Report: 1 in 3 Easily Exploitable Vulnerabilities Found on Cloud Assets

  • May 27, 2025

CyCognito recently released new research highlighting critical security vulnerabilities across cloud-hosted assets, revealing that one in three easily exploitable vulnerabilities or misconfigurations are found on cloud assets. As organizations increasingly shift to multi-cloud strategies, the findings underscore significant security gaps that could provide attackers with potential footholds into networks.

Gartner predicts double-digit growth across all cloud segments in 2025, with organizations increasingly adopting multi-cloud strategies. This expansion coincides with rising security concerns, as researchers with Palo Alto Networks found that by the end of 2024, organizations suffered a 388 percent increase in cloud security alerts compared to 2023.

"While cloud computing offers tremendous benefits, we're seeing an alarming increase in serious security issues affecting cloud assets," said Emma Zaballos, Senior Researcher, CyCognito. "Organizations must understand the crucial difference between high-severity vulnerabilities and those that are easily exploitable—both present distinct risks that require targeted security approaches."

For this research, CyCognito analyzed anonymized, aggregated data across nearly five million internet-exposed assets – web applications, servers, domains, and more – that the company monitors, focusing on how vulnerabilities behave "in the wild" rather than just in controlled testing environments.

This research focused on the assets hosted on cloud platforms, rather than the cloud platforms themselves. While assets were aggregated by cloud hosting providers, further research is needed to understand why variance existed between different populations of assets.

Key findings:

  • Significant Vulnerability Variations Across Providers: 38 percent of assets hosted by Google Cloud were vulnerable to at least one security issue or misconfiguration, over 2.5x more than assets hosted by AWS (15 percent), while assets hosted by Azure ranked second with 27 percent.
  • Critical Vulnerabilities Present Across All Environments: Though uncommon, critical vulnerabilities (CVSS 9.0 or higher) were detected on assets hosted by all cloud providers, with assets hosted by Azure showing a slightly higher percentage (0.07 percent) compared to assets hosted by AWS and Google Cloud (0.04 percent). Assets hosted by other cloud providers showed approximately 10 times higher rates of critical vulnerabilities.
  • Easily Exploitable Vulnerabilities Most Common on Alternative Clouds: Over 13 percent of assets hosted on other clouds and 10 percent on other hosting providers had easily exploitable vulnerabilities, compared to 5 percent hosted on Google Cloud and just 2 percent on AWS and Azure.
  • Combined Risk Factors: Assets with both critical and easily exploitable issues were found across all providers, with AWS showing the lowest rate (0.02 percent) while alternative cloud and hosting providers showed rates ten times higher.
  • The research emphasizes the importance of comprehensive security testing beyond development environments. "Security teams must focus on testing applications after they're deployed, not just during development," added Zaballos. "Dynamic application security testing is crucial as it actively tests live assets, uncovering application vulnerabilities and misconfigurations that static tools miss."

The research comes as CyCognito announced a new partnership with Wiz to enhance protection of cloud environments. CyCognito enriches Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) coverage by identifying externally exposed cloud assets and identifying vulnerabilities and misconfigurations using more than 80,000 active and passive tests. By taking an outside-in attacker’s perspective, CyCognito fills visibility gaps across sanctioned and unsanctioned cloud assets and enables security teams to focus on the most

critical vulnerabilities.

For more information on the research, please see the blog post.

Featured

  • Analysis of AI Tools Shows 85 Percent Have Been Breached

    AI tools are becoming essential to modern work, but their fast, unmonitored adoption is creating a new kind of security risk. Recent surveys reveal a clear trend – employees are rapidly adopting consumer-facing AI tools without employer approval, IT oversight, or any clear security policies. According to Cybernews Business Digital Index, nearly 90% of analyzed AI tools have been exposed to data breaches, putting businesses at severe risk. Read Now

  • Software Vulnerabilities Surged 61 Percent in 2024, According to New Report

    Action1, a provider of autonomous endpoint management (AEM) solutions, today released its 2025 Software Vulnerability Ratings Report, revealing a 61% year-over-year surge in discovered software vulnerabilities and a 96% spike in exploited vulnerabilities throughout 2024, amid an increasingly aggressive threat landscape. Read Now

  • Evolving Cybersecurity Strategies: Uniting Human Risk Management and Security Awareness Training

    Organizations are increasingly turning their attention to human-focused security approaches, as two out of three (68%) cybersecurity incidents involve people. Threat actors are shifting from targeting networks and systems to hacking humans via social engineering methods, living off human errors as their most prevalent attack vector. Whether manipulated or not, human cyber behavior is leveraged to gain backdoor access into systems. This mainly results from a lack of employee training and awareness about evolving attack techniques employed by malign actors. Read Now

  • Report: 1 in 3 Easily Exploitable Vulnerabilities Found on Cloud Assets

    CyCognito recently released new research highlighting critical security vulnerabilities across cloud-hosted assets, revealing that one in three easily exploitable vulnerabilities or misconfigurations are found on cloud assets. As organizations increasingly shift to multi-cloud strategies, the findings underscore significant security gaps that could provide attackers with potential footholds into networks. Read Now

  • Built for Today, Ready for Tomorrow

    Selecting the right VMS is critical for any organization that depends on video surveillance to ensure safety, security and operational efficiency. While many organizations focus on immediate needs such as budget and deployment size, let us review some of the long-term considerations that can significantly impact a VMS's utility and flexibility. Read Now

Most   Popular

New Products

  • Mobile Safe Shield

    Mobile Safe Shield

    SafeWood Designs, Inc., a manufacturer of patented bullet resistant products, is excited to announce the launch of the Mobile Safe Shield. The Mobile Safe Shield is a moveable bullet resistant shield that provides protection in the event of an assailant and supplies cover in the event of an active shooter. With a heavy-duty steel frame, quality castor wheels, and bullet resistant core, the Mobile Safe Shield is a perfect addition to any guard station, security desks, courthouses, police stations, schools, office spaces and more. The Mobile Safe Shield is incredibly customizable. Bullet resistant materials are available in UL 752 Levels 1 through 8 and include glass, white board, tack board, veneer, and plastic laminate. Flexibility in bullet resistant materials allows for the Mobile Safe Shield to blend more with current interior décor for a seamless design aesthetic. Optional custom paint colors are also available for the steel frame.

  • Camden CM-221 Series Switches

    Camden CM-221 Series Switches

    Camden Door Controls is pleased to announce that, in response to soaring customer demand, it has expanded its range of ValueWave™ no-touch switches to include a narrow (slimline) version with manual override. This override button is designed to provide additional assurance that the request to exit switch will open a door, even if the no-touch sensor fails to operate. This new slimline switch also features a heavy gauge stainless steel faceplate, a red/green illuminated light ring, and is IP65 rated, making it ideal for indoor or outdoor use as part of an automatic door or access control system. ValueWave™ no-touch switches are designed for easy installation and trouble-free service in high traffic applications. In addition to this narrow version, the CM-221 & CM-222 Series switches are available in a range of other models with single and double gang heavy-gauge stainless steel faceplates and include illuminated light rings.

  • ResponderLink

    ResponderLink

    Shooter Detection Systems (SDS), an Alarm.com company and a global leader in gunshot detection solutions, has introduced ResponderLink, a groundbreaking new 911 notification service for gunshot events. ResponderLink completes the circle from detection to 911 notification to first responder awareness, giving law enforcement enhanced situational intelligence they urgently need to save lives. Integrating SDS’s proven gunshot detection system with Noonlight’s SendPolice platform, ResponderLink is the first solution to automatically deliver real-time gunshot detection data to 911 call centers and first responders. When shots are detected, the 911 dispatching center, also known as the Public Safety Answering Point or PSAP, is contacted based on the gunfire location, enabling faster initiation of life-saving emergency protocols.