Vulnerabilities in various web servers, explain the attacks and assess different tools and techniques to prevent such attacks.

Introduction

‘Web servers are the backbone of the Internet’ . Any direct attack on webservers would damage the reputation of the organization. As the attacker may modify data, sell data, compromise root accounts, etc. Hence organizations must secure webservers from the evil internet.  

Definition

Web server is computer software, and the underlying hardware accepts requests via HTTP, the network protocol created to distribute web content, or its secure variant HTTPS.

Vulnerabilities & Attacks on WebServers

DoS/DDoS Attacks: This involves flooding the target with copious fake requests to stop functioning and become unavailable to legitimate users. These attacks often target high-profile webservers such as bank servers, credit-card payment gateways, and even root name servers.

These attacks resulted from improper configuring of load balancers, Firewalls and not deploying anti-DoS/DDoS solutions.

Directory Traversal Attacks: The result of vulnerabilities present in the code of a web application; also, poorly configured or unpatched web server software makes it vulnerable to directory traversal attacks.

Directory Traversal attacks exploit HTTP through attackers can gain access to restricted directories and execute commands outside of the online servers' root directory by manipulating the URL. Attackers use dot-dot-slash (../) sequence to access restricted directories out sied the online servers directory.

Web Cache Poisoning Attacks are possible if the web server and application have HTTP response-splitting flaws.

The attacker attacks the reliability of an intermediate web cache source. The attacker swaps the cached content for a random URL with infected content. Due to this, the web cache source user unknowingly uses the poisoned content instead of actual and secured content. Attackers primarily use these attacks to steal login credentials from the user. 

SSH Bruteforce Attack: This results from misconfiguring servers, using weak passwords, not limiting the login attempts, using default ports, etc. 

Attackers use the SSH protocol to make an encrypted SSH tunnel between two hosts to transfer unencrypted data over an insecure network. The attacker scans the whole 55h server using bots to spot vulnerabilities. With the help of a brute force attack, the attacker tries to gain the credentials to urge unauthorized access to an SSH tunnel. Once connected, the attacker may send malware and exploit the victim without being detected.

Man-in-the-Middle Attack: allows an attacker to access sensitive information by intercepting and altering communication between an end-user and webservers.

The attacker intercepts and modifies the messages exchanged between the user and web server by eves dropping or intruding on the connection. This allows an attacker to steal sensitive information such as login credentials transferred to the webserver.

Tools & Techniques to prevent Webserver attacks

Network Segmentation: divides the network into different segments. This allows network administrators to protect one segment from others by enforcing firewalls and security rules depending on the level of security desired. 

We must place Web serves in the Separate Secure Security segment on Network. These segments ate often called Demilitarized zone (DMZ). A DMZ Network is a perimeter network that protects and adds an extra layer of security to an organization’s internal local-area network from untrusted traffic. The end goal of a DMZ is to allow an organization to access untrusted networks, such as the internet while ensuring its private network or LAN remains secure. 

Encryption Tools: Encryption tools are software that uses cryptography to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information. It works by encoding data from “plaintext” into “ciphertext.”  Software encryption is more selective and focuses on encrypting individual files and folders. SSH keys are access credentials used in the SSH protocol. It is a secure and widely used standard for strong authentication, secure connection, and encrypted file transfers.

KernelCare: This premium extension protects Linux servers against critical vulnerabilities. Mainly by automatically installing security updates to running kernels. This avoids rebooting servers and planning scheduled downtime for your customers. And it also ensures kernels are updated within hours of patch releases for uninterrupted security. 

BitNinja: extension prevents 99% of malicious attacks. This can consequently reduce your server alerts and customer complaints by just as much. It provides protection against nine different aspects of attacks – including malicious port scans and infections. 

Conclusion

Web servers directly face the internet, due to which these are challenging to protect and comparatively easier to compromise than other services. Organizations must focus on the security aspect of the Webservers to protect them from various attacks. Various nest generation tools can be used to protect web servers from these attacks.