You've patched a vulnerability, but are new security risks lurking?

Vulnerabilities rising is not something new and it’s very normal . The issue now starts if you have patched a vulnerability and that same issue comes up again. Now you have to go back to your patch and confirm what you did .

When patching critical workloads, applying a blue-green deployment strategy is essential. You deploy the patch in a parallel "green" environment, keeping the original "blue" intact. Proactively monitor the "green" environment using SIEM tools like Splunk and full-stack observability platforms like Datadog. Leverage synthetic data-driven tests to simulate real-world traffic. If successful, gradually divert more traffic to the patched environment, fine-tuning configurations as needed. Once tests show stability, fully flip to the patched environment. This approach ensures minimal disruption and mitigates the risk of new vulnerabilities post-patching.

I worry about patching. Not because it is one of the poorer cousins of controls with respect to attention, nor the fact that its a game without end, but because it becomes a metric and a focal point. Take this scenario... we patch and it introduces more patches. We then spend all our time and attention on fixing that. Meanwhile, a security control or poor piece of architectural design (such as poor implementing of MFA) is lurking presenting us a bigger risk. If you think about it, patching is magic as a vendor does the work for us. We just have to do the dependency assessment before deploying (yes, harder to do in a legacy environment or where poor design creates dependencies). But we then don't look at the bigger picture!

When you patch a vulnerability, it fixes the identified flaw, but new security risks may still exist. These can stem from undiscovered vulnerabilities, new attack vectors or flaws introduced by the patch itself. Attackers continuously evolve their tactics, finding new ways to exploit systems. Therefore, even with patches, organizations must maintain proactive security measures, conduct regular assessments, and monitor systems to catch emerging threats and ensure comprehensive protection.

Simply applying patches doesn’t eliminate all threats. Cybercriminals continuously adapt, often exploiting new gaps introduced by updates. One common tactic is fake headers, where attackers manipulate HTTP headers to bypass security measures undetected. While patching fixes known issues, it can create unforeseen vulnerabilities elsewhere in the system. Post-patch vigilance is key - regularly monitor systems, including regular penetration testing and network monitoring. Ultimately, staying proactive after patching is crucial to prevent new risks from replacing the old ones.