The systems operations are very important to our life, either because we use it to do our educational or work activities, or because we simply use it as a medium for our entertainment.
Like everything that really matters to us, we must take care and avoid at all costs that it is damaged, and in the case of computer resources, prevent it from being infected or have wormholes that give way to constant attacks.
These holes are caused by vulnerabilities of the system. If you do not know what a system vulnerability is, or how to correct them, do not be discouraged, because you have arrived to the best place to learn it.
What is an operating system vulnerability and what are the risks?
Recognized operating systems and large applications, integrate security issues, it can be said that most of the programs, due to their imperfection, have a small weakness gap, that we give you computer the vulnerability name. These security problems have a great impact on all operating systems or softwares, however, can seriously affect operation.
A skilled hacker can take advantage of these, and own our PC or extract information really important as they are, bank accounts and credit cards. In a general definition, vulnerability is that failure, or error that is born in an operating system, induced or naturally. These are gaps that allow the attack to enter with total ease, and violate confidentiality of all our files, accesses and system.
Mostly these failures are natural, due to programming errors during the design of some software, however, these can be fully controlled. Like the vulnerabilities that are generated naturally, there are those induced, either by a third party, or by the limitations of the technology, for which it was the original design of a program.
Until now I know know two types of vulnerabilities, one distinguished as theoretical vulnerability and the other real. The latter is the most important and known among users, also called Exploit. The Exploits, are the type of vulnerability that appears in applications or operating systems, but that can be controlled or corrected with the help of a patch or Hotfixs. At other times, as it is in the case of OS, you simply wait for the system update, and it dissipates automatically.
List of the main vulnerabilities of modern operating systems
As we already mentioned, vulnerabilities are present in any system or software.
If you still do not know which ones are affecting your system, then we will name the main vulnerabilities, in the different OS:
Windows
Windows is the most famous operating system, and despite the fact that it is constantly including updates to mitigate vulnerabilities, new ones are always found.
The main ones are the following:
- Servers and services Web
- Workstation service Windows Remote Access Services Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL)
- Authentication Windows
- Browsers (Edge)
- Applications one-to-one exchange (P2P)
- LSAS (Local Security Authority Subsystem Service)
- customers of e-mail (Outlook)
- Instant messaging programs (Skype)
The countermeasures to control these vulnerabilities, while we wait for the system update, can be; disable all previews and the details pane in Windows explorer, just like the service WebClient, and rename or disable the “Atmfd.dll”
From Android
In Android we can find different vulnerabilities that can seriously compromise the health of our device, as well as the confidentiality of all our stored files.
Its main flaws or vulnerabilities are the following:
- Qualcomm faults: This is the default driver, which allows control of wireless networks, specifically in network anchors. Any hacker can create a wormhole and access our mobile through these failures.
- Android versions 4.0.3 – 4-4-4 are totally vulnerable cyber attacks, making them the target of many attackers.
- Google Play app infection. These are known as Adware, and they are highly dangerous, since they can totally compromise the health of our device.
From macOS
In the opinion of many experts, Mac OS operating system, It is one of the safest and although it has some vulnerable ones, the attacker must be a complete expert on the subject, to be able to access and extract information.
Let’s see below:
- Theft of credentials: always the operating system of MacOS has highlighted as one of its main vulnerabilities, identification flaws, allowing hackers to extract user data including their credentials.
- Defense mechanism failures: Filippo Cavallarin has detected in his latest research weaknesses in the defense mechanism of MacOS, ensuring that this system can be circumvented.
- Outdated EFIS: The EFIS they are not always fully updated, and as we must understand, an outdated system or software is a breach for an attack.
From iOS
According to studies carried out by recognized security companies, Android are the devices more prone to attack due to security flawsHowever, in the researchers’ analyzes of ZecOps, It has been discovered that there are two major threats that can allow attackers access to extract information.
The vulnerabilities found are activated by email messages, which is sent by the attacker, and its activation is only possible, when the user uses the default mail application.
These vulnerabilities have the following names:
- Out-of-bounds Write (OOB Write)
- Remote Heap Overflow
If these bugs are present on iOS devices, all the information contained by the user is fully committed.
Linux
The open source operating system, it also has some flaws in its design, like Windows, There are updates that eliminate them, however, there are some that persist.
The most common vulnerabilities in most versions of Linux are the following:
- BIND DNS (Domain Name System)
- Web server
- Authentication
- Systems of control of versions
- Mail Transport Service
- SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol)
- OpenSSL (Secure Sockets Layer)
- Wrong configuration by NIS / NFS
- Database
- Kernel
How to correct the vulnerabilities of an operating system? Always keep it updated!
The most important requirement to maintain a computer with the minimum number of vulnerabilities, is updating our systems and applications to their latest versions. For example, if we have our operating system in its latest version, it will not receive direct threats, but from a program that is working with an outdated version.
Other ways to fix bugs and vulnerabilities are: keeping our system clean of files from errors, and viruses for this a good antivirus is requested. Although fine, as we have already repeated if the antimalware we use is not up to date, it will miss many errors and threats.