Maintaining SAP’s confidentiality, integrity, and availability triad

Cyber attackers like to target SAP systems because of their wide use—SAP platforms are used by 99 of the Fortune 100 companies and have over 280 million cloud subscribers worldwide. Attackers know this and take advantage of SAP’s vulnerabilities.

These vulnerabilities include configuration errors, access control problems, and software bugs. There are many types of weaknesses in SAP systems and different ways to deal with them. This article will look at some common vulnerabilities you must know and, importantly, how to mitigate these SAP risks.

Mitigating Risks

The risks of not dealing with potential SAP vulnerabilities are financial loss, data loss, reputational damage, and even legal liability. Reducing these risks requires minimizing the attack surface. SAP users must continuously assess and inventory the exposed services (SOAP, WebService, APIs). Any service that is not used or does not serve a current business function should be deactivated to reduce the attack surface and, thus, minimize the risk of exploitation.

In addition, SAP administrators should identify services that do not require authentication. These services are favored touch points for bad actors to gather information. To further tighten the defense, keep up with the latest security advisories, SAP Security Notes, and vulnerabilities. It’s a good policy to limit the number of users with access to sensitive data by creating strong access controls. Regularly updating your systems and keeping up with the latest security patches are also required. Since native SAP security is limited, using third-party tools to boost vulnerability insights and gain insights into platform attack vectors is also helpful.

Common Vulnerabilities

SAP vulnerabilities come in many forms and can be daunting to identify and manage. However, constant attention to these common types of SAP vulnerabilities will strengthen the platform’s posture:

• Code Injection vulnerabilities allow attackers to inject malicious code into SAP Systems. This code can help steal data or mount an attack on business operations. Examples are SQL injection and Remote Function Call (RFC) injection.
• Denial-of-service vulnerabilities allow attackers to send multiple requests or data to SAP systems, which can overwhelm them and cause them to crash.
• Authentication vulnerabilities allow cyber attackers to access authentication protocols. Some examples are misconfigured authentication settings, shared credentials, or weak passwords. Organizations should implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) and routinely review and update authentication policies. Enforcing single sign-on dramatically reduces the attack surface and the team's effort to reset the password.
• Authorization vulnerabilities allow attackers access to critical information and system protocols. Some examples are misconfigured authorization protocols and poor role designs. Organizations must implement robust role-based access controls (RBAC) to ensure users have only the permissions necessary for their roles.

Unsecured Interfaces

Attention must be paid to all interfaces. SAP systems often have multiple communication interfaces, including RFC (Remote Function Call) and HTTP. Unsecured interfaces allow hackers to manipulate data or move between SAP systems, compromising the entire platform’s landscape. To make it more secure, avoid using passwords by configuring trust between systems or using SAP's UCON functionality to lower the attack surface. Another step is enabling data encryption for information at rest and in transit.

Security Logs

Be sure to activate the SAP Security Audit Log; this becomes essential for incident investigation. Proper logging and monitoring are crucial for detecting and responding to security incidents. Inadequate or misconfigured logging can make identifying suspicious activities or breaches difficult. Organizations must establish robust monitoring and alerting systems to stay vigilant against potential threats.

Outdated Systems

Running outdated or unsupported SAP systems, operating systems, and databases is a significant security risk. These systems are more likely to have known vulnerabilities that attackers exploit. If an SAP system is decommissioned, ensure all users are locked out, and the data is deleted to prevent unwanted access.

Conclusion

Due to the sensitive nature of the data managed within SAP systems and their business-critical nature, organizations must establish a comprehensive security strategy that includes regular patch management, robust access controls, secure custom code development, and ongoing user training.

Education and heightened security awareness can help prevent social engineering traps like phishing. And it can’t be stressed enough: not patching SAP regularly is one of the most significant security tasks. Patches, or SAP Security Notes, contain critical security fixes that address vulnerabilities. Failing to apply these patches will render the platform vulnerable.

In addition to all the mitigating actions mentioned, one of the best ways to protect the SAP system is to automate much of the hardening activities through third-party tools designed to complement native SAP security.

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