Cloud Deployment Appliance Vulnerability Remediation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Cloud application packages often contain vulnerabilities that are discovered after deployment, posing a risk of exploitation, and existing deployment solutions lack effective mechanisms for proactive identification and remediation of defects and vulnerabilities.
Innovation Solution
A cloud deployment system that utilizes a remediation policy to identify and address known defects or vulnerabilities in cloud application packages by comparing deployment descriptions with a dataset of known problems, applying updates, patches, or replacements automatically, ensuring that cloud applications are free from known vulnerabilities before deployment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If cloud application packages are deployed rapidly using appliance-based or platform-based solutions, then deployment speed and service delivery are improved, but the risk of deploying applications with known vulnerabilities increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs vulnerability scanning and remediation actions before the cloud application package is deployed to the cloud environment. The deployment appliance intercepts the package during the deployment process, scans it for known vulnerabilities using a problems database, and applies fixes automatically before the package reaches the target cloud environment, thus preventing vulnerable applications from being deployed in the first place
Solution Approach 2:
A deployment appliance acts as an intermediary component positioned between the cloud application package source and the target cloud environment. This appliance intercepts packages during deployment, performs vulnerability assessment and remediation, and then allows the package to proceed to deployment only if it meets security criteria, thus mediating the deployment process to ensure security without blocking rapid deployment
2Reliability
If vulnerability scanning and remediation processes are added to the deployment workflow, then application security is improved, but deployment time and process complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The deployment appliance performs vulnerability scanning and remediation automatically without requiring manual intervention from administrators. The system autonomously scans packages against the problems database, identifies vulnerabilities, applies appropriate fixes from the fixes database, and manages the entire remediation process automatically, thus improving security without adding manual time costs
Solution Approach 2:
Vulnerability remediation is performed in advance during the deployment process itself, rather than as a separate post-deployment step. By intercepting and fixing vulnerabilities before the package reaches the cloud environment, the system eliminates the need for separate patching cycles and reduces overall deployment time
3Measurement precision
If manual vulnerability assessment and patching processes are used, then remediation accuracy is improved, but automation level and operational efficiency decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The deployment appliance maintains a problems database containing known vulnerabilities and their associated fixes. During scanning, the system compares package components against this database, automatically identifies matching vulnerabilities, and applies corresponding fixes from a fixes database, creating a closed-loop automated remediation system that maintains high accuracy through structured data validation
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically performs vulnerability scanning, identification, and remediation without manual intervention. The deployment appliance autonomously queries the problems database, matches vulnerabilities in the package, retrieves appropriate fixes from the fixes database, and applies them automatically, thus achieving both high automation and accurate remediation through systematic automated processes
Data Source
AI summary
A method for applying remediation policy to a cloud application package having a set of components is described. The method is initiated in response to discovery of a new vulnerability. It begins by comparing information from a deployment description against a data set of known problems associated with the one or more of the components. The deployment description represents the set of components and their interrelationships. For each of the one or more components, one or more known problems that satisfy a given severity and/or complexity criteria are identified. Thereafter, and with respect to at least one of the components for which one known problem satisfying the given criteria has been identified, the remediation policy (e.g., an update, a replacement, a patch, an additional installable) is applied to attempt to rectify the known problem. After applying the policy, the old version of the package is replaced with the new version.