Network management platforms provide administrators with centralized control over critical infrastructure. That convenience also makes them attractive targets for attackers.
The September edition of Eclypsium’s InfraTrust Pulse, reported by BleepingComputer, tracked 158 security advisories across 17 vendors covering 1,699 vulnerabilities between August 25 and September 17. Forty-two advisories were rated critical, 71 could be exploited remotely without authentication, and five included vulnerabilities that were ultimately added to CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
For MSPs responsible for managing client infrastructure, the findings highlight several priorities.
1. Management Platforms Are High-Value Targets
InfraTrust identified an important trend: attackers are increasingly targeting administrative software used to configure and control infrastructure rather than only targeting individual devices.
Compromising one management platform can potentially give an attacker powerful access across multiple systems.
MSP Action: Treat network management consoles as critical assets and review their exposure, authentication, access controls, and monitoring.
2. Critical Vulnerabilities Require Faster Prioritization
Among the vulnerabilities highlighted was CVE-2026-20079, a maximum-severity authentication bypass affecting Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center that Cisco confirmed was being actively exploited.
For MSPs managing multiple client environments, simply maintaining a patch queue may no longer be enough.
MSP Action: Prioritize vulnerabilities based on active exploitation, exposure, privilege level, and potential impact—not CVSS score alone.
3. Remote Management Interfaces Need Extra Protection
The report also highlighted actively exploited SonicWall SMA 1000 vulnerabilities that could be chained to achieve unauthenticated remote code execution.
Because MSPs frequently depend on remote administration, management interfaces require particularly strong protection.
MSP Action: Limit management-interface exposure wherever possible and strengthen access with segmentation, monitoring, and appropriate authentication controls.
4. Supply-Chain Vulnerabilities Complicate Patching
InfraTrust found that the Linux kernel “CopyFail” vulnerability appeared across 19 separate security advisories from six vendors, including Arista, F5, Juniper, Extreme Networks, HPE Aruba, and Dell.
One underlying vulnerability can therefore generate multiple remediation requirements across an MSP’s client base.
MSP Action: Track vulnerabilities by affected component as well as vendor so teams can identify exposure across multiple products and customers.
5. Management Systems Deserve Continuous Monitoring
Patching remains essential, but management platforms also warrant stronger monitoring because of the access they provide.
For MSPs, that means watching for suspicious administrative activity, unexpected configuration changes, unusual authentication patterns, and other indicators that could signal compromise.
MSP Action: Incorporate management platforms into continuous monitoring and incident-response planning rather than treating them simply as administrative utilities.
Protect the Systems That Control the Systems
The InfraTrust findings highlight an important shift in infrastructure security. Attackers recognize that compromising the console controlling many devices can provide greater leverage than attacking those devices individually.
MSPs are uniquely positioned to respond because they already manage these environments at scale. By prioritizing management platforms, improving vulnerability management, limiting administrative exposure, and strengthening monitoring, providers can better protect the infrastructure their clients depend on.