Infrastructure-as-Code Vulnerability Detection Using Security Graphs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cloud workload vulnerability scanning tools are inadequate for detecting vulnerabilities in cloud environments, particularly in multi-tenant systems and those using infrastructure as code (IaC), as they fail to provide comprehensive coverage of containers and serverless applications, and are limited by agent-dependent processes and snapshot-based scanning methods.
Innovation Solution
A unified security policy is applied across a technology stack using a security graph to detect and mitigate cybersecurity issues by traversing a representation of the cloud environment, identifying non-compliant nodes, and initiating mitigation actions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If agent-dependent scanning tools are deployed to scan cloud workloads, then vulnerability detection capability is improved, but operational complexity and resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the scanning functionality from agent-dependent processes and implements it through snapshot-based analysis. Instead of requiring agents to be deployed and maintained on cloud workloads, the system takes snapshots of the cloud environment and analyzes them externally, thereby eliminating the operational complexity of agent management while maintaining vulnerability detection capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces snapshots as an intermediary between the cloud environment and the analysis process. These snapshots serve as a medium that captures the state of cloud workloads without requiring direct agent intervention, allowing external analysis tools to examine the captured data without operational overhead on the target systems
2Ease of operation
If snapshot-based scanning is implemented for agentless analysis, then ease of operation is improved, but applicability to multi-tenant systems deteriorates due to data protection concerns
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by implementing tenant-specific isolation in the snapshot analysis process. Each tenant's snapshots are analyzed in isolated environments with access controls that ensure data protection while maintaining the ease of agentless operation. This allows the system to handle multi-tenant scenarios without compromising security or operational simplicity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary actions by establishing data protection mechanisms and access controls before snapshot analysis begins. By pre-configuring security policies and tenant isolation protocols, the system enables agentless scanning in multi-tenant environments while addressing data protection concerns proactively
3Manufacturing precision
If configuration code scanning is performed using IaC tools, then manufacturing precision of security compliance is improved, but measurement precision of actual runtime vulnerabilities deteriorates due to configuration drift
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges configuration code scanning with runtime snapshot analysis into a unified security assessment process. By combining IaC tool results with actual runtime environment snapshots, the system maintains the manufacturing precision of compliance verification while adding measurement precision of real-world vulnerability detection, overcoming the limitation of configuration drift
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for applying a unified security policy across a technology stack, includes detecting a cloud object in a first cloud computing environment, the cloud object including a plurality of attributes, each attribute having a corresponding value; detecting a node in a security graph having a data field value which matches an attribute value of the cloud object, wherein the security graph includes a representation of a cloud environment; applying a policy based on the data field value to the detected cloud object; and applying the policy to another cloud object in a second cloud computing environment, in response to determining that a node representing the cloud object in the security graph is connected to a node representing the another cloud object.