How to Reduce Security Threats with 3rd Party App Patching via SCCM Configuration Manager? 3rd party application patching has always proven to be a surefire way to keep systems secure and overcome vulnerabilities. It’s also important to note that patches for third-party applications can be just as crucial as those for Windows.
In today’s context, it’s very important that we need to deploy the latest patches from 3rd party application vendors ASAP.
In this post, I will cover the importance of 3rd Party application patching with SCCM. In this post, we will see how to reduce security threats with 3rd Party app patching via SCCM.
A most common method used for 3rd party patching
Most organizations are using SCCM to patch Windows devices. Following is the widely used method (as per my experience) to patch 3rd applications. Is this method agile? I don’t think so this process could take days of effort by different teams in the organization. A perfect example of the complexities of this approach is there in the following thread here.
- Download the patches from vendor websites
- Create separate packages for different vendors with complex command lines etc..
- Create SCCM packages for each vendor patch
- Deploy those SCCM packages to required machines
Why is 3rd party application patching so Important
Recently, Delta Charlie, the malware used by hacking group Hidden Cobra, has affected thousands of computers worldwide as a part of a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) botnet network. Once Delta Charlie infects a computer, it can download hazardous executables onto the infected systems, update unwanted binaries, change real-time configurations, and initiate even more DDoS attacks.
A favorite application of this botnet malware is Adobe Flash Player, a popular third-party application in most organizations. Failing to regularly patch third-party applications can lead to malware like this bringing in serious security threats. SCCM administrators who are up-to-date with their Windows patching need to be conscious about updating their third-party patches as well.
How to Reduce Security Threats with 3rd Party App Patching and Remediation efforts – 3rd party app vulnerabilities
To secure your computers from Delta Charlie, you have to patch your systems with the following Adobe Flash Player security updates:
- Adobe Flash Player 18.0.0.324 and 19.x vulnerability (CVE-2016-0034)
- Adobe Flash Player 21.0.0.197 vulnerability (CVE-2016-1019)
- Adobe Flash Player 21.0.0.226 vulnerability (CVE-2016-4117)
A different complex method used for 3rd party app patching is SCUP +SCCM. For a moment forget about all the integration complexities of SCCM + WSUS + SCUP. Imagine how difficult it would be to manually create an Adobe Flash Player package using SCUP and deploy it in SCCM. I blogged about the complexities of this topic in the following post “How Tedious for SCCM Admins to Patch 3rd Party Applications via SCUP“. In the time it would take to patch these third-party updates manually, your systems would likely have already been affected by Delta Charlie.
Ideal Approach to remediate 3rd part app vulnerabilities
As I mentioned at the start of this post, we need to remediate the vulnerabilities ASAP. The best remediation approach is to automate the entire 3rd party patch management solution. There are loads of 3rd party patching solutions available in the market to automate this process. In this post, I will cover the solution from Manage Engine called Patch Connect Plus. I blogged about this topic in the following post “Now Automate Third-Party Patch Management using SCCM ConfigMgr“.
ManageEngine offers the solution that you need to patch all your third-party applications: Patch Connect Plus quickly. Download Patch Connect Plus to completely patch Adobe Flash Player in no time.
Today it’s Adobe Flash Player, tomorrow it might be any other third-party application. With Patch Connect Plus in hand, keep your third-party patching for Windows machines under control and save your systems from dangerous vulnerabilities.
Author
Anoop is Microsoft MVP! He is a Solution Architect in enterprise client management with more than 20 years of experience (calculation done in 2021) in IT. He is a blogger, Speaker, and Local User Group HTMD Community leader. His main focus is on Device Management technologies like SCCM 2012, Current Branch, and Intune. E writes about ConfigMgr, Windows 11, Windows 10, Azure AD, Microsoft Intune, Windows 365, AVD, etc…