Ethical Hacking News
A recent study by Pentera Labs found that thousands of exposed training applications were being used as entry points for attacks on high-profile organizations. The researchers observed that these applications were not simply misconfigured but were being actively exploited by attackers in the wild. Default credentials, known weaknesses, and public exposure were sufficient to turn these training applications into an entry point for broader cloud access.
The study highlights the importance of robust security controls and monitoring across the entire attack surface, including training environments. By adopting this approach, organizations can reduce their risk exposure and prevent similar vulnerabilities from being exploited in the future.
Thousands of exposed training applications were found to be vulnerable to exploitation. These applications were often deployed with default configurations, minimal isolation, and overly permissive cloud roles. The use of insecure tools like OWASP Juice Shop and DVWA was widespread, but not properly secured. Exposed training environments were frequently treated as low-risk or temporary assets. Vulnerabilities could be exploited using known weaknesses, default credentials, and public exposure. The impact of these vulnerabilities was significant, with exposed training environments found in cloud environments associated with Fortune 500 organizations.
Threat actors have been exploiting weaknesses in cloud infrastructure to gain access to sensitive data, and the latest research has shed light on how vulnerable training environments are being used as entry points for attacks on high-profile organizations. A recent study by Pentera Labs found that thousands of exposed training applications, designed to be insecure by default, were being left open to the public internet, connected to privileged cloud identities, and running in active cloud accounts.
The use of tools such as OWASP Juice Shop, DVWA, Hackazon, and bWAPP for security education, internal testing, and product demonstrations has become widespread. However, these applications are often deployed with default configurations, minimal isolation, and overly permissive cloud roles, making them vulnerable to exploitation. The study found that nearly 2,000 live, exposed training application instances were identified, with close to 60% hosted on customer-managed infrastructure running on AWS, Azure, or GCP.
The researchers observed that these applications were not simply misconfigured but were being actively exploited by attackers in the wild. The presence of active crypto-mining and persistence tooling was a clear indication of prior compromise and ongoing abuse of exposed systems. The study revealed that exploitation did not require zero-day vulnerabilities or advanced attack techniques, as default credentials, known weaknesses, and public exposure were sufficient to turn these training applications into an entry point for broader cloud access.
The deployment pattern observed in the research showed that training and demo environments were frequently treated as low-risk or temporary assets. As a result, they were often excluded from standard security monitoring, access reviews, and lifecycle management processes. However, this approach left these environments vulnerable to exploitation, and it was not uncommon for them to be exposed long after their original purpose had passed.
The researchers found that exposure did not require zero-day vulnerabilities or advanced attack techniques. Rather, attackers could exploit known weaknesses in the cloud infrastructure, default credentials, and public exposure to gain access to sensitive data. The study highlighted the importance of robust security controls and monitoring across the entire attack surface, including training environments.
The impact of this vulnerability was significant, as exposed training environments were not limited to small or isolated test systems. Instead, they were observed in cloud environments associated with Fortune 500 organizations and leading cybersecurity vendors, including Palo Alto, F5, and Cloudflare. The study demonstrated that these vulnerabilities were widespread and could be exploited by attackers with ease.
The researchers emphasized the need for a more comprehensive approach to security, one that includes robust security controls and monitoring across the entire attack surface, including training environments. By adopting this approach, organizations can reduce their risk exposure and prevent similar vulnerabilities from being exploited in the future.
In conclusion, the recent study by Pentera Labs highlights the importance of addressing vulnerabilities in cloud infrastructure, particularly those related to exposed training environments. The deployment pattern observed in the research underscores the need for robust security controls and monitoring across the entire attack surface, including these environments. By adopting a more comprehensive approach to security, organizations can reduce their risk exposure and prevent similar vulnerabilities from being exploited in the future.
Related Information:
https://www.ethicalhackingnews.com/articles/The-Vulnerable-Cloud-How-Exposed-Training-Environments-Became-a-Launchpad-for-Attacks-on-Fortune-500-Organizations-ehn.shtml
Published: Wed Feb 11 06:46:31 2026 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
