Skip to main content
USENIX
  • Conferences
  • Students
Sign in
  • Home
  • Attend
    • Registration Information
    • Registration Discounts
    • Venue, Hotel, and Travel
    • Students and Grants
    • Co-located Workshops
  • Program
    • At a Glance
    • Technical Sessions
  • Activities
    • Birds-of-a-Feather Sessions
    • Poster Session
    • Work-in-Progress Reports (WiPs)
  • Sponsorship
  • Participate
    • Instructions for Authors and Speakers
    • Call for Papers
      • Important Dates
      • Symposium Organizers
      • Symposium Topics
      • Refereed Papers
      • Symposium Activities
      • Submitting Papers
  • About
    • Symposium Organizers
    • Questions
    • Services
    • Help Promote
    • Past Symposia
  • Home
  • Attend
  • Program
  • Activities
  • Sponsorship
  • Participate
  • About

sponsors

Platinum Sponsor
Gold Sponsor
Silver Sponsor
Silver Sponsor
Silver Sponsor
Silver Sponsor
Bronze Sponsor
Bronze Sponsor
Media Sponsor
Media Sponsor
Media Sponsor
Media Sponsor
Media Sponsor
Media Sponsor
Media Sponsor
Media Sponsor
Industry Partner
Industry Partner

help promote

USENIX Security '16 button

Get more
Help Promote graphics!

connect with usenix


  •  Twitter
  •  Facebook
  •  LinkedIn
  •  Google+
  •  YouTube

twitter

Tweets by USENIXSecurity

usenix conference policies

  • Event Code of Conduct
  • Conference Network Policy
  • Statement on Environmental Responsibility Policy

You are here

Home ยป Hey, You Have a Problem: On the Feasibility of Large-Scale Web Vulnerability Notification
Tweet

connect with us

Hey, You Have a Problem: On the Feasibility of Large-Scale Web Vulnerability Notification

Authors: 

Ben Stock, Giancarlo Pellegrino, and Christian Rossow, Saarland University; Martin Johns, SAP SE; Michael Backes, Saarland University and Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (MPI-SWS)

Abstract: 

Large-scale discovery of thousands of vulnerableWeb sites has become a frequent event, thanks to recent advances in security research and the rise in maturity of Internet-wide scanning tools. The issues related to disclosing the vulnerability information to the affected parties, however, have only been treated as a side note in prior research.

In this paper, we systematically examine the feasibility and efficacy of large-scale notification campaigns. For this, we comprehensively survey existing communication channels and evaluate their usability in an automated notification process. Using a data set of over 44,000 vulnerable Web sites, we measure success rates, both with respect to the total number of fixed vulnerabilities and to reaching responsible parties, with the following highlevel results: Although our campaign had a statistically significant impact compared to a control group, the increase in the fix rate of notified domains is marginal.

If a notification report is read by the owner of the vulnerable application, the likelihood of a subsequent resolution of the issues is sufficiently high: about 40%. But, out of 35,832 transmitted vulnerability reports, only 2,064 (5.8%) were actually received successfully, resulting in an unsatisfactory overall fix rate, leaving 74.5% ofWeb applications exploitable after our month-long experiment. Thus, we conclude that currently no reliable notification channels exist, which significantly inhibits the success and impact of large-scale notification.

Ben Stock, Saarland University;

Giancarlo Pellegrino, Saarland University

Christian Rossow, Saarland University

Martin Johns, SAP SE

Michael Backes, Saarland University and Max Planck Institute for Software Systems (MPI-SWS)

Open Access Media

USENIX is committed to Open Access to the research presented at our events. Papers and proceedings are freely available to everyone once the event begins. Any video, audio, and/or slides that are posted after the event are also free and open to everyone. Support USENIX and our commitment to Open Access.

Stock PDF
USENIX Security '16 Errata Slip (PDF)
View the slides

Presentation Video 

Presentation Audio

MP3 Download

Download Audio

  • Log in or    Register to post comments

Platinum Sponsors

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors

Media Sponsors & Industry Partners

© USENIX

  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us