01/04/2024-01/10/2024 4 Windows Update Patches 48 New Vulnerabilities, CISA Flags 6 Vulnerabilities, Hackers Target Microsoft SQL Servers And More.

1. Microsoft’s January 2024 Windows Update Patches 48 New Vulnerabilities

Microsoft rolled out Patch Tuesday updates for January 2024, fixing 48 security flaws across its software. Two critical and 46 important bugs were addressed, none publicly known or actively attacked. This marks the second consecutive Patch Tuesday with no zero-days. The fixes include nine for the Chromium-based Edge browser, patching a zero-day actively exploited (CVE-2023-7024). Among the critical patches this month: CVE-2024-20674, allowing bypass of Windows Kerberos security, and CVE-2024-20700, enabling remote code execution in Windows Hyper-V. Exploiting CVE-2024-20674 demands network access, while CVE-2024-20700 doesn’t require authentication but needs a race condition win for remote code execution. Notable flaws involve privilege escalation in CLFS (CVE-2024-20653) and a security bypass affecting SQL clients (CVE-2024-0056).

2. CISA Flags 6 Vulnerabilities – Apple, Apache, Adobe , D-Link, Joomla Under Attack

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has added six actively exploited security flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. Among them is CVE-2023-27524 (CVSS score: 8.9), a high-severity vulnerability in Apache Superset allowing remote code execution, fixed in version 2.1.
CISA also highlighted five other flaws:

• CVE-2023-38203 (CVSS score: 9.8) – Adobe ColdFusion Deserialization of Untrusted Data
• CVE-2023-29300 (CVSS score: 9.8) – Adobe ColdFusion Deserialization of Untrusted Data
• CVE-2023-41990 (CVSS score: 7.8) – Apple Multiple Products Code Execution
• CVE-2016-20017 (CVSS score: 9.8) – D-Link DSL-2750B Devices Command Injection
• CVE-2023-23752 (CVSS score: 5.3) – Joomla! Improper Access Control
  Notably, CVE-2023-41990, fixed by Apple in iOS 15.7.8 and iOS 16.3, was exploited in Operation Triangulation spyware attacks via a crafted iMessage PDF attachment. Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies are urged to apply fixes by January 29, 2024, to counter active threats.

3. Alert: New Vulnerabilities Discovered in QNAP and Kyocera Device Manager

Kyocera’s Device Manager product is susceptible to a disclosed security flaw (CVE-2023-50916) allowing attackers to coerce authentication attempts to malicious resources, potentially leading to data theft and NTLM relay attacks. The vulnerability arises from a path traversal issue, now resolved in Kyocera Device Manager version 3.1.1213.0.
In a related development, QNAP addressed multiple high-severity vulnerabilities:

• CVE-2023-39296: Prototype pollution flaw in QTS and QuTS hero.
• CVE-2023-47559: XSS vulnerability in QuMagie.
• CVE-2023-47560: OS command injection flaw in QuMagie.
• CVE-2023-41287: SQL injection vulnerability in Video Station.
• CVE-2023-41288: OS command injection flaw in Video Station.
• CVE-2022-43634: Unauthenticated remote code execution flaw in Netatalk.

While no evidence of exploitation exists, users are urged to update to the latest versions of affected products to mitigate potential risks.

4. Alert: Ivanti Releases Patch for Critical Vulnerability in Endpoint Manager Solution

Ivanti addressed critical vulnerabilities in its Endpoint Manager (EPM) and Avalanche solutions. CVE-2023-39336 impacts EPM versions 2021 and 2022 (pre-SU5), posing a risk of remote code execution through SQL injection, with a severity score of 9.6.
In a separate update, Ivanti resolved 21 flaws in Avalanche, 13 of which were critical buffer overflows (CVSS scores: 9.8), patched in Avalanche 6.4.2. These could lead to denial-of-service or code execution if exploited by attackers sending specially crafted data packets to the Mobile Device Server.
While no evidence exists of exploitation, it’s worth noting that state-backed actors previously exploited zero-day flaws (CVE-2023-35078 and CVE-2023-35081) in Ivanti’s Endpoint Manager Mobile (EPMM) to breach Norwegian government networks. Users should apply the provided updates to mitigate potential risks.

5. Hackers Target Microsoft SQL Servers In Mimic Ransomware Attacks

A financially motivated Turkish hacking group, known as RE#TURGENCE, is targeting Microsoft SQL (MSSQL) servers worldwide with Mimic (N3ww4v3) ransomware. The campaign, affecting targets in the EU, U.S., and Latin America, typically ends with either selling compromised host access or deploying ransomware. The attackers exploit insecurely configured MSSQL servers, utilizing xp_cmdshell for command shell access. They employ heavily obfuscated Cobalt Strike payloads, launch AnyDesk for remote desktop access, and collect credentials using Mimikatz. The Mimic ransomware, dropped via AnyDesk, encrypts files and displays a ransom note. The group’s tactics link them to Phobos ransomware attacks. Securonix previously exposed a similar campaign (DB#JAMMER) targeting MSSQL servers with Mimic ransomware in the past year. Users are advised to secure MSSQL configurations to mitigate risks.

12/27/2023-01/04/2024 3 Malicious PyPI Packages, Privilege Escalation Flaw Impacting Kubernetes Service, Critical Zero-Day in Apache OfBiz ERP System And More.

1. Beware: 3 Malicious PyPI Packages Found Targeting Linux with Crypto Miners

Three new malicious packages have been discovered in the Python Package Index (PyPI) open-source repository with capabilities to deploy a cryptocurrency miner on affected Linux devices. The three harmful packages, named modularseven, driftme, and catme, attracted a total of 431 downloads over the past month before they were taken down. These packages, upon initial use, deploy a CoinMiner executable on Linux devices. The malicious code resides in the __init__.py file, which decodes and retrieves the first stage from a remote server, a shell script (“unmi.sh”) that fetches a configuration file for the mining activity as well as the CoinMiner file hosted on GitLab. The ELF binary file is then executed in the background using the nohup command, thus ensuring that the process continues to run after exiting the session. Echoing the approach of the earlier ‘culturestreak’ package, these packages conceal their payload, effectively reducing the detectability of their malicious code by hosting it on a remote URL.

2. Google Cloud Resolves Privilege Escalation Flaw Impacting Kubernetes Service

Google Cloud has addressed a medium-severity security flaw in its platform that could be abused by an attacker who already has access to a Kubernetes cluster to escalate their privileges. An attacker who has compromised the Fluent Bit logging container could combine that access with high privileges required by Anthos Service Mesh (on clusters that have enabled it) to escalate privileges in the cluster. Palo Alto Networks Unit 42, which discovered and reported the shortcoming, said adversaries could weaponize it to carry out “data theft, deploy malicious pods, and disrupt the cluster’s operations.” A key prerequisite to successfully exploiting the vulnerability hinges on an attacker having already compromised a FluentBit container by some other initial access methods, such as via a remote code execution flaw. A threat actor could use this access to gain privileged access to a Kubernetes cluster that has ASM enabled and then subsequently use ASM’s service account token to escalate their privileges by creating a new pod with cluster-admin privileges. By way of fixes, Google has removed Fluent Bit’s access to the service account tokens and re-architected the functionality of ASM to remove excessive role-based access control (RBAC) permissions.

3. Critical Zero-Day in Apache OfBiz ERP System Exposes Businesses to Attack

A new zero-day security flaw has been discovered in Apache OfBiz, an open-source Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that could be exploited to bypass authentication protections. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2023-51467, resides in the login functionality and is the result of an incomplete patch for another critical vulnerability (CVE-2023-49070, CVSS score: 9.8) that was released earlier this month. CVE-2023-51467 could be triggered using empty and invalid USERNAME and PASSWORD parameters in an HTTP request to return an authentication success message, effectively circumventing the protection and enabling a threat actor to access otherwise unauthorized internal resources. The attack hinges on the fact that the parameter “requirePasswordChange” is set to “Y” (i.e., yes) in the URL, causing the authentication to be trivially bypassed regardless of the values passed in the username and password fields. It is imperative that users move quickly to secure their Apache OFBiz instances against the two vulnerabilities.

4. CISA warns of actively exploited bugs in Chrome and Excel parsing library

The first issue that CISA added to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) is CVE-2023-7101, a remote code execution vulnerability that affects versions 0.65 and older of the Spreadsheet::ParseExcel library. Spreadsheet::ParseExcel contains a remote code execution vulnerability due to passing unvalidated input from a file into a string-type “eval.” Specifically, the issue stems from the evaluation of Number format strings within the Excel parsing logic. One product using the open-source library is Barracuda ESG (Email Security Gateway), which has been targeted in late December by Chinese hackers who exploited the CVE-2023-7101 in Spreadsheet::ParseExcel to compromise appliances. The latest actively exploited vulnerability added to KEV is CVE-2023-7024, a heap buffer overflow issue in WebRTC in Google Chrome web browser. Google Chromium WebRTC contains a heap buffer overflow vulnerability that allows an attacker to cause crashes or code execution. This vulnerability could impact web browsers using WebRTC, including but not limited to Google Chrome. The flaw was discovered by Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) and received a fix via an emergency update on December 20, in versions 120.0.6099.129/130 for Windows and 120.0.6099.129 for Mac and Linux.

5. ‘everything’ blocks devs from removing their own npm packages

Over the holidays, the npm package registry was flooded with more than 3,000 packages, including one called “everything,” and others named a variation of the word. Installing everything could have just caused your computer to potentially fall short of storage space and slow down, but the package’s mere existence on npmjs.com prevents authors—unrelated to this package whatsoever, from unpublishing their packages from the world’s largest JavaScript software registry. The “everything” package has just 5 sub-packages, published under the “@everything-registry” scope, listed as its dependencies.  These 5 packages, however, gradually manage to pull in every single package present on the entire registry as a dependency. For example, “everything” pulls in “@everything-registry/chunk-2,” which may further attempt to pull in several other packages by the same author, such as “@everything-registry/sub-chunk-1623.” Each of these sub-packages (or “chunks” as the author calls them), ultimately includes about 800 npm projects as their dependency.  The problem is, since ‘everything’ relies on every package (including yours), your package gets stuck, and there’s some unknown package preventing you from removing it.

12/20/2023-12/27/2023 New Chrome Zero-Day Vulnerability, Ivanti Releases Patches, Poorly Secured Linux SSH Servers Under Attack And More.

1. Urgent: New Chrome Zero-Day Vulnerability Exploited in the Wild – Update ASAP

Google has released security updates for Chrome, addressing a high-severity zero-day flaw (CVE-2023-7024) in the WebRTC framework. The heap-based buffer overflow bug could lead to program crashes or arbitrary code execution. Google confirms the exploit’s existence in the wild but provides limited details to prevent further abuse. Since the year began, this marks the eighth actively exploited zero-day in Chrome, adding to a total of 26,447 disclosed vulnerabilities in 2023. It remains unclear if the flaw affects browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari, both supporting WebRTC. Users are urged to update Chrome to version 120.0.6099.129/130 (Windows) or 120.0.6099.129 (macOS and Linux) for enhanced security. 

2. Hackers Exploiting MS Excel Vulnerability to Spread Agent Tesla Malware

Attackers are exploiting an old Microsoft Office vulnerability (CVE-2017-11882) in phishing campaigns to distribute Agent Tesla malware, warns Zscaler ThreatLabz. Using decoy Excel documents in invoice-themed messages, the attackers trick users into activating the memory corruption flaw, enabling code execution with user privileges. Once a user opens the malicious attachment, the Excel file communicates with a malicious destination, downloading additional files without user interaction. The malware employs an obfuscated Visual Basic Script, initiating the download of a JPG file embedded with a Base64-encoded DLL file. The DLL is then injected into RegAsm.exe to launch Agent Tesla, an advanced keylogger and remote access trojan.
This underscores the importance of organizations staying updated on evolving cyber threats to protect their digital landscape.
 

3. Decoy Microsoft Word Documents Used to Deliver Nim-Based Malware

A phishing campaign employs decoy Microsoft Word documents to deliver Nim programming language-based backdoor malware, posing a challenge for security researchers due to the uncommon language. Netskope researchers detail the attack chain, initiated by a phishing email with a Word document attachment, impersonating a Nepali government official. Once macros are enabled, the Nim malware is deployed, establishing connections with remote servers mimicking Nepali government domains. Nim’s cross-compilation features allow attackers to create a single variant targeting different platforms. Concurrently, threat actors experiment with new malware strains, while phishing campaigns distribute known malware like DarkGate and NetSupport RAT via email and compromised websites. Proofpoint identifies at least 20 DarkGate campaigns switching to NetSupport RAT, exploiting a Windows SmartScreen bypass vulnerability as a zero-day a month before its public disclosure.

4. Ivanti Releases Patches For 13 Critical Avalanche RCE flaws

Ivanti has issued critical security updates for its Avalanche enterprise mobile device management (MDM) solution, addressing 13 vulnerabilities. The flaws, including stack or heap-based buffer overflows, expose over 100,000 managed mobile devices to remote code execution by unauthenticated attackers. Exploitation occurs via specially crafted data packets sent to the Mobile Device Server. Ivanti urges users to update to Avalanche 6.4.2, as all supported versions (6.3.1 and above) are vulnerable. The update also addresses eight medium- and high-severity bugs, guarding against denial of service, remote code execution, and server-side request forgery attacks. This follows Ivanti’s previous fix for critical buffer overflows in August and the chaining of MobileIron Core zero-days by threat actors in September.

5. Warning: Poorly Secured Linux SSH Servers Under Attack for Cryptocurrency Mining

Poorly secured Linux SSH servers face increased threats from malicious actors aiming to install port scanners and dictionary attack tools. The goal is to compromise vulnerable servers for cryptocurrency mining and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. AhnLab’s Security Emergency Response Center (ASEC) reported that threat actors may sell breached IP and account credentials on the dark web. The attacks involve guessing SSH credentials through dictionary attacks, followed by deploying malware, including scanners, to identify other susceptible systems. The scanners focus on systems with active port 22 (SSH) and propagate infections through dictionary attacks. Notably, the attackers execute commands like “grep -c ^processor /proc/cpuinfo” to determine CPU cores. Believed to be created by PRG old Team, these tools have been active since 2021. To mitigate risks, users are advised to use strong, periodically rotated passwords and keep systems updated.