Half of the exploit tools sold on the dark web target unpatched zero-day vulnerabilities.

From January 2023 to September 2024, Kaspersky Digital Footprint Intelligence experts detected 547 advertisements for the sale of exploit tools. These advertisements were posted on various dark web forums and anonymous channels on the Telegram application...

An exploit is a tool that cybercriminals use to exploit software vulnerabilities.

Approximately half of these listings target zero-day and one-day vulnerabilities. However, the underground market is rife with scams, so whether these tools being offered are actually usable remains difficult to verify.

Additionally, Kaspersky also recorded an average price of up to $100,000 for exploits used in remote attacks.

An exploit is a tool used by cybercriminals to exploit software vulnerabilities, such as those in Microsoft software, in order to carry out illegal activities like unauthorized access or data theft.

More than half of the posts on the dark web (51%) are advertising or seeking to buy exploits targeting zero-day or one-day vulnerabilities.

Zero-day exploits target vulnerabilities that have not yet been discovered and patched by the software vendor, while one-day exploits target vulnerabilities that have been discovered and patched, but the system has not yet installed the necessary updates.

Statistics on the number of exploit buy/sell listings for the period 2023-2024. Source: Kaspersky Digital Footprint Intelligence.

Anna Pavlovskaya, a senior analyst at Kaspersky Digital Footprint Intelligence, stated: "Cybercriminals can use exploits to steal business information or monitor an organization undetected to achieve their goals. However, some exploits sold on the dark web may be 'fake' or incomplete, and may not function as effectively as advertised. Furthermore, the majority of transactions take place clandestinely. These two factors make assessing the true size of this market extremely difficult."

The dark web market offers a wide variety of exploits, the two most common being tools that target remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities and local privilege escalation (LPE) vulnerabilities.

According to an analysis of over 20 advertisements, the average price of an exploit targeting RCE is around $100,000, while LPE exploits typically cost around $60,000.

The exploit targeting the RCE vulnerability is considered more dangerous because an attacker could gain partial or complete control of the system or access secure data.

KIM THANH

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/mot-nua-cong-cu-exploit-rao-ban-tren-web-den-nham-vao-lo-hong-zero-day-chua-duoc-khac-phuc-post763208.html