How to Deal with Open Source Vulnerabilities?

 

The use of open source is on the rise, and as it grows, the use of proprietary software is becoming less and less common, and as per an old Gartner study, about 80% of mobile software was open source. The software industry would not have been what it is without open source software and resources, and innovation of coders worldwide, sustaining everything, from the most rudimentary apps to behemoth software alive and relevant, without costing the user additional money. We owe a lot to open source, especially cybersecurity, where the use of enterprise open source is higher than anywhere else.

But that might comes with an Achilles heel.

Open Source Vulnerabilities – A Vast Ocean Of Cybersecurity Threats

Let’s say you need custom software developed for your business. You have an amazing in-house team of coders, you've given them plenty of time, and thanks to the nature of the software, they have to code everything from scratch. If your developers stick to the best programming, testing, and security practices, they would most likely create something that's almost invulnerable. The code would have no loopholes that hackers and cyber attackers can exploit.

It’s like preparing salad where every vegetable came from your own organic garden, where you know, for sure, that it wasn’t tainted by a pesticide. But what if someone adds carrots from the supermarket? Can you be sure that it came from a clean source? Even if you thoroughly wash it, you can’t wash away the chemicals it picked up while growing.

Similarly, if your team of coders used open-source code-blocks, tools, entire features, and libraries, can you be sure they are as “air-tight” as your in-house code is? It’s pointless and even wasteful to write every line of code from scratch and not use any open-source code at all when creating enterprise software. Almost as pointless as reinventing the wheel.

But just like you can’t be sure about the dark pesticide-filled past of a market-bought carrot, you can’t be sure about the safety and security of the open-source code. That’s the Achilles heel for this mighty segment of the software industry.

About 70% of all mobile and desktop applications contain open-source bugs. In recent history, one of the most significant examples of how open source vulnerability can be exploited by malicious entities is the Equifax hack. It caused a major data breach, and information about 143 million US consumers was lost. That’s more than one in three people in the country. The source of the leak was Apache Struts, an open-source framework that's used to create web applications, primarily for corporate websites.

How to Deal With Open Source Vulnerabilities?

One solution is to stop relying on open-source code and software entirely, which is absurd for multiple reasons, most important of which is that it would slow down the development and growth of software quite aggressively.

Since we can’t adjust our reliance on open-source, let’s look into some ways we can deal with the vulnerabilities that come along with it.

1. Find Out What Open Source Components Are Part of Your Software And Application

Before you focus on new projects, it’s prudent to “clean the house.” Sit down with your development teams and figure out what open source components are part of the software you are using now or any of your business’s applications. Then research whether those open source components have any known vulnerabilities. If they have, you can either fix that at the source (if possible) or get it patched so that whatever loophole the open-source code has isn't exploited, and your users are safe.

2. Restrict Use of Open Source Components

You can’t stop the use of open source components in the development of your software and application, but you can still restrict it. Set guidelines for how developers can use open-source code. They might include stipulations like verifying with the security team before using an open-source component or only using open source elements known to be safe. If a developer uses a piece of code or an open-source framework that's not approved or known, they might be restricted to prove its safety before putting in your software.

3. Don’t Miss an Update

An open-source component that is one of your dependencies might be air-tight and has zero vulnerabilities. But an update might change the situation, which is why it's imperative that you keep track of the security update of your open source dependencies.

Ideally, no update should take effect unless you permit it. There is also an issue of child dependencies, which you might miss because they are not directly associated with your product, but thanks to their “paternal” relationship with your primary open-source dependency, they might be used to tunnel into your system via a security update.

4. Use the Right Tools

Since it’s such a prevalent issue, a variety of cybersecurity tools is created to fight it. These tools might help you set-up a large-scale defense against open source vulnerabilities. That includes everything from tracking to fixing the issues or at least to “plug the hole” until a permanent solution can be found.

But it's important to note that not every tool might be worth investing in, and some of them might open you up to more cyber attacks than they are likely to prevent. So make sure to screen them thoroughly before deploying. Still, it would be prudent to rely more on good practice solutions.

Conclusion

If you make dealing with open source vulnerabilities one of your main cybersecurity goals and take a careful and considerate approach, you will find it easier to deal with them. But if your existing software and applications are plagued by open source vulnerabilities, you might need a specific type of cybersecurity experts to help you deal with the problem. They will help you trace all your open source dependencies, test them, and patch any holes that can compromise the data or access of your users.

This might not be the forte or even part of the services offered by most cybersecurity vendors. So you’ll have to do your research, and one tool that can help you find the right vendor is Cyberpal. It’s a free aggregator service that will help you connect with your perfect cybersecurity vendor match.