Software Vulnerabilities: What Are They and Can They Be Fixed?

Uploaded on 2025-07-24 in JOBS-Training, FREE TO VIEW, BUSINESS-Services-IT & Telecoms

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Software Vulnerabilities: What Are They and Can They Be Fixed?

The simplest explanation for the term software vulnerability is “a security flaw, glitch, or weakness found in software code that could be exploited by an attacker (threat source).” Vulnerabilities originate in various ways including coding mistakes, design gaps, outdated software, or unforeseen interactions between system components.

Generally speaking, a software vulnerability is a weak structural design element that can be weaponized by malevolent actors, who might insert malicious code, change or escalate permissions, disrupt business operations, steal sensitive data, or otherwise compromise the system’s functionality to further malicious objectives.

One fact of modern software is that Open-Source Software (OSS) is literally everywhere, and we know that cybersecurity vulnerabilities escalate as the potential attack surface expands. The Linux kernel, one of the foundational building blocks of open source, is literally embedded in virtually all supercomputers, cloud computing hosts, billions of smart phones, and most operating systems. “Open Source” software, as its name suggests, is available to anyone, and this has clear benefits and potential drawbacks. On the plus side, it is readily available, and it’s free, creating more equity in terms of access. However, this poses a particular challenge in terms of tracking threats in real time. This leads to the potential for unique—and very serious—cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

One recent serious threat that was caught in the nick of time involved XZ Utils. In 2024, a lone Microsoft and PostgreSQL developer named Andres Freund revealed a backdoor had been intentionally planted in XZ Utils, an open source data compression utility available on almost all installations of Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. If this hadn’t been identified, the consequences could have been dire. The person or people behind this project likely spent years developing it with the purpose of creating maximum damage. Without intervention, they were likely very close to seeing the backdoor update merged into Debian and Red Hat, the two biggest distributions of Linux.

That it was caught and reported before it did any damage was a lucky break; but according to many reports, this backdoor could have dwarfed the SolarWinds breach from 2020.

According to Filippo Valsorda, a software and cryptography engineer, “This might be the best executed supply chain attack we’ve seen described in the open, and it’s a nightmare scenario: malicious, competent, authorized upstream in a widely used library,” he said of the effort, which came frightfully close to succeeding.

While OSS offers cost efficiency and a robust development model, it also presents a glaring risk, the inclusion of software components developed by contributors in adversarial nations. The unfortunate fact is that most software has security flaws—not just “zero days,” or undiscovered security flaws, but known security flaws, and the volume of the latter increases rapidly each year, from about 6,000 in 2015 to nearly 29,000 in 2023. Importantly, many of these flaws are in software components: chunks of code that are used and reused, often widely, to build entire applications.

The struggle to identify risks before they escalate is a problem from a trained cybersecurity personnel perspective as well. Many modern software organizations spend thousands of staff hours on vulnerability management each year—money that might be spent on keeping up to date on the latest cybersecurity trends and attendant training. One U.S. military unit reported spending an estimated 15,000 hours of staff time per year on vulnerability management alone.

According to the Verizon 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report, software vulnerability exploitation surged nearly three times (180%) in 2023 compared to 2022. For the second year running, exploited vulnerabilities were the most identified root cause of ransomware attacks. The U.S. Cyber Security and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) maintains a catalog of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEVs), which can contain over 1,000 KEVs at any given time. A significant issue is the lag between when software vulnerability is uncovered (or exploited) and when the software is patched. Often, that lag is measured in months (and zero-day vulnerabilities are often longer).

To shore up defenses, businesses have invested in patch management software, a trend that has grown significantly in recent years. When vulnerability is discovered and fixed, it then protects that particular software application from attack. However, outdated software like Adobe Flash or Microsoft Windows 8 and prior versions have no vendor support, so any existing vulnerabilities could remain forever.

The global security and vulnerability management market size is estimated at $16.75 billion in 2025 and is expected to reach $22.9 billion by 2030, showing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.5% from 2025 to 2030. This growth is driven by the increasing frequency and complexity of cyber threats, pushing organizations to prioritize robust vulnerability management solutions, which also means taking a defensive stance rather than an offensive one, which is not ideal.

Many well-known companies like CrowdStrike, Cisco, and IBM offer solutions for vulnerability management, with a particular focus on specific areas or dealing with known vulnerabilities. The 180% growth year to year as noted in the Verizon software vulnerability report indicates that these patches and solutions are not working fast enough to catch up with the problem. A defense strategy means always playing catch-up, which isn’t a defense at all against rapidly evolving threats, the shortage of skilled cyber professionals, the complexity of cyber-attacks and simple human error. All are factors in this growing cybersecurity crisis.

What are IT, OT, and IoT Security?

To fully understand the scope of the problem, it’s important to define the different types of IT, OT, and IoT security, what they encompass, and the strategies, tools, and processes designed to protect digital infrastructure, operational systems, and connected devices from cyber threats. Here’s a quick overview of each:

IT Security focuses on protecting traditional enterprise systems, such as servers, networks, and endpoints, from cyberattacks. It includes measures like firewalls, endpoint detection and response (EDR), encryption, and identity access management (IAM).

OT Security protects industrial control systems (ICS), SCADA systems, and other operational technology environments. Many OT systems were not designed with security in mind, making them vulnerable to attacks that can disrupt critical infrastructure. Security strategies include network segmentation, intrusion detection systems (IDS), and asset visibility tools.

IoT Security protects the interconnected ecosystem of smart devices, sensors, and embedded systems. IoT devices often lack built-in security, making them easy targets for attackers. Key defenses include enforcing strong authentication, securing network connections, updating firmware, and monitoring anomalies.

Potential Solutions

With attacks on the rise, software vulnerabilities rapidly increasing and networks across all sectors facing more vulnerabilities than ever, it might be a good time to look at an old, but reliable method of cyber defense and a new, emerging game-changing technology that, when taken together, might offer a more robust defense than traditional methods.

Large organizations, critical infrastructure sectors and the military face a daily onslaught of state-sponsored expert hackers. Due to the quantity and sophistication of these adversaries, it is often “not enough” to rely solely on firewalls, anomaly/intrusion detection software, and human monitors. A more traditional method of defense is to create decoy networks, often referred to as “honeypots” or “honey nets” (in the case of multiple connected decoy networks). These decoys are intended to lure adversaries into wasting time and exposing their tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) in a simulated environment where they can do no harm.

While decoy networks—such as honeypots and honeynets—offer an effective strategy for deception and threat intelligence collection, current implementations suffer from significant limitations. They are typically labor-intensive to configure, lack behavioral realism, and are too easily detected by experienced adversaries.

The problem is just as operational as it is technical. Without realistic, adaptive decoy environments, defenders cannot efficiently detect intrusions, distract attackers, or understand their tactics, techniques, and procedures in a controlled way. Additionally, legacy honeypots do not scale or adapt to modern infrastructure such as cloud-based, containerized, or hybrid networks.

This may be a perfect inflection point where old meets new; instead of relying on handcrafted or generic decoys, a machine learning-based engine could ingest real operational data and create believable, dynamically generated network topologies. This may be done in a digital twin environment that closely emulates the actual infrastructure, making it exceedingly difficult and maybe even impossible for adversaries to distinguish between real assets and decoys.

This so-called “deception technology” is being recognized as an increasingly important component of the cybersecurity playbook, and a central pillar in the fight against advanced and ever-changing cyber threats. The global deception technology market was valued at $1.59 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $3.97 billion by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 11.45% during the forecast period 2025–2033. Through the deliberate use of decoys and traps that mirror real assets, organizations detect intruders much faster than with traditional tools alone. In fact, studies show that companies in the deception technology market using deception can identify attackers up to 12 times more quickly, reducing average recognition times from over 60 days to around 5.5 days.

It seems certain that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can play an increasingly important role, with intelligent decoy systems capable of adapting to evolving threats becoming more prevalent. It may be time to make old things new again, with a dash of AI and deception technology added into the mix for maximum effect.

How can CYRIN help?

How does CYRIN training and acumen play a role in all this? We have all the tools, including AI, the ability to design digital twins, and above all world-class training.

Yes, we continue to beat the drum for training, because we realize how important it is to all sectors. Whether it’s Boot Camps, Capture the Flag (CfF), self-directed learning or courses offered by our education partners, CYRIN works to create critical skill sets for industry, government and the cybersecurity workforce for the future.

We continue to work with our industry partners to address major challenges including incident response, ransomware, and phishing and set up realistic scenarios that allow them to train their teams and prepare new hires for the threats they will face. Government agencies have been using CYRIN for years, training their front-line specialists on the real threats faced on their ever-expanding risk surface. For educators, we consistently work with colleges and universities both large and small to create realistic training to meet the environment students will encounter when they graduate and enter the workforce.

In an increasingly digitized world, training and experiential training are critical. Unless you get the “hands-on” feel for the tools and attacks and train on incident response in real world scenarios, you just won’t be prepared for when the inevitable happens. A full-blown cyberattack is not something you can prepare for after it hits.

The best time to plan and prepare is before the attack. Our training platform teaches fundamental solutions that integrate actual cyber tools from CYRIN’s labs that allow you to practice 24/7, in the cloud, no special software required. Our new programs, including Digital Twins, can create real-world conditions for you to practice before you must act. Cyber is a team effort; to see what our team can do for you take a look at our course catalog, or better yet, contact us for further information and your personalized demonstration of CYRIN. Take a test drive and see for yourself!

Image: Jayson Hinrichsen

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