por Do you know what a exploit in cybersecurity? Cybersecurity has become increasingly important due to the development of technology and the increase in the use of computer tools. However, we are going through a historical moment in which the computer security of many companies is still non-existent or very weak.
Cyberattackers take advantage of all these vulnerabilities that are found on the web and create exploits to attack their victims. In this post, we will explain what is a exploit in cybersecurity and what types of attacks exist.
CKD
Before delving into what a exploit In cybersecurity, we will review what ERC or remote code execution is.
The remote code execution (ERC) and the arbitrary code execution (AAC) They are two mechanisms that a cyber attacker can use to execute a program on their victim’s computer. The ERC is performed, as its name suggests, remotely. EAC, on the other hand, is carried out directly on the victim’s computer.
Through remote code execution, An attacker can install and run the software you want on the infected computer. Usually, a hacker malicious can trigger a chain attack; That is, executing a program that starts another and so on. It is also possible to execute any type of malware thus.
Some cybersecurity flaws put a system’s devices at risk of an attack like this, in which an attacker is left with the full machine control and you can do whatever you want. But how does an attacker take advantage of a vulnerability in a system? Next, we will see what is a exploit in cybersecurity and how an attacker can use it.
What is an exploit?
Now we can talk about what an exploit is. The exploits in cybersecurity They are programs designed in order to take advantage of a vulnerability in a system. To use them, an attacker must carry out meticulous research on the computer system they want to attack. Next, check if there are vulnerabilities in the system features you have investigated. These failures can be found in various parts of the structure of a Web Application, a OS either any other software.
Once the attacker identifies the vulnerabilities of a system, they can evaluate how to attack them. For this, the exploitswhich they normally look for gain access to the operating system console, install a malware or unleash a chain of code executions on the device. Therefore, it is so necessary to know what a exploit.
Daisy Chaining
Many remote code execution cyberattacks use a technique called Daisy Chaining. Daisy Chaining refers to a chain of consecutive code executions which allow the attacker to escalate access privileges to the system. A Daisy Chaining chain might look like this:
The victim executes the exploit. He exploit runs an ERC. The attacker executes another exploit to become an administrator user. The attacker executes one more to infect other devices on the network.
Payload
To learn more about what an exploit is, let’s talk about the Payloadwhich is to carry out Daisy Chaining it is necessary to include the code that will be executed after doing the exploit or the exploits. Once you have access to the console of the infected computer, the code entered there is called payload. This could contain a malware, ransomware or be a link for the escalation of privileges within the network.
Types of attack
We have already seen what is a exploit in cybersecurity and how it is used by black hat hackers to take advantage of failures. Now, we will see what types of attacks an attacker could carry out, if he can get his victim to execute a exploit.
exist three types of attack that a hacker malicious can do with a exploityes:
To the operating system with exploit. To a configuration error with exploit. To an application with exploit.
Attack on the operating system
These attacks target types of public vulnerabilities that are found on outdated operating systems. The best example of one of them is ransomware Wannacry, which shook the entire world in 2017. One of the most common vulnerabilities in operating systems, and of the software generally known as buffer overflow.
Attack on a configuration error
Default, system configurations are an attack vector, since it is controlled from there. Access to the system must be carefully configured, since a hacking attack exploits can be directed to the privilege escalation within it, to increase its ability to do damage.
Application level attack
There are multiple attacks aimed at web applications. One of them, for example, is the denial of service attack either DDoS, which is finding a way to make the site stop working. There is a wide variety of exploits designed for failures in web, mobile and computer applications.
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