How Azure is keeping customers secure against the Rapid Reset DDoS Vulnerability

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Bad actors can expose a new security vulnerability to initiate a DDoS attack on a customer’s infrastructure. This attack is leveraged against servers implementing the HTTP/2 protocol. Windows, .NET Kestrel, and HTTP .Sys (IIS) web servers are also impacted by the attack. Azure Guest Patching Service keeps customers secure by ensuring the latest security and critical updates are applied using Safe Deployment Practices on their VM and VM Scale Sets.  

As the latest security fixes are released from Windows and other Linux distributions, Azure will apply them for customers opted into to either Auto OS Image Upgrades or Auto Guest Patching. By opting into the auto update mechanisms through Azure, customers can remain proactive against security issues rather than reacting to attackers. Customers not leveraging the auto update capabilities through Azure Guest Patching Service are recommended to update their fleet with the latest security updates (KB5031364 for Windows and fix for CVE-2023-44487 related to Open-Source Software distributions).  

Without the latest security updates, organizations risk exposing their systems and data to potential security threats and web attacks. It is important for organizations to plan for this update to avoid any disruption to their business operations.  

Microsoft recommends enabling Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF) on Azure Front Door or Azure Application Gateway to further improve security posture. WAF rate limiting rules are effective in providing additional protection against these attacks. See additional recommendations from Microsoft Security Response Center for this vulnerability.  

 
Enabling Auto Update Features: Azure recommends the following features to ensure VM and VM Scale Sets are secured with the latest security and critical updates in a safe manner: 

Auto OS Image Upgrades: Azure replaces the OS disk with the latest OS Image. Supports rollback and rolls the upgrade across scale sets throughout all the regions. 

Auto Guest Patching: Azure applies the latest security and critical updates to an asset and rolls the update across the fleet throughout all the regions.  

The recent announcement of a new security issue is an important reminder for organizations to stay current with their software solutions to avoid any security or performance issues. Azure continues to keep customers secure by rolling out the latest security updates through multiple mechanisms for VM and VM Scale Sets in a safe manner. Customers are recommended to leverage the auto update capabilities in Azure to ensure they remain proactive against bad actors.  

Brought to you by Dr. Ware, Microsoft Office 365 Silver Partner, Charleston SC.