25 Dangerous Vulnerabilities Actively Exploited by China Sponsored Actors

Trevor Collins

4 years ago

According to a recent advisory published by the NSA, Chinese state-sponsored actors use several techniques to access sensitive intellectual property, economic, political, and military information. The NSA has identified the most often used techniques that can cause the most damage. These include 25 vulnerabilities they know Chinese state-sponsored actors use. 21 of these vulnerabilities became public in just the last two years.

Vulnerabilities and the effected system include:

These actors use the vulnerabilities in an attack by first identifying the target, collecting information on the target, identify possible vulnerabilities, and creating or reusing software to exploit their vulnerabilities. Finally, they will attack the target with the custom software. Once they gain access, these vulnerabilities lead to Code Execution [TA0002], Privilege Escalation [TA0004], and Credential Access [TA0006]. As mentioned in the report: “The majority of the products are either for remote access [T1133] or for external web services [T1190].”

We recommend checking the vulnerably link if you use any of the products listed but in general, you should follow these best practices for securing your systems.

Automate updates to ensure you run the latest security patch. If you can’t automate this, then schedule a time every month to review your system for any updates. If you experience a data breach, ensure you change the password compromised in the breach before starting up production again. Don’t allow direct external management. Use a VPN to manage access from the outside. Use a “Deny All” policy and only allow protocols you need. Ensure you use network isolation to separate different departments and external-facing servers. Record and save logging information from your servers. Check these logs regularly for signs of compromise.