During deployments of Ikare, our vulnerability scanner, certain network vulnerabilities consistently reoccur, regardless of the industry or the size of the analyzed environments. This article highlights the five types of vulnerabilities most frequently observed among our clients, based on a representative data volume: over 70,000 vulnerabilities identified and more than 50,000 IP addresses scanned.
1. Obsolete encryption: SSL and outdated TLS versions
The use of deprecated protocols or cryptographic cipher suites, such as TLS 1.0 or SSLv3, remains widespread. These technologies no longer meet modern confidentiality standards and expose data exchanges to interception attacks or cryptographic downgrading.
In environments where sensitive data circulates, this type of configuration represents a major structural risk.
2. Insecure or misconfigured network protocols
Services such as ICMP or SNMP are frequently observed with default or insufficiently restricted configurations. When exposed, these protocols can leak detailed information about the network infrastructure and underlying systems.
Such information disclosures often serve as an initial foothold during attackers' reconnaissance phases.
3. Vulnerable SSH services
Audits highlight the presence of vulnerable OpenSSH versions used for remote administration. Some of these flaws can enable privilege escalation or lead to information leaks, particularly when access controls are not strictly segmented.
The compromise of an SSH service remains one of the most critical scenarios in a server environment.
4. Exposed web servers: Apache and Tomcat
Widely deployed application platforms, such as Apache HTTP Server or Apache Tomcat, are among the most frequently affected components. Often exposed to the Internet, they combine an expanded attack surface with known vulnerabilities linked to outdated versions or improper configurations.
These vulnerabilities can serve as an entry point to more sensitive internal systems.
5. Insufficiently secured database services
Database engines such as MariaDB or Redis are regularly detected in obsolete versions or with insufficient security parameters. This configuration exposes data to risks of injection, corruption, or unauthorized access.
In some cases, these services are directly accessible from the network, significantly raising the risk level.
In this context, Ikare serves as a key asset for proactive attack prevention. Unlike traditional solutions such as antivirus software or firewalls, a vulnerability scanner like Ikare detects two to four times more flaws and vulnerabilities, identifying exploitable weaknesses before they are actively targeted. By leveraging automated large-scale scans, Ikare helps reduce the attack surface of evaluated environments and, according to observed data, can mitigate up to 90% of network vulnerabilities across the infrastructures where it is deployed. This approach aligns seamlessly with the security practices recommended by leading frameworks, establishing vulnerability detection and remediation as the operational foundation of risk management.
