CISA Identifies 15 Most Exploited Vulnerabilities of 2023

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), in collaboration with the FBI, NSA, and international cybersecurity partners, has issued a joint advisory identifying the 15 vulnerabilities most frequently exploited by malicious actors in 2023. The advisory noted that a majority of these vulnerabilities were initially exploited as zero-days, highlighting the critical need for timely patch management.

Organizations are strongly advised to prioritize the remediation of these identified vulnerabilities to mitigate potential threats. Implementing robust patch management practices is essential for safeguarding systems against exploitation. A comprehensive list of known exploited vulnerabilities is available in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog.

Notable vulnerabilities on the list include code injection and buffer overflow issues affecting Citrix NetScaler ADC/Gateway, privilege escalation flaws in Cisco IOS XE, and SQL injection in Progress MOVEit Transfer. Older, yet still significant, vulnerabilities such as Apache Log4j2 (Log4Shell) and Microsoft Netlogon privilege escalation are also cited.

Picus Security, a company that provides cybersecurity threat intelligence analysis, emphasizes the importance of such advisories. The company offers a platform designed to help organizations identify threats targeting them, benchmark their security posture against peers, and implement mitigation strategies.