critical Infrastructure

Exposed Service Port

A sensitive service port (MySQL, Redis, RDP, SSH, MongoDB) is exposed to the public internet.

Severity
critical
Time to Fix
10 minutes
Difficulty
easy
OWASP
A05:2021 — Security Misconfiguration

What is Exposed Service Port?

Database servers (MySQL on 3306, PostgreSQL on 5432, MongoDB on 27017, Redis on 6379) and remote access services (RDP on 3389, SSH on 22, VNC on 5900) should never be accessible from the public internet. Exposed databases are routinely compromised within hours — ransomware gangs scan the entire internet for open databases and steal/encrypt data automatically.

Why It Matters to Your Business

An exposed database is the #1 cause of data breaches. Attackers scan for open MongoDB, Elasticsearch, and Redis instances 24/7 and exfiltrate data within minutes. RDP exposure is the leading ransomware vector. Average cost of a data breach: $4.45M (IBM 2023).

How to Fix It 

Block the port at the firewall:

For UFW (Ubuntu):
  sudo ufw deny 3306/tcp  (MySQL)
  sudo ufw deny 5432/tcp  (PostgreSQL)
  sudo ufw deny 6379/tcp  (Redis)
  sudo ufw deny 27017/tcp (MongoDB)
  sudo ufw deny 3389/tcp  (RDP)

For iptables:
  sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 3306 -j DROP

For AWS Security Groups:
  Remove the inbound rule allowing 3306 from 0.0.0.0/0

For Cloudflare:
  Block the port at the Cloudflare firewall level

Restrict SSH to specific IPs:
  sudo ufw allow from YOUR_IP to any port 22

Technical Classification

OWASP CategoryA05:2021 — Security Misconfiguration
CWE IDCWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information
Detected Byports scanner(s)
Severity Levelcritical

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