Why Hackers Love Patching- When a corporation releases a patch to address a security flaw, the bad guys salivate. They understand that in many cases, they now have the potential to exploit weaknesses that they were previously unaware of.
Patches can easily reverse engineered by hackers
When a patch is issued, a hacker will first go over the known issues that the patch is supposed to fix. Often, a hacker may read the publisher’s description and get a fair idea of the severity of the vulnerabilities being patched. If the patch specifications lead one to assume that the fix is urgent because of a high-risk vulnerability, the bad guy will be motivated to reverse engineer the patch in order to figure out what the problem is.
The hacker will then construct an exploit for the identified flaw
The evil guy now has full knowledge of what the patch fixed. The hacker will now be able to figure out what actions he or she needs to take to exploit the flaw. Hackers frequently find an unpatched system and begin working immediately. Others will create virtual machines and test the procedure in their own lab environment before releasing it into the open.
Hackers can now detect unpatched systems and launch an attack
Patch management is a problem in many businesses, according to everyone, including the bad guys. Hackers take advantage of this to gain access to as many systems as possible. Companies gradually catch up on their fixes and close the loophole as time passes. But it’s possible that it’ll be too late by then. Organizations that fail to patch on a regular basis may have already suffered a significant breach or worse.
In conclusion, many hackers keep an eye out for patches to be published. They then work their magic by determining what the patch fixed and exploiting the many companies that aren’t on top of their security and patch management game.
