SAP Threat Intelligence: The Definitive Guide to Securing Business-Critical Applications

What is SAP Threat Intelligence?

SAP Threat Intelligence is the proactive application of vulnerability data, behavioral analytics, and threat actor profiling to protect the ERP layer. It serves as the “brain” of a comprehensive SAP threat detection and response strategy. By contextualizing generic signals, such as IP reputation or login attempts, with SAP-specific logic, organizations can move from reactive patching to predictive defense. This approach stops threats before they impact business availability.

SAP Threat Intelligence: The Definitive Guide for 2026

For decades, SAP security relied on a “castle-and-moat” philosophy: secure the perimeter and apply patches when convenient. The threat landscape of 2025-2026 has rendered this approach obsolete. The shift is defined by the “Velocity of Attacks.” In 2025, the traditional window of defense collapsed. Attackers are no longer waiting days to reverse-engineer patches; they are weaponizing exploits within hours of disclosure.

From Static Patching to Dynamic Defense

The NetWeaver Zero-Day (CVE-2025-31324) fundamentally changed the rules of engagement. Attackers weaponized this flaw within hours. They deployed webshells and ransomware payloads before most organizations had even opened the SAP Security Note.


In this high-velocity environment, a strategy based solely on patching is mathematically impossible to sustain. By the time a patch is tested and deployed, a process that often takes weeks in complex ERP landscapes, the adversary is already inside. Security teams must therefore overlay their patch management with continuous threat intelligence to identify and block exploits immediately following disclosure.


Ready to assess your defense? Download our 2026 SAP Security Checklist to evaluate your readiness against these modern threats.

The Rise of Structural & AI-Driven Risks

The nature of the vulnerabilities themselves is also shifting. We are seeing a surge in Insecure Deserialization flaws, often with perfect CVSS 10.0 scores, which allow full system compromise without valid credentials. Simultaneously, threat actors are increasingly leveraging AI to automate the discovery of these complex logic flaws. This allows them to scale their attacks against custom ABAP code and third-party integrations that generic scanners typically overlook.


Staying ahead of these threats requires dedicated expertise. Onapsis Research Labs is the only independent team globally that actively discovers these vulnerabilities and feeds that intelligence directly into your defensive tools.

Why Generic Security Operations Fail SAP

A primary reason organizations fail to stop SAP breaches is the “Black Box” problem. Most Security Operations Centers (SOCs) rely on generic SIEM and SOAR platforms that are designed to inspect operating systems and network packets. These tools are blind to the application layer where SAP business logic resides.

The “Silo” Problem

Standard security tools see the “who” and “where” (e.g., User A logged in from IP 192.168.1.5) but miss the “what” (e.g., User A executed high-privilege transaction SM20 to delete audit logs).

The Blind Spot: Without application-layer visibility, an attacker using valid credentials (perhaps stolen via phishing) looks identical to a legitimate user.

The Consequence: This creates a dangerous silo where SAP threats remain invisible to the central SOC until data is exfiltrated or systems are encrypted.

Bridging the Gap: The Role of Integration

True SAP Threat Intelligence breaks this silo by translating SAP-specific logs into actionable alerts that non-SAP analysts can understand. This is most effective when integrated directly into the enterprise’s existing workflows. For example, integrating SAP threat intelligence into Microsoft Sentinel allows security teams to correlate ERP alerts with endpoint and network data. This provides a unified view of the attack chain without requiring SOC analysts to become SAP experts.

By feeding continuous SAP threat monitoring data into the SIEM, organizations gain the context needed to distinguish between a routine basis task and a malicious lateral movement attempt.

Top SAP Threat Vectors and Exploits

Understanding the specific mechanisms attackers use is the first step in defending against them. While generic malware often grabs headlines, the most dangerous attacks against ERP systems leverage the complexity of the application itself.

Insecure Deserialization

In 2025, insecure deserialization emerged as the primary technical risk for SAP landscapes. These vulnerabilities often carry a perfect CVSS score of 10.0 because they allow attackers to execute arbitrary commands without any prior authentication. By manipulating serialized data objects, a threat actor can force the SAP Java stack to execute malicious code. This effectively hands them full control over the application server.

Identity and Access Exploitation

The “Insider Threat” is not always a disgruntled employee. It is frequently an external attacker who has compromised a valid user account. Once inside, they target high-privilege profiles like SAP_ALL to escalate their permissions. Standard identity tools often miss this because the user is technically authorized to be in the system. The danger lies in the behavior, not just the access rights.

Supply Chain and Interface Attacks

Modern SAP systems are hyper-connected. They rely on thousands of RFC (Remote Function Call) interfaces and third-party add-ons to function. Attackers have shifted focus to these less-monitored pathways. By compromising a less secure satellite system or a third-party tool connected via RFC, they can pivot laterally into the core S/4HANA environment.

Core Components of an SAP Threat Intelligence Program

Building a defense capable of stopping rapid exploits requires more than just a vulnerability scanner. A mature SAP Threat Intelligence program must synthesize three distinct layers of data.

Vulnerability Intelligence

Most organizations struggle with “patch fatigue” because they cannot distinguish between a theoretical flaw and an imminent threat. Effective intelligence filters the noise. It tells you which vulnerabilities in your specific landscape are being actively exploited in the wild. This allows security teams to prioritize the patches that matter most. For a practical example of this prioritization in action, review our analysis of Critical SAP Security Notes & CVEs 2025, which highlights the specific flaws that demanded immediate attention over routine maintenance.

Identity and Behavioral Intelligence

Since attackers often use valid credentials, you must monitor for anomalous behavior. This layer of intelligence establishes a baseline for what “normal” looks like. If a user in the finance department suddenly starts debugging code in a production environment, the system should trigger an alert immediately. This applies even if the user has the technical permission to do so.

Threat Actor Intelligence

Knowing who is attacking you changes how you respond. Different threat groups use different tactics. Organized crime groups may plant webshells for long-term data theft, while ransomware gangs aim for immediate disruption. Understanding these TTPs (Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures) allows the SOC to predict the attacker’s next move.

Operationalizing Intelligence: Incident Response

The true test of intelligence is how quickly it leads to action. In the context of business-critical applications, the “Golden Hour” (the first 60 minutes after a breach is detected) determines the scope of the damage.

The Challenge of SAP Forensics

Incident response in an ERP environment is fundamentally different from a standard IT response. You cannot simply image a hard drive and take the server offline without costing the business millions of dollars. Responders need specialized visibility. They must be able to trace a malicious action from a user’s terminal ID through the SAP Gateway and into the specific database table that was modified.

Integrating with the Enterprise SOC

Speed comes from integration. SAP security data cannot stay in a silo. By feeding high-fidelity alerts into the corporate SIEM or SOAR platform, you empower the central security team to act. They can correlate an SAP alert with endpoint data to see the full attack chain. This allows them to isolate the compromised laptop and lock the SAP user account simultaneously.

The Role of Architecture: Independent vs. Embedded Security

Choosing the right toolset is not just about features; it is about architectural resilience. When evaluating the trade-offs of embedded vs. independent SAP security, organizations typically face a choice between solutions that live inside the SAP environment and external security solutions that monitor SAP from the outside.

The Risk of Embedded Tools

Embedded tools rely on the very system they are supposed to protect. If an attacker gains administrative control (e.g., via an SAP_ALL compromise or an OS-level exploit like the 2025 NetWeaver Zero-Day), they can potentially disable the embedded security tool, modify its logs, or blind it entirely. This creates a “Single Point of Failure.” Furthermore, embedded tools often consume SAP system resources, which can degrade performance during heavy scanning.

The Case for Independent Security

An independent platform, like Onapsis, operates outside the SAP application layer. It acts as a digital “black box” flight recorder.

Tamper-Proof Forensics: Even if the SAP system is fully compromised, the security logs reside on an external, secure platform that the attacker cannot alter.

Zero Impact on Performance: Scanning and monitoring occur externally, ensuring that business processes are never slowed down by security operations.

Objective Auditing: An external vantage point provides an objective view of the risk posture, free from the limitations of the SAP kernel itself.

Conclusion: Moving Beyond Reactive Security

The events of 2025 proved that the era of “patch and pray” is over. With exploit windows shrinking to hours and attackers leveraging AI to bypass traditional defenses, SAP security must evolve. It requires a shift from static compliance checks to dynamic, intelligence-driven operations.

By integrating SAP Threat Intelligence into your broader security ecosystem, you break the silos that have historically left ERP systems vulnerable. You gain the ability to detect threats in real-time, prioritize patches based on active risk, and respond to incidents before they become headlines.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

You do not need to hire SAP-specific security analysts. A mature Threat Intelligence platform translates cryptic SAP codes (like SM20 or DEBUG) into standardized security language. For example, it converts obscure logs into clear alerts like “Privilege Escalation” or “Lateral Movement.” This allows your existing SOC team to triage SAP alerts using the same workflows and playbooks they use for endpoints and networks. It bridges the skills gap immediately.

It buys you time. When a zero-day hits, you often cannot patch immediately due to testing requirements. Threat Intelligence allows you to apply “compensating controls” by monitoring specifically for the exploit technique associated with that vulnerability. If an attacker attempts to exploit the unpatched flaw, the system detects the behavior and can trigger an automated block at the firewall or user level. This protects the core even while the patch is being validated.

This depends entirely on the architecture. Legacy tools that run inside SAP (ABAP-based) steal resources from business transactions to run scans. Independent platforms like Onapsis operate externally. They monitor logs and traffic without placing any load on the SAP production environment, ensuring zero impact on business availability.

No. SAP protects the infrastructure (the servers and OS), but under the Shared Responsibility Model, they do not monitor your data, users, or application configurations. If a legitimate user account is compromised and used to download customer data, SAP’s native cloud tools will see it as authorized traffic. You remain solely responsible for detecting identity-based attacks and business logic abuse.

Context is key. A generic tool sees “User A updated a table.” A Threat Intelligence platform sees “User A updated a sensitive payroll table directly via the command line during non-business hours, bypassing the standard transaction.” By baselining normal behavior for high-privilege users, the system weeds out routine maintenance and alerts only on anomalies that indicate account compromise or malicious intent.

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