Most commonly exploited vulnerabilities in 2021

Image from Elchinator on Pixabay

International cyber agencies including NCSC have published a joint advisory from the details the 15 most commonly exploited vulnerabilities in 2021.

Key Findings

Globally, in 2021, malicious cyber actors targeted internet-facing systems, such as email servers and virtual private network (VPN) servers, with exploits of newly disclosed vulnerabilities. For most of the top exploited vulnerabilities, researchers or other actors released proof of concept (POC) code within two weeks of the vulnerability’s disclosure, likely facilitating exploitation by a broader range of malicious actors.

To a lesser extent, malicious cyber actors continued to exploit publicly known, dated software vulnerabilities—some of which were also routinely exploited in 2020 or earlier. The exploitation of older vulnerabilities demonstrates the continued risk to organizations that fail to patch software in a timely manner or are using software that is no longer supported by a vendor.

More information can be found at:

https://www.cisa.gov/uscert/ncas/alerts/aa22-117a

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/news/ncsc-and-allies-publish-advisory-on-the-most-commonly-exploited-vulnerabilities-in-2021