found the threat. The "XXXX" represents a unique number to identify the issue.

Each CVE entry is structured in a specific fashion. Let's take a look at one directly from the horse's mouth: 

As you can see, each CVE posts its publishing date and the date when it was last updated. Next is the issue description. Lastly, the CVE provides several references to the issue, which may give a clearer picture.

It is important to note that CVEs themselves do not contain remediation steps. However, the NVD, maintained by the U.S. government, provides extra context to CVE. It will provide threat severity levels and numerous guides to eliminate the threat.

What are CVE Numbering Authorities (CNAs)?

CNAs are organizations that have been granted the authority to assign CVE IDs. Each CNA has authority over its respective domain. For example, Microsoft and Apple are each CNAs. They are responsible for reviewing vulnerability reports, assigning CVEs, and ensuring accurate documentation. Let's go over the three main types of CNA:

• Vendor CNAs: Companies like Microsoft, Google, and Apple. They assign CVE IDs to vulnerabilities in their products.

• Researcher CNAs: Organizations that focus on cybersecurity research. Some examples are NVD, CERT, and MITRE itself. They may assign CVE IDs for vulnerabilities they find.

• Third-party CNAs: Independent bodies that serve as CNAs for specific sectors, like NIST and national CERT teams.

What is the Significance of CVE in IT Security?

CVEs play a critical role in unifying the IT world around specific security threats. Without the CVE, multiple teams would find, discover, and document the same threat. This repetitive behavior wastes productivity and leaves vast knowledge gaps within the community.

CVEs are also used by vulnerability scanners such as OpenVAS and Fortify. These tools use CVEs to identify and prioritize remediations.

Auditors and regulators also use CVEs to help with regulatory compliance by providing a clear record of known vulnerabilities. They let auditors know what threats may compromise a system with a brief explanation.

Ultimately, CVEs can be considered "the Library of Alexandria" for security threats. It is an extremely valuable resource for anyone in cybersecurity.

What are Common Types of Vulnerabilities Addressed by CVE?

CVE vulnerabilities encompass everything related to binary transactions. In other words, if computers are involved, we will catalog them here. These vulnerabilities are categorized into four categories: hardware, network, software, and human vulnerabilities. Let's review some common examples of each type.

Software Vulnerabilities

Software vulnerabilities reside in places like operating systems, applications, firmware, databases, and web browsers. Those are just a few examples pulled from the vastness of the software world. We define software here as anything that you can download and use on a computer.

In any case, here are a couple of common vulnerabilities in software addressed by CVE.

• Admin Login:CVE-2020-29583: A clear text administrator password was found in clear text on this software's firmware.

• SQL Injection: CVE-2024-9976: This vulnerability was discovered in Pharmacy Management System 1.0. Under certain circumstances, it allows hackers to retrieve unauthorized information from the database.

• Cross-Site Scripting (XSS): CVE-2023-3269: An exploit in Internet Explorer that allows hackers to conduct XSS attacks.

Hardware Vulnerabilities

CVE also tracks down vulnerabilities in processors and other hardware. Here are two well-known Speculative Execution vulnerabilities: 

• CVE-2017-5754: This exploit lets hackers use a CPU's "guessing" ability to access private data.

• CVE-2018-12130: Fill Buffers on some microprocessors allow hackers to view unauthorized data.

Network Vulnerabilities

These vulnerabilities have to do with insecure communication protocols, misconfigurations, or faulty hardware.

• DDoS: CVE-2024-47850: This exploit allows a hacker to send a request whenever they claim to add a new printer. You can easily use this to send millions of requests and suffocate a system.

• Man-In-The-Middle: CVE-2023-6058: A vulnerability in Bitdefender Safepay allows an attacker to perform a Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack. It exploits the product's handling of untrusted server certificates, which can be added to exceptions. This can lead to the interception and alteration of HTTPS communications.

Human Vulnerabilities

Human vulnerabilities involve techniques like phishing and password guessing.

CVE-2023-50704: This CVE refers to hackers who create fake URLs to lead users astray. The phony URL can aid phishing attacks. It may trick users into giving their passwords and other secure data.

Final Thoughts

CVEs are vital in cybersecurity. They provide a standard way to identify and track vulnerabilities in systems and applications. CVEs can be roughly categorized as hardware, software, network, or human issues. IT staff prioritizes fixes and improves system security by reviewing and scanning CVEs.

Although CVEs themselves do not provide solutions, they serve as a foundation for further analysis and support. This enormous database empowers vulnerability scanners, auditors, and organizations to tackle cyber threats. The digital world will never stop evolving. CVEs provide a bastion of continuity in an ever-changing cyber world.

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