5 Types of Vulnerabilities That Undermine Enterprise App Security in 2024

Enterprise app security is a war that can never be truly won. As security teams protect against one set of known threats, malicious actors are hard at work discovering new vulnerabilities to exploit with increasingly sophisticated attack strategies.

To maintain their security, organizations must stay on their toes, always keeping up to date with what is going on in the threat landscape. Understanding application security is crucial for organizations aiming to safeguard their digital assets and maintain trust with their users.

To help you stay informed, this blog post explores five types of vulnerabilities that app security teams should be aware of in 2024.

5 Top Vulnerabilities to Watch Out for in 2024

From sophisticated hacking techniques to vulnerabilities deeply embedded in the code, app security risks are vast and constantly evolving. Let’s take a look at the most relevant emerging vulnerabilities.

1. Security Configuration Errors

Security configuration errors are a prevalent and critical vulnerability in enterprise applications, posing significant risks to data integrity and system security. These errors often arise from broken access control or security misconfigurations, leaving applications vulnerable to exploitation by cyber attackers. Common security misconfigurations include:

• Leaving default settings unchanged
• Improperly configuring access controls
• Neglecting to update software patches
• XML External Entities (XXE) vulnerabilities

The impact of security configuration errors can be severe, leading to cryptographic failures, unauthorized access, and system compromise. Attackers may exploit these vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information, disrupt operations, or launch further attacks within the network.

Mitigating security configuration errors requires a proactive approach, encompassing regular security audits, adherence to best practices, and continuous monitoring of threats and security settings.

2. Supply Chain Attacks

Supply chain attacks, like the Log4Shell vulnerability discovered in the Log4j2 open-source library in 2023, involve targeting susceptible and outdated components within an application’s supply chain to infiltrate organizations indirectly.

Adversaries exploit trust relationships between suppliers and their customers, leveraging compromised software or hardware to gain unauthorized access to systems and data. What makes them particularly nefarious is that supply chain attacks allow attackers to infiltrate multiple organizations simultaneously.

Mitigating the risks associated with supply chain attacks requires a multifaceted approach. Organizations must:

• Conduct thorough due diligence when selecting and vetting suppliers, assessing their security practices and resilience to cyber threats..
• Implement robust vendor risk management programs, including regular security assessments and audits.
• Establish clear security requirements and contractual obligations for suppliers, ensuring compliance with industry standards.

3. AI-Enhanced Attacks

AI-enhanced attacks represent a concerning evolution in the cybersecurity landscape, leveraging artificial intelligence technology to automate and augment malicious activities. These attacks harness the capabilities of AI algorithms to enhance the efficiency, sophistication, and stealthiness of cyber threats, posing significant risks to organizations and their apps.

One of the key concerns surrounding AI-enhanced attacks is their potential to automate and scale malicious activities, enabling adversaries to launch highly targeted and adaptive campaigns at unprecedented speed and scale. Attackers can evade traditional security defenses, manipulate data, and bypass authentication mechanisms with greater precision and effectiveness.

What’s worse, AI-enhanced attacks also have the potential to exploit vulnerabilities in AI-powered systems and applications, including those used for threat detection, fraud detection, and decision-making, leading to software and data integrity failures. Adversaries can manipulate AI algorithms to generate convincing deepfakes, evade detection by anomaly detection systems, or craft sophisticated phishing emails tailored to individual users.

Mitigating the risks associated with AI-enhanced attacks requires fighting fire with fire – organizations must invest in AI-driven security tools and technologies capable of detecting and responding to AI-generated threats effectively.

4. Zero-Day Vulnerabilities

Zero-day vulnerabilities are previously unknown vulnerabilities that are exploited by attackers before a patch or fix is available. They may range from injection flaws like XSS or SQL injection to identification and authentication failures to insecure design issues, but the rub is that they’re particularly dangerous because they give attackers a head start, as security teams are unaware of the specific vulnerability's existence until it's exploited.

Since zero-day vulnerabilities are not yet known to security vendors or developers, organizations are unable to defend against them using traditional security measures, making them highly attractive to threat actors seeking to exploit them for financial gain, espionage, or sabotage.

Mitigating the risks associated with zero-day vulnerabilities requires a proactive and multi-layered approach to app security. Organizations must:

• Invest in threat intelligence feeds, monitoring tools, and security controls capable of detecting and responding to suspicious activities indicative of zero-day attacks
• Implement robust security logging and monitoring and patch management processes
• Conduct regular vulnerability assessments
• Employ recommended resource governance practices such as MFA and least privilege access

5. Insider Threats

Insider threats stem from individuals within the organization who misuse their access, knowledge, or privileges to compromise app security, often through inadequate logging and monitoring, broken object-level authorization, or broken function-level authorization vulnerabilities. These insiders may include employees, former employees, contractors, or partners who intentionally or unintentionally pose a threat to the organization's data, systems, or networks.

Unlike external threats, insiders often have legitimate access to sensitive information and systems, making them harder to detect and mitigate. Insiders can exploit their knowledge of internal processes and app security measures to circumvent controls and cover their tracks, amplifying the risk they pose to the organization.

Mitigating insider threats requires a combination of technical controls, behavioral analysis, and organizational policies. Implementing robust access controls, segregation of duties, and monitoring mechanisms can help prevent unauthorized access and detect suspicious activities.

Additionally, organizations should establish clear policies and procedures for handling sensitive information, conducting regular security awareness training, and fostering a culture of security consciousness among employees to minimize the likelihood of insider incidents.

Staying Ahead of the Threat

To safeguard against these emerging threats, organizations have to be proactive, continually staying one step ahead of cybercriminals. This requires constant vigilance, ongoing education, and the implementation of robust security measures. By prioritizing security awareness, investing in cutting-edge technologies, and fostering a culture of security within their teams, organizations can better protect themselves from the myriad of threats that lurk in the digital landscape.