Google Threat Intelligence Analyzes 2024 Zero-Day Exploitation Trends
Article·Casey Charrier, James Sadowski, Clement Lecigne, Vlad Stolyarov··Research
The Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) tracked 75 in-the-wild zero-day vulnerabilities in 2024. While down from 98 in 2023, this remains higher than in 2022 (63), maintaining a steady long-term upward trend. The report highlights a marked strategic shift by attackers towards enterprise and networking infrastructure alongside a drop in browser and mobile exploits.
Key points
1GTIG tracked 75 exploited-in-the-wild zero-days in 2024, continuing a steady four-year upward trajectory.
2Enterprise technology vulnerabilities rose to 44% of total zero-days (33 flaws), with security and networking appliances accounting for over 60% of that segment.
3Exploits targeting browsers dropped from 17 to 11, while mobile devices saw a decrease from 17 to 9, driven by vendor mitigations.
4Desktop OS zero-days grew from 17 to 22, with Microsoft Windows climbing to 22 tracked vulnerabilities.
5Cyber espionage actors drove over 50% of attributed activity, led by commercial surveillance vendor customers (8), PRC-backed actors (5), and North Korean groups (5).
Why it matters
The findings demonstrate that threat actors increasingly target edge and networking appliances—such as VPN gateways and firewalls from vendors like Ivanti, Cisco, and Palo Alto Networks. These devices typically lack EDR visibility and allow deep network access via single vulnerabilities without complex exploit chains.
Analysis
GTIG's report reflects the direct impact of defensive engineering: hardening in browsers and mobile operating systems has forced adversaries to look elsewhere or deploy complex multi-exploit chains. Enterprise appliances represent high-value, lower-friction targets with minimal telemetry for defenders. The data also underscores the sustained prominence of cyber espionage and commercial surveillance ecosystems in driving zero-day weaponisation.
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