5 IoT Vulnerabilities That Stop Projects and How to Avoid Them

A single compromised camera or outdated VPN credential can stall your IoT application development process indefinitely. 75% of IoT initiatives never perform well enough to proceed to the production stage. And 76% of those failures trace back to device-level vulnerabilities.

In this article, we will learn how to identify and resolve them.

End-of-Life Devices Become Attack Vectors

AVTECH IP cameras are located in critical infrastructure facilities at the very moment, used by transportation authorities and financial services. And 37,995 of these cameras are exposed online. Every single one is end-of-life with no patch available.

CVE-2024-7029 affects these cameras through a command injection flaw in the brightness function. The proof-of-concept has been public since 2019. AVTECH didn’t receive a CVE assignment until August 2024. Attackers had FIVE years to exploit devices without official acknowledgment.

What makes this dangerous:

• Corona Mirai botnet campaign started targeting this in March 2024.
• Attackers inject malicious code remotely with elevated privileges.
• Compromised cameras join botnets launching DDoS attacks;
• Devices become entry points into broader networks;
• AVTECH stopped responding to CISA mitigation requests.
• Their website shows a 2018 copyright with no updates.

The solution:

• Decommission affected hardware immediately.
• Isolate legacy devices behind firewalls if replacement takes time.
• Audit all IoT assets for end-of-life status quarterly.
• Budget for hardware lifecycle management upfront.

Networks can’t secure devices that manufacturers abandoned. Every discontinued product in production becomes a liability the moment a vulnerability surfaces.

VPN Access Without Authentication Controls

Colonial Pipeline’s ransomware attack on May 7, 2021, started with a compromised VPN password. No multi-factor authentication protected the account, and the account wasn’t even active.

DarkSide hackers stole 100 gigabytes of data in two hours, billing systems were encrypted, and 75 bitcoin ($4.4 million) was demanded. Colonial shut down 5,500 miles of pipeline for five days while gas stations across the East Coast ran dry and fuel prices reached their highest since 2014.

How the breach succeeded:

• Complex password obtained through a separate data breach.
• No MFA on the VPN account.
• Inactive account still had access privileges.
• Colonial paid the ransom within hours.
• The decryption tool was slower than their backup systems.
• Department of Justice later recovered 63.7 bitcoin.

The protection strategy:

• Enforce MFA on all VPN accounts without exception.
• Audit inactive accounts monthly and disable them immediately
• Implement IP allowlisting for VPN access.
• Monitor VPN login attempts for geographic anomalies.
• Rotate credentials every 90 days minimum.

A single unprotected VPN account can cost millions in ransom, regulatory fines, and lost operations. The Colonial Pipeline incident prompted federal cybersecurity directives and congressional hearings.

Default Credentials Create Persistent Entry Points

Nozomi Networks analyzed real-world OT environments in July 2025. Their data shows 7.36% of detected attacks use brute force attempts against default credentials, while another 5.27% directly exploit default credentials for lateral movement within networks.

IoT devices ship with default usernames and passwords. Administrators deploy thousands of devices, and some credentials never get changed because developers assume someone else handled it or forget during rushed deployments.

The scale of the threat:

• 820,000 attacks per day in 2025.
• Automated scanners probe IP ranges for factory settings.
• Shodan search engine makes finding vulnerable devices trivial.
• Type in a device model, filter by defaults, and thousands of results appear.

The credential management approach:

• Force credential changes during initial device provisioning.
• Implement unique credentials per device.
• Use password managers for IoT device inventory.
• Create automated alerts when default credentials are detected on the network.
• Record every device with its authentication requirements.

Network Segmentation Gaps Amplify Breach Impact

Manufacturing sector data breaches cost $4.97 million on average in 2024. This number excludes regulatory fines, business interruption losses, and reputation damage. The total economic impact can reach tens of millions when supply chains get disrupted.

The Eseye 2025 State of IoT report found 75% of businesses suffered IoT security breaches in the past year, up from 50% in 2024. Manufacturing took an 85% hit rate while EV charging saw 82%, driven by a common architectural flaw.

The vulnerability pattern:

• Safety systems, production controls, and business networks share infrastructure.
• Business system breach spreads to operational tech.
• Production lines drag, quality controls fail;
• VLAN misconfigurations create unintended network paths.
• Legacy configurations exist without documentation.
• Security personnel lack visibility into OT device communications.

The segmentation framework:

• Map all device communications before implementing segmentation.
• Use next-generation firewalls with deep packet inspection between zones.
• Deploy IoT-specific security monitoring tools.
• Test segmentation with penetration testing quarterly.
• Document every network connection and its business justification.

Proper segmentation contains breaches to single zones and prevents cascading failures.

Firmware Update Failures Leave Known Vulnerabilities Active

Software vulnerabilities appear at a rate of 2,000 per month across all systems. Companies that don’t patch are not asking if they’ll be attacked. This is just a matter of time. And consequences won’t take long to catch up.

The ONEKEY 2024 survey of 300 IT decision-makers found troubling gaps in procurement and maintenance practices that leave vulnerabilities active for months or years.

Testing gaps during procurement:

• Only 29% conduct thorough security tests on IoT devices.
• 30% limit testing to superficial checks or sampling;
• 15% perform no security checks at all.

Some devices cannot be patched because the operating system won’t accept updates, or installing patches breaks the device. Medical devices face regulatory approval requirements that prevent quick updates. Alternative strategies, like network isolation, might be necessary in certain cases.

The firmware management system:

• Implement over-the-air (OTA) update capabilities from day one.
• Use cryptographic signing (RSA or ECC) to verify update authenticity.
• Enable rollback protection to prevent downgrade attacks.
• Create a firmware testing environment that mirrors production.
• Maintain an asset inventory with current firmware versions for every device.
• Establish SLAs for patch deployment: critical vulnerabilities within 24 hours.

If you deploy IoT without OTA update mechanisms, you build technical debt that becomes impossible to service at scale. Manually updating thousands of devices across distributed locations doesn’t work.

On a Final Note

Successful deployments audit hardware before purchase, enforce MFA, segment networks properly, and plan firmware updates from the first device specification. Security architecture determines whether projects reach production or join the 75%.

(Photo by Growtika on Unsplash)