Just a quick correction… see below. Upon reflection, the example should not attribute an LDAP Entry Poisoning vuln (only JNDI Injection). An attack chain, which could include an LDAP Entry Poising vector (or more simply a maliciously controlled LDAP Server), could be part of a remote code execution exploit. -A
From: Alexander Hoole Sent: Friday, May 27, 2022 6:39 PM To: Jeremy West <jw...@redhat.com>; Kurt Seifried <k...@seifried.org> Cc: Alec J Summers <asumm...@mitre.org>; CWE CAPEC Board <cwe-capec-board-list@mitre.org> Subject: RE: Glossary Good afternoon/evening Everyone, Please consider the following points: 1. I agree with Jason O. that the terms are a stepping stone to understanding how these concepts play out in the real world. However, a slightly different perspective is the following (without defining all of the base terms): * A bug is an instance of a flaw/fault/error/defect in the design, development/implementation, or operation of a system. * A weaknesses is a bug that could (i.e., may, or may not) lead to a vulnerability. Weakness types define logical groupings of bugs which share similar properties (e.g., Buffer Overflow). * A vulnerability is a property of system requirements, design, implementation, or operation that can be accidentally or intentionally exploited (resulting in a security failure). A vulnerability is made possible due to the presence of one or more underlying weaknesses. * An exploit successfully results in a security failure through one or more vulnerabilities which does exploit underlying weaknesses. * An attack is an attempt to exploit one or more vulnerabilities that could lead to an exploit. Attack patterns define logical groupings of attacks which share similar properties and approaches related to underlying weakness types. Note: the distinction between can and could is a comparison of probability. Can is likely to occur. Could is less likely to occur. 1. Regarding the Red Hat definition, if we want to be consistent with other standards and best practices, we should probably use the term “control” rather than “safeguard” (e.g., NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5). To test the observations, we should be able to apply the terms to descript actual occurrences in the context we are trying to represent. For example, consider the following: “In December of 2021, a new vulnerability has been identified within Log4J under the common name Log4Shell (CVE-2021-44228<https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-44228>). This vulnerability affects version 2.0-beta9 through 2.15.0 (excluding security releases 2.12.2, 2.12.3, and 2.3.1). Specifically, CVE-2021-44228 is caused by an underlying JNDI Injection and LDAP Entry Poisoning weaknesses which exists in the affected versions. To date, multiple exploits have been recorded across the industry where attacks targeting CVE-2021-44228 have been observed (e.g., VMWare<https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/lazarus-hackers-target-vmware-servers-with-log4shell-exploits/>, …). Thoughts? Best, -A From: Jeremy West <jw...@redhat.com<mailto:jw...@redhat.com>> Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2022 2:03 PM To: Kurt Seifried <k...@seifried.org<mailto:k...@seifried.org>> Cc: Alec J Summers <asumm...@mitre.org<mailto:asumm...@mitre.org>>; CWE CAPEC Board <cwe-capec-board-list@mitre.org<mailto:cwe-capec-board-list@mitre.org>> Subject: Re: Glossary Correct Kurt. Process is defined here as an executing process on the stack. On Tue, May 24, 2022 at 5:01 PM Kurt Seifried <k...@seifried.org<mailto:k...@seifried.org>> wrote: "process" means executing process, or like a business process, e.g. password reset policy? On Tue, May 24, 2022 at 2:15 PM Jeremy West <jw...@redhat.com<mailto:jw...@redhat.com>> wrote: Red Hat adopted the following definition of a weakness a year or so ago. "A weakness is specifically the absence of a safeguard in an asset or process that provides a higher potential or frequency of a threat occurring, but does not meet the exploitability criteria for a vulnerability." We've also defined vulnerability much more broadly to include weaknesses as a subset "A weakness or absence of a safeguard in an asset that provides a higher potential or frequency of a threat occurring." We were running into differing opinions when we looked at each as separate and unique. The other factor we've called out internally is hardening. The key difference between a weakness and hardening for us is that a weakness is a direct factor in the potential and frequency vs hardening which are safeguards which prevent. On Tue, May 24, 2022 at 12:49 PM Alec J Summers <asumm...@mitre.org<mailto:asumm...@mitre.org>> wrote: Dear CWE/CAPEC Board Members, Good afternoon! I hope the week is going well for you all. During a recent CWE/CAPEC User Experience Working Group session, the topic of definitions came up – more specifically, the difficulty in agreeing on good ones and making sure they are understood by downstream users. It also reminded me of Pietro’s comment during our February meeting, I believe, on the importance of harmonious definitions for similar terms across the CVE and CWE/CAPEC sites. To that end, the team went ahead and did a quick document authorities search of our key terminology to start (i.e., vulnerability, weakness, attack pattern), and suggested the following: Term Definition Authority Authorities Doc Vulnerability A flaw in a software, firmware, hardware, or service component resulting from a weakness that can be exploited, causing a negative impact to the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of an impacted component or components. (not changed) CVE website Weakness A type of mistake made during the implementation, design, or other phases of a product lifecycle that, under the right conditions, could contribute to the introduction of vulnerabilities in a range of products made by different vendors. n/a edited from def on CWE wesbite Attack Pattern The common approach and attributes related to the exploitation of a known weakness type, usually in cyber-enabled capabilities n/a edited from def on CAPEC website The full spreadsheet of definitions to compare is attached. The plan would be to unify the definitions according to the above across all our sites. Would love to hear your thoughts. Cheers, Alec -- Alec J. 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