Vulnerability Disclosures in 2018 So Far Outpacing Previous Years'

Nearly 17% of 10,644 vulnerabilities disclosed so far this year have been critical, according to new report from Risk Based Security.
There appears to be little relief in sight for organizations hoping for some respite from patching. A new report from Risk Based Security released today reveals that the number of vulnerabilities discovered in software products shows no signs of abating.
Between January 1 and June 30 of this year, a total of 10,644 vulnerabilities were published compared to 9,690 in the same period in 2017. The trend so far this year suggests that the total number of disclosed vulnerabilities in 2018 will comfortably exceed the 20,832 vulnerabilities that Risk Based Security published during 2017 — which itself represented a 31% increase over 2016.
About 17% of the reported flaws this year were deemed critical and had a severity rating of between 9.0 and 10.0 on the CVSS rating scale. That number is smaller than the 21.1% of flaws overall that garnered the same rating in Risk Based Security's report for the first half of 2017.
Somewhat expectedly a plurality of 2018 vulnerabilities – 46.3% - were Web-related flaws, and half of all reported vulns were remotely exploitable. Nearly one-third of the vulnerabilities so far this year in Risk Based Security's database have public exploits, but 73 have a documented solution.
A majority of the vulnerabilities are based on processing user or attacker-supplied input, and the software not properly-sanitizing that input, says Brian Martin, vice president of vulnerability intelligence for Risk Based Security. "We classify them as input manipulation issues that impact the integrity of the software," he notes.
Not All in the CVE & NVD
Significantly, Risk Based Security's vulnerability database contained more than 3,275 vulnerabilities that were not published in MITRE's CVE and the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) in the first half of 2018. Of these, more than 23% had a CVSS score between 9.0 and 10.0.
In other words, organizations relying purely on the CVS/NVD vulnerability data would likely not have been aware of more than 750 other critical vulnerabilities that were published elsewhere.
"The biggest takeaway is that the number of vulnerabilities being disclosed continues to rise, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future," Martin says.
More importantly, the data shows that organizations cannot rely solely on the CVE database for their vulnerability data, he says.
His firm uses over 2,000 sources for its vulnerability data including mail lists such as Bugtraq and Full Disclosure, exploit websites such as ExploitDB and Packetstorm, and vendor resources such as customer forums. Other sources include formal advisories and knowledge base articles, and developer resources such as changelog, bug-tracking systems, and code commits, Martin says.
Risk Based Systems typically aggregates and processes newly disclosed vulnerabilities in less than 24 hours, depending on the disclosure and if additional analysis is needed. For some security vulnerabilities, the vendor discloses at roughly the same time as CVE and for others, it is weeks and even months, ahead of them, he notes.
Not So Fast
While Risk Based Security's statistics might suggest that software is becoming increasingly buggy, the reality appears a little more nuanced. According to Martin, there are likely many reasons why more flaws are being discovered in software products these days despite the heightened awareness and attention being paid to application security.
Among them is the fact that there are a lot more security researchers looking for and reporting security vulnerabilities these days compared to a few years ago. Tools for finding security vulnerabilities have improved as well and have become faster and more reliable than before, too.
And organizations that monitor and aggregate vulnerabilities are also improving their processes and software vendors themselves have become better at disclosing vulnerabilities reported to them, Martin notes.
Source: darkreading

Latest Jobs
-
- Sailpoint IIQ Consultant
- London
- Up to £75,000
-
SailPoint IIQ consultant- London We are looking for a strong SailPoint IIQ consultant to work for this global enterprise, in this position you will be the lead consultant in regard to the IAM and PAM tools Duties include Responsible for designing, developing, testing, implementing, and integrating IAM (SailPoint) systems and solutions. Assessing requirements for Identity and Access Management solutions to meet stakeholders needs. Provide support for production IAM infrastructure systems and processes. Ensures the maintenance, patching, operating, and monitoring of IAM systems. Ensures senior management and staff are informed of any changes and updates in a timely manner. Experience with Maintaining and supporting SailPoint IIQ Assessing requirements for Privilege Access Management solutions to meet stakeholders needs We are looking for someone with the following experience SailPoint IIQ experience Expertise working with SailPoint Identity IQ platform - Access Lifecycle Management, Certifications, Role Management Expertise in onboarding applications with various connectors like Active Directory, JDBC, SCIM 2.0, Azure Active Directory Expertise in developing APIs (SCIM, REST) leveraging Java based developmentExperience of Privileged Access Management concepts and use cases Unfortunatly we are unable to provide sponsorship for this opportunity, therefore applications will need to be able to work in the UK
-
- SailPoint Consultant- Netherland-
- Netherlands
- upto €700 per day
-
We are looking for a highly skilled SailPoint IIQ Consultant to work on a major deployment project. The ideal candidate will have experience with all aspects of SailPoint IIQ, including development, configuration, and administration. They will also be able to work independently and as part of a team to deliver high-quality results. · Responsibilities · Develop and configure Sailpoint IIQ solutions · Integrate SailPoint IIQ with other systems · Support SailPoint IIQ deployments · Provide technical support to users If you are a highly skilled SailPoint IIQ consultant who is looking for their next project, we encourage you to apply. look forward to hearing from you!
-
- Lead CyberArk deployment Consultant
- London
- Upto £80,000 plus benefits
-
CyberArk Consultant is needed to be responsible for leading the deployment of CyberArk solutions for this expanding IT services business, You will work with customer both pre and post sales, getting involved in CyberArk Solution Design, helping to create CyberArk Strategic Roadmaps, on-boarding accounts, product and process integration into the CyberArk Solution and Proviso of Installation and technical Documentation. We are looking for this individual to have experience in: Installation of CyberArk PAS for V11.X and V12.X (Vault, DR Vault, Central Policy Manager and Password Vault Web Access) Upgrade of CyberArk from V9 and V10 (Vault, DR Vault, Central Policy Manager and Password Vault Web Access) Installation and Upgrade of Privilege Session Manager and Privilege Session Manager Proxy As some of your client will be government site, all individual will need to be put through SC clearance, therefore you must be eligible to receive this and happy to be put through(With a British Citizen or to have lived in the UK for the past 5 years) We are unable to provide work visa sponsorship for this opportunity
-
- Senior Business Analyst - Outside IR35 Contract, SC Clearance Required, London
- London
- £400 per day outside IR35
-
Senior Business Analyst - Outside IR35 Contract, SC Clearance Required, Based in London Project- to engage with colleagues and stakeholders to investigate and model business functions, processes, information flows and data structures, using a range of business analysis techniques. • You will translate the solution to the business problem into detailed requirements by creating user stories and well-defined acceptance criteria. • Elicit end-to-end business requirements for a live cross-government service • Working across the Government departments to bring together varied business and operational outcomes to form a holistic overall set of service requirements Current SC clearance is required. As is the ability to travel to London.