06/20/2024-06/26/2024 Hackers Exploit Multiple WordPress Plugins, Critical RCE Vulnerability, SolarWinds Serv-U Vulnerability And More.

1. Hackers Exploit Multiple WordPress Plugins to Hack Websites & Create Rogue Admin Accounts 

The Wordfence Threat Intelligence team discovered a significant security breach involving several WordPress plugins on June 22nd, 2024. The Social Warfare plugin was found with malicious code, prompting further investigation that revealed four additional compromised plugins: Blaze Widget, Wrapper Link Element, Contact Form 7 Multi-Step Addon, and Simply Show Hooks. Wordfence alerted the WordPress plugins team, leading to the delisting of affected plugins. Users should update to patched versions or remove the plugins if no patch exists.

The injected malware creates a new admin user and adds SEO spam. Indicators include server IP 94.156.79.8 and generated usernames Options and PluginAuth. Users should scan for malware, check for unauthorized admin accounts, and follow detailed cleaning guidance on the Wordfence website.
 

2. Critical RCE Vulnerability Discovered in Ollama AI Infrastructure Tool

Cybersecurity researchers found a security flaw in the Ollama AI platform, tracked as CVE-2024-37032 and named Probllama by Wiz. This vulnerability, patched in version 0.1.34 on May 7, 2024, could allow remote code execution due to insufficient input validation leading to a path traversal flaw. Attackers could exploit this by sending crafted HTTP requests to the Ollama API server’s “/api/pull” endpoint.

The flaw allows overwriting arbitrary files, potentially enabling code execution by modifying the dynamic linker configuration file. The risk is higher in Docker deployments, where the API server is publicly exposed. Over 1,000 exposed instances were found. The issue highlights the need for securing such services with authentication and middleware.

3. SolarWinds Serv-U Vulnerability Under Attack

A high-severity vulnerability in SolarWinds Serv-U, CVE-2024-28995, is being actively exploited. Disclosed on June 5, this directory traversal flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to read sensitive files. It has a CVSS score of 8.6. SolarWinds urged users to update to Serv-U 15.4.2 HF 2.

Following a proof-of-concept exploit on June 13, the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB) confirmed active exploitation and issued a warning on X, urging immediate updates. The vulnerability, although easy to exploit, does not allow file changes, which kept its CVSS score at 8.6. Monitoring and detection tools are recommended for previously compromised systems.
 

4. Researchers Uncover UEFI Vulnerability Affecting Multiple Intel CPUs

Cybersecurity researchers disclosed a patched security flaw in Phoenix SecureCore UEFI firmware affecting Intel Core processors. Known as CVE-2024-0762 (CVSS score: 7.5), this “UEFIcanhazbufferoverflow” vulnerability involves a buffer overflow in the TPM configuration, allowing local attackers to execute malicious code and escalate privileges within UEFI firmware.

Eclypsium highlighted the risk of ongoing persistence and evasion of security measures due to this low-level exploitation. Phoenix Technologies addressed the issue in April 2024, and Lenovo released updates last month. The flaw affects Intel families including Alder Lake, Coffee Lake, and more.

UEFI firmware, critical for hardware initialization and OS booting, is a prime target for attackers due to its high-level privileges.

5. How to fix a ReDoS

Although some ReDoS vulnerabilities can be very serious (particularly when they’re server-side and enable an untrusted remote attacker to DOS the server), very often they land much closer to the “annoying” end of the CVSS rating scale: not particularly serious, but easy to create by accident, obscure to understand, and sometimes tricky to fix.

The most annoying thing about ReDoS vulnerabilities is that they’re not caused by careless coding, but by an obscure edge-case in the regex engine.

Code scanning detects ReDoS vulnerabilities automatically, but fixing them isn’t always easy. This blog post describes a 4-step strategy for fixing ReDoS bugs.

6. How To Protect Web Services with OpenIG

Securing web services is critical part of production environment to prevent compromising application from attacks. In microservice architecture, there is no need to implement security for each microservice. Each microservice should be responsible for its atomic functionality. To protect services you need to user API Gateway application. Consider how to protect simple web service with Open Identity Gateway (OpenIG) in this article.

06/12/2024-06/19/2024 VMware Issues Patches, Google Warns of Pixel Firmware Security Flaw, Exploit for Veeam Recovery Orchestrator Auth Bypass And More.

1. VMware Issues Patches for Cloud Foundation, vCenter Server, and vSphere ESXi

VMware has released updates to fix critical flaws in Cloud Foundation, vCenter Server, and vSphere ESXi, which could lead to privilege escalation and remote code execution.

The vulnerabilities are:

• CVE-2024-37079 & CVE-2024-37080 (CVSS 9.8): Heap-overflow issues in the DCE/RPC protocol allowing remote code execution via crafted network packets.
• CVE-2024-37081 (CVSS 7.8): Local privilege escalation in vCenter due to sudo misconfiguration, enabling non-admin users to gain root access.

Previously, in October 2023, VMware patched CVE-2023-34048 (CVSS 9.8), another critical DCE/RPC flaw. These issues affect vCenter Server versions 7.0 and 8.0, patched in 7.0 U3r, 8.0 U1e, and 8.0 U2d. Users should promptly apply these patches despite no known active exploits.

2. Google Warns of Pixel Firmware Security Flaw Exploited as Zero-Day

Google has warned of a zero-day security flaw in Pixel Firmware, CVE-2024-32896, being exploited in the wild. This high-severity vulnerability is an elevation of privilege issue.The company did not share any additional details related to the nature of attacks exploiting it, but noted “there are indications that CVE-2024-32896 may be under limited, targeted exploitation.”

The June 2024 security update addresses a total of 50 security vulnerabilities, five of which relate to various components in Qualcomm chipsets. Key patches address a Modem DoS issue and information disclosure flaws in GsmSs, ACPM, and Trusty. The update is available for Pixel 5a with 5G, Pixel 6 series, Pixel 7 series, Pixel 8 series, and Pixel Fold. GrapheneOS maintainers clarified that CVE-2024-32896 and CVE-2024-29748 concern the same vulnerability affecting all devices but mitigations are specific to Pixels. 

3. Exploit for Veeam Recovery Orchestrator Auth Bypass Available, Patch Now

A proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit for Veeam Recovery Orchestrator’s critical authentication bypass vulnerability, CVE-2024-29855, has been released by researcher Sina Kheirkhah. This vulnerability, rated 9.0 (critical) on the CVSS scale, impacts Veeam Recovery Orchestrator (VRO) versions 7.0.0.337, 7.1.0.205, and older.

The flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to log into the VRO web UI with admin privileges using a hardcoded JSON Web Token (JWT) secret, enabling them to generate valid tokens. Veeam recommends upgrading to versions 7.1.0.230 and 7.0.0.379 to mitigate the issue.

Kheirkhah’s post shows the vulnerability is easier to exploit than described by Veeam, bypassing some requirements like knowing the exact username and role. The public availability of this exploit heightens the risk, making prompt patching essential.

4. New Malware Targets Exposed Docker APIs for Cryptocurrency Mining

Cybersecurity researchers have identified a new malware campaign targeting exposed Docker API endpoints to deliver cryptocurrency miners and other malicious payloads. The tools include a remote access utility for executing additional malware and propagating via SSH, according to a Datadog report.

This campaign shows similarities to the previous Spinning YARN activity, which targeted misconfigured services like Apache Hadoop YARN and Docker for cryptojacking. Attackers focus on Docker servers with open ports, starting with reconnaissance and privilege escalation.

Malware is delivered through a shell script named “vurl,” which includes other scripts such as “b.sh” and “ar.sh.” These scripts fetch further payloads, disable firewalls, and scan for vulnerable hosts. The campaign also uses Go-based binaries like “chkstart” to complicate analysis and facilitate remote access, and tools like “exeremo” for spreading infection and “fkoths” to erase traces of the malware.

06/05/2024-06/12/2024 New PHP Vulnerability, Microsoft Issues Patches for 51 Flaws, Hackers Target Python Developers And More.

1. New PHP Vulnerability Exposes Windows Servers to Remote Code Execution

A critical security flaw, CVE-2024-4577, has been discovered in PHP on Windows, allowing remote code execution. This CGI argument injection vulnerability bypasses protections from CVE-2012-1823 due to an encoding conversion feature in Windows, as noted by DEVCORE’s Orange Tsai. A fix was released on May 7, 2024, in PHP versions 8.3.8, 8.2.20, and 8.1.29. DEVCORE warns that XAMPP installations using Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, or Japanese locales are particularly vulnerable.

Administrators are advised to switch to more secure solutions like Mod-PHP, FastCGI, or PHP-FPM. Exploitation attempts have already been detected by the Shadowserver Foundation, highlighting the urgency for users to apply the latest patches quickly.
 

2. Microsoft Issues Patches for 51 Flaws, Including Critical MSMQ Vulnerability

Microsoft’s June 2024 Patch Tuesday addressed 51 security flaws, including one Critical and 50 Important. Additionally, 17 vulnerabilities in the Chromium-based Edge browser were fixed.

None of these flaws have been actively exploited, but one, CVE-2023-50868 (CVSS 7.5), is publicly known. This denial-of-service issue, affecting DNSSEC validation, can cause CPU exhaustion on a DNSSEC-validating resolver. It was reported by researchers from ATHENE in February. The most critical flaw, CVE-2024-30080 (CVSS 9.8), affects the Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) service and allows remote code execution via a specially crafted MSMQ packet.

Several other vulnerabilities, including those in Microsoft Outlook (CVE-2024-30103), Windows Wi-Fi Driver (CVE-2024-30078), and various Windows subsystems, were also addressed. Morphisec highlighted the Outlook flaw’s potential for exploitation without user interaction, posing a significant risk. In addition to Microsoft, security updates have also been released by other vendors over the past several weeks to rectify several vulnerabilities.
 

3. Commando Cat Cryptojacking Attacks Target Misconfigured Docker Instances

The threat actor Commando Cat is exploiting insecure Docker instances to deploy cryptocurrency miners. Using the cmd.cat/chattr Docker image, the attackers download a payload from their command-and-control (C&C) server. First identified by Cado Security, these attacks target misconfigured Docker remote API servers, using the chroot command to break out of the container and access the host system. The miner binary is retrieved via curl or wget from a C&C server.

Trend Micro researchers highlighted the use of Docker images to evade security detection. Additionally, Akamai reported that old vulnerabilities in ThinkPHP applications (CVE-2018-20062, CVE-2019-9082) are being exploited by a Chinese-speaking threat actor to deploy a persistent web shell named Dama, capable of advanced system manipulation and data gathering.

4. Hackers Target Python Developers with Fake “Crytic-Compilers” Package on PyPI

Researchers found a malicious Python package on PyPI, named crytic-compilers, designed to deliver the Lumma information stealer. This typosquatted version of the legitimate crytic-compile package was downloaded 441 times before removal.

Sonatype’s Ax Sharma noted the counterfeit package mimicked the legitimate library’s versioning to appear genuine. While earlier versions installed the real package, the latest version targeted Windows systems to launch a malicious executable fetching Lumma Stealer, a malware-as-a-service (MaaS) tool. Additionally, over 300 WordPress sites were compromised with fake Google Chrome update pop-ups. Attackers used the legitimate Hustle plugin to display these pop-ups, which install information stealers and remote access trojans. This highlights a trend of hackers exploiting legitimate plugins to evade detection.

5. JetBrains Warns of IntelliJ IDE Bug Exposing GitHub Access Tokens

 JetBrains urges users to patch a critical vulnerability (CVE-2024-37051) in IntelliJ IDEs that exposes GitHub access tokens. The flaw, reported on May 29, 2024, affects all IntelliJ-based IDEs from version 2023.1 onwards with the GitHub plugin enabled. Malicious content in pull requests could exploit this flaw.

JetBrains has released updates for the affected versions and removed vulnerable plugin versions from its marketplace. Users are strongly advised to update to the latest versions and revoke GitHub tokens used by the plugin to prevent unauthorized access. The GitHub plugin may not work correctly in older IDE versions due to mitigation measures.

In February, JetBrains also disclosed a critical vulnerability in TeamCity On-Premises servers, highlighting the importance of timely updates.
 

6. Arm Warns of Actively Exploited Flaw in Mali GPU Kernel Drivers

Arm has issued a security bulletin about a use-after-free vulnerability (CVE-2024-4610) in Bifrost and Valhall GPU kernel drivers, exploited in the wild. This flaw affects all versions from r34p0 to r40p0 and can lead to information disclosure and arbitrary code execution.

“A local non-privileged user can exploit GPU memory processing to access freed memory,” Arm explains. The vulnerability was fixed in version r41p0, released on November 24, 2022, with the latest driver version being r49p0. Arm advises users to upgrade if impacted. Due to the complex Android supply chain, patches may reach end users with delays. Some older devices might no longer receive updates, affecting various smartphones, tablets, Chromebooks, and embedded systems using Bifrost and Valhall GPUs.