The top ten most-commonly exploited vulnerabilities revealed

A concept image of a hacker behind a stream of binary
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Vulnerabilities in a host of Microsoft applications including Office and Share Point are among the most commonly-exploited by cyber criminals, despite patches being widely available for these historical flaws.

US security agencies have identified the ten most widely-exploited software vulnerabilities between 2016 and 2019, with a view to encouraging organisations to prioritise patching these systems over others. Many of these vulnerabilities are a few years old and have already been patched.

Beyond Microsoft products, Apache Struts, Adobe Flash Player and the open-source Drupal content management system (CMS) are also affected.

The report, published by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) wing of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI, details hacks carried out by state-backed groups and other cyber criminals.

The guidance has been published amid continued exploitation of known and historic software vulnerabilities against public and private sector organisations. It’s particularly alarming considering that exploiting these vulnerabilities often require fewer resources compared with zero-day exploits for which no patches are available.

Ramped up efforts to patch systems and implement programmes to keep routine patching in place would significantly disrupt foreign adversaries’ attempts to develop or acquire exploits, the agencies said.

The most widely-exploited vulnerabilities concern Microsoft’s Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) technology, which allows documents to contain embedded content from other applications, such as spreadsheets. Three attacks deployed most frequently by state-backed hackers from China, Iran, North Korea and Russia relate with OLE technology.

Chinese-backed cyber criminals were even exploiting the vulnerability dubbed CVE-2012-0158 as of December 2019, which found in a wide number of Microsoft products including Office 2003 and Visual Basic 6.0.

This flaw, incidentally, was assessed in 2015 as being the most used in the US government’s cyber operations. Its continued exploitation today suggests organisations haven’t yet widely-implemented patches for the vulnerability, with state-backed hackers continuing to incorporate dated flaws into their operations so long as they remain effective.

The second-most reported vulnerability was a widespread Web framework known as Apache Struts, dubbed CVE-2017-5638. For mitigation, users are encouraged to upgrade to Struts 2.3.32 or Struts 2.5.10.1.

The full list of the top ten most-commonly exploited vulnerabilities between 2016 and 2019 as determined by US security agencies are outlined in the table below:

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CVE CodeVulnerable ProductsAssociated MalwareMitigation
CVE-2017-11882 Microsoft Office 2007 SP3, 2010 SP2, 2013 SP1, 2016Loki, Formbook, Pony/FAREITUpdate affected products with the latest patches
CVE-2017-0199Microsoft Office 2007 SP3, 2010 SP2, 2013 SP1, 2016, Vista SP2, Server 2008 SP2, Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1FINSPY, LATENTBOT, DridexUpdate affected products with the latest patches
CVE-2017-5638Apache Struts 2 2.3.x before 2.3.32 and 2.5.x before 2.5.10.1JexBossUpgrade to Struts 2.3.32 or Struts 2.5.10.1
CVE-2012-0158Microsoft Office 2003 SP3, 2007 SP2 and SP3, and 2010 Gold and SP1; Office 2003 Web Components SP3; SQL Server 2000 SP4, 2005 SP4, and 2008 SP2, SP3, and R2; BizTalk Server 2002 SP1; Commerce Server 2002 SP4, 2007 SP2, and 2009 Gold and R2; Visual FoxPro 8.0 SP1 and 9.0 SP2; and Visual Basic 6.0DridexUpdate affected products with the latest patches
CVE-2019-0604Microsoft SharePointChina ChopperUpdate affected products with the latest patches
CVE-2017-0143Microsoft Windows Vista SP2; Windows Server 2008 SP2 and R2 SP1; Windows 7 SP1; Windows 8.1; Windows Server 2012 Gold and R2; Windows RT 8.1; and Windows 10 Gold, 1511, and 1607; and Windows Server 2016Multiple using the EternalSynergy and EternalBlue Exploit KitUpdate affected products with the latest patches
CVE-2018-4878Adobe Flash Player before 28.0.0.161DOGCALLUpdate Adobe Flash Player installation to the latest version
CVE-2017-8759Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0, 3.5, 3.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2 and 4.7FINSPY, FinFisher, WingBirdUpdate affected products with the latest security patches
CVE-2015-1641Microsoft Word 2007 SP3, Office 2010 SP2, Word 2010 SP2, Word 2013 SP1, Word 2013 RT SP1, Word for Mac 2011, Office Compatibility Pack SP3, Word Automation Services on SharePoint Server 2010 SP2 and 2013 SP1, and Office Web Apps Server 2010 SP2 and 2013 SP1Toshliph, UWarriorUpate affected products with the latest security patches
CVE-2018-7600Drupal before 7.58, 8.x before 8.3.9, 8.4.x before 8.4.6, and 8.5.x before 8.5.1KittyUpgrade to the most recent version of Drupal 7 or 8 core
Keumars Afifi-Sabet
Contributor

Keumars Afifi-Sabet is a writer and editor that specialises in public sector, cyber security, and cloud computing. He first joined ITPro as a staff writer in April 2018 and eventually became its Features Editor. Although a regular contributor to other tech sites in the past, these days you will find Keumars on LiveScience, where he runs its Technology section.