Understanding Exploit Proof-of-Concept

This knowledge base article will give insight into:

Definition of a Proof-of-Concept Exploit
How PoC exploits work
How the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) uses PoC exploits
Differences between PoC and PoC exploit
Different types of PoC exploits
Exploit PoC use cases
Common exploit PoC databases

A Proof-of-Concept (PoC) exploit is published by a security researcher, nad provides technical details that illustrate how cyber threat actors can leverage a vulnerability to achieve their malicious objectives. These benign attacks demonstrate the potential impact that a specific vulnerability can have on the organization’s security posture, helping vulnerability and patch management teams prioritize their remediation activities.

The key features of a PoC exploit include:

Purpose: Demonstrating a security flaw’s impact without causing harm.
Implementation: Releasing the demonstration publicly.
Use: Modifying risk based on how threat actors craft fully functional exploits.

Malicious actors can create fake PoC exploits to trick security teams into downloading them, attempting to execute arbitrary malicious code.

How Do PoC Exploits Work?

Exploit PoCs highlight the feasibility of attackers using a vulnerability to gain unauthorized access to or allow unintended actions within systems. Although intended to help prioritize applying security updates or implementing remediation measures, the public release of an exploit PoC can lead attackers to building real exploits that they use in future attacks.

Stage 1: Vulnerability Identification

The vulnerability identification phase uncovers a weakness in software or systems that malicious actors could potentially use during an attack. Security researchers often use security scanners or manual techniques to identify issues, for example:

Coding errors: including vulnerable code, outdated components, or vulnerable third-party libraries.
Misconfigurations: including use of default accounts and passwords, access to unnecessary features and functionality, or error handling that reveals sensitive information.
Design flaws: weakness caused by insecure system architecture or logic decisions made during development.

Stage 2: Vulnerability Analysis

During this phase, researchers work to understand the vulnerability’s mechanics by looking at how it operates. Researchers analyze a vulnerability's exploitability by first understanding the underlying code and behavior that causes the issue. They examine how the input interacts with the system, identify any inherent constraints in the system, and determine the impact of manipulating that input. Static and dynamic analysis tools help them trace data flow, monitor memory access, and assess whether the flaw can lead to unauthorized actions like code execution, privilege escalation, or data leakage. In short, researchers act like attackers, using automated tools and manual processes to determine how they can use a vulnerability to compromise the application or operating system.

Stage 3: Development of Exploit Code

Once they understand the vulnerability’s mechanics, researchers can move on to build a program or script that targets the vulnerability. They exploit the vulnerability in an environment that will not cause harm to real systems, demonstrating how unauthenticated attackers could gain unauthorized access or manipulate data.

Some examples of exploit types include:

Remote code execution
Malware delivery
Relay attacks
Authentication bypass

How Does The Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Use Exploit PoC?

The CVSS includes Exploit PoC under the Threat Metrics category, helping to adjust a vulnerability’s severity. The availability of proof-of-concept is one stage in measuring Exploit Maturity. Vulnerabilities are identified within CVSS as Proof-of-Concept (P) when there is credible threat intelligence showing all of the following:

Proof-of-concept exploit code is publicly available.
No knowledge of reported attempts to exploit the vulnerability exists.
No knowledge of publicly available solutions used to simplify attempts to exploit the vulnerability exists.

The existence of an exploit PoC increases the security risk for a vulnerability because it means that attackers could use publicly available information to deploy a successful attack.

Simultaneously, since no threat intelligence indicates that attackers have used the exploit in the real world, the risk remains lower than an Attacked vulnerability which has reports of attempted or successful attacks and public exploits or privately available solutions to make exploiting the vulnerability easier.

What Is The Difference Between Proof-of-Concept (PoC) And PoC Exploit?

At a high level, PoC applies generally to any research indicating that something is possible. For example, it can be used to show that a theory could work or during the procurement process to see if a tool would work for the organization’s intended use case. Meanwhile, an exploit PoC is specific to technology security vulnerabilities to show that attackers could use the weakness to compromise systems, networks, or applications.

The three primary differences between a PoC and exploit PoC are:

Nature: While a PoC demonstrates how a theory could work, a PoC exploit is the practical application with exploit code for using a vulnerability during an attack.
Purpose: While a PoC shows that a vulnerability could cause risk, an exploit PoC demonstrates the method or tactic that malicious actors can use during an attack.
Functionality: While a PoC lacks operational details, an exploit PoC includes modifiable code that could be used.

What Are Some Exploit PoC Use Cases?

Security and vulnerability management teams can use exploit PoCs in several ways, including:

Vulnerability assessment: Security professionals employ the existence of PoC exploits to identify critical vulnerabilities and potential threats in a controlled setting, allowing developers to grasp the severity and mechanics of vulnerabilities.
Educating developers: By demonstrating how attackers can exploit a particular vulnerability, PoCs provide a hands-on approach for engineers and researchers to learn about potential security weaknesses.
Security patch development: PoC exploits help create effective mitigation strategies and security updates to defend against threat actors and arbitrary code execution.
Risk demonstration: PoC exploits illustrate the feasibility of cyberattacks, facilitating a deeper understanding of what security flaws may lead to real-world exploits.
Research and innovation: Security teams and researchers use PoCs to conduct experiments, prompting innovation in defensive technologies and security advisories.

What Is A PoC Exploit Database?

Exploit PoC databases offer security researchers and professionals resources to understand and mitigate vulnerabilities. Some common features across all exploit PoC databases include:

Comprehensive collections: Includes various categories, such as web apps, shells, and zero-days.
Verification system: Tested exploits are marked to ensure reliability.
Community engagement: Involvement from security professionals and researchers.

VulnCheck Exploit Intelligence: Breadth and Depth of Exploit PoC to Help Prioritize Remediation

With VulnCheck Exploit & Vulnerability intelligence, security and vulnerability remediation teams gain access to a breadth of data that incorporates the NIST National Vulnerability Database (NVD) and CISA Known Exploited Vulnerability (KEV) catalog coupled with exploit intelligence that provides insight into real-world attacker activity.

With our Exploit Intelligence, organizations can rapidly improve their vulnerability prioritization and remediation capabilities with data about public and commercial exploits, including reported exploited, weaponized exploits, threat actors attributed with the vulnerability, ransomware campaigns using the vulnerability, and botnets attributed to the vulnerability.