Salt Typhoon’s Warning: No Zero-Days Used—But Automated Vulnerability Scanning Could Have Thwarted It
When news broke that investigators found no evidence of zero‑day vulnerabilities in the Salt Typhoon cyberattacks on telecom networks, the world’s cyber‑defenders breathed a collective sigh of relief. Yet while no brand‑new, unknown holes were exploited, the real story here is how known vulnerabilities, left unpatched and lying in wait, become the easiest path for attackers. This revelation should refocus our security strategies on automated vulnerability scanning as a proactive defense—not just reactive patching.
According to Cisco Talos, the Salt Typhoon threat actors used only one known Cisco vulnerability (CVE‑2018‑0171) and various living‑off‑the‑land tactics—stealing credentials, abusing legitimate login access, and deploying a custom malware tool known as JumbledPath—rather than zero‑day attacks
Further confirmation comes from broader industry guidance: cybersecurity advisories emphasize that Salt Typhoon did not rely on zero‑days, but leveraged publicly documented flaws—particularly in Cisco routing infrastructure. These vulnerabilities had been repeatedly flagged for remediation and had CVE identifiers, meaning they were known and thus avoidable
Why That Matters: The Danger of Overlooking the Known
Complacency Kills: The telecom sector is vast and complex. Known vulnerabilities like CVE‑2018‑0171 have been flagged for years, yet many systems remain vulnerable due to the sheer scale, fragmentation, and outdated infrastructure—creating a vast attack surface .
Living‑Off‑the‑Land Is Effective: Once inside networks via known flaws, attackers like Salt Typhoon exploited legitimate system tools and credentials to move laterally, evade detection, and maintain persistence without needing exotic exploits .
Low Barrier to Entry: If attackers can slide in through already documented vulnerabilities, the motivation to discover or use zero-days dwindles. Addressing the known is often far more impactful and cost-effective than chasing elusive unknowns.
Automated Vulnerability Scanning: Your First Line of Defense
Scans That Never Sleep: Automated scanning tools continuously check systems and infrastructure for known vulnerabilities—no matter how old or obscure. They provide near real-time insights, drastically reducing the time between vulnerability publication and detection.
Consistency Across Large Environments: In sprawling telecom networks, manual checks are unreliable. Automation ensures every endpoint and network segment is regularly scanned—eliminating the “missed patch” that might otherwise lead to intrusion.
Prioritization and Remediation: Modern scanning solutions don’t just flag issues—they help prioritize them based on severity, exploitability, and asset importance, allowing for targeted mitigation before threats act.
Proof for Compliance and Trust: Detailed scan logs and dashboards support audit and regulatory requirements and strengthen trust between telecom providers, governments, and users, showing that known vulnerabilities are actively managed.
Conclusion
The Salt Typhoon attacks may not have leveraged sophisticated zero-days, but their impact was profound—precisely because they exploited vulnerabilities we already knew about. The lesson? Automation in vulnerability scanning isn’t just a luxury—it’s a necessity. When automated tools can shine a light on what’s flawed now, we give attackers fewer opportunities and bolster our critical infrastructure for the future.
Contact us today to learn more about proactive, automated vulnerability scanning.