Proactively Managing High-Risk Vulnerabilities with TruRisk Mitigate™

In late 2024, organizations faced over 65 million detections from three critical vulnerabilities—CVE-2013-2900, CVE-2024-38122, and CVE-2024-30078—underscoring the urgent need for proactive vulnerability management. Adding to these challenges, the Qualys Threat Research Unit (TRU) uncovered five Local Privilege Escalation (LPE) vulnerabilities in November within the needrestart utility (CVE-2024-48990 to CVE-2024-11003), a default component of Ubuntu Server. Present in versions prior to 3.8 since 2014, these flaws allow unprivileged users to gain root access, jeopardizing system integrity across Ubuntu and other Linux distributions.

To combat such risks, Qualys TruRisk Mitigate™, part of TruRisk Eliminate™, delivers a flexible solution with configuration fixes and alternative mitigations. By enabling IT and security teams to reduce exposure while maintaining critical operations, TruRisk Mitigate™ provides proactive controls that help organizations stay ahead of evolving threats and ensure business continuity.

TruRisk Mitigate™: A Flexible Approach to Vulnerability Management

TruRisk Mitigate™ provides immediate solutions for vulnerabilities where patching is not feasible due to compatibility issues, operational requirements, or unavailability. Through TruRisk Mitigate™, IT and security teams can apply configuration fixes and alternative mitigations that reduce exposure, enabling continued operation without interruption.

This capability is vital for high-risk vulnerabilities, where delays in response can lead to increased exposure. By offering flexible controls, TruRisk Mitigate™ helps organizations anticipate potential threats without compromising continuity.

Managing CVE-2013-2900: WinVerifyTrust Signature Validation Vulnerability

With over 25 million detections, the WinVerifyTrust vulnerability (CVE-2013-2900) highlights the persistent risk of legacy vulnerabilities. This Windows vulnerability allows attackers to bypass digital signature validation, potentially leading to unauthorized code execution.

TruRisk Mitigate’s Solution

TruRisk Mitigate™ addresses this vulnerability by enforcing configuration fixes to restrict unsigned code execution. As this vulnerability cannot be fixed with a patch, Qualys TruRisk mitigate used the correct action to fix the vulnerability.

Mitigating CVE-2024-30078: Windows Wi-Fi Driver Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

CVE-2024-30078, a critical vulnerability in Windows Wi-Fi drivers, allows remote code execution, presenting particular risk in wireless network environments. With 20 million detections, it requires swift mitigation.

TruRisk Mitigate’s Solution

This Windows vulnerability has a patch, but due to its impact on servers, many organizations struggle to patch it immediately upon release. As an alternative, the Qualys Research Team has determined that disabling Wi-Fi on affected servers effectively mitigates the risk until patching is feasible.

Qualys TruRisk Mitigate™ provides this mitigation solution, allowing organizations to address the vulnerability on servers without disrupting operations. Since servers typically do not rely on Wi-Fi networks, disabling Wi-Fi ensures continued application performance without interruption. Once mitigated, the vulnerability status is updated for clear visibility and alignment between remediation and security teams.

Managing needrestart Vulnerabilities: Addressing Local Privilege Escalation (LPE) Risks

The Qualys Threat Research Unit (TRU) recently identified five Local Privilege Escalation (LPE) vulnerabilities in the needrestart component, a utility installed by default on Ubuntu Server. These vulnerabilities, assigned CVE-2024-48990, CVE-2024-48991, CVE-2024-48992, CVE-2024-10224, and CVE-2024-11003, allow unprivileged users to gain root access without user interaction.

Present in versions prior to 3.8, these flaws enable attackers to manipulate environment variables, passing unsanitized data to interpreters like Python or Ruby, and execute arbitrary shell commands. The vulnerabilities have persisted since version 0.8, released in 2014, affecting not only Ubuntu but other Linux distributions.

TruRisk Mitigate’s Solution

 TruRisk Mitigate™ provides proactive solutions for addressing needrestart vulnerabilities by implementing configuration fixes, such as disabling interpreter scanning, real-time monitoring to detect exploitation attempts, and leveraging Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management (CSAM) for comprehensive asset visibility. These capabilities empower organizations to mitigate risks efficiently while awaiting official patches or updates, ensuring continued protection against potential exploits.

Key Benefits of TruRisk Mitigate™

1. Eliminate the Risk When a Patch Is Not Available: Not all vulnerabilities can be patched. TruRisk mitigate recommends the actions required to fix vulnerabilities that do not have a patch.
2. Reduces Risk Without Disrupting Operations: When the risk of deploying a patch is too high, TruRisk mitigate provide alterative mitigation techniques to reduce the risk without the need to deploy the patch.
3. Zero Days: respond to Zero Days at day Zero in case the patch is not available or cannot be deployed.
4. Fully Integrated with VMDR: workflows and results are reflected in VMDR reports.
5. Cost and Complexity Reduction: Consolidating tools simplifies workflows and reduces operational costs.

Strengthening Security with TruRisk Mitigate™

As cybersecurity threats evolve, TruRisk Mitigate™ empowers organizations to stay ahead by effectively managing high-risk vulnerabilities like CVE-2013-2900, CVE-2024-38122, and CVE-2024-30078 through configuration fixes, monitoring, and network segmentation. Paired with expert insights into emerging threats, such as the recently discovered needrestart LPE vulnerabilities, this approach provides a comprehensive strategy for safeguarding your systems.

Don’t miss our needrestart webinar to learn actionable strategies from industry experts. Strengthen your defenses, stay ahead of threats, and explore our complimentary TruRisk Eliminate Whitepaper for deeper insights into transforming your cybersecurity approach.