In this project, we simulate the implementation of a comprehensive vulnerability management program, from inception to completion.
Inception State: the organization has no existing policy or vulnerability management practices in place.
Completion State: a formal policy is enacted, stakeholder buy-in is secured, and a full cycle of organization-wide vulnerability remediation is successfully completed.
- Tenable (enterprise vulnerability management platform)
- Azure Virtual Machines (Nessus scan engine + scan targets)
- PowerShell & BASH (remediation scripts)
- Vulnerability Management Policy Draft Creation
- Mock Meeting: Policy Buy-In (Stakeholders)
- Policy Finalization and Senior Leadership Sign-Off
- Mock Meeting: Initial Scan Permission (Server Team)
- Initial Scan of Server Team Assets
- Vulnerability Assessment and Prioritization
- Distributing Remediations to Remediation Teams
- Mock Meeting: Post-Initial Discovery Scan (Server Team)
- Mock CAB Meeting: Implementing Remediations
- Remediation Round 1: Outdated Wireshark Removal
- Remediation Round 2: Insecure Protocols & Ciphers
- Remediation Round 3: Guest Account Group Membership
- Remediation Round 4: Windows OS Updates
- First Cycle Remediation Effort Summary
This phase focuses on drafting a Vulnerability Management Policy as a starting point for stakeholder engagement. The initial draft outlines scope, responsibilities, and remediation timelines, and may be adjusted based on feedback from relevant departments to ensure practical implementation before final approval by upper management.
Draft Policy
In this phase, a meeting with the server team introduces the draft Vulnerability Management Policy and assesses their capability to meet remediation timelines. Feedback leads to adjustments, like extending the critical remediation window from 48 hours to one week, ensuring collaborative implementation.
Anand: Hey, morning Jimmy. How’s everything been recently? I know everyone’s been busy these last few weeks.
Jimmy: Good morning, Anand. Yeah, it’s been a bit hectic, but we’re hanging in there. Thanks for asking. I had a chance to read through the policy draft and, overall, it makes sense. However, with our current staffing, we can’t meet the aggressive remediation timelines—especially the 48-hour window for critical vulnerabilities.
Anand: Yeah, I totally understand. It is a bit aggressive, especially to start. Perhaps we can extend the "critical" window to one week as a compromise for now. Then, we can reserve that 48-hour window specifically for those truly bad zero-day vulnerabilities.
Jimmy: That sounds reasonable. We appreciate the flexibility. Can we also have a bit of leeway in the beginning as we work through getting used to the remediation and patching process? Just for the first few months or so?
Anand: Absolutely. After the policy is finalized, we’ll officially start the program, but we’re planning to give all departments about six months to adjust and get comfortable with the new process. Does that sound fair?
Jimmy: Thanks, Anand. We’ll do our best. I appreciate you including us in the decision-making process; it really helps us feel like we’re a part of the solution.
Anand: Yeah, of course. We’re all in this together. Thanks for working with us.
Jimmy: No problem. Thanks for the short meeting.
Anand: Yeah, those are my favorite types! Bye for now.
Jimmy: See you later.
After gathering feedback from the server team, the policy is revised, addressing aggressive remediation timelines. With final approval from upper management, the policy now guides the program, ensuring compliance and reference for pushback resolution.
Finalized Policy
The team collaborates with the server team to initiate scheduled credential scans. A compromise is reached to scan a single server first, monitoring resource impact, and using just-in-time Active Directory credentials for secure, controlled access.
Anand: Morning, Jimmy.
Jimmy: Good morning! I heard you're ready to conduct some scans?
Anand: Yep. Now that our vulnerability management policy is in place, I wanted to get started on conducting some scheduled credentialed scans of your environment.
Jimmy: Sounds good to me. What’s involved, and how can we help?
Anand: We’re planning to schedule weekly scans of the server infrastructure. We estimate it’ll take about 4 to 6 hours to scan all 200 assets. We’ll need you to provide us with administrative credentials, which will allow the scan engine to remotely log into the targets to better assess them.
Jimmy: Whoa, whoa, hold on there. What does scanning actually entail? I’m a bit worried about resource utilization. Also, you want admin credentials to all 200 machines? That doesn’t sound safe.
Anand: Those are valid concerns. The scan engine basically sends different traffic to the servers to check for specific vulnerabilities. This includes looking into the registry to see if out-of-date software is installed or if there are any insecure protocols or cipher suites. That’s why credentials are required.
Jimmy: I see. Well, as long as it doesn’t bring the servers offline, I guess we should be okay.
Anand: Absolutely. Let’s just scan a single server for now and keep an eye on the resource utilization.
Jimmy: Not a bad idea. Great.
Anand: Also, for the credentials, can you set up something in Active Directory for us? You can leave them disabled until we’re ready to scan, enable them during the scan, and then deprovision or disable the account once we're finished. It’s kind of like a "just-in-time" access situation.
Jimmy: That sounds good. I’ll ask Susan to get started on the automation for the account provisioning.
Anand: Awesome. Okay, talk soon!
Jimmy: Yeah, sounds good. I’ll get back to you once the credentials are set up. See you later.
Anand: See you later.
In this phase, an insecure Windows Server is provisioned to simulate the server team's environment. After creating vulnerabilities, an authenticated scan is performed, and the results are exported for future remediation steps.
We assessed vulnerabilities and established a remediation prioritization strategy based on ease of remediation and impact. The following priorities were set:
- Third Party Software Removal (Wireshark)
- Windows OS Secure Configuration (Protocols & Ciphers)
- Windows OS Secure Configuration (Guest Account Group Membership)
- Windows OS Updates
The server team received remediation scripts and scan reports to address key vulnerabilities. This streamlined their efforts and prepared them for a follow-up review.
The server team reviewed vulnerability scan results, identifying outdated software, insecure accounts, and deprecated protocols. The remediation packages were prepared for submission to the Change Control Board (CAB).
Anand: Morning Jimmy, how are you doing?
Jimmy: Not bad for a Monday. And yourself?
Anand: I'm still alive, so I can't complain. But before we get into the vulnerabilities, how did the actual scan go on your end? Did you have any outages or overutilization?
Jimmy: The scan went well. We were monitoring them, and aside from all the open connections, we would never have known a scan was taking place.
Anand: Yeah, that's good news. I kind of expected that much. We can keep monitoring going forward, but I don't expect we'll have any issues with resource utilization. Do you mind if I dive into the vulnerability findings?
Jimmy: Yeah, absolutely.
Anand: Cool. I'm going to share my screen really quick. So basically, the majority of these vulnerabilities come from Wireshark being installed; you can see all these findings because it's just super out of date.
One interesting thing I did find is the local guest account on the servers actually belongs to the local administrators group. I'm not sure why that is. Also, some of these might be automatically resolved by Windows updates, like this Microsoft Edge Chromium one. We don't have to worry about the self-signed certificate one because it's just the computer's internal cert.
However, these medium-strength cipher suites and TLS 1.1 and 1.0 are deprecated protocols. I think we should take some time to remediate these. So basically, we're looking at Wireshark, the protocols/cipher suites, and removing that guest account.
Jimmy: Very interesting. The good news is, I suspect most of our servers are going to have the same vulnerabilities. Hopefully that makes things easier during remediation.
Anand: Yeah, that's actually good news—like a uniform loadout. Do you foresee any issues with remediating any of these, specifically the cipher suites and the insecure protocols?
Jimmy: I highly doubt there will be any issues. We'll run it through the next Change Control Board. Uninstalling Wireshark and fixing the guest account shouldn't be an issue either; those aren't supposed to be on the servers anyway. I'll have to talk to our sysadmins about that.
Anand: That's good news. I'll go ahead and get started on building out some remediation packages for you to make your life easier when it comes time to fix them.
Jimmy: Yeah, sounds great.
Anand: Oh, I wanted to ask—do you have anything in place to actually fix the Windows update related vulnerabilities, or do you have patch management already?
Jimmy: Ah, yes, I'm not actually worried about that. Windows updates should be handled automatically by next week; we have patch management in place.
Anand: Okay, excellent. Alright, I'll get started on researching the best way to remediate these findings, and I'll get back to you before the next Change Control Board.
Jimmy: Sounds good. Talk to you soon.
Anand: Cool, cool. Talk to you soon.
The Change Control Board (CAB) reviewed and approved the plan to remove insecure protocols and cipher suites. The plan included a rollback script and a tiered deployment approach.
Moderator: Okay, next up on the list are a couple of vulnerability remediations for the server team: number one, removal of insecure protocols; and number two, removal of insecure cipher suites. It looks like Anand from the Risk department is working in conjunction with Jimmy from Infrastructure on this. Jimmy, do you want to walk us through the technical aspects of the change being implemented?
Jimmy: Normally I would, but do you mind giving this one to Anand? He actually built a solution for us, and we're still getting used to the process.
Anand: Yeah, I can explain these. So, basically, the existence of insecure cipher suites and protocols means that the system is capable of negotiating and using algorithms or protocols that have been deprecated. If it connects to a server and that server only wants to use those protocols, it's possible the computer will use them. These are controlled by the Windows Registry. It's a really simple fix: we just wrote a PowerShell script that goes through and disables all the insecure protocols and ciphers, and then enables the ones that are standardized and secure today. It’s really straightforward.
Moderator: That sounds good, but what if something goes wrong? Do we have a rollback plan in place? Did you even think about that?
Anand: Yes, absolutely. First of all, we’re doing a tiered deployment—starting with a pilot group (a very small group of computers), then pre-production, and finally production where it goes everywhere. On top of this, we have a fully built-in, automated rollback script for each remediation. The script will actually restore the original protocols and ciphers should there be any unknown issues that come up.
Moderator: That sounds good, I guess. I notice the fixes are simple registry updates, so I'm not too concerned, I suppose.
Anand: Yep, exactly.
Moderator: Any more questions from anybody? Great, that wraps things up for this week's CAB meeting. See you all next week!
Anand: See you later.
The server team used a PowerShell script to remove outdated Wireshark. A follow-up scan confirmed successful remediation.
Wireshark Removal Script
Scan 2 - Third Party Software Removal
The server team used PowerShell scripts to remediate insecure protocols and cipher suites. A follow-up scan verified successful remediation, and the results were saved for reference.
PowerShell: Insecure Protocols Remediation
PowerShell: Insecure Ciphers Remediation
Scan 3 - Ciphersuites and Protocols
The server team removed the guest account from the administrator group. A new scan confirmed remediation, and the results were exported for comparison.
PowerShell: Guest Account Group Membership Remediation
Scan 4 - Guest Account Group Removal
Windows updates were re-enabled and applied until the system was fully up to date. A final scan verified the changes
The remediation process reduced total vulnerabilities by 80%, from 30 to 6. Critical vulnerabilities were resolved by the second scan (100%), and high vulnerabilities dropped by 90%. Mediums were reduced by 76%. In an actual production environment, asset criticality would further guide future remediation efforts.
After completing the initial remediation cycle, the vulnerability management program transitions into Maintenance Mode. This phase ensures that vulnerabilities continue to be managed proactively, keeping systems secure over time. Regular scans, continuous monitoring, and timely remediation are crucial components of this phase. (See Finalized Policy for scanning and remediation cadence requirements.)
Key activities in Maintenance Mode include:
- Scheduled Vulnerability Scans: Perform regular scans (e.g., weekly or monthly) to detect new vulnerabilities as systems evolve.
- Patch Management: Continuously apply security patches and updates, ensuring no critical vulnerabilities remain unpatched.
- Remediation Follow-ups: Address newly identified vulnerabilities promptly, prioritizing based on risk and impact.
- Policy Review and Updates: Periodically review the Vulnerability Management Policy to ensure it aligns with the latest security best practices and organizational needs.
- Audit and Compliance: Conduct internal audits to ensure compliance with the vulnerability management policy and external regulations.
- Ongoing Communication with Stakeholders: Maintain open communication with teams responsible for remediation, ensuring efficient coordination.
By maintaining an active vulnerability management process, organizations can stay ahead of emerging threats and ensure long-term security resilience.