The vulnerability researcher's handbook : the comprehensive guide for discovering, reporting, and publishing security vulnerabilities / Benjamin Strout.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Strout, Benjamin, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Business enterprises--Computer networks--Security measures.

Business enterprises.

Management information systems--Security measures.

Management information systems.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (260 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Birmingham ; Mumbai : Packt Publishing, [2023]

Biography/History:

Strout Benjamin: Benjamin Strout is a veteran of the technology industry and a passionate technology communicator. His experience in healthcare, biotech, pharmaceutical, and fintech industries has led him into a role as a lead penetration tester at one of the largest healthcare conglomerates in the United States. Founder and point of contact of Maine's local DEF CON group (DC207), he has been featured as a guest speaker at various conferences. He has contributed to works as a technical reviewer and published 30+ CVEs for technologies in use worldwide. When not teaching others or tinkering with some technological curiosity, he's busy learning bluegrass licks on his banjo and playing with his cats, Dionysius and Louis Thanksgiving.

Summary:

Learn the right way to discover, report, and publish security vulnerabilities to prevent exploitation of user systems and reap the rewards of receiving credit for your work Key Features Build successful strategies for planning and executing zero-day vulnerability research Find the best ways to disclose vulnerabilities while avoiding vendor conflict Learn to navigate the complicated CVE publishing process to receive credit for your research Book Description Vulnerability researchers are in increasingly high demand as the number of security incidents related to crime continues to rise with the adoption and use of technology. To begin your journey of becoming a security researcher, you need more than just the technical skills to find vulnerabilities; you'll need to learn how to adopt research strategies and navigate the complex and frustrating process of sharing your findings. This book provides an easy-to-follow approach that will help you understand the process of discovering, disclosing, and publishing your first zero-day vulnerability through a collection of examples and an in-depth review of the process. You'll begin by learning the fundamentals of vulnerabilities, exploits, and what makes something a zero-day vulnerability. Then, you'll take a deep dive into the details of planning winning research strategies, navigating the complexities of vulnerability disclosure, and publishing your research with sometimes-less-than-receptive vendors. By the end of the book, you'll be well versed in how researchers discover, disclose, and publish vulnerabilities, navigate complex vendor relationships, receive credit for their work, and ultimately protect users from exploitation. With this knowledge, you'll be prepared to conduct your own research and publish vulnerabilities. What you will learn Find out what zero-day vulnerabilities are and why it's so important to disclose and publish them Learn how vulnerabilities get discovered and published to vulnerability scanning tools Explore successful strategies for starting and executing vulnerability research Discover ways to disclose zero-day vulnerabilities responsibly Populate zero-day security findings into the CVE databases Navigate and resolve conflicts with hostile vendors Publish findings and receive professional credit for your work Who this book is for This book is for security analysts, researchers, penetration testers, software developers, IT engineers, and anyone who wants to learn how vulnerabilities are found and then disclosed to the public. You'll need intermediate knowledge of operating systems, software, and interconnected systems before you get started. No prior experience with zero-day vulnerabilities is needed, but some exposure to vulnerability scanners and penetration testing tools will help accelerate your journey to publishing your first vulnerability.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright and Credits

Dedication

Contributors

Disclaimer

Table of Contents

Preface

Part 1- Vulnerability Research Fundamentals

Chapter 1: An Introduction to Vulnerabilities

Introducing software vulnerabilities

The CIA Triad

Organizing impacts

Getting familiar with software vulnerability scanners

Common vulnerability scanning tools

Exploring common types of software vulnerabilities

Web applications

Client-server applications

Inspecting the software vulnerability life cycle

Inception

Discovery

Exploitation and remediation

Deprecation

Summary

Further reading

Chapter 2: Exploring Real-World Impacts of Zero-Days

Zero-days - what are they?

Zero-day vulnerability

Zero-day attack

An analogy of zero-day terminology

Exploring zero-day case studies

Pulse - CVE-2019-11510

Confluence - CVE-2021-26084

Microsoft .NET CVE-2017-8759

Citrix - CVE-2019-19781

Considering zero-day ethics

Researcher responsibility

Vendor responsibility

Chapter 3: Vulnerability Research - Getting Started with Successful Strategies

Technical requirements

What is vulnerability research?

Conducting research

Selecting research targets

Finding targets that interest you

Likely vulnerable and downloadable software

Exploring vulnerabilities with test cases

Test cases - a primer

Building effective test suites

Writing your own test cases

Introducing common research tools

Note-taking, screenshot, and screen recording tools

Hypervisors and virtual machines

Web application proxies

Debuggers and decompilers

Part 2 - Vulnerability Disclosure, Publishing, and Reporting

Chapter 4: Vulnerability Disclosure - Communicating Security Findings.

Vulnerability disclosure - what and why

What is vulnerability disclosure?

Why is vulnerability disclosure important?

Different types of disclosures

Bug bounties and coordinated disclosure

Initiating disclosure

What happens after disclosure?

Sample disclosure template

Approaching common challenges

Duplication of efforts

Unresponsive vendors

Uncooperative vendors

Failed vendors

Hostile vendors

Chapter 5: Vulnerability Publishing -Getting Your Work Published in Databases

Demystifying vulnerability publishing

Why publish vulnerabilities?

What are some of the risks involved in vulnerability publishing?

Selecting the right vulnerability publishing method

CVE

CVE CNA intermediates

Ineligible application publication options

Exploitation databases

Practical vulnerability publishing examples

A CNA-sponsored CVE

A CNA-LR-sponsored CVE

CNA intermediate sponsored CVE

Chapter 6: Vulnerability Mediation - When Things Go Wrong and Who Can Help

The basics of vulnerability mediation

What is vulnerability mediation?

Types of mediators

When to consider mediation services

Benefits of vulnerability mediation

Resolving disputes through vulnerability mediation

The vulnerability mediation process

Mediator resources

The CERT/CC

The US-CERT

The Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT)

Other CERT organizations

Bug bounty programs

Legal support

Other mediation options

Chapter 7: Independent Vulnerability Publishing

Independent disclosures and their place in a vulnerability life cycle

The benefits of independent publishing

Risks of independent publishing

How to independently publish while avoiding risks.

Avoiding the common risks in publishing

How to independently publish a vulnerability

A before-you-publish checklist

Additional reading

Part 3 - Case Studies, Researcher Resources, and Vendor Resources

Chapter 8: Real-World Case Studies - Digging into Successful (and Unsuccessful) Research Reporting

Case study 1 - are we there yet?

Lessons learned

Possible improvements

Case study 2 - contract clause

Case study 3 - tough customers

Case study 4 - large corporations and you

Case study 5 - I'd like to speak to your manager

Chapter 9: Working with Security Researchers - A Vendor's Guide

What is a security researcher?

The characteristics of a researcher

The skillset of a researcher

The motivations of a researcher

Harnessing researcher resources

Building trust and collaboration with researchers

Avoiding common relationship missteps

Building positive vendor-researcher relations

Crafting a responsible disclosure policy

An example policy - Acme Logistics' responsible disclosure policy

Chapter 10: Templates, Resources, and Final Guidance

Research test case templates

Vendor communication email templates

An introduction email for a company with no security disclosure policy

Sample disclosure template with security policy

Attempting to reinitialize communication

Notification of pending publication with an unresponsive vendor

CVE templates

CVE reservation template

CVE disclosure template

Organizational templates

Workspace

Research to disclosure

Summary and final words

Index

About Packt

Other Books You May Enjoy.

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781803243566

1803243562

OCLC:

1369645747