Understanding Misconfiguration Exploits: A Beginner’s Guide to Offensive Security Thinking.
1 min read
Summary
Misconfigurations, one of the most common vulnerability types, are abstract and difficult for beginners to understand, argues Portswigger, which offers a pen-testing and web security training platform.
Misconfigurations occur when systems, applications or networks are set up in an insecure or default way, leaving them open to attack.
In contrast to missing patches or known CVEs, misconfigurations could include revealing unintended access, internal IPs or sensitive functionality.
In a real-world example in 2021, a misconfiguration on a cloud storage bucket exposed more than 100m user records from a financial institution.
Portswigger’s article includes tips on how hackers identify and exploit misconfigurations as well as boosting security practices.