CompTIA SecurityX Blog Series
Core Exam Objectives 4: Security Operations

Deprecated functions are functions or APIs that have been superseded by newer, more secure alternatives. Although still usable, they are no longer recommended and may

Buffer overflow vulnerabilities occur when a program writes more data to a memory buffer than it can hold, causing data to overwrite adjacent memory. This

Directory service misconfiguration vulnerabilities occur when directory services, like Microsoft Active Directory (AD) or Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), are improperly configured, leaving systems exposed

Poisoning attacks are a class of attacks where an attacker intentionally injects malicious data or code into a system, dataset, or model to corrupt its

End-of-Life (EOL) software refers to applications, operating systems, or devices that are no longer supported by their vendor. Vendors typically stop releasing patches, updates, or

Outdated or unpatched software and libraries are major security vulnerabilities that expose systems to known exploits. Attackers frequently target these vulnerabilities, as unpatched software often

Embedded secrets refer to sensitive information—such as API keys, passwords, tokens, and encryption keys—that is hard-coded or stored within source code, configuration files, or other

Insecure configuration vulnerabilities occur when systems, applications, or network components are deployed with weak security settings, making them more susceptible to attacks. These misconfigurations expose

Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) is a vulnerability where an attacker tricks a server into making unauthorized requests to other internal or external resources on behalf

Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) is a type of attack that tricks authenticated users into unknowingly executing unwanted actions on a web application. CSRF attacks target

Race conditions are a type of vulnerability that occurs when two or more threads or processes access shared resources simultaneously in an unintended order, resulting

Unsafe memory utilization vulnerabilities arise when an application mishandles memory, leading to various security risks, including arbitrary code execution, data corruption, and denial of service