NSA has published a cyber security sheet in cooperation with the news service Australian Signals Directorate. It deals with the two authorities, increasing dangers from webshells. Scripts or programs that place attackers on poorly secured web servers and then allow them remote access or the execution of commands on the compromised systems.
Preventive measures against successful attacks are discussed in the information sheet ,as well as in the repository in the form of appropriate tools.
Specific Security Vulnerabilities Are Also Included
The sheet also lists CVE numbers for specific security vulnerabilities that attackers typically use to install webshells. Most are from last year, few were reported in previous years.
The document is now available for download. There are administrator techniques for detecting and removing the malicious code, which is often well camouflaged and equipped with effective persistence mechanisms. It also mentions specific, mostly free scripts and tools that help identify anomalies. Many of the tools mentioned are part of a repository of the NSA, which is exclusively dedicated to the Webshell topic.
Critics therefore call for the possibility of hostile misuse in the risk analysis when developing hacking tools. The vulnerabilities are also highly controversial in this context. As part of this process, the governments can decide whether its own secret services can use a discovered security hole for their purposes and hide the security risk, or whether the bug should be published and the software manufacturer should correct it.
Checking The List Could Be A Good Reason
Most of the gaps should have been eliminated by the respective manufacturers. However, their unchanged popularity among attackers suggests that far from all users have applied the patches available. So the list could be a good reason to check it out.