MJ Emanuel
Unearthing the Archaic: 25 Years of SSL VPNs and Their Lifecycle Vulnerability Footprints
In the realm of enterprise security, edge devices have emerged as critical yet vulnerable components susceptible to exploitation. This presentation addresses the persistent security challenges posed by these devices, often overlooked in broader cybersecurity strategies. SSL VPNs continue to harbor long-standing vulnerabilities, constantly exploited through both known CVEs and elusive zero-day attacks. Drawing from historical exploitation data and recent incidents, including notable breaches and disclosures, the presentation will set the stage with a history of exploitation and takes it a step further and investigates the lifecycle vulnerabilities of particular SSL VPNs, focusing on specific product line from their conception.
A deep dive into their lineage reveals stagnant code bases spanning two decades, rooted in acquisitions and minimal updates. The analysis traces vulnerabilities from inception to exploitation, highlighting the persistent risks overlooked in modern security protocols, while also examining whether particular classes of vulnerabilities are more often abused than others. Furthermore, the talk explores the feasibility of Secure-By-Design principles within legacy infrastructure, questioning the effectiveness of voluntary vendor participation with archaic technologies.
Key takeaways examine the implications for network security architectures, advocating for renewed attention to historical cybersecurity trends and lost hardening techniques, as well as calling for challenges to cybersecurity paradigms to integrate lessons from past vulnerabilities into contemporary strategies, fostering a more robust approach to securing enterprise networks against evolving threats.
MJ Emanuel is a threat intelligence analyst for the US government. Previously, she was an incident response analyst at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) for five years focusing on industrial controls systems, threat intelligence, and forensics. She also teaches at the Alperovitch Institute at Johns Hopkins’ SAIS about critical infrastructure cybersecurity.
