What Is RCE?

Types of RCE Attacks

Common types of RCE attacks are:

Injection attack

Some applications allow users to enter commands as input. Attackers can provide malformed input data to execute malicious code. For example, when a program is designed, the malicious SQL instruction contained in an input character string has not been discovered. The database mistakenly considers the SQL instruction as normal and executes the SQL instruction. As a result, the database is attacked, possibly causing data theft, tampering, deletion, or system command execution.

Deserialization attack

Applications often serialize data for easier communication. Deserialization programs can interpret user-supplied serialized data as executable code. For example, during data output, an application can convert an object into a string or byte stream. This process is called serialization. As a reverse of serialization, deserialization means an application converts a string or byte stream into an object. During deserialization, the application needs to invoke a specific method based on the data content. Using this logic, attackers embed customized code into data, for example, to instruct the application to execute a system command. When the application deserializes the data, the code is executed so that the attackers can control the entire application and server.

Out-of-bounds write

Applications are often allocated fixed memory blocks to store data. In the case of buffer overflow, an attacker will exploit flawed memory allocation due to, for example, the lack of boundary check measures. This can result in data being written outside the buffer's boundaries and overwriting memory in adjacent buffer partitions.

Harm of RCE Attacks

An RCE vulnerability allows attackers to execute malicious code, bringing much harm, including:

• Controlling the victim's system: Attackers can control the victim's system and perform various malicious operations, such as uploading, downloading, deleting, and modifying files, or even building botnets or mining cryptocurrencies.
• Stealing sensitive information: Attackers can steal sensitive information, such as accounts, passwords, and financial information, from the victim's system.
• Implanting backdoors: Attackers can implant backdoors in the system for further attacks at any time.

In a word, attacks based on RCE vulnerabilities are very dangerous. Once exploited by attackers, these vulnerabilities will cause great damage and loss to the system and data. Therefore, we need to fix and strengthen defense for any kind of potential RCE vulnerability in a timely manner.

How to Defend Against RCE Attacks?

The RCE vulnerability is very harmful and can cause serious problems such as data leakage and system breakdown. The following lists some solutions:

• Input check: Applications must implement an input check mechanism to strictly check and filter all data received from external systems to prevent malicious code injection.
• Parameterized query: Parameterized query prevents attackers from exploiting injection vulnerabilities of applications to modify query statements and execute arbitrary code.
• Output encoding: Sensitive characters are encoded during output, for example, HTML encoding, to prevent malicious code from being directly output and executed.
• Up-to-date security protection measures: Ensure that all components, databases, and plug-ins of the server system and applications are up-to-date and that all known vulnerabilities are fixed.
• Access control: An access control mechanism is set to prevent malicious users from accessing sensitive data and code.
• Code review and vulnerability scan: All code of applications is reviewed and scanned to detect and fix potential vulnerabilities and risks in a timely manner.
• Memory management: Buffer overflow protection and other forms of memory management are implemented to avoid vulnerabilities that can be easily exploited. For example, when a buffer overflow occurs to a program, the program stops being executed under this protection mechanism, effectively prohibiting the execution of malicious code. Boundary check and marking are effective methods for stopping buffer overflows.

How Do Huawei Products Help You Avoid RCE Attacks?

Huawei security products and solutions can help you cope with RCE attacks and prevent security vulnerabilities.

• HiSec Solution

  The HiSec solution makes threat detection, threat handling, and security O&M more intelligent, improving threat defense capabilities and security O&M efficiency. The zero trust solution can well solve the problem of user permission theft. By leveraging user behavior analysis, user credit scoring, and other means, you can detect risky accounts in a timely manner and terminate related permissions.

• FireHunter6000 Series Sandbox

  The FireHunter series sandboxes use the multi-engine virtualized detection technology and traditional security detection technology to identify malicious files and C&C attacks transmitted on the network, effectively preventing the spread of unknown threats and the loss of enterprise core information assets.

• HiSecEngine USG6000E/6000F Series AI Firewalls

  HiSecEngine USG6000E and 6000F series AI firewalls help implement strict control on inbound and outbound traffic to defend against intranet and Internet threats. With content security functions such as application identification and intrusion prevention system (IPS), the USG series AI firewalls can effectively block remote code execution attacks to protect intranet server and users from RCE threats. In addition, these firewalls can quickly obtain the latest threat information, accurately detect and defend against vulnerability-based attacks, and defend against various web-based attacks.