VULNERABILITY-BASED REMEDIATION SELECTION

• US 20100199353A1
• Filed: 04/22/2010
• Published: 08/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fortinet Inc.
• Original Assignee: Fortinet Inc.
• Inventors: Tyree, David Spencer, Gandhe, Sudhir, D'Mello, Kurt
• Granted Patent: US 8,561,197 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/25
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/57 Certifying or maintaining trusted computer platforms, e.g. secure boots or power-downs, version controls, system software checks, secure updates or assessing vulnerabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/577 Assessing vulnerabilities and evaluating computer system security

Abstract

A machine-actionable memory comprises one or more machine-actionable records arranged according to a data structure. Such a data structure may include links that respectively map between a remediation, at least one action, and at least two vulnerabilities. A method of selecting a remediation, that is appropriate to a vulnerability which is present on a machine to be remediated, may include: providing a machine-actionable memory as mentioned above; and indexing into the memory using: a given vulnerability identifier to determine (A) at least one of a remediation mapped thereto and (B) at least one action mapped to the given vulnerability identifier; and/or a given remediation to determine at least two vulnerabilities mapped thereto.

Claims

1. A host device comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one memory device;

a network interface device;

a sensor program held in the at least one memory device and executable by the at least one processor to;

assess a current state of the host device;

send information representative of the current state of the host device to a server via the network interface device;

receive, via the network interface device, vulnerability remediation information from the server, the vulnerability remediation information including;

instructions executable by the processor though the sensor program, the instructions including at least one remediation for at least one vulnerability of the host device and a plurality of T_ID fields, wherein the content of a T_ID field denotes an identification (ID) of a technology species (T) present in the host device; and

for each of the T_ID fields, a plurality of ACT_ID fields, wherein the content of an ACT_ID field denotes an ID of an action (ACT); and

implement the at least one remediation upon the host device through execution of the instructions of the received remediation information to mitigates the at least one vulnerability present on the host device.

2. The host device of claim 1, wherein the sensor program is further executable by the at least one processor to:

reassess the current state of the host device following implementation of the at least one remediation on the host device; and

send information representative of the reassessed current state of the host device to the server via the network interface device.

3. The host device of claim 1, wherein the host device is a printer.

4. The host device of claim 1, wherein the vulnerability remediation information includes a R_ID denoting an identification (ID) of the at least one remediation (R).

5. The host device of claim 1, where the sensor program is further executable by the at least one processor to:

receive, via the network interface device, information to be processed during the assessing of the current state of the host device, the received information identifying a particular vulnerability.

6. A method comprising:

assessing a current state of a host device;

sending information representative of the current state of the host device to a server via a network interface device;

receiving, via the network interface device, vulnerability remediation information from the server, the vulnerability remediation information including;

instructions executable by a processor of the host device though a sensor program implementing the method, the instructions including at least one remediation for at least one vulnerability of the host device and a plurality of T_ID fields, wherein the content of a T_ID field denotes an identification (ID) of a technology species (T) present in the host device; and

for each of the T_ID fields, a plurality of ACT_ID fields, wherein the content of an ACT_ID field denotes an ID of an action (ACT); and

implementing the at least one remediation upon the host device through execution of the instruction of the received remediation information to mitigate the at least one vulnerability present on the host device.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

reassessing the current state of the host device following implementation of the at least one remediation on the host device; and

sending information representative of the reassessed current state of the host device to the server via the network interface device.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the host device is a printer.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the vulnerability remediation information includes a R_ID denoting an identification (ID) of the at least one remediation (R).

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, via the network interface device, information to be processed during the assessing of the current state of the host device, the received information identifying a particular vulnerability.

11. A machine-readable storage medium, with instructions stored thereon, which when executed by at least one processor, causes a machine to perform a method comprising:

assessing a current state of a host device;

sending information representative of the current state of the host device to a server via a network interface device;

receiving, via the network interface device, vulnerability remediation information from the server, the vulnerability remediation information including;

instructions executable by a processor of the host device though a sensor program implementing the method, the instructions including at least one remediation for at least one vulnerability of the host device and a plurality of T_ID fields, wherein the content of a T_ID field denotes an identification (ID) of a technology species (T) present in the host device; and

for each of the T_ID fields, a plurality of ACT_ID fields, wherein the content of an ACT_ID field denotes an ID of an action (ACT); and

implementing the at least one remediation upon the host device through execution of the instruction of the received remediation information to mitigate the at least one vulnerability present on the host device.

12. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, the method further comprising:

reassessing the current state of the host device following implementation of the at least one remediation on the host device; and

sending information representative of the reassessed current state of the host device to the server via the network interface device.

13. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the host device is a printer.

14. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the vulnerability remediation information includes a R_ID denoting an identification (ID) of the at least one remediation (R).

15. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, the method further comprising:

receiving, via the network interface device, information to be processed during the assessing of the current state of the host device, the received information identifying a particular vulnerability.