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Detecting Advanced Persistent Threat with Network Traffic Analysis | https://thehackernews.com/2012/10/detecting-advanced-persistent-threat.html | A high degree of stealthiness over a prolonged duration of operation in order to do a successful cyber attack can be defined as Advanced Persistent Threat. The attack objectives therefore typically extend beyond immediate financial gain, and compromised systems continue to be of service even after key systems have been breached and initial goals reached.
Today's successful targeted attacks use a combination of social engineering, malware, and backdoor activities. Nart Villeneuve and James Bennett (Senior Threat Researcher) from Trend Mirco provide an ultimate guide for Detecting (APT) Advanced Persistent Threat activities with Network Traffic Analysis, that can be used to identify malware command-and control (C&C) communications related to these attacks, illustrating how even the most high-profile and successful attacks of the past few years could have been discovered.
Paper cover Detecting Remote Access Trojans like The GhostNet, Nitro attack, RSA Breach, Taidoor campaign, Sykipot campaign and more. Nart also talk about the Challenges during Network-Based Detection i.e Two key factors pose challenges to network-based detection encryption and the cloud.
More than 90% of intrusions aren't even discovered by the victims themselves, but through third-party notification. In many cases, the APT has been on the victim network for months or even years, exfiltrating intellectual property data plus economic and political information.
"The ability to detect APT activity at the network level is heavily dependent on leveraging threat intelligence. A variety of very successful ongoing campaigns can be detected at the network level because their communications remain consistent over time."
To get rid of such attacks you much know that what that information is, where it resides, who has access to it, why they have access and when they access it. Answering these types of questions should give you a clearer picture of what are the most critical pieces in your infrastructure that need your attention.
Modifications made to malware's network communications can, however, disrupt the ability to detect them. As such, the ongoing development of threat intelligence based on increased visibility and information sharing is critical to developing indicators used to detect such activity at the network level.
For advance detection techniques based upon Protocol-aware detection, HTTP headers, Compressed archives, Timing and size you can read complete paper available here.
| Malware |
BlackPOS Malware used in TARGET Data Breach developed by 17-Year Old Russian Hacker | https://thehackernews.com/2014/01/BlackPOS-Malware-russian-hacker-Target.html | The Holiday data breach at TARGET appeared to be part of a broad and highly sophisticated international hacking campaign against multiple retailers, involving the heist of possibly 110 million Credit-Debit cards, and personal information.
Target confirmed last weekend that a malicious software was embedded in point-of-sale (POS) equipment at its checkout counters to collect secure data as the credit cards were swiped during transactions.
The Malware called 'BlackPOS' also known as "reedum" or 'Kaptoxa' is an effective crimeware kit, that was created in March 2013 and available in underground sites for $1800-$2000.
Investigators from IntelCrawler found a 17-years old hacker who actually developed the BlackPOS crimeware kit. His nickname is 'ree4' and original name: 'Sergey Taraspov' from St.Petersburg and Nizhniy Novgorod (Russian Federation).
IntelCrawler's sources mentioned that the BlackPOS malware was created in March 2013 and first infected the Point-of-Sales environments in Australia, Canada and the US.
Alleged Russian hacker and malware developer Sergey Taraspov (ree4) sold more than 40 builds of BlackPOS to cybercriminals from Eastern Europe and other countries.
BlackPOS is a RAM-scraping malware totally written in VBScript i.e. It copies credit-card numbers from point-of-sale machines' RAM, in the instant after the cards are swiped and before the numbers are encrypted.
In December, after the TARGET data breach, the Symantec antivirus firm discovered the malware and dubbed as 'Infostealer.Reedum.C'.
'He is a very well known programmer of malicious code in underground and previously he has created several tools used in hacking community for brute force attacks, such as "Ree4 mail brute", and also earned some first money with social networks accounts hacking and DDoS attacks trainings, as well as software development including malicious code.'
More details about Sergey Taraspov (ree4):
E-mail 1: [email protected]
E-mail 2: [email protected]
ICQ: 565033
Skype: s.r.a.ree4
Now any of his toolkit buyer is possibly the culprit behind the Target data breach. According to researchers, the attackers somehow managed hack one of the TARGET server and uploaded the POS malware to the checkout machines located at various stores.
IntelCrawler didn't accuse him of the Target heist, but "He is still visible for us, but the real bad actors responsible for the past attacks on retailers such as Target and Neiman Marcus were just his customers". They said.
| Malware |
U.S. Trade Group Hacked by Chinese Hackers ahead of Trump-Xi Trade Summit | https://thehackernews.com/2017/04/hacking-trump-xi-trade.html | Researchers have uncovered a Chinese cyber-espionage against the United States ahead of the trade summit on Thursday between US President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping.
According to a new report published today by Fidelis Cybersecurity firm, the Chinese APT10 hacking group implanted a piece of malware on the "Events" page of the US National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) website in February.
Dubbed 'Operation TradeSecret,' the attack against the NFTC site is seen as an attempt to conduct surveillance on the main industry players and lobbyists closely associated with U.S trade policy activities.
Researchers say hackers placed a malicious link on the NFTC website, inviting the organization's board of directors to register for a meeting in Washington DC on March 7. But clicking on the link deployed a spying tool called "Scanbox."
Dates back to 2014, Scanbox – previously used by nation-state threat actors associated with the Chinese government – has the ability to record the type and versions of software a victim is running and run keyloggers on compromised computers, said Fidelis researcher John Bambenek.
"This attack was really at its core a reconnaissance attack. Anyone who visited this calendar entry would expose their software versions and use a JavaScript keylogger that could expose their identity," said Bambenek.
"Traditionally these attacks are used to precisely identify targets and help them craft targeted phishing attacks using exploits they know the victim is vulnerable to."
The malicious link was active on the NFTC website between February 27 and March 1. The malware was already removed from the site by the time Fidelis contacted NFTC.
The NFTC's staff and board represent many influential people and companies -- from President Rufus Yerxa, the U.S. Ambassador to GATT to executives from major companies including Google, Amazon, eBay, IBM, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, KPMG, Pfizer, Visa, Ford, Halliburton, and Walmart.
Although Fidelis detected no further attacks on NFTC board members, the security firm believed the hackers were after a full range of entities relevant to the trade negotiations due to take place Thursday between US and China.
This is the second time in a week when APT10 cyber espionage campaign has come to light. A report released this week by BAE Systems, and PwC also claimed that APT10 was targeting managed IT services providers (MSPs) and their customers across the globe to steal sensitive data.
| Cyber_Attack |
Call for Articles - July Edition | The Hacker News Monthly Magazine | https://thehackernews.com/2012/06/call-for-articles-july-edition-hacker.html | Call for Articles - July Edition | The Hacker News Monthly Magazine
Attention Readers!! We know there is a writer in all of you and we invite you to submit your best work on the subject of BOTNETS for our July The Hacker News Monthly Magazine.
Give us all your expertise and knowledge on the subject and we will give it a top priority! We'd like to thank our readers and supporters and know that we take your loyalty seriously and with great appreciation.
See you in July!
Ann Smith
Executive Editor, The Hacker News
| Malware |
FBI warns that Anonymous Hackers has been hacking US Government for almost a year | https://thehackernews.com/2013/11/fbi-warns-that-anonymous-hackers-has.html | The FBI is warning that members of the hacktivist group Anonymous hacking collective have secretly accessed US Government computers and stolen sensitive information in a campaign that began almost a year ago.
The Hacktivists have exploited a flaw in Adobe applications to compromise the target systems and install software backdoors to maintain the control of the victims computers over the time, the facts dated back to last December, according to a Reuters report.
The hacking campaign affected the U.S. Army, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, and other government agencies, FBI reveals.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation memo called the hacking campaign "a widespread problem that should be addressed." and provided useful information for system administrators that how to determine if their networks were compromised.
Government investigators are investigating the scope of the hacking, believed that hackers are still operating under coverage.
"According to an internal email from Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz' chief of staff, Kevin Knobloch, the stolen data included personal information on at least 104,000 employees, contractors, family members and others associated with the Department of Energy, along with information on almost 2,0000 bank accounts. The email, dated October 11, said officials were "very concerned" that loss of the banking information could lead to thieving attempts." states Reuters post.
It seems that the hacking campaign was linked to the case of Lauri Love, a British resident indicted on October 28 for allegedly breaking into computers at the Department of Energy, Army, Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Sentencing Commission and elsewhere.
Law enforcement sustains that attacks began when Love and other members of the group of hacktivists exploited a security flaw in Adobe's ColdFusion application, of course Adobe spokeswoman declined any responsibility and declared that similar attacks are possible only if targeted systems are not updated with the latest security patches.
Law enforcement confirmed that some of the stolen information on the latest campaign had previously been disclosed by Anonymous members during the "Operation Last Resort."
Despite the earlier disclosures, "the majority of the intrusions have not yet been made publicly known," "It is unknown exactly how many systems have been compromised, but it is a widespread problem that should be addressed." the FBI wrote.
The cyber espionage campaigns conducted by Anonymous are the reply to the arrests of popular hackers linked to the collective linked to US retaliation strategy against hackers.
Consider hacktivism a transitory phenomena are dangerous, underestimate the capabilities of groups like Anonymous is a serious error and the FBI memo is an important warning for Governments and IT community ... Anonymous is alive and could hit every target in every moment!
| Cyber_Attack |
Capital One Hacker Also Accused of Hacking 30 More Companies and CryptoJacking | https://thehackernews.com/2019/08/paige-thompson-capital-one.html | Former Amazon employee Paige Thompson, who was arrested last month in relation to the Capital One data breach, has been accused of hacking not only the U.S. credit card issuer, but also more than 30 other companies.
An indictment unsealed on Wednesday revealed that Thompson not just stole data from misconfigured servers hosted with a cloud-computing company, but also used the computing power of hacked servers to mine for cryptocurrency, a practice commonly known as "Cryptojacking."
Thompson, known online as "erratic," was arrested by the FBI on July 29 concerning a massive breach in Capital One Financial Corp that exposed the personal information of more than 100 million credit card applicants in the United States and 6 million in Canada.
The stolen data included approximately 140,000 Social Security numbers and 80,000 bank account numbers linked to United States customers, and 1 million Social Insurance numbers belonged to Canadian citizens, along with some customers' names, addresses, dates of birth, credit scores, credit limits, balances, payment history, and contact information.
Law enforcement became aware of Thompson's activity after she posted information relating to her theft of Capital One data on her GitHub account.
However, a federal grand jury yesterday charged Thompson with a total of two counts—one count of wire fraud and one count of computer fraud and abuse—for illicitly accessing data on more than 30 other entities, including Capital One, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said.
While the indictment [PDF] did not name the involved cloud-computing company, it's highly likely to be Amazon as Thompson previously worked for Amazon Web Services, which provides cloud computing services to Capital One among others.
But it should also be noted that Amazon Web Services was not compromised in any way since Thompson gained access to the cloud server due to Capital One's misconfiguration and not through a vulnerability in Amazon's infrastructure.
The indictment also did not provide names of the other 30 victims, but it did describe three of the targeted organizations as a state agency outside the State of Washington, a telecommunications conglomerate outside the U.S. and a public research university outside the State of Washington.
Investigators have found no evidence of Thompson selling or disseminating any of the stolen information.
The 33-year-old Seattle-based software engineer remains in custody and is scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment in U.S. District Court in Seattle on September 5. She could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
| Cyber_Attack |
German Researchers Break RFID Smartcard Encryption | https://thehackernews.com/2011/10/german-researchers-break-rfid-smartcard.html | German Researchers Break RFID Smartcard Encryption
Scientists have found a way to circumvent the encryption used to protect a smartcard used to restrict access to buildings and to process public transit system payments.
A team of German scientists have demonstrated a hack that lets them make a perfect clone of the kind of magnetic security card used to give access to workers in corporate or government buildings -- including NASA -- and as a daily ticket replacement on buses and subways. The same team broke a previous version of contactless-ID cards from Mifare in 2008. This prompted the company to upgrade its security to create a card able to be programmed only once and which contained a unique identifying number that could be checked against the programmed content on the card for extra security.
The new hack is carried out using a side channel attack, which bypasses the defensive features intended to prevent attacks on the card. To achieve this, the researchers made repeated measurements of electricity consumption during encryption and decryption. This can be determined by measuring the magnetic field close to the card.
| Vulnerability |
Hackers leak 13,000 Passwords Of Amazon, Walmart and Brazzers Users | https://thehackernews.com/2014/12/password-hacking-data-breach.html | Hackers claiming affiliation with the hacktivist group "Anonymous" have allegedly leaked more than 13,000 username and password combinations for some of the worlds most popular websites, including Amazon, Xbox Live and Playstation Network.
The stolen personal information was released in a massive text document posted to the Internet file-sharing website Ghostbin (now deleted), on Friday. The document contains a huge number of usernames and passwords, along with credit card numbers and expiration dates.
The news came just a day after the hacker group Lizard Squad compromised Sony's Playstation and Microsoft's Xbox Live gaming networks on Christmas day, which is estimated to have affected Xbox's 48 million subscribers and PlayStation's 110 million users, making it a total of more than 150 million users worldwide.
However, data breach of 13,000 users is not the biggest data breach we've ever seen. When millions of passwords are used for sites around the globe, chances are very minor that our's among those compromised. But still it's important to note as these accounts come from a variety of online sources and among those, some are really very popular.
The Daily Dot's Aaron Sankin has compiled a comprehensive list of sites associated with the username and password leaks, and discovered that the leaks came from the sites run the gamut from pornography to gaming to online shopping. The list of the compromised websites is as follows:
Amazon
Walmart
PlayStation Network
Xbox Live
Twitch.tv
Dell
Brazzers
DigitalPlayground
and see complete list.
Just to be on a safer side, users are recommended to change their passwords if they have accounts on these compromised websites, and also pay attention to your credit card transactions and if any suspicious activity found, immediately communicate with related banks and financial institutions.
Also, don't use the same passwords for banking and online shopping sites, and always keep an eye out for unusual activities or unauthorized purchases with your accounts.
| Data_Breaches |
LOCKER Malware - Yet another new variant of Cryptolocker Ransomware | https://thehackernews.com/2013/12/locker-malware-yet-another-new-variant.html | Ransomware, a threat to internet users that continues to grow in popularity with cyber criminals due to its success and monetary potential. This is nothing new and to be expected. I have noticed many discussions on underground hacking forums about "How to create Ransomware like Cryptolocker malware" or "Malware - hacking tool-kit with ransomware features".
Security intelligence provider, IntelCrawler has discovered a new ransomware variant called Locker that demands $150 (£92) to restore files that it has encrypted.
Like Cryptolocker, this new ransomware is also nasty because infected users are in danger of losing their personal files forever.
Locker mainly spreads by drive-by downloads from compromised websites, disguised itself as MP3 files and use system software vulnerabilities to infect the end user.
Once it has infected a system, malware first checks the infected machine has an internet connection or not. Then it deletes any original files from the victim's computer after using AES-CTR for encrypting the files on infected devices and add ". perfect" extension to them.
Locker's encryption is based on an open source tool called 'TurboPower LockBox' library. After encrypting all files, the malware place a "CONTACT.TXT" file in each directory, which provides contact details of the author to buy the decryption key and once the ransom is paid, each victim gets a key to unscramble files.
The good news is that the researchers are working on the universal decryption software in order to help the victims. "It appears that the hackers are simply comparing the list of infected IP addresses of users, along with their host names," according IntelCrawler.
IntelCrawler had discovered 50 different builds of the malware, which are being sold in underground markets for pay-per install programs. One builds had just under 6,000 infected machines. ZdNet reported.
Malware will encrypt all drives visible on an infected system, so you must be sure that your backups are stored remotely or in a location that is not simply another drive partition or mapping to another location.
The malware infects users from the United States, Turkey, Russia, Germany and the Netherlands. Users should remain vigilant about their security. Please double check the legitimacy of links received in emails and ensure you have your antivirus up to date to help protect against such threats.
| Vulnerability |
Warning : Java 6 vulnerable to zero-day exploit; added to Neutrino exploit kit | https://thehackernews.com/2013/08/Java-6-zero-day-Neutrino-exploit-kit.html | Hackers are using a new exploit for a bug in the out-of-date but popular Java 6 platform to attack victims, and has been added to a commercially available Neutrino exploit kit.
The use of Java 6 still is prevalent, opening up a significant number of users to the threat. F-secure analyst Timo Hirvonen warned about the exploit over Twitter, advising that he had found an exploit in the wild actively targeting an unpatched vulnerability in Java 6, named CVE-2013-2463.
The exploit's proof-of-concept was made public last week, prior to in-the-wild attacks surfacing on Monday. Oracle is aware of the hole but, since Java 6 is no longer supported, the company will not patch the issue.
The vulnerability lies in Java Runtime Environment's 2D sub-component, which is used to make two-dimensional graphics. Because no patch is available, the exploits provides cybercriminals and other attackers an effective vehicle to launch attacks targeting users and organizations using Java 6.
The Neutrino crimeware kit was first spotted in March 2013, when it was identified as the source of a series of attacks that were exploiting Java vulnerabilities to install ransomware on victims' PCs, freezing them until users paid a fine that was supposedly being levied by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
The impact of this threat may be less for usual Internet users than for organizations/entities, who may not be quick to migrate to the latest software version due to business and/or operational continuity issues.
Users should update their Java installations to the latest revision of version 7, which does not suffer from the issue. Users who don't need Java in their everyday tasks should uninstall the software altogether.
| Malware |
New Critical Oracle WebLogic Flaw Under Active Attack — Patch Now | https://thehackernews.com/2019/06/oracle-weblogic-vulnerability.html | Oracle has released an out-of-band emergency software update to patch a newly discovered critical vulnerability in the WebLogic Server.
According to Oracle, the vulnerability—which can be identified as CVE-2019-2729 and has a CVSS score of 9.8 out of 10—is already being exploited in the wild by an unnamed group of attackers.
Oracle WebLogic is a Java-based multi-tier enterprise application server that allows businesses to quickly deploy new products and services on the cloud, which is popular across both, cloud environment and conventional environments.
The reported vulnerability is a deserialization issue via XMLDecoder in Oracle WebLogic Server Web Services that could allow unauthorized remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on the targeted servers and take control over them.
"This remote code execution vulnerability is remotely exploitable without authentication, i.e., may be exploited over a network without the need for a username and password," the advisory said.
In a separate note, the company also revealed that the flaw is related to a previously known deserialization vulnerability (CVE-2019-2725) in Oracle WebLogic Server that it patched in April this year.
The previously patched RCE flaw in Oracle WebLogic was also exploited by attackers as a zero-day i.e., to distribute Sodinokibi ransomware and cryptocurrency mining malware.
Reported independently by a separate group of individuals and organizations, the new vulnerability affects Oracle WebLogic Server versions 10.3.6.0.0, 12.1.3.0.0, and 12.2.1.3.0
Due to the severity of this vulnerability, the company has recommended affected users and companies to install available security updates as soon as possible.
Other Important Security Updates from Oracle
Besides this, Cisco today also released several other software updates for various of its products that to addresses some critical and high severity vulnerabilities.
Cisco TelePresence — a video conferencing system by Cisco, the software contains a high severity vulnerability that could allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary shell commands or scripts on the targeted device just by sending crafted CDP packets to an affected device.
Cisco SD-WAN Solution — The vManage web-based interface of the software-defined WAN solutions by Cisco contains three flaws, two of which have been rated high in severity, and one is critical. Two of these allow an attacker to elevate his privileges to the root user, whereas one flaw could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges.
Cisco Router Management Interface — Cisco's RV110W, RV130W, and RV215W Routers contains a denial-of-service vulnerability that could allow an unauthenticated attacker to cause a reload of an affected device. Another flaw in this product affected by a medium severity issue that could expose the list of devices that are connected to the guest network to remote attackers.
| Vulnerability |
SYNful Knock: Backdoor Malware Found in Cisco Routers | https://thehackernews.com/2015/09/cisco-router-backdoor.html | Mandiant, a FireEye sister concern has been involved in researches related to cyber defense.
In their recent findings, a backdoor malware named SYNful Knock identified as the one compromising the principles of Cisco routers with features such as...
...Having an everlasting effect, i.e. Serious Persistence.
What?- The malicious program is implanted in the router illicitly through the device's firmware (regardless of the vendor). The goal is achieved by modifying the router's firmware image, which exists even after the device gets a reboot.
How?- installing SYNful Knock in Cisco 1841 router, Cisco 2811 router, and Cisco 3825 router.
Affected areas- 14 instances in 4 countries including India, Mexico, Ukraine, and the Philippines.
Impact- the backdoor is backed up with such abilities that can compromise the availability of other hosts and access to sensitive data in an organization.
"The theoretical nature of router-focused attacks created a mindset within our industry to focus on building more walls around the perimeter, leaving many organizations exposed when it comes to foundational devices like routers," stated FireEye.
With this statement, we can imagine how dangerous is this backdoor!
As the implant is triggered by modifying the Cisco Inter-networked operating system (IOS), thus the implant activates in-capabilities in the Cisco victim like:
It allows the attacker to install various functional modules from the anonymity of the internet.
It provides unrestricted access using a wrapped backdoor password.
It delivers modules via the HTTP protocol and not HTTPS.
The controller (attacker) enables the TCP packets have a non-standard sequence and corresponding acknowledgment numbers.
The modules are disguised as independent executable code or hooks within the router's IOS with functionality similar to the backdoor password.
The backdoor password provides access to the router through the console and Telnet.
Also, The Hacker News (THN) reported about vulnerabilities in Belkin routers leading to privilege escalation and cyber attacks like man-in-the-middle attack. This is considered as an evident example where routers are being compromised on a large level.
Besides this, a document stating possibilities of how Cisco's IOS can be compromised and side-by-side protected against any malware can be seen here.
To get insights of this stealthy malware visit the stepwise demonstration executed by Mandiant.
| Malware |
Oracle website vulnerable to SQL injection | https://thehackernews.com/2011/07/oracle-website-vulnerable-to-sql.html | Oracle website vulnerable to SQL injection vulnerability
Oracle database website itself vulnerable to SQL injection attack. The website having a loophole by which any attacker can easily hack into it. The vulnerability is found and submitted by Hacker "m@m@".
Oracle provides the world's most complete, open, and integrated business software and hardware systems to more than 370,000 customers including 100 of the Fortune 100 that represent a variety of sizes and industries in more than 145 countries around the globe. The combination of Oracle and Sun means that customers can benefit from fully integrated systems the entire stack, from applications to disk that are faster, more reliable, and lower cost.
But the website now itself compromised with SQL injection attack. I am providing the link and a screen sort show that you can easily sort out the vulnerability.
Here is the link:
https://labs.oracle.com/dmp/patents.php?uid=mherlihy'%20and%201=0%20union%20select%201,2,table_name,4%20from%20information_schema.tables--%20-&show=all
Also Iframe Injection & Blind SQL Injection vulnerability on Apple.com exposed by Idahc(lebanese hacker) : Read here
| Vulnerability |
PuTTY Releases Important Software Update to Patch 8 High-Severity Flaws | https://thehackernews.com/2019/03/putty-software-hacking.html | The popular SSH client program PuTTY has released the latest version of its software that includes security patches for 8 high-severity security vulnerabilities.
PuTTY is one of the most popular and widely used open-source client-side programs that allows users to remotely access computers over SSH, Telnet, and Rlogin network protocols.
Almost 20 months after releasing the last version of its software, the developers of PuTTY earlier this week released the latest version 0.71 for Windows and Unix operating systems.
According to an advisory available on its website, all previous versions of the PuTTY software have been found vulnerable to multiple security vulnerabilities that could allow a malicious server or a compromised server to hijack client's system in different ways.
Here below I have listed all 8 vulnerabilities with brief information that PuTTY 0.71 has patched:
1) Authentication Prompt Spoofing — Since PuTTY doesn't have a way to indicate whether a piece of terminal output is genuine, the user-interface issue could be exploited by a malicious server to generate a fake authentication prompt at the client side, prompting victims to enter their private key passphrases.
"If the server had also acquired a copy of your encrypted key file (which, for example, you might have considered safe to copy around because it was securely encrypted), then this would give it access to your private key," the advisory explains.
2) Code Execution via CHM Hijacking — When a user launches the online help within the PuTTY GUI tools, the software tries to locate its help file alongside its own executable.
This behavior could allow an attacker to trick the user into executing malicious code on the client system via the hijacking CHM file.
"If you were running PuTTY from a directory that unrelated code could arrange to drop files into, this means that if somebody contrived to get a file called putty.chm into that directory, then PuTTY would believe it was the real help file, and feed it to htmlhelp.exe."
3) Buffer Overflow in Unix PuTTY Tools — According to the advisory, if a server opens too many port forwardings, PuTTY for Unix does not bounds-check the input file descriptor it collects while monitoring the collections of active Unix file descriptors for activity, leading to a buffer overflow issue.
"We don't know if this was remotely exploitable, but it could at least be remotely triggered by a malicious SSH server, if you enabled any of the options that allow the server to open a channel: remote-to-local port forwarding, agent forwarding or X11 forwarding," the advisory says.
4) Reusing Cryptographic Random Numbers — This issue resides in the way cryptographic random number generator in PuTTY, occasionally using the same batch of random bytes twice.
"This occurred because of a one-byte buffer overflow in the random pool code. If entropy from an external source was injected into the random pool exactly when the current-position index was pointing at the very end of the pool, it would overrun the pool buffer by one byte and overwrite the low byte of the position index itself."
5) Integer Overflow Flaw — All prior versions of PuTTY suffers an Integer overflow issue due to missing key-size check-in RSA key exchange.
A remote server can trigger the vulnerability by sending a short RSA key, leading to an integer overflow and uncontrolled overwriting of memory.
PuTTY developers are not sure if this flaw can be exploited to gain control over the client, but since the issue occurs during key exchange and happens before host key checking, the overflow can be induced by a MitM attack even if the middle man does not know the correct host key.
So even if you trust the server you think you are connecting to, you are not safe."
6, 7 and 8) Terminal DoS Attacks — Last three vulnerabilities in PuTTY allows a server to crash, or slow down client's terminal by sending different text outputs.
Servers can send a long unbroken string of Unicode characters to the client's terminal, which could lead to a denial-of-service attack by causing the system to allocate potentially unlimited amounts of memory.
The second DoS attack can be triggered by sending combining characters, double-width text, an odd number of terminal columns, and GTK to the client's terminal in output.
In the third DoS attack, by sending width-2 characters used by Chinese, Japanese and Korean to the client, PuTTY's terminal emulator can be forced to crash.
If you use PuTTY, make sure you download and use the latest version of it.
| Vulnerability |
South Korea hit by Android Trojan, Malware in Gaming apps and DDoS attack | https://thehackernews.com/2013/10/south-korea-hit-by-android-trojan.html | Last Tuesday, The National Police Agency of South Korea warned the people that many Malware infected video games being offered in the South Korean markets with the purpose of launching Cyber attacks on the Country.
That Malware is collecting location data and IP addresses of infected users and according to experts, malware is sending data back to its master servers based in North Korea.
Just today the Korea's largest anti-virus software firm AhnLab confirmed that they have detected distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on local companies' websites.
According to the report, about 16 websites of 13 companies, including Daum, MSN and the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper had been affected.
AhnLab said that some 10-thousand computers have been hit, mainly because they failed to install a vaccination program or update an existing one since the last cyber attack in July.
The attack was detected around 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, infecting around 10,000 computers until Friday.
It is possible that same infected systems were used to launch DDoS attacks today. Police advise the public to do not download gaming programs from unverified sources and to keep their Antivirus up to date.
Yesterday, we reported about another malicious campaign against South Korean Android users, where a Banking Trojan is specifically targeting South Korean banking applications for stealing user credentials.
In March, North Korea was suspected as responsible for for a malware attack that simultaneously wiped data from tens of thousands of South Korean computers.
| Cyber_Attack |
iOS Sandbox Vulnerability Puts Enterprise Data at Risk | https://thehackernews.com/2015/08/apple-iphone-hacking.html | "Change is the only constant thing," as it is known could be now modified as "Change is the only constant thing*," where the * means Terms and conditions apply!
A change (Mobile Device Management solutions-MDM, Bring Your Own Device-BYOD) was brought to the organizations, (which later became necessities) for smooth workflow and management of an organization; where resides mobile and other computing devices in masses.
The devices, as well as the MDM solutions, are at risk, as reported.
Security researchers at Appthority Mobile Threat Team, have found a vulnerability in the sandbox app within the Apple's iOS versions prior to 8.4.1, which makes the configuration settings of managed applications to be openly accessed by anyone.
QuickSand – Loophole in Sandbox
The vulnerability is assigned CVE-2015-5749 and is named as 'QuickSand' because of the loophole being present in the Sandbox.
Mobile Device Management (MDM) refers to managing the deployment, security and integration of all the mobile devices, including smartphones, tablets, and laptops, in an organization.
The aim of MDM solutions is to increase the use of mobile devices by keeping them secure within the enterprise while simultaneously protecting the corporate network.
MDM solutions are mostly dependent on vendors who implement the services based on their devices' management features.
MDM and EMM (Enterprise Mobility Management) solutions are delivered by vendors like FancyFon, AirWatch, MobileIron and AmTel MDM, allowing organizations to install corporate apps, including configuration and credentials, to its mobile devices.
This poses as a solution for employees to get an easy access to corporate resources.
Now, the researchers claim this violation is capable of affecting all MDM clients as well as any mobile apps distributed via an MDM in a corporate environment that use the 'Managed App Configuration' setting to configure and store private settings and information.
Here's what the researchers at Appthority wrote in a blog post:
The underlying issue with our critical sandbox violation discovery is that not only can a mobile app (or the MDM app itself) have access to this sensitive set-up and authentication information stored on the device, but anyone (or any app on any device) can also see the credential [data] on the mobile device as it is stored 'world readable'.
How the Attack Works?
The attackers can fool the users - in an environment where the MDM solution has been implemented - in two ways:
Pushing a malicious app in the complete organization, imitating as a productivity app that many users may install.
Targeting a particular user and luring him into various cyber attacks like phishing.
This is a vital situation, where chances of an organization becoming victims of the severe cyber attack are high. Sensitivity and size of the information being managed using MDM solutions do matter.
As today, the vulnerability may not be that critical in nature but it has certainly opened gates for the potential attackers to get away with the data and information.
Appthority and Apple security have worked together to the fix the vulnerability, which has been patched but for the iOS version 8.4.1 as of now.
Further, Appthority Mobile Threat Team has demonstrated the weakness with the MDM and provides some recommendations; you can link to their official blog for in-depth details.
| Vulnerability |
Malware Swipes Rocket Data from Japanese space agency | https://thehackernews.com/2012/12/malware-swipes-rocket-data-from.html | Japan's space agency says it is investigating a possible leak of data about its Epsilon rocket due to a computer virus.
Malware Case : The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said the virus, in a computer at its Tsukuba Space Centre, north-east of Tokyo, was found to be secretly collecting data and sending it outside the agency.
JAXA said in a statement that information about the Epsilon, due to be launched next year, its M-5 rocket and H2A and H2B rockets may have been compromised. The agency said that it was unclear if the virus was a cyberattack. The agency said it is tightening security to prevent any further leaks.
China behind this Cyber Attack ? Recently, however, Japanese defense companies have been targets of similar information-stealing viruses, some of which had been traced back to China.
The Epsilon, whose first launching is scheduled for next autumn, will also feature new technology that will allow it to be remotely controlled by a personal computer. Japan is hoping to compete with the U.S., Russia, Europe and others as a satellite launch vehicle provider and has developed the Epsilon to reduce costs and speed up launch times.
| Malware |
Android based hacking tool to steal passwords from connected computers | https://thehackernews.com/2013/07/android-based-hacking-tool-to-steal.html | A recently discovered new form of Android malware called USB Cleaver can not only infect your smartphone, but also targets your PC to steal sensitive information from it.
A hacking tool discovered by analysts at F-Secure, which is capable of stealing information from a connected Windows machine. USBCleaver seems to be designed to facilitate a targeted attack by gathering details that would be helpful in a later infiltration attempt.
To use the application, hacker must install an application called USB Cleaver on his Android device. Once executed, the app downloads a ZIP file from a remote server and then unzips the downloaded file to the following location: /mnt/sdcard/usbcleaver/system folder.
Tools is design to steal information like Browser passwords (Firefox, Chrome and IE), PC's Wi-Fi password, The PC's network information etc.
When the device is then plugged into a PC, /mnt/sdcard is mounted and, if autorun is enabled, go.bat and the payload are executed. The app allows the user to select what type of information should be harvested. The utilities save their results in /mnt/sdcard/usbcleaver/logs which the app user can view later by clicking "Log files" in the app.
Most older Windows systems need to have mobile drivers manually installed in order for this attack to work. You can Download USB Cleaver here.
| Malware |
Stuxnet virus also infected Chevron's IT network | https://thehackernews.com/2012/11/stuxnet-virus-also-infected-chevrons-it.html | Stuxnet, a sophisticated computer virus created by the United States and Israel, to spy on and attack Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities in Natanz also infected Chevron 's network in 2010, immediately after it spread into the wild. This Government created virus Now Infecting Corporations also.
Chevron oil giant found the virus in its systems after the malware's existence was first reported in a blog post in July 2010, according to Mark Koelmel, general manager of the earth-sciences department at the big U.S. oil company. The U.S. government has never officially acknowledged the Stuxnet program.
Stuxnet which was designed to attack computer systems designed by German industrial giant Siemens for managing water supplies, oil rigs, power plants and other critical infrastructure has turned up in other countries.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Chevron's experience with Stuxnet appears to be the result of the malware's unintentional release into cyberspace, much like an experimental virus escaping from a medical lab.
"Two years ago, our security systems identified the Stuxnet virus. We immediately addressed the issue without incident," a Chevron representative said.
Even though Stuxnet targeted industrial facilities, it also infected regular PCs and as a result was discovered in June 2010, about a year after the earliest known version was believed to be created.
On other hand, U.S. officials have blamed Iran for creating the Shamoon virus, which was responsible for a cyber attack that infected more than 30,000 computers at Saudi Arabian oil company Saudi Aramco and Qatar's natural gas firm Rasgas in mid-August.
"I think the downside of what they did is going to be far worse than what they actually accomplished," Chevron .
| Cyber_Attack |
US retailer Neiman Marcus confirmed data breach after TARGET | https://thehackernews.com/2014/01/us-retailer-neiman-marcus-confirmed_12.html | The TARGET Hack was not the only massive Data breach that happened during the last Black Friday, but also other three major US Retailers were also hacked.
Recently, Neiman Marcus also confirmed a data breach that involves Credit card theft from its customers during the holiday shopping season, using similar techniques to the one that penetrated Target last month.
Neiman Marcus has 79 stores and reported total sales of $1.1 Billion in the Q4 2013. Neiman Marcus revealed that its customers are at risk after hackers breached servers of the company and accessed the payment information of those who visited its stores.
The company is working to inform customers whose cards have been used for fraudulent purchases, but differently from the case of retailer Target, the company hasn't provided information on the nature of data leaked and on the number of customer records exposed.
Neiman Marcus spokesperson Ginger Reeder announced that the company does not yet know the cause, size or duration of the data breach. She also added that there is no evidence of a possible impact on those shoppers who purchased from the online stores.
The entirety of the company's formal statement is as follows:
"Neiman Marcus was informed by our credit card processor in mid-December of potentially unauthorized payment card activity that occurred following customer purchases at our Neiman Marcus Group stores.
We informed federal law enforcement agencies and are working actively with the U.S. Secret Service, the payment brands, our credit card processor, a leading investigations, intelligence and risk management firm, and a leading forensic firm to investigate the situation. On January 1st, the forensics firm discovered evidence that the company was the victim of a criminal cyber-security intrusion and that some customers' cards were possibly compromised as a result. We have begun to contain the intrusion and have taken significant steps to further enhance information security.
The security of our customers' information is always a priority and we sincerely regret any inconvenience. We are taking steps, where possible, to notify customers whose cards we know were used fraudulently after making a purchase at our store."
Neiman Marcus was informed in mid-December by its credit card processor and subsequently reported the data breach to law enforcement. The company apologized to its customers for the incident and confirmed that it is working to notify those whose cards were used fraudulently after visits to Neiman Marcus stores.
Cyber criminal activities are more frequent during the holiday season, experts hypothesized also a possible connection between this data breach and the one occurred to Target retailer.
"In the wake of the Target breach, customers, lawmakers and consumer advocates have stepped up calls for Congress to set guidelines on how merchants should protect consumer data. In a statement Friday, Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) said that the Target breach illustrates a need for clear, strong privacy and security standards across all industries. When a number equal to nearly one-fourth of America's population is affected by a data breach, it is a serious concern that must be addressed," he said.
Are Target and Neiman Marcus two isolated cases?
"Target Corp and Neiman Marcus are not the only U.S. Retailers whose networks were breached over the holiday shopping season last year, according to sources familiar with attacks on other merchants that have yet to be publicly disclosed." reported a post by Reuters.
According to the people familiar with the attacks, the technique adopted by attackers is the same to the one against Target. More breaches may have yet to come in light and rumors refers similar incidents may have occurred earlier last year.
There is the suspect the perpetrators may be the same as those who attacked Target retailer, likely the ring leaders are from Eastern Europe.
Security analysts expect an increment for illicit activities related to credit and debit card abuses, and they also sustain that it can be more difficult for retailers and credit card issuers to detect patterns of unusual spending.
| Data_Breaches |
Malware called 'Eurograbber' steals 36 million Euros | https://thehackernews.com/2012/12/malware-called-eurograbber-steals-36.html | A new version of the Zeus botnet was used to steal about $47 million from European banking customers in the past year. This Zeus variant Trojan is blamed for attacks that stole more than 36 million Euros ($47 million U.S. dollars) from an estimated 30,000 consumer and corporate accounts at European banks.
Dubbed "Eurograbber" is more than just another banking Trojan. It's an exploitation of fundamental online banking authentication practices that could strike any institution.
With the phone number and platform information, the attacker sends a text message to the victim's phone with a link to a site that downloads what it says is "encryption software" for the device. Customers become victims of Eurograbber by clicking on malicious links that may come in phishing-attack emails and then after injecting scripts to browser , the malware intercepts two-step authentication text messages sent to customers' phones.
Customers at an estimated 30 banks fell victims to the cyberheist. The amounts stolen ranged from between 500 to 250,000 euros ($650 to $327,000) and were removed from individual and corporate accounts in Italy, Spain, Germany and The Netherlands.
As online and mobile banking continue to grow, we will see more targeted attacks in this area, and Eurograbber is a prime example.
| Malware |
Google+ is Shutting Down After a Vulnerability Exposed 500,000 Users' Data | https://thehackernews.com/2018/10/google-plus-shutdown.html | Google is going to shut down its social media network Google+ after the company suffered a massive data breach that exposed the private data of hundreds of thousands of Google Plus users to third-party developers.
According to the tech giant, a security vulnerability in one of Google+'s People APIs allowed third-party developers to access data for more than 500,000 users, including their usernames, email addresses, occupation, date of birth, profile photos, and gender-related information.
Since Google+ servers do not keep API logs for more than two weeks, the company cannot confirm the number of users impacted by the vulnerability.
However, Google assured its users that the company found no evidence that any developer was aware of this bug, or that the profile data was misused by any of the 438 developers that could have had access.
"However, we ran a detailed analysis over the two weeks prior to patching the bug, and from that analysis, the Profiles of up to 500,000 Google+ accounts were potentially affected. Our analysis showed that up to 438 applications may have used this API," Google said in blog post published today.
The vulnerability was open since 2015 and fixed after Google discovered it in March 2018, but the company chose not to disclose the breach to the public—at the time when Facebook was being roasted for Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Though Google has not revealed the technical details of the security vulnerability, the nature of the flaw seems to be something very similar to Facebook API flaw that recently allowed unauthorized developers to access private data from Facebook users.
Besides admitting the security breach, Google also announced that the company is shutting down its social media network, acknowledging that Google+ failed to gain broad adoption or significant traction with consumers.
"The consumer version of Google+ currently has low usage and engagement: 90 percent of Google+ user sessions are less than five seconds," Google said.
In response, the company has decided to shut down Google+ for consumers by the end of August 2019. However, Google+ will continue as a product for Enterprise users.
Google Introduces New Privacy Controls Over Third-Party App Permissions
As part of its "Project Strobe," Google engineers also reviewed third-party developer access to Google account and Android device data; and has accordingly now introduced some new privacy controls.
When a third-party app prompts users for access to their Google account data, clicking "Allow" button approves all requested permissions at once, leaving an opportunity for malicious apps to trick users into giving away powerful permissions.
But now Google has updated its Account Permissions system that asks for each requested permission individually rather than all at once, giving users more control over what type of account data they choose to share with each app.
Since APIs can also allow developers to access users' extremely sensitive data, like that of Gmail account, Google has limited access to Gmail API only for apps that directly enhance email functionality—such as email clients, email backup services and productivity services.
Google shares fell over 2 percent to $1134.23 after the data breach reports.
| Vulnerability |
'Exodus' Surveillance Malware Found Targeting Apple iOS Users | https://thehackernews.com/2019/04/exodus-ios-malware.html | Cybersecurity researchers have discovered an iOS version of the powerful mobile phone surveillance app that was initially targeting Android devices through apps on the official Google Play Store.
Dubbed Exodus, as the malware is called, the iOS version of the spyware was discovered by security researchers at LookOut during their analysis of its Android samples they had found last year.
Unlike its Android variant, the iOS version of Exodus has been distributed outside of the official App Store, primarily through phishing websites that imitate Italian and Turkmenistani mobile carriers.
Since Apple restricts direct installation of apps outside of its official app store, the iOS version of Exodus is abusing the Apple Developer Enterprise program, which allows enterprises to distribute their own in-house apps directly to their employees without needing to use the iOS App Store.
"Each of the phishing sites contained links to a distribution manifest, which contained metadata such as the application name, version, icon, and a URL for the IPA file," the researchers say in a blog post.
"All these packages used provisioning profiles with distribution certificates associated with the company Connexxa S.R.L."
Though the iOS variant is less sophisticated than its Android counterpart, the spyware can still be able to exfiltrate information from targeted iPhone devices including, contacts, audio recordings, photos, videos, GPS location, and device information.
The stolen data is then transmitted via HTTP PUT requests to an endpoint on the attackers controlled command and control server, which is the same CnC infrastructure as the Android version and uses similar communications protocols.
Several technical details indicated that Exodus was "likely the product of a well-funded development effort" and aimed to target the government or law-enforcement sectors.
"These included the use of certificate pinning and public key encryption for C2 communications, geo-restrictions imposed by the C2 when delivering the second stage, and the comprehensive and well-implemented suite of surveillance features," the researchers say.
Developed by Italy-based company called Connexxa S.R.L., Exodus came to light late last month when white hat hackers from Security Without Borders discovered nearly 25 different apps disguised as service applications on Google Play Store, which the tech giant removed after being notified.
Under development for at least five years, Exodus for Android usually consists of three distinct stages. First, there is a small dropper that collected basic identifying information, like the IMEI and phone number, about the targeted device.
The second stage consists of multiple binary packages that deploy a well-implemented suite of surveillance functionalities.
Finally, the third stage uses the infamous DirtyCOW exploit (CVE-2016-5195) to gain root control over the infected phones. Once successfully installed, Exodus can carry out an extensive amount of surveillance.
The Android variant is also designed to keep running on the infected device even when the screen is switched off.
While the Android version of Exodus had potentially infected "several hundreds if not a thousand or more" devices, it's not clear how many iPhones were infected by the iOS Exodus variant.
After being notified of the spyware by the Lookout researchers, Apple revoked the enterprise certificate, preventing malicious apps from being installed on new iPhones and run on infected devices.
This is the second instance in the past year when an Italian software company has been caught distributing spyware. Earlier last year, another undisclosed Italian firm was found distributing "Skygofree," a dangerous Android spying tool that gives hackers full control of infected devices remotely.
| Malware |
Real Identity of Hacker Who Sold LinkedIn, Dropbox Databases Revealed | https://thehackernews.com/2018/11/tessa88-russian-hacker.html | The real identity of Tessa88—the notorious hacker tied to several high-profile cyber attacks including the LinkedIn, DropBox and MySpace mega breaches—has been revealed as Maksim Vladimirovich Donakov (Максим Владимирович Донаков), a resident of Penza, Russian Federation.
In early 2016, a hacker with pseudonym Tessa88 emerged online offering stolen databases from some of the biggest social media websites in the world, including LinkedIn, MySpace, VKontakte (vk.com), Dropbox, Rambler, and Twitter, for sale in various underground hacking forums.
The stolen data, taken years ago from several social media sites, included more than half a billion username and password combinations, which were then used in phishing, account takeover, and other cyber attacks.
Though Tessa88's profile was active for a few months between February and May 2016, the OPSEC analysis revealed that the same person was involved in various cybercriminal activities since as early as 2012 under different aliases including "Paranoy777," "tarakan72511," "stervasgoa," "janer93" and "Daykalif."
Unmasking "Tessa88"
Researchers with US-based threat intelligence firm Recorded Future's Insikt Group used a combination of their own data, dark web activity, multiple chats and email accounts associated with Tessa88 to find a connection between his other online aliases, and collected information from publicly available sources to unveil his true identity.
Tarakan72511 → Tessa88 → Donakov
Researchers identified an online account "tarakan72511" on Imgur, a popular online image sharing service, who posted screenshots of discussions regarding the Yahoo and Equifax breaches. On the same account Tarakan72511 also posted his real picture titled "tessa88" in 2017, which links Donakov with tarakan72511 and tessa88.
Tessa88 → Donakov with Guy Fawkes mask
Another member of an underground forum, TraX, shared a photo of Tessa88, showing a man on the car roof with his face hidden behind Guy Fawkes mask, whose body type and hairstyle resemble with the picture of Tessa88 posted by tarakan72511.
Tarakan72511 → Russian Car with Guy Fawkes mask → Tessa88
Researchers also identified a YouTube account with a similar username—Tarakan72511 Donakov—who posted a video showing someone feeding stray dogs. The video also revealed a style Guy Fawkes mask (same as worn in the picture posted by TraX) in the boot of a Mitsubishi Lancer car with the registration number K652BO 58.
All Evidences Leads to Maksim Vladimirovich Donakov
After exploring several confidential sources, Penza records, and Russian crime database, researchers find Tessa88 as Maksim Vladimirovich Donakov (date of birth: 02/07/1989), whose persona matches with the YouTube username 'Donakov,' Mitsubishi Lancer and person revealed in Imgur picture.
Maksim Vladimirovich Donakov committed several crimes in Russia, including a car accident while driving a Mitsubishi Lancer in 2017. He also served jail time after committing another crime in 2014.
After the comprehensive investigation, Recorded Future, with a "high degree of confidence, concluded that Donakov is the man behind the sale of the extensive databases, including 32 million Twitter accounts, 360 million Myspace credentials, and 500 million Yahoo accounts.
It is also believed that Donakov have sold data stolen from VKontakte (vk.com), Mobango, Badoo, QIP, and Rambler on various underground forums.
At the time of a series of so-called 'mega breaches' in 2016, another online alias that came up was Peace_of_Mind — a separate hacker who was seen selling 117 Million LinkedIn emails and passwords and 200 million Yahoo accounts in 2016 on the currently defunct TheRealDeal Market.
According to Recorded Future, Tessa88 and Peace_of_Mind made an agreement in May 2016 on sharing some of the stolen databases in a "likely attempt to expedite monetizing the massive amount of data between the two."
The LinkedIn breach resulted in the arrest of Russian national Yevgeniy Nikulin (Евгений Никулин) in October 2016 by the FBI in the Czech Republic, who was later extradited to the United States. However, until today, no clear evidence links Nikulin to Peace_of_Mind.
It should be noted that neither Tessa88 nor Peace_of_Mind was the actual hacker who breached the aforementioned companies. Both were involved in the selling of the already stolen databases, but not in performing the actual hacks, though the exact methods used to steal the databases are also unknown.
Recorded Future hopes that the upcoming criminal case of Nikulin, who is now also a person of "great interest" in the US probe of Russia's meddling in the US presidential election, will shed some light on the gaps in the story.
| Cyber_Attack |
New OpenSMTPD RCE Flaw Affects Linux and OpenBSD Email Servers | https://thehackernews.com/2020/02/opensmtpd-email-vulnerability.html | OpenSMTPD has been found vulnerable to yet another critical vulnerability that could allow remote attackers to take complete control over email servers running BSD or Linux operating systems.
OpenSMTPD, also known as OpenBSD SMTP Server, is an open-source implementation of the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) to deliver messages on a local machine or to relay them to other SMTP servers.
It was initially developed as part of the OpenBSD project but now comes pre-installed on many UNIX-based systems.
Discovered by experts at Qualys Research Labs, who also reported a similar RCE flaw in the email server application last month, the latest out-of-bounds read issue, tracked as CVE-2020-8794, resides in a component of the OpenSMTPD's client-side code that was introduced nearly 5 years ago.
Just like the previous issue, which attackers started exploiting in the wild just a day after its public disclosure, the new OpenSMTPD flaw could also let remote hackers execute arbitrary commands on the vulnerable servers with privileges of either root or any non-root user.
As described in the screenshot of the advisory, the flaw can be exploited by a local or remote attacker in two ways by sending specially crafted SMTP messages, one works in the default configuration, and the second leverages email bounce mechanism.
"We developed a simple exploit for this vulnerability and successfully tested it against OpenBSD 6.6 (the current release), OpenBSD 5.9 (the first vulnerable release), Debian 10 (stable), Debian 11 (testing), and Fedora 31," the advisory says.
"We tested our exploit against the recent changes in OpenSMTPD 6.6.3p1, and our results are: if the "mbox" method is used for local delivery (the default in OpenBSD -current), then arbitrary command execution as root is still possible; otherwise (if the "maildir" method is used, for example), arbitrary command execution as any non-root user is possible."
However, the Qualys team has decided to withhold the exploitation details and exploit code until 26th February, giving vulnerable OpenSMTPD's users a two-day window to patch their systems.
If you're also running BSD or Linux servers with a vulnerable version of the OpenSMTPD, you're advised to download OpenSMTPD 6.6.4p1 and apply the patch as soon as possible.
| Vulnerability |
Operator of VirusTotal Like Malware-Scanning Service Jailed for 14 Years | https://thehackernews.com/2018/09/scan4you-malware-scanner.html | A Latvian hacker behind the development and operation of counter antivirus service "Scan4You" has finally been sentenced to 14 years in prison.
37-year-old Ruslans Bondars, described as a Latvian "non-citizen" or "citizen of the former USSR who had been residing in Riga, Latvia," was found guilty on May 16 in federal court in Alexandria, during which a co-conspirator revealed he had worked with Russian law enforcement.
Bondars created and ran Scan4you—a VirusTotal like online multi-engine antivirus scanning service that allowed hackers to run their code by several popular antiviruses to determine if their computer virus or malware would be flagged during routine security scans before launching them into a real-world malware campaign.
While legal scanning services share data about uploaded files with the antivirus firms, Scan4you instead informed its users that they could "upload files anonymously and promised not to share information about the uploaded files with the antivirus community."
Bondars was one of the two hackers found to have been running Scan4you from 2009 to 2016 and helping other malware authors test and improve the malware they then "used to inflict hundreds of millions of dollars in losses on American companies and consumers."
Bondars' partner Jurijs Martisevs, who was also arrested while on a trip to Latvia and extradited to the United States, pleaded guilty to similar charges back in March this year.
According to the Justice Department press release, Scan4you customers used the service to steal millions of payment cards from retail stores across the world, including the United States, which led to some $20.5 billion in losses.
For instance, one Scan4you customer used the service to test malware that was subsequently used to steal approximately 40 million credit and debit card numbers, and other personal information from a US retail store, causing $292 million in losses.
Another customer used Scan4you to assist the development of "Citadel"—a widely used malware strain that infected over 11 million computers worldwide, including in the United States and resulted in over $500 million in fraud-related losses.
"Ruslans Bondars helped malware developers attack American businesses," said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski. "The Department of Justice and its law enforcement partners make no distinction between service providers like Scan4You and the hackers they assist: we will hold them accountable for all of the significant harm they cause and work tirelessly to bring them to justice, wherever they may be located."
Bondars was convicted of three counts, including conspiracy to violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and computer intrusion with intent to cause damage and was sentenced to 168 months in prison on Friday.
Although US court never charged Bondars with direct involvement in any hacking, court documents show he used malware to rob online users and trick them into buying antivirus services they did not need.
Moreover, prosecutors also say Scan4You was an "innovation" in malware that has inspired many copycats, which resulted in such services being readily available on the Internet.
| Malware |
FBI issues alert over two new malware linked to Hidden Cobra hackers | https://thehackernews.com/2018/05/north-korean-hacker-hidden-cobra.html | The US-CERT has released a joint technical alert from the DHS and the FBI, warning about two newly identified malware being used by the prolific North Korean APT hacking group known as Hidden Cobra.
Hidden Cobra, often known as Lazarus Group and Guardians of Peace, is believed to be backed by the North Korean government and known to launch attacks against media organizations, aerospace, financial and critical infrastructure sectors across the world.
The group was even associated with the WannaCry ransomware menace that last year shut down hospitals and businesses worldwide. It is reportedly also linked to the 2014 Sony Pictures hack, as well as the SWIFT Banking attack in 2016.
Now, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI have uncovered two new pieces of malware that Hidden Cobra has been using since at least 2009 to target companies working in the media, aerospace, financial, and critical infrastructure sectors across the world.
The malware Hidden Cobra is using are—Remote Access Trojan (RAT) known as Joanap and Server Message Block (SMB) worm called Brambul. Let's get into the details of both the malware one by one.
Joanap—A Remote Access Trojan
According to the US-CERT alert, "fully functional RAT" Joanap is a two-stage malware that establishes peer-to-peer communications and manages botnets designed to enable other malicious operations.
The malware typically infects a system as a file delivered by other malware, which users unknowingly download either when they visit websites compromised by the Hidden Cobra actors, or when they open malicious email attachments.
Joanap receives commands from a remote command and control server controlled by the Hidden Cobra actors, giving them the ability to steal data, install and run more malware, and initialize proxy communications on a compromised Windows device.
Other functionalities of Joanap include file management, process management, creation and deletion of directories, botnet management, and node management.
During analysis of the Joanap infrastructure, the U.S. government has found the malware on 87 compromised network nodes in 17 countries including Brazil, China, Spain, Taiwan, Sweden, India, and Iran.
Brambul—An SMB Worm
Brambul is a brute-force authentication worm that like the devastating WannaCry ransomware, abuses the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol in order to spread itself to other systems.
The malicious Windows 32-bit SMB worm functions as a service dynamic link library file or a portable executable file often dropped and installed onto victims' networks by dropper malware.
"When executed, the malware attempts to establish contact with victim systems and IP addresses on victims' local subnets," the alert notes.
"If successful, the application attempts to gain unauthorized access via the SMB protocol (ports 139 and 445) by launching brute-force password attacks using a list of embedded passwords. Additionally, the malware generates random IP addresses for further attacks."
Once Brambul gains unauthorized access to the infected system, the malware communicates information about victim's systems to the Hidden Cobra hackers using email. The information includes the IP address and hostname—as well as the username and password—of each victim's system.
The hackers can then use this stolen information to remotely access the compromised system via the SMB protocol. The actors can even generate and execute what analysts call a "suicide script."
DHS and FBI have also provided downloadable lists of IP addresses with which the Hidden Cobra malware communicates and other IOCs, to help you block them and enable network defenses to reduce exposure to any malicious cyber activity by the North Korean government.
DHS also recommended users and administrators to use best practices as preventive measures to protect their computer networks, like keeping their software and system up to date, running Antivirus software, turning off SMB, forbidding unknown executables and software applications.
Last year, the DHS and the FBI published an alert describing Hidden Cobra malware, called Delta Charlie—a DDoS tool which they believed North Korea uses to launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against its targets.
Other malware linked to Hidden Cobra in the past include Destover, Wild Positron or Duuzer, and Hangman with sophisticated capabilities, like DDoS botnets, keyloggers, remote access tools (RATs), and wiper malware.
| Cyber_Attack |
Critical Code Execution Flaw Found in LIVE555 Streaming Library | https://thehackernews.com/2018/10/critical-flaw-found-in-streaming.html | Security researchers have discovered a serious code execution vulnerability in the LIVE555 streaming media library—which is being used by popular media players, along with a number of embedded devices capable of streaming media.
LIVE555 streaming media, developed and maintained by Live Networks, is a set of C++ libraries companies and application developers use to stream multimedia over open standard protocols like RTP/RTCP, RTSP or SIP.
The LIVE555 streaming media libraries support streaming, receiving, and processing of various video formats such as MPEG, H.265, H.264, H.263+, VP8, DV, and JPEG video, and several audio codecs such as MPEG, AAC, AMR, AC-3, and Vorbis.
UPDATE: LIVE555 streaming media library supports both server and client, and is internally being used by many well-known media software such as VLC and MPlayer, security researchers at Talos mentioned in the advisory.
Though researchers didn't specify if the vulnerable component (a server-side library) is being used by the popular VLC player, team at VLC today contacted THN and clarified that their media player application is using LIVE555 streaming media at the client-side only.
The code execution vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2018-4013 and discovered by researcher Lilith Wyatt of Cisco Talos Intelligence Group, resides in the HTTP packet-parsing functionality of the LIVE555 RTSP, which parses HTTP headers for tunneling RTSP over HTTP.
"A specially crafted packet can cause a stack-based buffer overflow, resulting in code execution," Cisco Talos' security advisory says. "An attacker can send a packet to trigger this vulnerability."
To exploit this vulnerability, all an attacker needs to do is create and send "a packet containing multiple 'Accept:' or 'x-sessioncookie' strings" to the vulnerable application, which will trigger a stack buffer overflow in the 'lookForHeader' function, leading to arbitrary code execution.
Cisco Talos team confirmed the vulnerability in Live Networks LIVE555 Media Server version 0.92, but the team believes the security issue may also be present in the earlier version of the product.
Cisco Talos responsibly reported the vulnerability to Live Networks on October 10 and publicly disclosed the security issue on October 18 after the vendor released security patches on October 17.
| Vulnerability |
US and Global Allies Accuse China of Massive Microsoft Exchange Attack | https://thehackernews.com/2021/07/us-and-global-allies-accuse-china-of.html | The U.S. government and its key allies, including the European Union, the U.K., and NATO, formally attributed the massive cyberattack against Microsoft Exchange email servers to state-sponsored hacking crews working affiliated with the People's Republic of China's Ministry of State Security (MSS).
In a statement issued by the White House on Monday, the administration said, "with a high degree of confidence that malicious cyber actors affiliated with PRC's MSS conducted cyber-espionage operations utilizing the zero-day vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server disclosed in early March 2021. The U.K. government accused Beijing of a "pervasive pattern of hacking" and "systemic cyber sabotage."
The sweeping espionage campaign exploited four previously undiscovered vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange software and is believed to have hit at least 30,000 organizations in the U.S. and hundreds of thousands more worldwide. Microsoft identified the group behind the hack as a skilled government-backed actor operating out of China named Hafnium.
Calling it "the most significant and widespread cyber intrusion against the U.K. and allies," the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said the attack was highly likely to enable "acquiring personally identifiable information and intellectual property."
In addition, the MSS was also outed as the party behind a series of malicious cyber activities tracked under the monikers "APT40" and "APT31," with the U.K. attributing the groups for targeting maritime industries and naval defence contractors in the U.S. and Europe, and as well as for executing the attack on the Finnish parliament in 2020.
Also, on Monday, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), National Security Agency (NSA), and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a joint advisory listing over 50 tactics, techniques, and procedures employed by APT40 and other Chinese state-sponsored cyber actors.
"It has been a few months since attackers exploited the Hafnium related bugs in Exchange to deploy ransomware, like DearCry and Black Kingdom," Mark Loman, director of engineering at Sophos, said in an emailed statement. "In general, to protect themselves, ransomware operators typically operate from the dark web, or via one or more compromised servers hosted in countries other than the physical location of the attackers. This makes attack attribution hard, but not impossible."
US Indicts Members of APT 40 Chinese Hacking Group
In a related development, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) pressed criminal charges against four MSS hackers belonging to the APT40 group concerning a multiyear campaign targeting foreign governments and entities in maritime, aviation, defense, education, and healthcare sectors in the least a dozen countries to facilitate the theft of trade secrets, intellectual property, and high-value information.
Separately, the NCSC also announced that a group known as "APT10" acted on behalf of the MSS to carry out a sustained cyber campaign focused on large-scale service providers with the goal of seeking to gain access to commercial secrets and intellectual property data in Europe, Asia, and the U.S.
"APT 10 has an enduring relationship with the Chinese Ministry of State Security, and operates to meet Chinese State requirements," the intelligence agency said.
In a press statement, the European Union urged Chinese authorities to take action against malicious cyber activities undertaken from its territory, stating the Microsoft Exchange server hacks resulted in security risks and significant economic loss for government institutions and private companies.
The Chinese government has repeatedly denied claims of state-sponsored intrusions. A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, according to the Associated Press, painted China as "a severe victim of the U.S. cyber theft, eavesdropping, and surveillance," noting that the "U.S. has repeatedly made groundless attacks and malicious smear against China on cybersecurity."
"The PRC has fostered an intelligence enterprise that includes contract hackers who also conduct unsanctioned cyber operations worldwide, including for their own personal profit," the White House said, adding "hackers with a history of working for the PRC Ministry of State Security (MSS) have engaged in ransomware attacks, cyber enabled extortion, cryptojacking, and rank theft from victims around the world, all for financial gain."
Update: Speaking at a press conference, Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, rejected accusations that Beijing was behind the global cyber hacking campaign targeting Microsoft Exchange servers and accused the U.S. of being the world's largest source of attacks in cyberspace.
"China firmly opposes and combats all forms of cyber attacks. It will never encourage, support or condone cyber attacks. This position has been consistent and clear," Lijian said. "Given the virtual nature of cyberspace and the fact that there are all kinds of online actors who are difficult to trace, it's important to have enough evidence when investigating and identifying cyber-related incidents. It requires extra prudence when linking cyber attacks with the government of any country. The so-called technical details released by the U.S. side do not constitute a complete chain of evidence."
| Cyber_Attack |
Android malware - Works on remote commands form encrypted blog | https://thehackernews.com/2011/10/android-malware-works-on-remote.html | Android malware - Works on remote commands form encrypted blog
Researchers from Trend Micro have spotted a piece of malicious software for Android. This is the first known Android malware that reads blog posts and interprets these as commands. It can also download and install additional applications, therefore further compromising the affected device.
Trend Micro calls the malware "ANDROIDOS_ANSERVER.A." If the application is installed, it asks for a variety of permissions. If those are granted, it can then make calls, read log files, write and receive SMSes and access the Internet and network settings, among other functions. This backdoor may be unknowingly downloaded by a user while visiting malicious websites. It may be manually installed by a user.
"This is a blog site with encrypted content, which based on our research, is the first time Android malware implemented this kind of technique to communicate," wrote Karl Dominguez, a Trend Micro threat response engineer.
We recommend that users should be cautious when downloading Android applications from third party application stores due to the number of rogue applications that have been found.
| Malware |
Java-Bot, a Cross-platform malware launching DDoS attacks from infected computers | https://thehackernews.com/2014/01/java-bot-cross-platform-malware.html | These days botnets are all over the news. In simple terms, a botnet is a group of computers networked together, running a piece of malicious software that allows them to be controlled by a remote attacker.
A major target for most of the malware is still Windows, but the growing market of Mac OS X, Linux and Smartphones, is also giving a solid reason to cyber criminals to focus.
Recently, Kaspersky Lab has detected another cross-platform Java-Bot, capable of infecting computers running Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux that has Java Runtime Environment installed.
Last year, Zoltan Balazs - CTO at MRG Effitas submitted the samples of malicious Java application for analysis to Kaspersky Lab and they identified it as HEUR:Backdoor.Java.Agent.a.
According to researchers, to compromise computers, Java-Bot is exploiting a previously known critical Java vulnerability CVE-2013-2465 that was patched in last June. The vulnerability persists in Java 7 u21 and earlier versions.
CVE-2013-2465 description says:
An unspecified vulnerability in the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) component in Oracle Java SE 7 Update 21 and earlier, 6 Update 45 and earlier, and 5.0 Update 45 and earlier, and OpenJDK 7, allows remote attackers to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability via unknown vectors related to 2D.
Once the bot has infected a computer, for automatic initialization the malware copies itself into the home directory, and registers itself with system startup programs. The Malware is designed to launch distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks from infected computers.
It uses the following methods to start it based on the target operating system:
For Windows – HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Mac OS – the standard Mac OS service launch is used
For Linux – /etc/init.d/
The malware authors used Zelix Klassmaster Obfuscator (encryption) to make the analysis more difficult. It creates a separate key for the classes developed due to which analysis of all classes has to be done to get the decryption keys.
The botnet executable contains an encrypted configuration file for the Mac OS 'launchd service'. It also encrypts internal working methodology of malware.
The malware uses PricBot an open framework for implementing communication via IRC. Zombie computers, then report to an Internet relay chat (IRC) channel that acts as a Command-and-control server.
The Botnet supports HTTP, UDP protocols for flooding (DDoS attack) a target whose details i.e. Address, port number, attack duration, number of threads to be used are received from the IRC channel.
Users should update their Java software to the latest release of Java 7 update 51 of 14 January 2014, can be found on Oracle's Java website. The next scheduled security update for Java is on 14 April 2014.
| Malware |
15-Year-Old JasBug Vulnerability Affects All Versions of Microsoft Windows | https://thehackernews.com/2015/02/jasbug-windows-vulnerability.html | Microsoft just issued a critical patch to fix a 15-year-old vulnerability that could be exploited by hackers to remotely hijack users' PCs running all supported versions of Windows operating system.
The critical vulnerability — named "JASBUG" by the researcher who reported the flaw — is due to a flaw in the fundamental design of Windows that took Microsoft more than 12 months to release a fix. However, the flaw is still unpatched in Windows Server 2003, leaving the version wide open to the hackers for the remaining five months.
HACKERS CAN EASILY HIJACK YOUR WINDOWS MACHINE
The vulnerability (CVE-2015-0008) could allow an attacker to easily hijack a domain-configured Windows system if it is connected to a malicious network – wirelessly or wired, giving attacker consent to do various tasks including, to go forth and install programs; delete, alter or peruse users' data; or to create new accounts with full user rights.
However, Jasbug vulnerability do not affects home users because they are not usually domain-configured, but the bug is a massive discomfort for IT pros who typically connect to business, corporate, or government networks using the Active Directory service.
The vulnerability, classified as MS15-011, allows hackers who are in a position to monitor traffic passing between the user and the Active Directory network to launch a Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack in order to execute malicious code on vulnerable systems.
AFFECTED WINDOWS VERSIONS
Windows Vista
Windows 7
Windows 8
Windows RT
Windows 8.1
Windows RT 8.1
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Server 2012
Windows Server 2012 R2
HOW JASBUG WORKS
Microsoft, on its blog post, provided the following example of how a malicious hacker could exploit the Jasbug vulnerability on a machine connected over open Wi-Fi at a coffee shop:
This is an example of a 'coffee shop' attack scenario, where an attacker would attempt to make changes to a shared network switch in a public place and can direct the client traffic an attacker-controlled system.
In this scenario, the attacker has observed traffic across the switch and found that a specific machine is attempting to download a file located at the UNC path: \\10.0.0.100\Share\Login.bat .
On the attacker machine, a share is set up that exactly matches the UNC path of the file requested by the victim: \\*\Share\Login.bat.
The attacker will have crafted the contents of Login.bat to execute arbitrary, malicious code on the target system. Depending on the service requesting Login.bat, this could be executed as the local user or as the SYSTEM account on the victim's machine.
The attacker then modifies the ARP table in the local switch to ensure that traffic intended for the target server 10.0.0.100 is now routed through to the attacker's machine.
When the victim's machine next requests the file, the attacker's machine will return the malicious version of Login.bat. This scenario also illustrates that this attack cannot be used broadly across the internet – an attacker need to target a specific system or group of systems that request files with this unique UNC.
MORE PATCHES TO APPLY
In addition to Jasbug vulnerability, Microsoft released two other security updates that are rated critical, both with the potential to allow remote code execution on a vulnerable machine.
MS15-009: The update patches 41 reported vulnerabilities, one publicly disclosed flaw and 40 privately reported vulnerabilities, in Internet Explorer affecting all versions of the browser from version 6 and above on all operating systems.
MS15-010: This security update patches six vulnerabilities, one publicly disclosed flaw and remaining reported privately, in Windows 7 and above, and server software after Windows Server 2008 R2 and later editions. The vulnerabilities are due to the way a Windows kernel-level component handles TrueType fonts.
The remaining six patches in Microsoft's February Patch update are all rated "important" by Redmond. Two vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office could allow RCE and security feature bypass, and bugs in Windows that could allow elevation of privilege, security feature bypass and information disclosure. Also a vulnerability in Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) could give an attacker elevated privileges.
| Vulnerability |
CA security finds Android Trojan which records phone calls | https://thehackernews.com/2011/08/ca-security-finds-android-trojan-which.html | CA security finds Android Trojan which records phone calls
A new Android Trojan is capable of recording phone conversations, according to a CA security researcher. The trojan is triggered when the Android device places or receives a phone call. It saves the audio file and related information to the phone's microSD card, and includes a configuration file with information on a remote server and settings used by the trojan.
The malware also "drops a 'configuration' file that contains key information about the remote server and the parameters," CA security researcher Dinesh Venkatesan writes in a blog, perhaps suggesting that the recorded calls can be uploaded to a server maintained by an attacker.
According to the post, the trojan presents itself as an "Android System Message" that requires users to press an "Install" button for it to insert itself in the phone. Once installed, the trojan records all incoming and outgoing calls to a directory on the microSD card as .amr files, as well as information about the call, including its duration, in a text file.
Venkatesan tested the Trojan in "a controlled environment with two mobile emulators running along with simulated Internet services," and posted screenshots with the results. It appears the Trojan can only be installed if the Android device owner clicks the "install" button on a message that looks strikingly similar to the installation screens of legitimate applications.
"As it is already widely acknowledged that this year is the year of mobile malware, we advice the smartphone users to be more logical and exercise the basic security principles while surfing and installing any applications," Venkatesan writes.
| Malware |
iPhone can be used as spy phone to get desktop Keystrokes | https://thehackernews.com/2011/10/iphone-can-be-used-as-spy-phone-to-get.html | iPhone can be used as spy phone to get desktop Keystrokes
What if a hacker could log every key you typed on your PC by placing a cellphone nearby? US researchers have shown how this is possible using any smartphone available today.
At a conference in Chicago on Thursday, a group of computer researchers from Georgia Tech will report on another potential threat. The researchers have shown that the accelerometer and orientation sensor of a phone resting on a surface can be used to eavesdrop as a password is entered using a keyboard on the same surface. They were able to capture the words typed on the keyboard with as much as 80 percent accuracy.
Normally when security researchers describe spyware on smartphones, they mean malicious code that can be used to snoop on calls, or to steal the data held on mobile phones.In this case, however, researchers have described how they have put software on smartphones to spy on activity outside the phone itself - specifically to track what a user might be doing on a regular desktop keyboard nearby.
The typing detection works by "using a smartphone accelerometer – the internal device that detects when and how the phone is tilted – to sense keyboard vibrations as you type to decipher complete sentences with up to 80% accuracy," according to the Institute.
"We first tried our experiments with an iPhone 3GS, and the results were difficult to read," said Patrick Traynor of Georgia Tech. "But then we tried an iPhone 4, which has an added gyroscope to clean up the accelerometer noise, and the results were much better. We believe that most smartphones made in the last two years are sophisticated enough to do this attack."
As phone technology improves, attacks via the accelerometer could become more feasible. The researchers' initial experiments used Apple's iPhone 3GS, but the phone's accelerometer lacked the necessary sensitivity. The researchers then moved to the iPhone 4, which uses a gyroscope to remove noise from the accelerometer data, and had much greater success.
"The way we see this attack working is that you, the phone's owner, would request or be asked to download an innocuous-looking application, which doesn't ask you for the use of any suspicious phone sensors," said Henry Carter, one of the study's co-authors . "Then the keyboarddetection malware is turned on, and the next time you place your phone next to the keyboard , it starts listening."
| Vulnerability |
Hacker Reveals Easiest Way to Hijack Privileged Windows User Session Without Password | https://thehackernews.com/2017/03/hack-windows-user-account.html | You may be aware of the fact that a local Windows user with system rights and permissions can reset the password for other users, but did you know that a local user can also hijack other users' session, including domain admin/system user, without knowing their passwords?
Alexander Korznikov, an Israeli security researcher, has recently demonstrated that a local privileged user can even hijack the session of any logged-in Windows user who has higher privileges without knowing that user's password, using built-in command line tools.
This trick works on almost all versions of Windows operating system and does not require any special privileges. Korznikov is himself unable to figure out if it is a Windows feature or a security flaw.
The issue discovered by Korznikov is not entirely new, as a French security researcher, namely Benjamin Delpy, detailed a similar user session hijacking technique on his blog some six years ago.
Korznikov calls the attack a "privilege escalation and session hijacking," which could allow an attacker to hijack high-privileged users' session and gain unauthorized access to applications and other sensitive data.
For successful exploitation, an attacker requires physical access to the targeted machine, but using Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) session on a hacked machine; the attack can be performed remotely as well.
Video Demonstrations and PoC Exploit Released!
Korznikov has also provided a few video demonstrations of a successful session hijacking (using Task manager, service creation, as well as command line), along with Proof-of-Concept (PoC) exploit.
Korznikov successfully tested the flaw on the newest Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2012 R2, though another researcher confirmed on Twitter that the flaw works on every Windows version, even if the workstation is locked.
While Microsoft does not deem it to be a security vulnerability and some experts argued that a Windows user with administrative permissions can do anything, Korznikov explained a simple attack scenario to explain how a malicious insider can easily misuse this flaw:
"Some bank employee have access to the billing system and its credentials to log in. One day, he comes to work, logging into the billing system and start to work. At lunchtime, he locks his workstation and goes out for lunch. Meanwhile, the system administrator gets to can use this exploit to access employee's workstation."
"According to the bank's policy, administrator's account should not have access to the billing system, but with a couple of built-in commands in windows, this system administrator will hijack employee's desktop which he left locked. From now, a sysadmin can perform malicious actions in billing system as billing employee account."
Well, no doubt, alternatively an attacker can also dump out system memory to retrieve users' passwords in plaintext, but this is a long and complicated process compared to just running tscon.exe with a session number without leaving any trace and using any external tool.
The issue has been known to Microsoft since last six years, so it's likely the company doesn't consider it a security flaw as it requires local admin rights on the computer, and deems this is how its operating system is supposed to behave.
| Vulnerability |
Shocking! Instagram HACKED! Researcher hacked into Instagram Server and Admin Panel | https://thehackernews.com/2015/12/how-to-hack-instagram.html | Ever wonder how to hack Instagram or how to hack a facebook account? Well, someone just did it!
But, remember, even responsibly reporting a security vulnerability could end up in taking legal actions against you.
An independent security researcher claims he was threatened by Facebook after he responsibly revealed a series of security vulnerabilities and configuration flaws that allowed him to successfully gained access to sensitive data stored on Instagram servers, including:
Source Code of Instagram website
SSL Certificates and Private Keys for Instagram
Keys used to sign authentication cookies
Personal details of Instagram Users and Employees
Email server credentials
Keys for over a half-dozen critical other functions
However, instead of paying him a reward, Facebook has threatened to sue the researcher of intentionally withholding flaws and information from its team.
Wesley Weinberg, a senior security researcher at Synack, participated in Facebook's bug bounty program and started analyzing Instagram systems after one of his friends hinted him to a potentially vulnerable server located at sensu.instagram.com
The researcher found an RCE (Remote Code Execution) bug in the way it processed users' session cookies that are generally used to remember users' log-in details.
Remote code execution bug was possible due to two weaknesses:
The Sensu-Admin web app running on the server contained a hard-coded Ruby secret token
The host running a version of Ruby (3.x) that was susceptible to code execution via the Ruby session cookie
Exploiting the vulnerability, Weinberg was able to force the server to vomit up a database containing login details, including credentials, of Instagram and Facebook employees.
Although the passwords were encrypted with 'bcrypt', Weinberg was able to crack a dozen of passwords that had been very weak (like changeme, instagram, password) in just a few minutes.
Exposed EVERYTHING including Your Selfies
Weinberg did not stop here. He took a close look at other configuration files he found on the server and discovered that one of the files contained some keys for Amazon Web Services accounts, the cloud computing service used to host Instagram's Sensu setup.
These keys listed 82 Amazon S3 buckets (storage units), but these buckets were unique. He found nothing sensitive in the latest file in that bucket, but when he looked at the older version of the file, he found another key pair that let him read the contents of all 82 buckets.
Weinberg had inadvertently stumbled upon almost EVERYTHING including:
Instagram's source code
SSL certificates and private keys (including for instagram.com and *.instagram.com)
API keys that are used for interacting with other services
Images uploaded by Instagram users
Static content from the instagram.com website
Email server credentials
iOS/Android app signing keys
Other sensitive data
"To say that I had gained access to basically all of Instagram's secret key material would probably be a fair statement," Weinberg wrote in his blog. "With the keys I obtained, I could now easily impersonate Instagram, or any valid user or staff member. While out of scope, I would have easily been able to gain full access to any user's account, [personal] pictures and data."
Responsible Disclosure, but Facebook Threatens Lawsuit
Weinberg reported his findings to Facebook's security team, but the social media giant was concerned he had accessed private data of its users and employees while uncovering the issues.
Instead of receiving a reward from Facebook for his hard work, Weinberg was unqualified for the bug bounty program by Facebook.
In early December, Weinberg claims his boss Synack CEO, Jay Kaplan, received a scary call from Facebook security chief Alex Stamos regarding the weaknesses Weinberg discovered in Instagram that left Instagram and Facebook users wide open to a devastating attack.
Stamos "stated that he did not want to have to get Facebook's legal team involved, but that he was not sure if this was something he needed to go to law enforcement over," Weinberg wrote in his blog in a section entitled 'Threats and Intimidation.'
In response, Stamos issued a statement, saying he "did not threaten legal action against Synack or [Weinberg] nor did [he] ask for [Weinberg] to be fired."
Stamos said he only told Kaplan to "keep this out of the hands of the lawyers on both sides."
"Condoning researchers going well above and beyond what is necessary to find and fix critical issues would create a precedent that could be used by those aiming to violate the privacy of our users, and such behavior by legitimate security researchers puts the future of paid bug bounties at risk," Stamos added.
Facebook Responds
After the original publication by the researcher, Facebook issued its response, saying the claims are false and that Weinberg was never told not to publish his findings, rather only asked not to disclose the non-public information he accessed.
The social media giant confirmed the existence of the remote code execution bug in the sensu.instagram.com domain and promised a bug bounty of $2,500 as a reward to Weinberg and his friend who initially hinted that the server was openly accessible.
However, the other vulnerabilities that allowed Weinberg to gain access to sensitive data were not qualified, with Facebook saying he violated user privacy while accessing the data.
Here's the full statement by Facebook:
We are strong advocates of the security researcher community and have built positive relationships with thousands of people through our bug bounty program. These interactions must include trust, however, and that includes reporting the details of bugs that are found and not using them to access private information in an unauthorized manner. In this case, the researcher intentionally withheld bugs and information from our team and went far beyond the guidelines of our program to pull private, non-user data from internal systems.
We paid him for his initial bug report based on the quality, even though he was not the first to report it, but we didn't pay for the subsequent information that he had withheld. At no point did we say he could not publish his findings — we asked that he refrain from disclosing the non-public information he accessed in violation of our program guidelines. We remain firmly committed to paying for high quality research and helping the community learn from researchers' hard work.
| Vulnerability |
Google Chrome blocks access to Twitpic for Malware risk | https://thehackernews.com/2012/12/google-chrome-blocks-access-to-twitpic.html | Suddenly today Google Chrome start detecting Twitpic.com as malware threat. Twitpic is one of the most popular website for Sharing photos and videos on Twitter. Twitpic denies and said that there is no malware on the website and is trying to contact Google.
We also notice that, Twitter profiles and pages with Twitpic URL in tweets are also blocked curretly by Chrome. Many people also complaining about this on Google Help forum.
An official statement from Twitpic via tweet,"Working to fix the google chrome malware notice when visiting Twitpic.com as this is not true or the case, trying to contact google".
Google's Safe Browsing Diagnostic page for twitpic.com saying, "Site is listed as suspicious - visiting this web site may harm your computer. Of the 12029 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 0 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2012-12-30, and suspicious content was never found on this site within the past 90 days."
Also Google report said,"No, this site has not hosted malicious software over the past 90 days. In some cases, third parties can add malicious code to legitimate sites, which would cause us to show the warning message."
There are no further information yet available, we will update you soon !
| Malware |
Watch Out for Malware If You're Interested in North Korean Missile Program | https://thehackernews.com/2017/07/north-korea-missile-malware.html | If you hold an interest in the North Korean Missile Program and are one of those curious to know capabilities of the recently tested North Korean long-range missile than you could be a target of a new malware campaign.
North Korea claims to have conducted the first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the Hwasong-14, on 3rd July, and US officials believe the country may have fired a brand-new missile that has not been seen before.
Now, just a day after the test missile launch, hackers have started utilizing the news to target people interested in North Korean missile arsenal that has progressed over the decades from crude artillery rockets to testing what the country claims long-range missiles that could strike targets in the United States.
Security researchers at Talos Intelligence have discovered a new malware campaign that started on 4th July to target victims with KONNI, an unknown Remote Access Trojan (RAT) that has been in use for over three years.
The KONNI malware is a Remote Access Trojan designed to steal files, record keystrokes, perform screenshots, get the system information, including hostname, IP address, username, OS version and installed software, as well as execute malicious code on the infected computer.
How Does the KONNI Malware Work?
The hackers use an email attachment as the initial infection vector to deliver the Trojan through an executable file, which when opened displays an MS Office document that disguised as an article about the test missile launch.
However, the content of the document is copy/pasted from an article published on July 3rd by South Korean Yonhap News Agency.
In reality, the malicious executable drops two different versions of KONNI: event.dll and errorevent.dll.
On 64-bit versions of Windows, both binaries are dropped, while just errorevent.dll is dropped on 32-bit versions of Windows.
The dropped malware is then immediately executed to "ensure that the malware persists and is executed on rebooting the compromised system," the researchers say.
C&C Server Disguises as a Legitimate Climbing Club Website
The malware uses a new Command and Control server hosted on a website that disguises as a legitimate climbing club, but the site does not actually contain any real text, but the default text of the CMS (Content Management System).
The C&C traffic of the malware also takes place as "HTTP post requests to web pages hosted as /weget/download.php, /weget/uploadtm.php or /weget/upload.php on the domain itself."
In addition, the website also contains a contact section with an address in USA, but the map below the address points to a location in Seoul, South Korea.
"The threat actors associated with KONNI typically use decoy documents relating to North Korea, and this campaign is no exception. However, in contrast to the convincing decoy document lifted from a third party, the content of the decoy website hosted on the CnC server does not look legitimate," the researchers concluded.
"Nevertheless, this threat actor continues to remain active and continues to develop updated versions of their malware. Organizations which may have an interest in the contents of this decoy document and that used in previous campaigns should ensure that they are adequately protected against this and subsequent campaigns."
So, my advice for users to remain protected from such malware is always be suspicious of uninvited documents sent over an email and never click on links inside those documents unless verifying the source.
Additionally, keep your systems and antivirus updated to protect against any latest threat.
| Malware |
Widespread Instagram Hack Locking Users Out of Their Accounts | https://thehackernews.com/2018/08/hack-instagram-accounts.html | Instagram has been hit by a widespread hacking campaign that appears to stem from Russia and have affected hundreds of users over the past week, leaving them locked out of their accounts.
A growing number of Instagram users are taking to social media, including Twitter and Reddit, to report a mysterious hack which involves locking them out of their account with their email addresses changed to .ru domains.
According to victims, their account names, profile pictures, passwords, email addresses associated with their Instagram accounts, and even connected Facebook accounts are being changed in the attack.
Many of the affected Instagram users are also complaining about their profile photos replaced with stills from popular films, including Despicable Me 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean.
Although it is still unknown who is behind the widespread hack of Instagram accounts, the use of the email addresses originating from Russian email provider mail.ru may indicate a Russian hacker or hacking group is behind the attack, or perhaps hackers pretending to be from Russia.
First spotted by Mashable, the hack even affected Instagram users with two-factor authentication (2FA) enabled, as at least one user told Mashable that he was using 2FA, but it did nothing to stop his account from being hacked. However, it is currently unconfirmed.
In response to the report, Instagram published a blog post saying that the company continues to investigate the issue and that it has "dedicated teams helping people to secure their accounts."
"We are aware that some people are having difficulty accessing their Instagram accounts," Instagram says, pointing users to its guidance on hacked accounts to help keep their account secure.
The company advises Instagram users to keep a secure password with at least six numbers and/or letters, enable 2FA for additional security, and to revoke any suspicious third-party app that might have access to their accounts.
Instagram currently relies on text messages for two-factor authentication, which is believed to be less secure than other app-based 2FA methods, but the Facebook-owned company says it is working on improving its 2FA settings.
However, since the unknown technique being used by attackers to hack Instagram accounts is still unaddressed, there's nothing much you can do if the suspected loophole can also bypass two-factor authentication.
The motive behind the attacks is still unknown, but it appears that the attacks on Instagram are still happening at the time of writing.
For more information, users are recommended to visit the Instagram Help Centre dedicated to hacked accounts, which includes security tips as well as steps they can take to restore their account.
| Cyber_Attack |
Facebook Collected Your Android Call History and SMS Data For Years | https://thehackernews.com/2018/03/facebook-android-data.html | Facebook knows a lot about you, your likes and dislikes—it's no surprise.
But do you know, if you have installed Facebook Messenger app on your Android device, there are chances that the company had been collecting your contacts, SMS, and call history data at least until late last year.
A tweet from Dylan McKay, a New Zealand-based programmer, which received more than 38,000 retweets (at the time of writing), showed how he found his year-old data—including complete logs of incoming and outgoing calls and SMS messages—in an archive he downloaded (as a ZIP file) from Facebook.
Facebook was collecting this data on its users from last few years, which was even reported earlier in media, but the story did not get much attention at that time.
Since Facebook had been embroiled into controversies over its data sharing practices after the Cambridge Analytica scandal last week, tweets from McKay went viral and has now fueled the never-ending privacy debate.
A Facebook spokesperson explained, since almost all social networking sites have been designed to make it easier for users to connect with their friends and family members, Facebook also uploads its users' contacts to offer same.
As Ars reported, in older versions of Android when permissions were a lot less strict, the Facebook app took away contact permission at the time of installation that allowed the company access to call and message data automatically.
Eventually, Google changed the way Android permissions worked in version 16 of its API, making them more clear and granular by informing users whenever any app tries to execute permissions.
However, developers were able to bypass this change, and Facebook continued accessing call and SMS data until Google deprecated version 4.0 of the Android API in October last year.
Even you can check what data the social network has collected on you so far by going to your Facebook's Settings→Download a copy of your Facebook data→Start My Archive.
If you don't want Facebook to store or continuously upload your contacts to its server, you can turn off the continuous uploading setting in the Messenger app. This change will also delete all your previously uploaded contacts.
Facebook users on Apple devices are on the safer side, as iOS has never allowed silent access to call data.
| Data_Breaches |
Mexican Govt. Allegedly Used Spyware Against Journalists, Activists & A Child | https://thehackernews.com/2017/06/mexican-spyware-malware.html | After the disclosure of sophisticated global espionage and disinformation campaign aimed to discredit enemies of the state, Citizen Lab researchers exposed the dirty game of the Mexican government and its politics.
The report — "Government Spy: Systematic monitoring of journalists and human rights defenders in Mexico" — published by Citizen Lab today revealed how the Mexican government used advanced spyware tools purchased from the NSO Group to target the country's most prominent human rights lawyers, anti-corruption activists, and journalists.
The NSO Group, an Israel-based company that produces the most advanced mobile spyware on the planet, sold the tool to governments with an explicit agreement that it should be used only to fight terrorists or criminal groups that have long kidnapped and killed Mexicans.
But, the Mexican government targets include:
Lawyers looking into the case of 43 Students disappeared in September 2014 from the town of Iguala.
Two Mexican most influential journalists.
An American who is representing victims of sexual abuse by the police.
A child, presumably in an attempt to spy on his mother.
"The targets share a basic connection: they have been involved in investigating or working on reports of high-level official corruption, or government involvement in human rights abuses," the report says.
According to the report, the purchase of the NSO Group's exploit "has been documented by at least three units in Mexico:
the National Defense Secretariat (SEDENA)
the Attorney General's Office (PGR)
the National Security and Investigation Center (CISEN)
Since 2011, the above three Mexican federal agencies have purchased nearly $80 Million worth of spyware from the NSO group.
The surveillance tool in question is the infamous mobile spyware 'Pegasus' that was also used in targeted cyber attacks against human rights activists in the United Arab Emirates last year.
Pegasus is one of the NSO group's most advanced mobile spyware tool that can infiltrate Android, as well as iPhones to monitor calls, texts, email, contacts, and calendars, as well as use the phone's microphone and camera for surveillance, turning a target's smartphone into a sophisticated bugging device.
According to the report, the targets had received over 76 messages with links to the Pegasus exploit along with uniquely crafted social engineering messages, "troubling personal and sexual taunts, messages impersonating official communications by the Embassy of the United States in Mexico, fake AMBER Alerts, warnings of kidnappings, and other threats."
Once the victims open the link, Pegasus would then get downloaded onto their smartphones, turning the target's smartphone into a digital spying tool, which is in the pocket of victims, but fully under the control of the operator.
The malware allows the attacker to extract an incredible amount of data stored in files, contacts, messages, and emails and then forward them to a hidden server. It also takes control of the smartphone's microphone and camera — all without users' knowledge.
Among those targeted by the government include:
Activists with the Centro Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez for Human Rights (Centro PRODH)
Members of the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO)
TV personality and investigative journalist Carmen Aristegui, along with her son Emilio Aristegui (a teenager)
Other journalists working for the Mexican non-profit Against Corruption and Impunity
TV network Televisa anchor Carlos Loret de Mola
A majority of the infection attempts on victims were recorded under two separate events: in August 2015 and between April 2016 and July 2016.
The report asserts that all evidence points towards the Mexican government which itself is behind the cyber espionage.
| Malware |
"4chan Hacked", Most Popular Image-Bulletin Board Compromised | https://thehackernews.com/2014/04/4chan-Hacked-Image-Bulletin-Board.html | The founder of 4chan, Christopher Poole, aka "moot" has confirmed few hours ago, in a blog post that the popular image-based bulletin board was hacked.
The attacker gained access to the administrative functions and successfully hacked into one of 4chan's database by exploiting a website's software vulnerability last week. The motive behind the hack was to expose the posting habits of a specific user the attacker didn't like, moot wrote.
It is believed that the software vulnerability allowed the attacker to hack into only the image-board moderation panels, and some tables in the 4chan back-end database. According to the blog post, the way hacker extracted the information from its database, 4chan knows the "detailed logs of what was accessed", which indicate that the "primarily moderator account names" and their "credentials" were targeted and compromised by the hacker.
"Due to the way the intruder extracted information from the database, we have detailed logs of what was accessed. The logs indicate that primarily moderator account names and credentials were targeted," reads the blog post.
The hacker was able to access the Pass credentials of three 4chan Pass (paid account without CAPTCHAs system) users, who have been notified by the company shortly after the discovery of the attack and offered refunds along with the lifetime Passes.
The founder of the 4chan assured its users that their financial information has not been compromised in the attack as 4chan doesn't process any payment information and all the payment information is "processed securely" by the Stripe.
After 4chan aware of this software vulnerability exploited by the hacker, it was patched quickly and 4chan assured its users that they continue to review its software and systems to prevent future attacks and breaches.
A week ago, Moderators of Social-sharing website Reddit were under attack after being accused of censoring posted links containing words like "National Security Agency," "Edward Snowden" and even "Bitcoin" on the website's subreddit r/technology.
The Reddit moderators have lost their focus of what they were there to do. Their job is to moderate effectively, but this secret censorship is a "disaster" as it lost the transparency between the user and the service.
4chan apologized for the inconvenience caused to its users, but this is not first time hacker targeted 4chan. Back in June 2012, the hacker UGNazi changed the DNS for 4chan and redirected its visitors to UGNazis Twitter account.
| Data_Breaches |
Foursquare vulnerability that exposes 45 million users' email addresses | https://thehackernews.com/2014/01/foursquare-vulnerability-that-exposes.html | A location based Social Networking platform with 45 million users,'Foursquare' was vulnerable to the primary email address disclosed.
Foursquare is a Smartphone application that gives you details of nearby cafes, bars, shops, parks using GPS location and also tells about your friends nearby.
According to a Penetration tester and hacker 'Jamal Eddine', an attacker can extract email addresses of all 45 million users just by using a few lines of scripting tool.
Basically the flaw exists in the Invitation system of the Foursquare app. While testing the app, he found that invitation received on the recipient's end actually disclosing the sender's email address, as shown above.
Invitation URL:
https://foursquare.com/mehdi?action=acceptFriendship&expires=1378920415&src=wtbfe&uid=64761059&sig=mmlx96RwGrQ2fJAg4OWZhAWnDvc%3D
Where 'uid' parameter represents the sender's profile ID.
Hacker noticed that the parameter in the Invitation URL can be modified in order to spoof the sender profile i.e. Just by modifying the value of 'uid' parameter, one can see the email ID of the respective user.
If someone is a good programmer, then dumping the complete database won't be a difficult task.
https://foursquare.com/mehdi?action=acceptFriendship&expires=1378920415&src=wtbfe&uid=35
https://foursquare.com/mehdi?action=acceptFriendship&expires=1378920415&src=wtbfe&uid=60
https://foursquare.com/mehdi?action=acceptFriendship&expires=1378920415&src=wtbfe&uid=65
https://foursquare.com/mehdi?action=acceptFriendship&expires=1378920415&src=wtbfe&uid=4444
And so forth...
The same question still persist that what can be done if someone knows my name and my email id? Many of us use same mail account on all of the social networking sites i.e. Primary email address, and if your personal email address gets leaked from any of the website, someone can start sending you spam, malware or phishing attempts.
I think you don't want to be phished by any hacking group like Syrian Electronic hacker or this information can easily aid other cyber attacks.
In July, 2013, Similar vulnerability was reported on Facebook, discloses the primary email address of any Facebook user to hackers and spammers.
As a responsible bug hunter, he reported the flaw to Foursquare's Security Team, and they have finally fixed the issue.
| Vulnerability |
Hackers Exploit 'Telegram Messenger' Zero-Day Flaw to Spread Malware | https://thehackernews.com/2018/02/hackers-exploit-telegram-messenger-zero.html | A zero-day vulnerability has been discovered in the desktop version for end-to-end encrypted Telegram messaging app that was being exploited in the wild in order to spread malware that mines cryptocurrencies such as Monero and ZCash.
The Telegram vulnerability was uncovered by security researcher Alexey Firsh from Kaspersky Lab last October and affects only the Windows client of Telegram messaging software.
The flaw has actively been exploited in the wild since at least March 2017 by attackers who tricked victims into downloading malicious software onto their PCs that used their CPU power to mine cryptocurrencies or serve as a backdoor for attackers to remotely control the affected machine, according to a blogpost on Securelist.
Here's How Telegram Vulnerability Works
The vulnerability resides in the way Telegram Windows client handles the RLO (right-to-left override) Unicode character (U+202E), which is used for coding languages that are written from right to left, like Arabic or Hebrew.
According to Kaspersky Lab, the malware creators used a hidden RLO Unicode character in the file name that reversed the order of the characters, thus renaming the file itself, and send it to Telegram users.
For example, when an attacker sends a file named "photo_high_re*U+202E*gnp.js" in a message to a Telegram user, the file's name rendered on the users' screen flipping the last part.
Therefore, the Telegram user will see an incoming PNG image file (as shown in the below image) instead of a JavaScript file, misleading into downloading malicious files disguised as the image.
"As a result, users downloaded hidden malware which was then installed on their computers," Kaspersky says in its press release published today.
Kaspersky Lab reported the vulnerability to Telegram and the company has since patched the vulnerability in its products, as the Russian security firm said: "at the time of publication, the zero-day flaw has not since been observed in messenger's products."
Hackers Used Telegram to Infect PCs with Cryptocurrency Miners
During the analysis, Kaspersky researchers found several scenarios of zero-day exploitation in the wild by threat actors. Primarily, the flaw was actively exploited to deliver cryptocurrency mining malware, which uses the victim's PC computing power to mine different types of cryptocurrency including Monero, Zcash, Fantomcoin, and others.
While analyzing the servers of malicious actors, the researchers also found archives containing a Telegram's local cache that had been stolen from victims.
In another case, cybercriminals successfully exploited the vulnerability to install a backdoor trojan that used the Telegram API as a command and control protocol, allowing hackers to gain remote access to the victim's computer.
"After installation, it started to operate in a silent mode, which allowed the threat actor to remain unnoticed in the network and execute different commands including the further installation of spyware tools," the firm added.
Firsh believes the zero-day vulnerability was exploited only by Russian cybercriminals, as "all the exploitation cases that [the researchers] detected occurring in Russia," and a lot of artifacts pointed towards Russian cybercriminals.
The best way to protect yourself from such attacks is not to download or open files from unknown or untrusted sources.
The security firm also recommended users to avoid sharing any sensitive personal information in messaging apps and make sure to have a good antivirus software from reliable company installed on your systems.
| Malware |
Hackers Exploiting Drupal Vulnerability to Inject Cryptocurrency Miners | https://thehackernews.com/2018/04/drupal-cryptocurrency-hacking.html | The Drupal vulnerability (CVE-2018-7600), dubbed Drupalgeddon2 that could allow attackers to completely take over vulnerable websites has now been exploited in the wild to deliver malware backdoors and cryptocurrency miners.
Drupalgeddon2, a highly critical remote code execution vulnerability discovered two weeks ago in Drupal content management system software, was recently patched by the company without releasing its technical details.
However, just a day after security researchers at Check Point and Dofinity published complete details, a Drupalgeddon2 proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit code was made widely available, and large-scale Internet scanning and exploitation attempts followed.
At the time, no incident of targets being hacked was reported, but over the weekend, several security firms noticed that attackers have now started exploiting the vulnerability to install cryptocurrency miner and other malware on vulnerable websites.
The SANS Internet Storm Center spotted some attacks to deliver a cryptocurrency miner, a PHP backdoor, and an IRC bot written in Perl.
The simple PHP backdoor allows attackers to upload additional files (backdoors) to the targeted server.
A thread on SANS ISC Infosec forums also suggests that Drupalgeddon2 is being used to install the XMRig Monero miner on vulnerable websites. Besides the actual XMRig miner, the malicious script also downloads additional files, including a script to kill competing miners on the targeted system.
Researchers from security firm Volexity have also observed a wide variety of actions and payloads attempted via the public exploit for Drupalgeddon2 to deliver malicious scripts that install backdoors and cryptocurrency miners on the vulnerable sites.
The researchers believed that one of the Monero miner campaigns, delivering XMRig, is associated with a criminal group that exploited the vulnerability (CVE-2017-10271) in Oracle WebLogic servers to deliver cryptocurrency miner malware shortly after its PoC exploit code was made public in late 2017.
Volexity identified some of the group's wallets that had stored a total of 544.74 XMR (Monero coin), which is equivalent to almost $105,567.
As we reported in our previous article, Imperva stats showed that 90% of the Drupalgeddon2 attacks are simply IP scanning in an attempt to find vulnerable systems, 3% are backdoor infection attempts, and 2% are attempting to run crypto miners on the targets.
For those unaware, Drupalgeddon2 allows an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute malicious code on default or common Drupal installations under the privileges of the user, affecting all versions of Drupal from 6 to 8.
Therefore, site admins were highly recommended to patch the issue by updating their CMS to Drupal 7.58 or Drupal 8.5.1 as soon as possible.
In its advisory, Drupal warned that "sites not patched by Wednesday, 2018-04-11 may be compromised" and "simply updating Drupal will not remove backdoors or fix compromised sites."
Moreover,
"If you find that your site is already patched, but you didn't do it, that can be a symptom that the site was compromised. Some attacks in the past have applied the patch as a way to guarantee that only that attacker is in control of the site."
Here's a guide Drupal team suggest to follow if your website has been hacked.
| Cyber_Attack |
TikTok Bug Could Have Exposed Users' Profile Data and Phone Numbers | https://thehackernews.com/2021/01/tiktok-bug-could-have-exposed-users.html | Cybersecurity researchers on Tuesday disclosed a now-patched security flaw in TikTok that could have potentially enabled an attacker to build a database of the app's users and their associated phone numbers for future malicious activity.
Although this flaw only impacts those users who have linked a phone number with their account or logged in with a phone number, a successful exploitation of the vulnerability could have resulted in data leakage and privacy violation, Check Point Research said in an analysis shared with The Hacker News.
TikTok has deployed a fix to address the shortcoming following responsible disclosure from Check Point researchers.
The newly discovered bug resides in TikTok's "Find friends" feature that allows users to sync their contacts with the service to identify potential people to follow.
The contacts are uploaded to TikTok via an HTTP request in the form of a list that consists of hashed contact names and the corresponding phone numbers.
The app, in the next step, sends out a second HTTP request that retrieves the TikTok profiles connected to the phone numbers sent in the previous request. This response includes profile names, phone numbers, photos, and other profile related information.
While the upload and sync contact requests are limited to 500 contacts per day, per user, and per device, Check Point researchers found a way to get around the limitation by getting hold of the device identifier, session cookies set by the server, a unique token called "X-Tt-Token" that's set when logging into the account with SMS and simulate the whole process from an emulator running Android 6.0.1.
It's worth noting that in order to request data from the TikTok application server, the HTTP requests must include X-Gorgon and X-Khronos headers for server verification, which ensures that the messages are not tampered with.
But by modifying the HTTP requests — the number of contacts the attacker wants to sync — and re-signing them with an updated message signature, the flaw made it possible to automate the procedure of uploading and syncing contacts on a large scale and create a database of linked accounts and their connected phone numbers.
This is far from the first time the popular video-sharing app has been found to contain security weaknesses.
In January 2020, Check Point researchers discovered multiple vulnerabilities within the TikTok app that could have been exploited to get hold of user accounts and manipulate their content, including deleting videos, uploading unauthorized videos, making private "hidden" videos public, and revealing personal information saved on the account.
Then in April, security researchers Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk exposed flaws in TikTok that made it possible for attackers to display forged videos, including those from verified accounts, by redirecting the app to a fake server hosting a collection of fake videos.
Eventually, TikTok launched a bug bounty partnership with HackerOne last October to help users or security professionals flag technical concerns with the platform. Critical vulnerabilities (CVSS score 9 - 10) are eligible for payouts between $6,900 to $14,800, according to the program.
"Our primary motivation, this time around, was to explore the privacy of TikTok," said Oded Vanunu, head of products vulnerabilities research at Check Point. "We were curious if the TikTok platform could be used to gain private user data. It turns out that the answer was yes, as we were able to bypass multiple protection mechanisms of TikTok that lead to privacy violation."
"An attacker with that degree of sensitive information could perform a range of malicious activities, such as spear phishing or other criminal actions."
| Cyber_Attack |
Hackers Exploit Recently Disclosed Microsoft Office Bug to Backdoor PCs | https://thehackernews.com/2017/11/cobalt-strike-malware.html | A recently disclosed severe 17-year-old vulnerability in Microsoft Office that lets hackers install malware on targeted computers without user interaction is now being exploited in the wild to distribute a backdoor malware.
First spotted by researchers at security firm Fortinet, the malware has been dubbed Cobalt because it uses a component from a powerful and legitimate penetration testing tool, called Cobalt Strike.
Cobalt Strike is a form of software developed for Red Team Operations and Adversary Simulations for accessing covert channels of a system.
The vulnerability (CVE-2017-11882) that Cobalt malware utilizes to deliver the backdoor is a memory-corruption issue that allows unauthenticated, remote attackers to execute malicious code on the targeted system when opened a malicious file and potentially take full control over it.
This vulnerability impacts all versions of Microsoft Office and Windows operating system, though Microsoft has already released a patch update to address the issue. You can read more details and impact of the vulnerability in our previous article.
Since cybercriminals are quite quick in taking advantage of newly disclosed vulnerabilities, the threat actors started delivering Cobalt malware using the CVE-2017-11882 exploit via spam just a few days after its disclosure.
According to Fortinet researchers, the Cobalt malware is delivered through spam emails, which disguised as a notification from Visa regarding rule changes in Russia, with an attachment that includes a malicious RTF document, as shown.
The email also contains a password-protected archive with login credentials provided in the email to unlock it in order to trick victims into believing that the email came from the legitimate financial service.
"This is [also] to prevent auto-analysis systems from extracting the malicious files for sandboxing and detection," Fortinet researchers Jasper Manual and Joie Salvio wrote.
"Since a copy of the malicious document is out in the open... so it's possible that this is only to trick the user into thinking that securities are in place, which is something one would expect in an email from a widely used financial service."
Once the document is opened, the user has displayed a plain document with the words "Enable Editing." However, a PowerShell script silently executes in the background, which eventually downloads a Cobalt Strike client to take control of the victim's machine.
With control of the victim's system, hackers can "initiate lateral movement procedures in the network by executing a wide array of commands," the researchers said.
According to the researchers, cybercriminals are always in look for such vulnerabilities to exploit them for their malware campaigns, and due to ignoring software updates, a significant number of users out there left their systems unpatched, making them vulnerable to such attacks.
The best way to protect your computer against the Cobalt malware attack is to download the patch for the CVE-2017-11882 vulnerability and update your systems immediately.
| Cyber_Attack |
iOS 13 Bug Lets 3rd-Party Keyboards Gain 'Full Access' — Even When You Deny | https://thehackernews.com/2019/09/ios-13-keyboard-apps.html | Following the release of iOS 13 and iPadOS earlier this week, Apple has issued an advisory warning iPhone and iPad users of an unpatched security bug impacting third-party keyboard apps.
On iOS, third-party keyboard extensions can run entirely standalone without access to external services and thus, are forbidden from storing what you type unless you grant "full access" permissions to enable some additional features through network access.
However, in the brief security advisory, Apple says that an unpatched issue in iOS 13 and iPadOS could allow third-party keyboard apps to grant themselves "full access" permission to access what you are typing—even if you deny this permission request in the first place.
It should be noted that the iOS 13 bug doesn't affect Apple's built-in keyboards or third-party keyboards that don't make use of full access.
Instead, the bug only impacts users who have third-party keyboard apps—such as popular Gboard, Grammarly, and Swiftkey—installed on their iPhones or iPads, which are designed to request full access from users.
Though having full access allows app developers to capture all keystroke data and everything you type, it's worth noting that likely no reputable third-party keyboard apps would by default abuse this issue.
Even if that doesn't satisfy you, and you want to check if any of the installed third-party keyboards on your iPhone or iPad has enabled full access without your knowledge by exploiting this bug, you can open the Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards.
Apple assured its users that the company is already working on a fix to address this issue, which it plans to release in its upcoming software update.
Until Apple comes up with a fix, you can mitigate this issue by temporarily uninstalling all third-party keyboards from your device just to be on the safer side.
| Vulnerability |
LIVE Webinar: Major Lessons to be Learned from Top Cyber Attacks in 2020 | https://thehackernews.com/2021/02/live-webinar-major-lessons-to-be.html | We likely all agree that 2020 was a year we won't soon forget - for many reasons. One area particularly impacted last year was (and continues to be) cybersecurity.
While Internet access allowed many businesses to continue functioning during the COVID-19 stay at home requirements, the unprecedented number of people accessing company assets remotely introduced many new challenges for cybersecurity professionals.
With a history of leveraging societal maladies to their advantage, cyber criminals leverage the confusion and unpreparedness created by the global pandemic in their cyber attacks.
In just the last two months of 2020, several high-profile organizations and government entities were successfully attacked using clever approaches that were overlooked by cybersecurity experts. Making sense of how attacks have changed and what new defensive strategies should be taken is no easy task. Cybersecurity company Cynet will help by reviewing the 2020 high profile attacks in depth and guide cybersecurity professionals for 2021 in an upcoming webinar (register here).
Until then, what high profile attacks are they likely to explore?
The Top 2020 Cyber Attacks
Without enough space to cover all the top attacks in 2020, several significant breaches were predominantly accomplished by new techniques.
SolarWinds
The attack involved hackers compromising the infrastructure of SolarWinds, a company that produces a network and application monitoring platform called Orion. The attackers then used that access to produce and distribute trojanized updates to the software's users, including 425 of the US Fortune 500, the top ten US telecommunications companies, the top five US accounting firms, all branches of the US Military, the Pentagon, and the State Department, as well as hundreds of universities and colleges worldwide.
Cybersecurity company FireEye was successfully breached using a malware-infected update to SolarWinds Orion.
An additional malware, dubbed Supernova, also used the SolarWinds Orion product as its delivery method but was likely developed and used by a different threat actor.
Software AG
The second-largest software vendor in Germany and the seventh-largest in Europe, Software AG was reportedly hit by a Clop ransomware attack in October 2020. It was reported that the cyber-criminal gang had demanded a $23 million ransom.
Sopra Steria
Sopra Steria is a European information technology firm with 46,000 employees in 25 countries, providing a large array of IT services, including consulting, systems integration, and software development. In October 2020, Sopra Steria was attacked by what turned out to be a new version of the Ryuk ransomware, previously unknown to antivirus software providers and security agencies.
Telegram
Hackers with access to the system used for connecting mobile networks across the world were able to gain access to Telegram messenger and email data of high-profile individuals in the cryptocurrency business. In what is believed to be a targeted attack, the hackers were after two-factor authentication (2FA) login codes delivered over the short messaging system of the victim's mobile phone provider.
What To Expect in 2021
It will be quite interesting to hear Cynet's perspective on what will unfold over the coming year. Ransomware shows no sign of abating, and attacks on third-party suppliers to gain access to their clients' environments will undoubtedly continue. A large remote workforce likely opens companies up to traditional social engineering attacks as well.
In terms of defensive actions, third party risk management will certainly be top of mind following the SolarWinds fiasco. Remote endpoints and remote workers will need to be better protected.
Automated response systems will certainly gain traction as reaction times to things like ransomware must accelerate to machine speed to prevent infections from propagating across the environment and locking up critical system assets. We're certainly in for a bumpy ride ahead. Look to cybersecurity experts steeped in protecting client organizations for insights and advice moving forward.
Register for this live webinar here
| Cyber_Attack |
New Chinese Malware Targeted Russia's Largest Nuclear Submarine Designer | https://thehackernews.com/2021/05/new-chinese-malware-targeted-russias.html | A threat actor believed to be working on behalf of Chinese state-sponsored interests was recently observed targeting a Russia-based defense contractor involved in designing nuclear submarines for the naval arm of the Russian Armed Forces.
The phishing attack, which singled out a general director working at the Rubin Design Bureau, leveraged the infamous "Royal Road" Rich Text Format (RTF) weaponizer to deliver a previously undocumented Windows backdoor dubbed "PortDoor," according to Cybereason's Nocturnus threat intelligence team.
"Portdoor has multiple functionalities, including the ability to do reconnaissance, target profiling, delivery of additional payloads, privilege escalation, process manipulation static detection antivirus evasion, one-byte XOR encryption, AES-encrypted data exfiltration and more," the researchers said in a write-up on Friday.
Rubin Design Bureau is a submarine design center located in Saint Petersburg, accounting for the design of over 85% of submarines in the Soviet and Russian Navy since its origins in 1901, including several generations of strategic missile cruiser submarines.
Content of the weaponized RTF document
Over the years, Royal Road has earned its place as a tool of choice among an array of Chinese threat actors such as Goblin Panda, Rancor Group, TA428, Tick, and Tonto Team. Known for exploiting multiple flaws in Microsoft's Equation Editor (CVE-2017-11882, CVE-2018-0798, and CVE-2018-0802) as far back as late 2018, the attacks take the form of targeted spear-phishing campaigns that utilize malicious RTF documents to deliver custom malware to unsuspecting high-value targets.
This newly discovered attack is no different, with the adversary using a spear-phishing email addressed to the submarine design firm as an initial infection vector. While previous versions of Royal Road were found to drop encoded payloads by the name of "8.t," the email comes embedded with a malware-laced document, which, when opened, delivers an encoded file called "e.o" to fetch the PortDoor implant, implying a new variant of the weaponizer in use.
Said to be engineered with obfuscation and persistence in mind, PortDoor runs the backdoor gamut with a wide range of features that allow it to profile the victim machine, escalate privileges, download and execute arbitrary payloads received from an attacker-controlled server, and export the results back to the server.
"The infection vector, social engineering style, use of RoyalRoad against similar targets, and other similarities between the newly discovered backdoor sample and other known Chinese APT malware all bear the hallmarks of a threat actor operating on behalf of Chinese state-sponsored interests," the researchers said.
| Cyber_Attack |
ZeroCleare: New Iranian Data Wiper Malware Targeting Energy Sector | https://thehackernews.com/2019/12/zerocleare-data-wiper-malware.html | Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a new, previously undiscovered destructive data-wiping malware that is being used by state-sponsored hackers in the wild to target energy and industrial organizations in the Middle East.
Dubbed ZeroCleare, the data wiper malware has been linked to not one but two Iranian state-sponsored hacking groups—APT34, also known as ITG13 and Oilrig, and Hive0081, also known as xHunt.
A team of researchers at IBM who discovered the ZeroCleare malware says that the new wiper malware shares some high-level similarities with the infamous Shamoon, one of the most destructive malware families known for damaging 30,000 computers at Saudi Arabia's largest oil producer in 2012.
Just like the Shamoon wiper malware, ZeroCleare also uses a legitimate hard disk driver called 'RawDisk by ElDos' to overwrite the master boot record (MBR) and disk partitions of targeted computers running the Windows operating system.
Though EldoS driver is not signed, the malware still manages to run it by loading a vulnerable but signed Oracle's VirtualBox driver, exploiting it to bypass the signature checking mechanism and load the unsigned EldoS driver.
"To gain access to the device's core, ZeroCleare used an intentionally vulnerable [but signed VBoxDrv] driver and malicious PowerShell/Batch scripts to bypass Windows controls," the researchers said.
To deploy the Zerocleare malware on as many computers in an organization as possible, attackers' first attempt to brute force network accounts passwords and then install ASPX web shells, like China Chopper and Tunna, by exploiting a SharePoint vulnerability.
"Adding these living-off-the-land tactics to the scheme, ZeroCleare was spread to numerous devices on the affected network, sowing the seeds of a destructive attack that could affect thousands of devices and cause disruption that could take months to recover from fully," the researchers said.
The same threat actors also attempted to install legitimate remote access software called TeamViewer and used an obfuscated version of the Mimikatz credential-stealing tool to steal more network credentials of the compromised servers.
Though researchers haven't disclosed names of any targeted organizations, they did confirm that there are two versions of Zerocleare that have been seen in the wild, one for each Windows architecture (32-bit and 64-bit), but only the 64-bit works.
According to the researchers, the ZeroCleare attacks are not opportunistic and appear to be targeted operations against specific sectors and organizations.
"X-Force IRIS has been following a marked increase in destructive attacks in the past year, having logged a whopping 200 percent increase in the amount of destructive attacks in the past six months," the researchers said.
"Looking at the geographical region hit by the ZeroCleare malware, it is not the first time the Middle East has seen destructive attacks target its energy sector."
| Malware |
[Webinar] How Cyber Attack Groups Are Spinning a Larger Ransomware Web | https://thehackernews.com/2021/06/webinar-how-cyber-attack-groups-are.html | Organizations today already have an overwhelming number of dangers and threats to look out for, from spam to phishing attempts to new infiltration and ransomware tactics. There is no chance to rest, since attack groups are constantly looking for more effective means of infiltrating and infecting systems.
Today, there are hundreds of groups devoted to infiltrating almost every industry, constantly devising more sophisticated methods to attack organizations.
It's even more troubling to note that some groups have started to collaborate, creating complex and stealthy tactics that leave even the best security teams scrambling to respond. Such is the case noted by XDR Provider Cynet, as the company observes in its newest Research Webinar (register here).
Cynet's research team noted that two of the most infamous attack groups – Lunar Spider and Wizard Spider – have started working together to infect organizations with ransomware.
The development is certainly troubling, and the report shows why security teams and professionals must constantly be looking at the whole picture, not just the result of an attack.
Combining attacks for greater impact
Cynet's researchers first noticed something was amiss as they were studying IcedID malware, developed by Lunar Spider. Originally observed in the wild in 2017, IcedID is a banking Trojan that has targeted the financial sectors in both the US and Europe. After it was initially revealed, Lunar Spider shifted IcedID's modus operandi to enable it to deploy additional payloads, such as Cobalt Strike.
The researchers also studied the CONTI ransomware, a relatively new attack approach developed by Wizard Spider that's already in the FBI's crosshairs. This "ransomware-as-a-service" (RaaS) has been spotted in the US and Europe and has already wreaked havoc on many organizations and networks.
Cynet first suspected the connection between the two organizations as it was exploring a case of CONTI ransomware that used many familiar tactics, though not ones traditionally deployed by the Wizard Spider group.
During the investigation, the team discovered that CONTI was being deployed through malware campaigns that used IcedID as an initial point of attack. After establishing persistence on targets' devices, IcedID deployed a CONTI ransomware variant to lock the network.
Understanding the risks
The new Cynet Research Webinar will dive deeper into the anatomy of this collaboration to explain why it's so troubling, but also how it can be detected and combatted. The webinar will discuss:
The background of the attack groups. Both Lunar Spider and Wizard Spider are well known and highly dangerous. Their existing malware and other tools are widely popular and present in many notable breaches and attacks. Before exploring their tools, the webinar will break down each group.
The increasing popularity of ransomware attacks. These tactics have become widespread and are expected to cost organizations hundreds of billions of dollars in the next decade. To truly comprehend how to combat this new attack tactic, it's worth establishing how ransomware works, and some common tactics.
The anatomy of a combined IcedID and CONTI attack. The webinar will break down a case study of this new attack tactic. Unlike some other ransomware attacks, this new method uses techniques from both to create persistence, avoid detection, and lock systems before organizations can react. Moreover, they're increasingly using "double extortion" methods, which both lock data and threaten leaks if payment isn't received.
You can register to the webinar here.
| Malware |
Zero-Day Exploits for Stealing OS X and iOS Passwords | https://thehackernews.com/2015/06/iphone-password-hacking.html | I think you'll agree with me when I say: Apple devices are often considered to be more safe and secure than other devices that run on platforms like Windows and Android, but a recent study will make you think twice before making this statement.
A group of security researchers have uncovered potentially deadly zero-day vulnerabilities in both iOS and OS X operating systems that could put iPhone/iPad or Mac owners at a high risk of cyber attacks.
Researchers have created and published a malicious app on the App Store that was able to siphon users' personal data from the password storing Keychain in Apple's OS X, as well as steal passwords from iCloud, banking and email accounts.
Dubbed XARA (cross-app resource access), the malware exploit app was able to bypass the OS X sandboxing mechanisms that are supposedly designed to prevent an app from accessing the credentials, contacts, and other important data related to other apps.
The Consequences are Dire!
In their paper, titled "Unauthorized Cross-App Resource Access on MAC OS X and iOS" [PDF], the researchers claim that once installed, their app can obtain data from applications such as Dropbox, Facebook and Evernote, along with the popular messaging app WeChat, and even siphon passwords from 1Password.
"The consequences are dire," researchers wrote in the paper. "For example, on the latest Mac OS X 10.10.3, our sandboxed app successfully retrieved from the system's keychain the passwords and secret tokens of iCloud, email and all kinds of social networks...bank and Gmail passwords from Google Chrome."
The Researchers also noted that the hack attack is only possible when the attributes of the victim's keychain item are predictable. However, most of the services share the same name across Keychain stores.
The Keychain issue stems from its inability to verify which app owns a credential in Keychain, and even the OS doesn't check for any suspicious activity.
Bypassed Apple's App Store Security Checks
The malicious app was also able to bypass the Apple's App store security checks that are designed to ensure one app can not gain access to other apps' data without permission.
However, the more worrisome part regarding the malicious app is that it was approved by Apple for placement in its App Store, which is supposed to be pre-examine by Apple security engineers for potentially malicious apps.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The zero-day flaws discovered by the Indiana University boffins Xing; Xiaolong Bai; XiaoFeng Wang; and Kai Chen joined Tongxin Li, of Peking University, and Xiaojing Liao, of Georgia Institute of Technology, was reported to Apple last October, but the company requested a 6 month period before making it public.
However, according to their paper, the issues persist and millions of Apple users can still be affected by these zero-day flaws.
How to Protect your Devices
A system-wide update to Apple's OS X and iOS is the only way to protect yourself fully against these vulnerabilities, the researchers said. However, we are patiently waiting to hear from Apple that how it's planning to resolve this huge issue.
To protect yourselves against such vulnerabilities, users of all operating system platforms are advised to limit the apps they install on their devices to those that are needed and explicitly trusted.
| Vulnerability |
Earn up to $15,000 for Hacking Microsoft Spartan Browser | https://thehackernews.com/2015/04/microsoft-project-spartan-browser-security.html | If you're a bug hunter and love playing with codes than you could grab as much as US$15,000 from Microsoft for finding out vulnerabilities in its latest Project Spartan browser.
Yes, $15,000!
It seems like Redmond don't want to take a chance to let hackers and cyber criminals get their hands on the company's latest Windows 10 operating system.
On Wednesday, Microsoft announced that the company will be expanding its bug bounty program ahead of the release of Windows 10, which will include a two-month hunt for vulnerabilities in its new web browser, Project Spartan.
So, it's time for security researchers and hackers to earn extra cash from Microsoft.
For those who are unaware… What's Project Spartan?
Project Spartan is Microsoft's project for its new web browser to replace the oldest Internet Explorer from its Windows operating system.
Though the project is still very much under the developmental stage, Microsoft is making every effort to make Spartan better and better as a browser.
The day Microsoft launched this project till now, the browser has received as much steady stream of improvements as it could give a tough competition to Google's Chrome web browser.
As it is said, the first impression is the last impression. Therefore, the technology giant is offering several payout categories which starts from $500 and ends with the top reaching bug bounty amount of $15,000 (11,000 Euro) for eligible vulnerabilities in Spartan, which includes…
…Remote Code Execution (RCE) bugs, Sandbox Escapes as well as design-level security bugs.
You have time beginning today till June 22, 2015 to submit your bug reports to the company. So don't be late.
Also, those hackers and researchers who submitted vulnerability reports since the beginning of 2015 would also be rewarded if the discovered vulnerabilities meet the eligibility criteria.
This new bug bounty program also offers payouts for vulnerabilities in Microsoft's Azure cloud platform, and Sway Web application tool, Jason Shirk of Microsoft's Security Response Center says in a blog post.
The bug bounty offer for Azure will cover cloud services, virtual machines, Active Directory, storage and much more.
Microsoft is also offering up to $100,000 USD to bypass active mitigations (such as ASLR and DEP) in the company's latest released version of the operating system, and "a bonus of up to $50,000 USD for actionable defense techniques to the reported bypass," Microsoft says.
So play, discover and submit your findings by including all your details in an email to [email protected] based on the company's requirements on this page.
| Vulnerability |
Hackers Exploit BlackBerry Browser Bug ! | https://thehackernews.com/2011/03/hackers-exploit-blackberry-browser-bug.html | Research in Motion has found a security flaw and recommended that user disable JavaScript in browsers on certain phones, threatening the BlackBerry maker's iron-clad reputation for security.
"The issue could result in remote code execution on affected BlackBerry smartphones," the Waterloo, Ontario-based company said. "Successful exploitation of the vulnerability requires the user to browse to a website that the attacker has maliciously designed."
The flaw is in the WebKit browser that RIM includes in version 6 of its BlackBerry OS.
RIM said hackers can steal data from users' memory cards on some BlackBerry devices. They can also install malware by exploiting the hole, but the company said that even if attacked, the phone's emails and contacts would be safe.
The publicity is particularly bad for the company who stakes its reputation on the security and privacy of its service. RIM, which has been forced to use more third-party software to compete with the flashy features of other platforms, provides more targets to hack.
The vulnerability was discovered at the "Pwn2Own" hacking contest last week. Although the contest winners were not allowed to publicize specifics of the vulnerabilities until companies have patched them, it's possible that malware authors are already aware of it.
An iPhone 4 was also hacked during the contest.
The contest could actually help RIM, though, if it drives focus on security. According to the coders who discovered the flaw, RIM's smartphone software doesn't make use of some important security techniques, and the company is heavily reliant on "security by obscurity," the fallible strategy of hiding how software works to keep hackers at bay.
| Malware |
Cyber Attack Knocks Nearly a Million Routers Offline | https://thehackernews.com/2016/11/mirai-router-offline.html | Mirai Botnet is getting stronger and more notorious each day that passes by. The reason: Insecure Internet-of-things Devices.
Last month, the Mirai botnet knocked the entire Internet offline for a few hours, crippling some of the world's biggest and most popular websites.
Now, more than 900,000 broadband routers belonging to Deutsche Telekom users in Germany knocked offline over the weekend following a supposed cyber-attack, affecting the telephony, television, and internet service in the country.
The German Internet Service Provider, Deutsche Telekom, which offers various services to around 20 Million customers, confirmed on Facebook that as many as 900,000 customers suffered internet outages on Sunday and Monday.
Millions of routers are said to have vulnerable to a critical Remote code Execution flaw in routers made by Zyxel and Speedport, wherein Internet port 7547 open to receive commands based on the TR-069 and related TR-064 protocols, which are meant to use by ISPs to manage your devices remotely.
The same vulnerability affects Eir D1000 wireless routers (rebranded Zyxel Modem) deployed by Irish internet service provider Eircom, while there are no signs that these routers are actively exploited.
According to Shodan search, around 41 Million devices leave port 7547 open, while about 5 Million expose TR-064 services to the outside world.
According to an advisory published by the SANS Internet Storm Center, honeypot servers posing as vulnerable routers are receiving exploit code every 5-10 minutes for each target IP.
An intercepted packet showed how a remote code execution flaw in the <NewNTPServer> part of a SOAP request was used to download and execute a file in order to infect the vulnerable device.
Security researchers at BadCyber also analyzed one of the malicious payloads that were delivered during the attacks and discovered that the attack originated from a known Mirai's command-and-control server.
"The unusual application of TR-064 commands to execute code on routers has been described for the very first time at the beginning of November, and a few days later a relevant Metasploit module had appeared," BadCyber wrote in a blog post. "It looks like someone decided to weaponize it and create an Internet worm based on Mirai code."
It all started early October when a cyber criminal publicly released the source code of Mirai, a piece of nasty IoT malware designed to scan for insecure IoT devices – mostly routers, cameras, and DVRs – and enslaves them into a botnet network, which is then used to launch DDoS attacks.
The hacker created three separate exploit files in order to infect three different architectures: two running different types of MIPS chips and one with ARM silicon.
The malicious payloads open the remote administration interface and then attempt to log in using three different default passwords. After this is done, the exploit then closes port 7547 in order to prevent other attackers from taking control of the infected devices.
"Logins and passwords are obfuscated (or "encrypted") in the worm code using the same algorithm as does Mirai," the researchers say. "The C&C server resides under timeserver.host domain name, which can be found on the Mirai tracker list."
More in-depth technical details about the vulnerability can be found on ISC Sans, Kaspersky Lab, and Reverse Engineering Blog.
Deutsche Telekom has issued an emergency patch for two models of its Speedport broadband routers – Speedport W 921V, Speedport W 723V Type B – and currently rolling out firmware updates.
The company recommends its customers to power down their routers, wait for 30 seconds and then restart their routers in an attempt to fetch the new firmware during the bootup process.
If the router fails to connect to the company's network, users are advised to disconnect their device from the network permanently.
To compensate the downtime, the ISP is also offering free Internet access through mobile devices to the affected customers until the technical problem is resolved.
| Cyber_Attack |
How Just Opening A Malicious PowerPoint File Could Compromise Your PC | https://thehackernews.com/2017/08/powerpoint-malware-ms-office.html | A few months back we reported how opening a simple MS Word file could compromise your computer using a critical vulnerability in Microsoft Office.
The Microsoft Office remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2017-0199) resided in the Windows Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) interface for which a patch was issued in April this year, but threat actors are still abusing the flaw through the different mediums.
Security researchers have spotted a new malware campaign that is leveraging the same exploit, but for the first time, hidden behind a specially crafted PowerPoint (PPSX) Presentation file.
According to the researchers at Trend Micro, who spotted the malware campaign, the targeted attack starts with a convincing spear-phishing email attachment, purportedly from a cable manufacturing provider and mainly targets companies involved in the electronics manufacturing industry.
Researchers believe this attack involves the use of a sender address disguised as a legitimate email sent by a sales and billing department.
Here's How the Attack Works:
The complete attack scenario is listed below:
Step 1: The attack begins with an email that contains a malicious PowerPoint (PPSX) file in the attachment, pretending to be shipping information about an order request.
Step 2: Once executed, the PPSX file calls an XML file programmed in it to download "logo.doc" file from a remote location and runs it via the PowerPoint Show animations feature.
Step 3: The malformed Logo.doc file then triggers the CVE-2017-0199 vulnerability, which downloads and executes RATMAN.exe on the targeted system.
Step 4: RATMAN.exe is a Trojanized version of the Remcos Remote Control tool, which when installed, allows attackers to control infected computers from its command-and-control server remotely.
Remcos is a legitimate and customizable remote access tool that allows users to control their system from anywhere in the world with some capabilities, like a download and execute the command, a keylogger, a screen logger, and recorders for both webcam and microphone.
Since the exploit is used to deliver infected Rich Text File (.RTF) documents, most detection methods for CVE-2017-0199 focuses on the RTF. So, the use of a new PPSX files allows attackers to evade antivirus detection as well.
The easiest way to prevent yourself completely from this attack is to download and apply patches released by Microsoft in April that will address the CVE-2017-0199 vulnerability.
| Cyber_Attack |
Lazarus APT Hackers are now using BMP images to hide RAT malware | https://thehackernews.com/2021/04/lazarus-apt-hackers-are-now-using-bmp.html | A spear-phishing attack operated by a North Korean threat actor targeting its southern counterpart has been found to conceal its malicious code within a bitmap (.BMP) image file to drop a remote access trojan (RAT) capable of stealing sensitive information.
Attributing the attack to the Lazarus Group based on similarities to prior tactics adopted by the adversary, researchers from Malwarebytes said the phishing campaign started by distributing emails laced with a malicious document that it identified on April 13.
"The actor has used a clever method to bypass security mechanisms in which it has embedded its malicious HTA file as a compressed zlib file within a PNG file that then has been decompressed during run time by converting itself to the BMP format," Malwarebytes researchers said.
"The dropped payload was a loader that decoded and decrypted the second stage payload into memory. The second stage payload has the capability to receive and execute commands/shellcode as well as perform exfiltration and communications to a command and control server."
Created on March 31, 2021, the lure document (in Korean) purports to be a participation application form for a fair in one of the South Korean cities and prompts users to enable macros upon opening it for the first time, only to execute the attack code that triggers the infection chain, ultimately dropping an executable called "AppStore.exe."
The payload then proceeds to extract an encrypted second-stage payload appended to itself that's decoded and decrypted at run time, followed by establishing communications with a remote server to receive additional commands and transmit the results of those commands back to the server.
"The Lazarus threat actor is one of the most active and sophisticated North Korean threat actors that has targeted several countries including South Korea, the U.S., and Japan in the past couple of years," the researchers said. "Lazarus is known to employ new techniques and custom toolsets in its operations to increase the effectiveness of its attacks."
| Malware |
Internet-Connected Medical Washer-Disinfector Found Vulnerable to Hacking | https://thehackernews.com/2017/03/iot-washer-disinfector.html | Internet-of-Things devices are turning every industry into the computer industry, making customers think that their lives would be much easier with smart devices.
There are, of course, some really good reasons to connect certain devices to the Internet. For example, remotely switching on your A/C a few minutes before you enter your home, instead of leaving it blasting all day.
But does everything need to be connected?
Of course, not. One such example is the latest bug report at Full Disclosure, affecting an Internet-connected washer-disinfector appliance by Germany-based manufacturer Miele.
The Miele Professional PG 8528 appliance, which is used in medical establishments to clean and properly disinfect laboratory and surgical instruments, is suffering from a Web Server Directory Traversal vulnerability.
Jens Regel of German consultancy Schneider & Wulf has discovered the flaw (CVE-2017-7240) that allows an unauthenticated, remote attacker to access directories other than those needed by a web server.
Once accessed, the attacker can steal sensitive information stored on the server and even insert their own malicious code and tell the web server to execute it.
"The corresponding embedded web server 'PST10 WebServer' typically listens to port 80 and is prone to a directory traversal attack, [and] therefore an unauthenticated attacker may be able to exploit this issue to access sensitive information to aid in subsequent attacks," Regel explained.
Proof-of-Concept Exploit Code Released!
Regel also published proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit code for this vulnerability, which means hackers can now exploit the vulnerability before the vendor issue a patch.
The PoC exploit is simple for anyone to run:
GET /../../../../../../../../../../../../etc/shadow HTTP/1.1 to whatever IP the dishwasher has on the LAN.
It's unclear which libraries Miele used to craft the Web server, though, according to Regel, he's able to request the embedded system's shadow file – and by extension any file on the filesystem.
The researcher privately disclosed the vulnerability to Miele in November 2016, but did not hear back from the vendor for more than three months. So, it when a fix can be expected (or if it exists) is still unknown.
Therefore, the best option to keep yourself secure is to disconnect the appliance from the Internet for the time being until the patch is released.
| Vulnerability |
Foursquare vulnerability that exposes 45 million users' email addresses | https://thehackernews.com/2014/01/foursquare-vulnerability-that-exposes.html | A location based Social Networking platform with 45 million users,'Foursquare' was vulnerable to the primary email address disclosed.
Foursquare is a Smartphone application that gives you details of nearby cafes, bars, shops, parks using GPS location and also tells about your friends nearby.
According to a Penetration tester and hacker 'Jamal Eddine', an attacker can extract email addresses of all 45 million users just by using a few lines of scripting tool.
Basically the flaw exists in the Invitation system of the Foursquare app. While testing the app, he found that invitation received on the recipient's end actually disclosing the sender's email address, as shown above.
Invitation URL:
https://foursquare.com/mehdi?action=acceptFriendship&expires=1378920415&src=wtbfe&uid=64761059&sig=mmlx96RwGrQ2fJAg4OWZhAWnDvc%3D
Where 'uid' parameter represents the sender's profile ID.
Hacker noticed that the parameter in the Invitation URL can be modified in order to spoof the sender profile i.e. Just by modifying the value of 'uid' parameter, one can see the email ID of the respective user.
If someone is a good programmer, then dumping the complete database won't be a difficult task.
https://foursquare.com/mehdi?action=acceptFriendship&expires=1378920415&src=wtbfe&uid=35
https://foursquare.com/mehdi?action=acceptFriendship&expires=1378920415&src=wtbfe&uid=60
https://foursquare.com/mehdi?action=acceptFriendship&expires=1378920415&src=wtbfe&uid=65
https://foursquare.com/mehdi?action=acceptFriendship&expires=1378920415&src=wtbfe&uid=4444
And so forth...
The same question still persist that what can be done if someone knows my name and my email id? Many of us use same mail account on all of the social networking sites i.e. Primary email address, and if your personal email address gets leaked from any of the website, someone can start sending you spam, malware or phishing attempts.
I think you don't want to be phished by any hacking group like Syrian Electronic hacker or this information can easily aid other cyber attacks.
In July, 2013, Similar vulnerability was reported on Facebook, discloses the primary email address of any Facebook user to hackers and spammers.
As a responsible bug hunter, he reported the flaw to Foursquare's Security Team, and they have finally fixed the issue.
| Data_Breaches |
Facebook Self-XSS Scam Fools Users into Hacking Themselves | https://thehackernews.com/2014/07/facebook-self-xss-scam-fools-users-into_28.html | Scammers have again targeted more than one billion active users of the popular social networking giant Facebook, to infect as many victims as possible.
Not by serving fake post, neither by providing malicious video link, instead this time scammers have used a new way of tricking Facebook users into injecting or placing malicious JavaScript or client-side code into their web browsers.
This malicious code could allow an attacker to gain access to victims' accounts, thereby using it for fraud, to send spams, and promoting further attacks by posting the scam on timeline to victims' friends. This technique is known as Self Cross-site Scripting or Self XSS.
Self-XSS (Self Cross-Site Scripting) scam is a combination of social engineering and a browser vulnerability, basically designed to trick Facebook users' into providing access to their account. Once an attacker or scammer gets access to users' Facebook account, they can even post and comment on things on users' behalf.
In order to infect Facebook user, the cyber crooks send a phishing message via an email or a Facebook post from one of the friends in the list of the targeted victim claiming, in this case, a way to hack any Facebook user by following some simple steps.
The posted scam looks as follows:
Hack any Facebook account following these steps:
1. Go to the victim's profile
2. Click right click then click on inspect element and click the "Console" tab.
3. Paste the code into the box at the bottom and press Enter.
The code is in the web site: https://textuploader .com****/
Good luck: *
Don't hurt anybody…
They want you to follow the given instructions by copy and pasting the malicious code, as given in the above instructions, for taking over someone else's account. The trick is suitable for both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox users.
Once you self inject this malicious script to your account, it will give away the access of your whole account to the one who could do a variety of malicious activities, basically spreading all sorts of malicious campaigns. The hackers can also infect victim's computer with malware that can collect banking details and send them to a remote location controlled by them.
Facebook has also listed the scam on the list of threats its users have been observed to fall victim to. "Scammers who use Self-XSS usually trick you by promising to help you hack somebody else's account," reads the post. "The scammer's goal is to get you to run their malicious code on your computer. When you run their code, you grant the scammer access to your account for fraud, spam, and tricking more people into running the scam."
Spotting these scams and reporting them are the best way to protect yourself, but if you fall victim to one of these attacks, don't panic! Follow the link to learn more about protecting your Facebook account.
Facebook is also working with various browser vendors to add protection in the browser in an effort to prevent this vector from being exploited.
| Vulnerability |
Hackers Exploit Unpatched Windows XML vulnerability | https://thehackernews.com/2012/06/hackers-exploit-unpatched-windows-xml.html | Hackers Exploit Unpatched Windows XML vulnerability
An unpatched vulnerability in the Microsoft XML Core Services (MSXML) is being exploited in attacks launched from compromised websites to infect computers with malware. This zero-day exploit that potentially affects all supported versions of Microsoft Windows, and which has been tied to a warning by Google about state-sponsored attacks, has been identified carrying out attacks in Europe.
Microsoft security bulletin MS12-037 was this month's cumulative update for Internet Explorer. It is rated as Critical, and addresses 14 separate vulnerabilities that affect every supported version of Internet Explorer in some way.One vulnerability in particular is more urgent than the rest, though. There are multiple attacks circulating online that target CVE-2012-1875.The name of the vulnerability is "Same ID Property Remote Code Execution Vulnerability", which doesn't really explain much.
Until a patch is released, the Microsoft workaround is the only way to stymie hackers. Many security vendors have updated their products to detect malicious code that tries to exploit the vulnerability. Exploit code that works on all versions of Internet Explorer on Windows XP, Vista and 7 has been added to the Metasploit penetration testing framework.
Microsoft has provided a temporary fix for the vulnerability that all Windows users should apply whether or not they use IE as their browser of choice. Most antivirus products have added signatures to detect and block exploits.
In addition, you can also run the Fix-It tool from Microsoft. The automated tool implements measures to block the attack vector used to exploit this vulnerability.
| Vulnerability |
New Linux Malware Exploits SambaCry Flaw to Silently Backdoor NAS Devices | https://thehackernews.com/2017/07/linux-malware-sambacry.html | Remember SambaCry?
Almost two months ago, we reported about a 7-year-old critical remote code execution vulnerability in Samba networking software, allowing a hacker to remotely take full control of a vulnerable Linux and Unix machines.
We dubbed the vulnerability as SambaCry, because of its similarities to the Windows SMB vulnerability exploited by the WannaCry ransomware that wreaked havoc across the world over two months ago.
Despite being patched in late May, the vulnerability is currently being leveraged by a new piece of malware to target the Internet of Things (IoT) devices, particularly Network Attached Storage (NAS) appliances, researchers at Trend Micro warned.
For those unfamiliar: Samba is open-source software (re-implementation of SMB/CIFS networking protocol), which offers Linux/Unix servers with Windows-based file and print services and runs on the majority of operating systems, including Linux, UNIX, IBM System 390, and OpenVMS.
Shortly after the public revelation of its existence, the SambaCry vulnerability (CVE-2017-7494) was exploited mostly to install cryptocurrency mining software—"CPUminer" that mines "Monero" digital currency—on Linux systems.
However, the latest malware campaign involving SambaCry spotted by researchers at Trend Micro in July mostly targets NAS devices used by small and medium-size businesses.
SHELLBIND Malware Exploits SambaCry to Targets NAS Devices
Dubbed SHELLBIND, the malware works on various architectures, including MIPS, ARM and PowerPC, and is delivered as a shared object (.SO) file to Samba public folders and loaded via the SambaCry vulnerability.
Once deployed on the targeted machine, the malware establishes communication with the attackers' command and control (C&C) server located in East Africa, and modifies firewall rules to ensure that it can communicate with its server.
After successfully establishing a connection, the malware grants the attackers access to the infected device and provides them with an open command shell in the device, so that they can issue any number and type of system commands and eventually take control of the device.
In order to find the affected devices that use Samba, attackers can leverage the Shodan search engine and write the original malware files to their public folders.
"It is quite easy to find devices that use Samba in Shodan: searching for port 445 with a 'samba' string will turn up a viable IP list," researchers said while explaining the flaw.
"An attacker would then simply need to create a tool that can automatically write malicious files to every IP address on the list. Once they write the files into the public folders, the devices with the SambaCry vulnerability could become ELF_SHELLBIND.A victims."
However, it is not clear what the attackers do with the compromised devices and what's their actual motive behind compromising the devices.
The SambaCry vulnerability is hell easy to exploit and could be used by remote attackers to upload a shared library to a writable share and then cause the server to load and execute the malicious code.
The maintainers of Samba already patched the issue in Samba versions 4.6.4/4.5.10/4.4.14, so you are advised to patch your systems against the vulnerability as soon as possible.
Just make sure that your system is running updated Samba version.
Also, attackers need to have writable access to a shared location on the target system to deliver the payload, which is another mitigating factor that might lower the rate of infection.
| Malware |
Malicious Infrared X-Ray Android app infecting users in Japan | https://thehackernews.com/2013/03/malicious-infrared-x-ray-android-app.html | Researchers are already warning that malware authors developing more sophisticated attack techniques for mobile devices, using encryption and randomization or hiding malicious code in image files.
As analyzed by Symantec a malicious Infrared X-Ray Android application, attempting to lure Android device owners to download an app that supposedly allows the camera on the device to see through clothes.
This malware app is spreading quickly widely in Japan by sending the spam messages via SMS to phone numbers stored in the device's Contacts, so that the recipients of the spam to be tricked easier because the invitation to download the app is coming from someone they know rather than from an unknown sender.
The app is designed to steals all details in the device's contact list and are uploaded to a predetermined server.
Symantec confirmed that there are several variants of this app exist, "..the latest variants have added an interesting payload: rather than sending SMS messages to the victim's friends and family, the ultimate goal is to scam the victim with something similar to what is called one-click fraud in Japan" Hamada said on blog.
Moreover, in order to make it difficult for the victim to uninstall the app, it removes itself from the launcher after it is initially executed, although it can be removed in Applications under Settings.
Researchers suggest to refrain from clicking links found in messages such as emails and SMS messages from unknown senders as well as suspicious messages from known senders.
| Malware |
Update your Mac OS X — Apple has released Important Security Updates | https://thehackernews.com/2016/09/apple-mac-os-x-update.html | If you own a Mac laptop or desktop, you need to update your system right now.
It turns out that the critical zero-day security vulnerabilities disclosed last week, which targeted iPhone and iPad users, affect Mac users as well.
Late last week, Apple rolled out iOS 9.3.5 update to patch a total of three zero-day vulnerabilities that hackers could have used to remotely gain control of an iPhone by simply making the victim click a link.
Dubbed "Trident," the security holes were used to create spyware (surveillance malware) called 'Pegasus' that was apparently used to target human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor in the United Arab Emirates.
Pegasus could allow an attacker to access an incredible amount of data on a target victim, including text messages, calendar entries, emails, WhatsApp messages, user's location, microphone.
Pegasus Spyware could even allow an attacker to fully download victim's passwords and steal the stored list of WiFi networks, as well as passwords the device connected to.
Apple is now patching the same "Trident" bugs in Safari web browser on its desktop operating system, with urgent security updates for Safari 9 as well as OS X Yosemite and OS X El Capitan.
However, this is not a surprise because iOS and OS X, and mobile and desktop version of Safari browser share much of the same codebase. Therefore, zero-days in Apple's iOS showed up in OS X as well.
Pegasus exploit takes advantage of Trident bugs to remotely jailbreak and install a collection of spying software onto a victim's device, without the user's knowledge.
One of the key tools of the exploit takes advantage of a memory corruption bug in Safari WebKit, allowing hackers to deliver the malicious payload when a target victim clicks on a malicious link and initiate the process of overtaking the operating system.
In an advisory, Apple warned that visiting a "maliciously crafted website" via Safari browser could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code on a victim's computer.
The patch updates that Apple released on Thursday fix the nasty Trident bugs, including CVE-2016-4654, CVE-2016-4655, and CVE-2016-4656, which were initially discovered and reported by mobile security startup Lookout and the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab.
Based on a link sent to UAE human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor, Lookout Security, and Citizen Lab traced the three programming blunders and its Pegasus spyware kit to Israeli "cyber war" organization NSO Group, which sells hacking exploits to governments like the UAE.
Users can install security patches for Safari, El Capitan, and Yosemite via the usual software update mechanisms.
| Vulnerability |
Google, Paypal, Facebook Internal IP disclosure vulnerability | https://thehackernews.com/2012/12/google-paypal-facebook-internal-ip.html | Do you have any idea about an Internal IP Address or a Private IP Address that too assigned for Multinational Companies? Yeah, today we are gonna discuss about Internal IP or Private IP address Disclosure.
Disclosure of an Internal IP like 192.168.*.* or 172.16.*.* , can really Impact ? Most security researchers call it as "bull shit" vulnerability. But when it comes to impact calculation even if the server is behind a firewall or NAT, an attacker can see internal IP of the remote host and this may be used to further attacks.
Internet Giants like Facebook, Google, PayPal and Serious National Security organizations like FBI, Pentagon and NASA are taking initiatives for their Security Issues. At same, we at 'The Hacker News' stand together for organizations that talk about national security in a serious way.
I guess,its the time to understand about the flaws and its impacts where I would like to share my findings about our Internet Giants and Organizations.
Facebook - Internal IPv4 Address and Session Cookie Disclosure
Facebook spent $8.5 million to buy fb.com. According to the many report available on the internet says "fb.com is for Facebook Internal Use Only".
URL - https://newsroom.fb.com/v/?id=467&skip=False
Internal IP : 192.168.149.88
Session Cookie : Session Cookie Generation probably depends the administration from their admin panel located at https://newsroom.fb.com/admin/login.aspx?RefUrl=%2fadmin%2fdefault.aspx
PayPal - [ www.paypal.com & www.where.com ]
Paypal is being the largest in the e-banking business has its Internal IPv4 Address and Other Server Detail Disclosure while accessing one of its sub domain.
URL - https://ad.paypal.com/jin/info.jsp
Internal IP Range - 192.168.*.*
URL - https://www.where.com/jin/info.jsp
URL - https://api.where.com/jin/info.jsp
Google - [ Server Path Disclosure]
Recently , I came across an issue reported by an user on Google Code website to Google Team members of modpagespeed project.. mod_pagespeed is an open-source Apache module created by Google to help Make the Web Faster by rewriting web pages to reduce latency and bandwidth.
If you closely analyze the URL mentioned in the forum post you might get some encoding error. But if you access the URL via Google Web-Cache ( Interesting Part: Using Google Service to Retrieve Information of Other Google Services )
Vulnerable Domain: dl.google.com
Vulnerability: Server Path Disclosure
Steps to Reproduce: Access Google Web-Cache URL: Click Here
Cron Job Info of Google Talk, Plugins and Google Chrome
Google Talk - Cron Job Info , Path Disclosed: Cache URL
/etc/cron.daily/google-chrome
/opt/google/chrome/PepperFlash/libpepflashplayer.so
/opt/google/chrome/chrome-sandbox
/opt/google/chrome/chrome.pak
/opt/google/chrome/chrome_100_percent.pak
/opt/google/chrome/default-app-block
Google Talk Plugin - Cron Job Info, Path Disclosed: Cache URL
google-talkplugin-3.10.2.0-1.src.rpm
/etc/cron.daily/google-talkplugin
Google Chrome- Cron Job Info, Path Disclosed: Cache URL
google-chrome-beta-24.0.1312.40-172509.src.rpm
/usr/bin/google-chrome/
etc/cron.daily/google-chrome
NASA
Internal IP, Subnet mask disclosure in a publicly available file at NASA ftp (now deleted) can be seen via Google cache.
Tata Consultancy Services
TCS was also having similar internal IP disclosure flaw, recently fixed. We have a screenshot of that
In the above screenshot we can easily find the Microsoft OLDE DB provider Information and the Server Internal (Private IP Address : 192.168.15.65).
This may disclose information about the IP addressing scheme of the internal network. This information can be used to conduct further attacks.
For a hacker Information is like a treasure and gathering each and every small information = Treasure hunting. Vulnerability either low or Critical, its still remains a vulnerability.
| Vulnerability |
SQL Injection Vulnerability in 'Yahoo! Contributors Network' | https://thehackernews.com/2014/10/sql-injection-vulnerability-in-yahoo.html | Yahoo! Contributors Network (contributor.yahoo.com), the network of authors that generated the contents such as photographs, videos, articles and their knowledge to more than 600 million monthly visitors, was vulnerable to a Time based Blind SQL Injection vulnerability.
Behrouz Sadeghipour, a security researcher reported the Blind SQLi vulnerability in Yahoo!'s website that could be exploited by hackers to steal users' and authors' database, containing their personal information.
Behrouz reported this flaw to Yahoo! Security team few months back. The team responded positively and within a month they patched the vulnerability successfully. Unfortunately after that Yahoo! announced to shut down 'Yahoo Contributors Network' due to its decreasing popularity and removed all the contents from the web, except some of the "work for hire" content may remain on the web.
The critical vulnerability was able to expose the database which carried sensitive and personal information of those authors who was participating and getting paid from their work. While looking around the website, the researcher came across two vulnerabilities in the following URL/files:
https://contributor.yahoo.com/forum/search/?
https://contributor.yahoo.com//library/payments/data-table/?
The vulnerability allows remote attackers to inject own SQL commands to breach the database of the above vulnerable URLs and get access to the users' personal data.
In 2012, Yahoo! Contributors Network was hacked by a group of hackers called "D33DS Company" and "Owned and Exposed" data breach exposed stolen 453,491 email addresses and passwords online. Reportedly, at that time hackers used the same technique i.e. SQL Injection attack to carry out the data breach.
SQL INJECTION AND ITS IMPACTS
SQL Injection (SQLi) attacks have been around for over a decade. It involves inserting a malformed SQL query into an application via client-side input. SQLi vulnerabilities are ranked as Critical one because if it is used by Hackers, it will cause a database breach which will lead to confidential information leakage.
In fact, according to Veracode's 2014 State of Security Software Report , SQL injection vulnerabilities still plague 32% of all web applications.
"We are currently seeing more than 50,000 attacks per day that fall into our SQL Injection categorization. Most of them are automated and try to compromise well known vulnerabilities in common CMS's and web projects (Joomla, WordPress, vBulletin, etc)," the security researcher, David Dede, of the security firm Sucuri wrote in a blog post.
SQL INJECTION CONTINUE TO GROW
The analysis carried out by the security firms shows that the number of SQL injection attempts continue to grow as the time passes on.
"If we drill down into our data and hook it up to a geo locator we can also see that the attacks come from everywhere. Most people tend to think that Russia, Brazil, Romania and a few other countries are the "bad" sources, but for SQL injection, the top attackers come from the USA, India, Indonesia and China," the researcher added.
SQL Injections are a real threat and are being actively attacked and exploited by hackers every day. "If you are a developer you should be leveraging the OWASP SQL Injection Prevention Cheat Sheet at a minimum."
| Data_Breaches |
Hackers Spotted Using Morse Code in Phishing Attacks to Evade Detection | https://thehackernews.com/2021/08/hackers-spotted-using-morse-code-in.html | Microsoft has disclosed details of an evasive year-long social engineering campaign wherein the operators kept changing their obfuscation and encryption mechanisms every 37 days on average, including relying on Morse code, in an attempt to cover their tracks and surreptitiously harvest user credentials.
The phishing attacks take the form of invoice-themed lures mimicking financial-related business transactions, with the emails containing an HTML file ("XLS.HTML"). The ultimate objective is to harvest usernames and passwords, which are subsequently used as an initial entry point for later infiltration attempts.
Microsoft likened the attachment to a "jigsaw puzzle," noting that individual parts of the HTML file are designed to appear innocuous and slip past endpoint security software, only to reveal its true colors when these segments are decoded and assembled together. The company did not identify the hackers behind the operation.
"This phishing campaign exemplifies the modern email threat: sophisticated, evasive, and relentlessly evolving," Microsoft 365 Defender Threat Intelligence Team said in an analysis. "The HTML attachment is divided into several segments, including the JavaScript files used to steal passwords, which are then encoded using various mechanisms. These attackers moved from using plaintext HTML code to employing multiple encoding techniques, including old and unusual encryption methods like Morse code, to hide these attack segments
Opening the attachment launches a browser window that displays a fake Microsoft Office 365 credentials dialog box on top of a blurred Excel document. The dialog box shows a message urging the recipients to sign in again due to reasons that their access to the Excel document has purportedly timed out. In the event the user enters the password, the individual is alerted that the typed password is incorrect, while the malware stealthily harvests the information in the background.
The campaign is said to have undergone 10 iterations since its discovery in July 2020, with the adversary periodically switching up its encoding methods to mask the malicious nature of the HTML attachment and the different attack segments contained within the file.
Microsoft said it detected the use of Morse code in the attacks' February and May 2021 waves, while later variants of the phishing kit were found to direct the victims to a legitimate Office 365 page instead of showing a fake error message once the passwords were entered.
"Email-based attacks continue to make novel attempts to bypass email security solutions," the researchers said. "In the case of this phishing campaign, these attempts include using multilayer obfuscation and encryption mechanisms for known existing file types, such as JavaScript. Multilayer obfuscation in HTML can likewise evade browser security solutions.
| Cyber_Attack |
AwSnap! New Hack Can Crash Chrome Browsers of Mass Audience | https://thehackernews.com/2015/04/awsnap-chrome-crash.html | Few weeks back, we reported how a string of just 13 characters could cause your tab in Chrome to crash instantly. However, there was an exception that this special 13 characters string was only working on Mac OS X computers with no impact on Windows, Android, or iOS operating systems.
Now, a recent hack against Chrome browser could crash your Chrome version 41 and above for Mac OS X, Windows and Chrome OS.
At the time of writing, Chrome 41 seems to crash on long and/or malformed URLs. The details of this crash bug, dubbed as AwSnap, is described on Github.
Warning: DO NOT CLICK on this LINK, which actually points to a Reddit thread that crashes Chrome browser because a Reddit user-submitted post containing the crash content. Just like a post, crashing a thread via a comment is also possible.
Chrome crash occurs only when accessing the long and/or malformed URLs through a web server, which means using file:// will not crash your Chrome browser.
Examples of long and/or malformed URLs that cause the Chrome browser to crash:
The crash issue appears to be small but is really serious, as it is possible for anyone to post the malformed URLs on a discussion forum, such as Reddit, and make the thread unavailable to all users. So, we recommend our users to do not post or drop the malformed URLs in comments or on your Facebook timeline.
At the time of writing, the AwSnap bug has been confirmed in Chrome 41 and patched in Chrome 42, & 43 running on MacOS, Windows and Chrome OS. However, there are mixed reports on Ubuntu.
| Vulnerability |
3 New Code Execution Flaws Discovered in Atlantis Word Processor | https://thehackernews.com/2018/11/word-processor-vulnerability.html | This is why you should always think twice before opening innocent looking email attachments, especially word and pdf files.
Cybersecurity researchers at Cisco Talos have once again discovered multiple critical security vulnerabilities in the Atlantis Word Processor that allow remote attackers to execute arbitrary code and take over affected computers.
An alternative to Microsoft Word, Atlantis Word Processor is a fast-loading word processor application that allows users to create, read and edit word documents effortlessly. It can also be used to convert TXT, RTF, ODT, DOC, WRI, or DOCX documents to ePub.
Just 50 days after disclosing 8 code execution vulnerabilities in previous versions of Atlantis Word Processor, Talos team today revealed details and proof-of-concept exploits for 3 more remote code execution vulnerabilities in the application.
All the three vulnerabilities, listed below, allow attackers to corrupt the application's memory and execute arbitrary code under the context of the application.
Incorrect Calculation of Buffer Size (CVE-2018-4038) — an exploitable arbitrary write vulnerability resides in the open document format parser of Atlantis Word Processor while trying to null-terminate a string.
Improper Validation of Array Index (CVE-2018-4039) — an out-of-bounds write vulnerability exists in the PNG implementation of.
Use of Uninitialized Variable (CVE-2018-4040) — an exploitable uninitialized pointer vulnerability exists in the rich text format parser of Atlantis Word Processor.
All these vulnerabilities affect Atlantis Word Processor versions 3.2.7.1, 3.2.7.2 and can be exploited by convincing a victim into opening a specially crafted malicious booby-trapped document.
Talos researchers responsibly reported all the vulnerabilities to the developers of the affected software, who have now released an updated version 3.2.10.1 that addresses the issues.
If you haven't yet, you are highly advised to update your word processing software to the latest version and security enthusiasts who are interested in learning more about these issues can head on to Talos blog for technical details.
The easiest way to prevent yourself from being a victim of attacks leveraging such vulnerabilities is never to open any document provided in an email from unknown or untrusted sources.
| Malware |
Tor-enabled Point-of-Sale malware 'ChewBacca' stole Credit Card data from 11 Countries | https://thehackernews.com/2014/01/tor-enabled-point-of-sale-malware.html | After the massive data breaches at U.S retailers Target and Neiman Marcus in which financial credentials of more than 110 million and 1.1 million customers were compromised respectively, shows that the Point of Sale (POS) system has become a new target for the cyber criminals.
Despite the BlackPOS malware of Point of Sale (POS) system that comes out as the major cause of these data breaches, malware writers are upgrading and developing more Trojans to target POS system.
In December, the security researchers at anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab discovered a Tor-based banking trojan, dubbed "ChewBacca"_x0081_, that was initially categorized as a Financial trojan, but recently security researchers at RSA have uncovered that 'ChewBacca' is also capable of stealing credit card details from point of sale systems.
'ChewBacca', a relatively new and private Trojan, used in the 11 countries as a POS malware is behind the electronic theft. ChewBacca communicates with its C&C (Command and Control) server over the Tor network obscuring the IP addresses of parties.
ChewBacca steals data from the POS system in two ways:
Generic keylogger that captures all the keystrokes.
Memory scanner that reads process memory and dumps the credit card details.
The botnet has been collecting track 1 and track 2 data of payment card since October 25, according to RSA.
During installation, ChewBacca creates a copy of itself as a file named "spoolsv.exe"and place it in the windows Start > Startup folder, so that it can automatically start-up at the login time.
After installation, the keylogger program creates a log file called "system.log" inside the system %temp% folder that contains the keystroke events along with the window focus changes.
"The ChewBacca Trojan appears to be a simple piece of malware that, despite its lack of sophistication and defense mechanisms, succeeded in stealing payment card information from several dozen retailers around the world in a little more than two months."
Neither the RSA nor the Kaspersky descriptions explain how the ChewBacca bot is propagated, but the RSA investigation has observed it mostly in the US and also detected in 10 other countries, including Russia, Canada and Australia.
The RSA has provided the data to the FBI on the ChewBacca operation, including the location of a command-and-control server used by the hackers.
They advised retailers to increase staffing levels and develop leading-edge capabilities to detect and stop attackers (comprehensive monitoring and incident response), encrypt or tokenize data at the point of capture and ensure that it is not in plain text view on their networks, thereby shifting the risk and burden of protection to the card issuers and their payment processors.
| Malware |
Dutch Police arrested TorRAT Malware Gang for stealing over Million Dollar | https://thehackernews.com/2013/10/dutch-police-arrested-torrat-malware.html | The TorRAT malware was first appeared in 2012 as spying tool only. But from August 2012, Bitcoin Mining feature was added and it became a powerful hacking tool that was commonly associated with attacks on Financial institutions.
ab
This year TorRat Malware targeted two out of three major Banks in the Netherlands and the criminals stole over Million Dollars from user' Banking Accounts.
The Dutch police has arrested four men from Alkmaar, Haarlem, Woubrugge and Roden on last Monday, who are suspected of involvement in the large scale digital fraud and money laundering case using TorRat Malware.
Using Spear Phishing techniques, gang targeted the victims to access their computers and the Financial accounts. The gang used anonymous VPN services, Bitcoins, TorMail and the Tor network itself to remain anonymous.
Malware is also capable of manipulating the information during online banking, can secretly add new payment orders and also able to modify existing orders.
To defend the detection from Antivirus softwares, TorRat uses the ZeuS malware in its attack. The technique was used to divert the focus of researchers to remove ZeuS infection, rather than the unknown malware on the system.
Some of the stolen money was converted by criminals to (56 BTC worth around 7700 Euros) Bitcoin virtual currency, which are now seized by Dutch police. Police also mentioned that, one of arrested criminal having his own Bitcoin exchange service.
The TorRAT malware has been known to be distributed in multiple ways. In April, TorRat was in news for hijacking twitter accounts. After infecting a vulnerable computers, the TorRAT malware hijacks the Twitter user's account and share links that lead to attack websites that attempt to inject TorRAT malware into the victim's computer.
The main reason why this particular attack is so effective is because victims are essentially receiving links to the TorRAT malware from sources they trust; accounts that they follow on Twitter. TorRAT malware involves using Man-in-the-Browser (MitB) tactics to infect computers through vulnerabilities in their Web browser. These kinds of attacks were used to take over a victim's online banking account.
They made more than 150 fraudulent transactions for victim's accounts and Police said that, because Gang was operating from the Netherlands, so tracking them become possible.
| Malware |
Apple Releases dozens of Security Updates to Fix OS X and iOS Flaws | https://thehackernews.com/2015/07/apple-security-updates.html | Apple has released updates to patch dozens of security vulnerabilities in iOS and OS X Yosemite operating system.
The updates include iOS 8.4 version of the mobile operating system, OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 and Security Update 2015-005.
iOS 8.4 Update
The iOS 8.4 update includes patches for over 20 security vulnerabilities that could lead to remote code execution (RCE), application termination, the intercepted encrypted traffic, man-in-the-middle attacks and other problem.
Certificate trust policy issues, buffer overflow vulnerabilities, apache compatibility issues, memory corruption flaws, and a host of WebKit, kernel, and CoreText vulnerabilities were also patched in the latest iOS update.
OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 update
The OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 update includes patches for QuickTime, ImageIO, and OpenSSL along with Remote Code Execution (RCE) flaws and other issues that may allow attackers to gain elevated privileges or crash applications.
The Safari 8.0.7 update patches four vulnerabilities in the WebKit browser engine that could allow an attacker to remotely execute code, view WebSQL databases, steal account information and pilfer cookie information from a targeted Mac.
Logjam Issue Resolved
The iPad and iPhone update also addresses the Logjam flaw, a cryptographic weakness in algorithms used by the "Diffie-Hellman key exchange" that allows protocols like HTTPS, SSH, SMTPS, IPsec to negotiate a secret key and create secure communication channels.
Mac owners are recommended to grab the OS X Yosemite version 10.10.4 and the latest Security Update 2015-005 now. It advisory details the same patches for many issues present in iOS as well as many additional vulnerabilities.
Update Now
Mac OS X users can download and install the updates through the Software Update tool. iPhone and iPad users can grab the update through the "General" tab in the Settings app and then click the Software Update tab to continue.
| Vulnerability |
Marriott Faces $123 Million GDPR Fine Over Starwood Data Breach | https://thehackernews.com/2019/07/marriott-data-breach-gdpr.html | After fining British Airways with a record fine of £183 million earlier this week, the UK's data privacy regulator is now planning to slap world's biggest hotel chain Marriott International with a £99 million ($123 million) fine under GDPR over 2014 data breach.
This is the second major penalty notice in the last two days that hit companies for failing to protect its customers' personal and financial information compromised and implement adequate security measures.
In November 2018, Marriott discovered that unknown hackers compromised their guest reservation database through its Starwood hotels subsidiary and walked away with personal details of approximately 339 million guests.
The compromised database leaked guests' names, mailing addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, gender, arrival and departure information, reservation date, and communication preferences.
The breach, which likely happened in 2014, also exposed unencrypted passport numbers for at least 5 million users and credit card records of eight million customers.
According to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), nearly 30 million residents of 31 countries in the European and 7 million UK residents were impacted by the Marriott data breach.
The ICO's investigation found that Marriott failed to undertake sufficient due diligence when it bought Starwood and should also have done more to secure its systems.
Last year, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was introduced in Europe that forces companies to make sure the way they collect, process, and store data are safe.
"The GDPR makes it clear that organizations must be accountable for the personal data they hold. This can include carrying out proper due diligence when making a corporate acquisition, and putting in place proper accountability measures to assess not only what personal data has been acquired, but also how it is protected," Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said.
"Personal data has real value so organizations have a legal duty to ensure its security, just like they would do with any other asset. If that doesn't happen, we will not hesitate to take strong action when necessary to protect the rights of the public."
Marriott International's president Arne Sorenson said the company was "disappointed" with the ICO's announcement and would contest the fine.
| Cyber_Attack |
CVE-2012-2122 : Serious Mysql Authentication Bypass Vulnerability | https://thehackernews.com/2012/06/cve-2012-2122-serious-mysql.html | CVE-2012-2122 : Serious Mysql Authentication Bypass Vulnerability
A serious security bug in MariaDB and MySQL Disclosed, According to Advisory All MariaDB and MySQL versions up to 5.1.61, 5.2.11, 5.3.5, 5.5.22 are vulnerable. This issue got assigned an id CVE-2012-2122.
"When a user connects to MariaDB/MySQL, a token (SHAover a password and a random scramble string) is calculated and comparedwith the expected value. Because of incorrect casting, it might'vehappened that the token and the expected value were considered equal,even if the memcmp() returned a non-zero value. In this caseMySQL/MariaDB would think that the password is correct, even while it isnot. Because the protocol uses random strings, the probability ofhitting this bug is about 1/256."
"Which means, if one knows a user name to connect (and "root" almostalways exists), she can connect using *any* password by repeatingconnection attempts. ~300 attempts takes only a fraction of second, sobasically account password protection is as good as nonexistent.Any client will do, there's no need for a special libmysqlclient library."
The following one-liner in bash will provide access to an affected MySQL server as the root user account, without actually knowing the password.
$ for i in `seq 1 1000`; do mysql -u root --password=bad -h 127.0.0.1 2>/dev/null; done
mysql>
Defense: The first rule of securing MySQL is to not expose to the network at large in the first place. Most Linux distributions bind the MySQL daemon to localhost, preventing remote access to the service. In cases where network access must be provided, MySQL also provides host-based access controls. There are few use cases where the MySQL daemon should be intentionally exposed to the wider network and without any form of host-based access control.
the easiest thing to do is to modify the my.cnf file in order to restrict access to the local system. Open my.cnf with the editor of your choice, find the section labeled [mysqld] and change (or add a new line to set) the "bind-address" parameter to "127.0.0.1". Restart the MySQL service to apply this setting.
Note: Download The Latest Exploits for CVE-2012-2122 From our TOOLS YARD section.
| Vulnerability |
Facebook Finds 'No Evidence' Hackers Accessed Connected Third-Party Apps | https://thehackernews.com/2018/10/facebook-token-hacking.html | When Facebook last weekend disclosed a massive data breach—that compromised access tokens for more than 50 million accounts—many feared that the stolen tokens could have been used to access other third-party services, including Instagram and Tinder, through Facebook login.
Good news is that Facebook found no evidence "so far" that proves such claims.
In a blog post published Tuesday, Facebook security VP Guy Rosen revealed that investigators "found no evidence" of hackers accessing third-party apps with its "Login with Facebook" feature.
"We have now analyzed our logs for all third-party apps installed or logged in during the attack we discovered last week. That investigation has so far found no evidence that the attackers accessed any apps using Facebook Login," Rosen says.
This does not mean that the stolen access tokens that had already been revoked by Facebook do not pose any threat to thousands of third-party services using Facebook Login, as the company explains it depends upon how websites validate their users access tokens.
Many websites that do not use Facebook's official SDKs to regularly validate their users access tokens could still allow attackers to access users' accounts using revoked access tokens.
In order to help such websites, Facebook is building a tool that will enable developers to "manually identify the users of their apps who may have been affected, so that they can log them out."
"Any developer using our official Facebook SDKs — and all those that have regularly checked the validity of their users' access tokens – were automatically protected when we reset people's access tokens," Rosen says.
While announcing its worst-ever data breach last week, Facebook said unknown hackers had exploited a chain of vulnerabilities in its code to steal 50 million accounts tokens—digital keys that keep users logged in, so they don't need to re-enter their credentials every time they use the app.
The social media giant fixed the issue on Thursday night and forcefully logged 90 million users out of their accounts as a precaution by resetting their access tokens.
Even after Facebook announced that it found no evidence of hackers accessing third-party services that use Facebook's single sign-on in the massive attack, some of those services are taking necessary steps to safeguard their users.
For example, Uber has precautionarily expired all active Facebook-based login sessions temporarily after the data breach, while the company is still investigating the breach at its end.
The social media giant has yet to disclose the attackers responsible for the massive attack, their origins, and the data they may have stolen from the affected 50 million Facebook users.
The Irish Data Protection Commission said that less than 10 percent of the 50 million users (which equals to five million users) attacked in the breach are based in the European Union (EU), where Facebook can be fined up to $1.63 billion under the nation's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) if it did not find doing enough to protect the security of users.
| Cyber_Attack |
BlackBerry Enterprise Server vulnerable to malicious image file | https://thehackernews.com/2011/08/blackberry-enterprise-server-vulnerable.html | BlackBerry Enterprise Server vulnerable to malicious image file
There are remotely and easily exploitable vulnerabilities in the BlackBerry Enterprise Server that could allow an attacker to gain access to the server by simply sending a malicious image file to a user's BlackBerry device.
The vulnerabilities are in several version of BES for Exchange, Lotus Domino and Novell GroupWise, and Research in Motion said that an attacker who is able to exploit one of the bugs might also be able to move from the compromised BES server to other parts of the network. The company has issued a patch for the BES flaws and says that they are at the top of the severity scale in terms of exploitability.
The vulnerability in both the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service and the BlackBerry Messaging Agent is related to the way that the components handle PNG and TIFF image files. Exploiting the vulnerabilities can be as easy as sending a malicious PNG or TIFF file to a BlackBerry user. In some scenarios, the user wouldn't even need to open the email or click on a link in order to complete the attack.
"Successful exploitation of any of these vulnerabilities might allow an attacker to gain access to and execute code on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. Depending on the privileges available to the configured BlackBerry Enterprise Server service account, the attacker might also be able to extend access to other non-segmented parts of the network," RIM said in its advisory.
[Source]
| Vulnerability |
540 Million Facebook User Records Found On Unprotected Amazon Servers | https://thehackernews.com/2019/04/facebook-app-database.html | It's been a bad week for Facebook users.
First, the social media company was caught asking some of its new users to share passwords for their registered email accounts and now…
...the bad week gets worse with a new privacy breach.
More than half a billion records of millions of Facebook users have been found exposed on unprotected Amazon cloud servers.
The exposed datasets do not directly come from Facebook; instead, they were collected and unsecurely stored online by third-party Facebook app developers.
Researchers at the cybersecurity firm UpGuard today revealed that they discovered two datasets—one from a Mexican media company called Cultura Colectiva and another from a Facebook-integrated app called "At the pool"—both left publicly accessible on the Internet.
More than 146 GB of data collected by Cultura Colectiva contains over 540 million Facebook user records, including comments, likes, reactions, account names, Facebook user IDs, and more.
The second dataset belonging to "At the Pool" app contains information about users' friends, likes, groups, and checked-in locations, as well as "names, plaintext passwords and email addresses for 22,000 people."
Though UpGuard believes the plaintext passwords found in the database were for the At the Pool app, and not for users' Facebook accounts, given the fact that people frequently re-use the same passwords for multiple apps, many of the leaked passwords could be used to access Facebook accounts.
"As Facebook faces scrutiny over its data stewardship practices, they have made efforts to reduce third-party access. But as these exposures show, the data genie cannot be put back in the bottle. Data about Facebook users have been spread far beyond the bounds of what Facebook can control today," experts at UpGuard said.
Both datasets were stored in unsecured Amazon S3 buckets, which have now been secured and taken offline after Upguard, Facebook and media contacted Amazon.
This is not the first time third-party companies have collected or misused Facebook data and sometimes leaked it to the public.
The most famous incident is the Cambridge Analytica scandal wherein the political data firm improperly gathered and misused data on 87 million users through a seemingly innocuous quiz app, for which the social media giant is facing £500,000 EU fine.
Though Facebook has since then tightened up its privacy controls ensuring apps use their access appropriately, the social media company is still facing intense pressure and criticism for not doing enough to offer better privacy and security to its 2.3 billion users.
| Data_Breaches |
Firefox 17 Beta Released with Click-to-Play Plugins for blocking vulnerable Plugins | https://thehackernews.com/2012/10/firefox-17-beta-released-with-click-to.html | Last week, Mozilla announced it will prompt Firefox users on Windows with old versions of Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash, and Microsoft Silverlight, but refused to detail how the system will work. Finally today Firefox 17 is now in beta and with it is a very cool feature, click-to-play plugins.
When a user lands on a site that requires the use of a plugin, say Adobe Flash, if the version running in the user's browser is on the list of known vulnerable applications, Mozilla will disable it and show the user a message saying that she needs to update the plugin.
"By combining the safety of the blocklist with the flexibility of click-to-play, we now have an even more effective method of dealing with vulnerable or out-of-date plugins." Mozilla wrote on blog. Mozilla is still working on implementing the controls, which would allow you to block all plugins by default and then pick where you want them to run.
As already mentioned, this feature will be enabled by default in Firefox 17. There is, however, an about:config preference "plugins.click_to_play" that can be set to true to enable click-to-play for all plugins, not just out-of-date ones. Mozilla says it is still developing this part.
The main motivation behind this plugin is to prevent users' systems against drive-by attacks that target vulnerable plugins.
Subscribe to our Daily News-letter via email - Be First to know about Security and Hackers.
| Vulnerability |
FBI Suggests Ransomware Victims — 'Just Pay the Ransom Money' | https://thehackernews.com/2015/10/fbi-ransomware-malware.html | Your Headache is not my Problem.
If your computer gets hacked and infected with malware that holds your data for ransom, just pay off the criminals to see your valuable data again and do not expect the FBI to save them – it's what the FBI is advising concerning ransomware.
Ransomware is a sophisticated malicious software that lets hacker encrypts all the contents of a victim's hard drive or/and server and demands ransom (typically in Bitcoins) for the decrypt key.
Also Read: Free Ransomware Decryption and Malware Removal ToolKit
Federal agencies and the FBI have long urged people not to pay ransom to the criminals, as there is no guarantee that they will even receive an unlock key.
The FBI – 'Better Pay up the Ransom'
However, while speaking at the 2015 Cyber Security Summit on Wednesday, Assistant Special Agent Joseph Bonavolonta, who oversees the FBI's Boston office, advised the companies infected with ransomware to better pay up the ransom, according to a recent report by Security Ledger.
"The ransomware is that good," said Bonavolonta. "To be honest, we often advise people just to pay the ransom."
So, is the FBI now sure that Paying Ransom would save the victim's data?
Malicious programs such as Cryptolocker, Cryptowall, and Reveton uses "ultra secure" encryption algorithms to encrypt victims' data, and the key to decrypt data can cost victims from $200 to $10,000.
However, even after paying this much of amount, there is no guarantee that victims will receive the key to recovering their data.
Even the police are not immune to Ransomware attacks. Cryptowall – currently the most widespread malware used – alone made criminal hackers over 18 Million in dollars from April 2014 to June 2015.
Due to the success of ransomware on such a vast scale, Bonavolonta said hackers are likely to keep their ransom demands low in an attempt to maximize profit. For this reason, they are mostly honest, he said, adding, "You do get your access back."
Also Read: Anyone can Now Create their Own Ransomware using This Hacking ToolKit
This advice from the FBI agent counters many public advisories on the ransomware. Also, not everyone would agree with what Bonavolonta advised because fulfilling demands of bad guys is equivalent to encouraging their bad practices.
Prevention is the Best Practice
As I previously recommended, the best defense measure against Ransomware is creating awareness within the organizations, as well as maintaining backups that are rotated regularly.
Most viruses are introduced by opening infected attachments or clicking on links to malware usually contained in spam emails. So, DO NOT CLICK on links provided in emails and attachments from unknown sources.
Also Read: Ransomware Attacks Threaten Wearable Devices and Internet of Things
Moreover, ensure that your systems are running the latest version of Antivirus software with up to date malware definitions.
| Malware |
THN Weekly Roundup — 15 Most Popular Cyber Security and Hacking News Stories | https://thehackernews.com/2015/09/hackernews-popular-updates.html | We are once again here with our weekly round up based on last week's top cyber security threats and challenges.
I recommend you to read the entire thing (just click 'Read More' because there's some valuable advice in there as well).
Here's the list:
1. Reminder! If You have not yet, Turn Off Windows 10 Keylogger Now
Microsoft is very powerful in tracking every single word you type or say to its digital assistant Cortana using its newest Windows 10 operating system.
The keylogger that Microsoft put in the Technical Preview of Windows 10 last fall made its way to Windows 10 Free public release first rolled out back in July.
Besides various Windows 10 privacy issues, there is a software component that is a bit more complicated than you thought. It tracks your inputs using:
Keyboard
Voice
Screen
Mouse
Stylus
Information about your Calendar and Contacts
If this keylogger, which is more than just a keylogger, makes you feel creepy then need not to worry, because the good news is — You can Turn Off this Keylogger.
For detailed information and to know how You can Turn Off this Keylogger – Read more.
2. 200 Million WhatsApp Users Vulnerable to vCard Vulnerability
A dangerous security vulnerability discovered in Whatsapp last week affected 200 Million WhatsApp Web users.
The web-based extension of WhatsApp was found vulnerable to a vCard exploit that could have allowed hackers to trick users into installing malware on their computers including:
Remote Access Tools (RATs)
Ransomware
Bots
Other malicious software
Here's How the WhatsApp Exploit Works – Read more.
3. 11 Million Ashley Madison Passwords Cracked In Just 10 Days
Last month, Ashley Madison hackers leaked about 100 GB of sensitive data belonging to the popular extramarital affair website 'Ashley Madison', which includes the source code of company's website, users' details, and hashed passwords.
However, the Password Cracking Team 'CynoSure Prime' has cracked more than 11 Million user passwords within ten days.
Moreover, a member of the team shared the same list of passwords online, and the calculations were terrible.
The top 5 most used passwords by Ashley Madison customers were:
123456
12345
password
DEFAULT
and 123456789.
For more in-depth information – Read more.
4. Microsoft is Auto-Downloading Windows 10 to PCs without your Knowledge, But Here's How to Stop
Microsoft is auto-downloading Windows 10 installation files — up to 6GB — onto users' PCs even if the users have not opted into the upgrade.
The company has dropped and saved a hidden $Windows.~BT folder on your computer's primary (C) drive, if you are running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1.
Doing so, Microsoft is not only consuming your device storage space but also stealing your Internet bandwidth for large unrequested files, i.e., up to 6 gigabytes.
Until the company provides some official fix to this issue, here are some methods that you can use to stop Microsoft from auto-downloading Windows 10 installation files onto your PCs.
5. Samsung Launches 6GB RAM Chips for Next-Generation Smartphones
Samsung was the first one to bring 4GB RAM access in the Android mobile phones with the launch of Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, and now…
…the company has again taken a step further with the launch of 12GB LPDDR4 (low power, double data rate 4) DRAM Chip to offer 6GB RAM for its Next Generation Smartphones and tablets.
The next generation mobile devices are supposed to be equipped with new mobile DRAM chip to enable increased capacity and fastest speed; simultaneously providing essentials including:
Excellent energy efficiency
Reliability
Smooth multitasking
Ease of design
Better performance with the compatible operating system
For more information – Read more.
6. Russian Hackers Hijack Satellite To Steal Data from Thousands of Hacked Computers
Turla APT (Advanced Persistent Threat), a group of Russian hackers, is hijacking commercial satellites to hide its command-and-control operations.
Turla is a sophisticated Russian cyber-espionage group, believed to be sponsored by the Russian government, with a number of high-profile targets including:
government
military
embassy
research,
and pharmaceutical organizations...
...from over 45 countries, such as China, Vietnam, and the United States.
The group is now taking advantage of the fact that older satellites orbiting around the Earth do not come with support for encrypted connections and rely on unsuspecting users of the satellite Internet service providers across the world. – Read more.
7. How to Remove KeyRaider Malware that Hacked Over 225,000 iOS Devices
At the end of last month, security researchers discovered an iPhone malware, dubbed "KeyRaider," that stole more than 225,000 credentials from jailbroken Apple devices.
KeyRaider, as the malware raids victims' username and passwords, private keys, and certificates, is spreading via the popular Cydia app repositories and is capable of performing:
Ransomware Attacks
Data Theft
DDoS Attacks
However, jailbreak users may implement some measures to mitigate the risk of KeyRaider malware.
Here's Steps to Remove KeyRaider Malware – Read More.
8. Warning! Seagate Wireless Hard Drives Have a Secret Backdoor for Hackers
Yes, you heard right. Security researchers uncovered an undocumented Telnet services with a hard-coded password in Seagate Wireless Hard Drives.
The researchers found a vulnerability (CVE-2015-2874) with an inbuilt user account (default username and password — "root") that could have allowed an attacker to access the device remotely, leaving users' data vulnerable to theft.
Affected devices include:
Seagate Wireless Plus Mobile Storage
Seagate Wireless Mobile Storage (Wirelessly streaming your tablet and smartphone's data)
LaCie FUEL (Wirelessly extending storage for iPads)
Fortunately, there's an easy fix. For patch and more information – Read more.
9. China Police Arrest 15,000 Suspects for Alleged Cyber Crimes
As part of its six-month long operation dubbed "Cleaning the Internet," China Police arrested nearly 15,000 people on suspicion of cyber crimes last month.
Besides the arrest of around 15,000 suspects, Police also suspended more than 190,000 illegal online websites featuring vulgar contents including advertisements for pornography, firearms, explosives, and gambling. – Read More.
10. Android Stagefright Exploit Code Released
Zimperium team finally released the CVE-2015-1538 Stagefright Exploit to the public, demonstrating the process of Remote Code Execution (RCE).
The Stagefright vulnerability allows a hacker to reveal victim's information by injecting malicious code remotely, even without any involvements of the victim.
The purpose of the public release of the exploit code is to put penetration testers and security researchers to test and check the code and analyze the results.
11. Ashley Madison's Parent Company Secretly Running Online Escort Services
Avid Life Media, the company that owns Ashley Madison, was secretly running an Online Escort Service, leaked documents revealed last week.
An internal memo leaked by the Ashley Madison hackers revealed that Avid Life was running an Escorts.ca website that was similar to other online escort services.
Besides running Escorts.ca, Avid Life Media was actively recruiting escorts for another website it owned, called "Arrangement Finders" – "sugar daddy" website with tagline is "Intimacy with a Twi$t." – Read more.
12. URRGH! Evil app Watches YOU WATCHING PORN and takes your snaps
Watching Porn? Maybe the porn app you have installed on your Android smartphone could be taking your snaps to blackmail you for money.
Security researchers has uncovered an Android pornography application called Adult Player that promises free pornographic videos, but actually is taking your photographs to extort you for $500 (£330) ransom – a whole new way of Cyber Extortion.
For detailed information and know how to get rid of this Android Ransomware app – Read more.
13. Contactless Fingerprint Scanner Captures Your Prints from Meters Away
We all are aware of Fingerprint Biometric Readers that requires our touch to authenticate our identity to be authorized.
However, the latest research conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) indicates that the future of fingerprint scanners lies in a "no-touch" activity by an individual for gaining authorization.
The Contactless Fingerprint Scanners, dubbed 'fast-capture non-contact' devices as NIST calls it, is capable of sensing and reading your fingerprint information while you are standing few meters away from the scanner.
For more in-depth information – Read more.
14. Microsoft Releases 12 Security Updates
In this month's Tuesday Patch Update, Microsoft addressed a total of 56 vulnerabilities in its different products. The updates included five critical, out of which two of them addressed vulnerabilities in all versions of Windows.
For detailed information on each and every update and their security patches – Read more.
15. How to Track Stolen Devices using Mac Addresses
An Iowa police officer David Schwindt has developed a sniffing software, dubbed L8NT (short for Latent analysis of 802.11 Network Traffic), that helps police find more stolen properties.
L8NT is a specialized wireless dongle with an antenna that scans for and locates MAC addresses associated with the known stolen devices.
For detailed information on working of L8NT – Read more.
| Malware |
Beware of New Celebrity Sex Tape (Scam) Leaked on Facebook! | https://thehackernews.com/2016/12/facebook-scam-malware.html | If you came across a celebrity sex video on Facebook featuring Jessica Alba or any other celebrity, just avoid clicking it.
Another Facebook scam is circulating across the social networking website that attempts to trick Facebook users into clicking on a link for a celebrity sex tape that instead downloads malware onto their computers.
Once installed, the malware would force web browsers to display aggressive advertising web pages which include sites with nudity and fake lotteries.
The spam campaign was uncovered by researchers at Cyren, who noted that a malicious Google Chrome extension is spreading nude celebrity PDFs through private messages and posts on various Facebook groups.
If opened, the PDF file takes victims to a web page with an image containing a play button, tricking users that the PDF may contain a video.
Once clicked, the link redirects users of Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari to a web page with overly-aggressive popups and advertisements related to nudity and fake lottery.
But on the other hand, this celebrity sex tape scam makes the matter worse for Google Chrome users.
The Scam is Fatal for Google Chrome Users
Once clicked on the scam link, Chrome desktop users are redirected to a fake YouTube page that leads up a pop-up window inviting victims to install a Google Chrome extension to view the videos.
Once victims get to install the malicious extension, the browser directs users to the Facebook.com login page and prompt them to re-authenticate, allowing attackers to collect Facebook users' credentials and then use their accounts to spread the malicious campaign further.
When analyzed the Chrome extension's source code, the Cyren team discovered that the extension comes with support for monitoring and intercepting web traffic in real-time, to determine what users can access through their browsers.
The malicious Chrome extension contains a long list of Antivirus and AntiSpam domains that it blocks and prevents the user from opening.
Besides this, the malicious Chrome extension also prevents victims from accessing the Chrome Extensions settings page, so that victims can not disable the malicious add-on.
"It also blocks the chrome extensions and chrome devtools tabs from being opened, preventing the user from uninstalling the malicious Chrome extension," the researchers say.
The PDF uploaded to Facebook is generated by selecting the name of a celebrity randomly from the script file and combining the selected name with random characters.
The name of celebrities includes Selena Gomez, Jessica Alba, Jennifer Lawrence, Hilary Duff, Paris Hilton, Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, Scarlett Johansson, Kelly Brook, Doutzen Kroes, Elodie Varlet and Nicki Minaj.
According to Cyren researchers, the cyber criminals behind this malicious spam campaign managed to upload their extension to the Chrome Web Store, though the extension has since been removed by the Google's security team.
How to remove the Malicious Chrome Extension?
To remove this malicious extension, the infected users would first have to delete the Registry key from the Registry Editor.
To do this, Go to Start Button → Type "regedit" in the Search/Run option, which will open the Windows Registry Editor.
Now, use the side menu in the new window to find the folder below, right-click it and select "Remove."
This is the path to the Registry Editor:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Google\Chrome\Extension
Now the second step is to remove the extension from the browser. Since the malicious Chrome extension prevents victims from accessing the native Chrome Extensions settings page, one must remove the extension by deleting the following folder from one's PC.
C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions
This action will remove all Chrome extensions from your computer. You have no option other than deleting the folder completely to get rid of the malicious threat, as you can not access the Chrome Extensions settings page to get the ID of the malicious extension.
Last but not the least, no celebrity recently have had their sex tape leaked (at least not one that's available online). So if you come across any link claiming to show a leaked sex tape of Jessica Alba, Jennifer Lawrence or any other, remember just to report it.
| Malware |
SolarWinds Hack — New Evidence Suggests Potential Links to Chinese Hackers | https://thehackernews.com/2021/03/solarwinds-hack-new-evidence-suggests.html | A malicious web shell deployed on Windows systems by leveraging a previously undisclosed zero-day in SolarWinds' Orion network monitoring software may have been the work of a possible Chinese threat group.
In a report published by Secureworks on Monday, the cybersecurity firm attributed the intrusions to a threat actor it calls Spiral.
Back on December 22, 2020, Microsoft disclosed that a second espionage group may have been abusing the IT infrastructure provider's Orion software to drop a persistent backdoor called Supernova on target systems.
The findings were also corroborated by cybersecurity firms Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 threat intelligence team and GuidePoint Security, both of whom described Supernova as a .NET web shell implemented by modifying an "app_web_logoimagehandler.ashx.b6031896.dll" module of the SolarWinds Orion application.
The alterations were made possible not by breaching the SolarWinds app update infrastructure but instead by leveraging an authentication bypass vulnerability in the Orion API tracked as CVE-2020-10148, in turn allowing a remote attacker to execute unauthenticated API commands.
"Unlike Solorigate [aka Sunburst], this malicious DLL does not have a digital signature, which suggests that this may be unrelated to the supply chain compromise," Microsoft had noted.
While the Sunburst campaign has since been formally linked to Russia, the origins of Supernova remained a mystery until now.
According to Secureworks Counter Threat Unit (CTU) researchers — who discovered the malware in November 2020 while responding to a hack in one of its customers' networks — "the immediate and targeted nature of the lateral movement suggests that Spiral had prior knowledge of the network."
During the course of further investigation, the firm said it found similarities between the incident and that of a prior intrusion activity on the same network uncovered in August 2020, which had been accomplished by exploiting a vulnerability in a product known as ManageEngine ServiceDesk as early as 2018.
"CTU researchers were initially unable to attribute the August activity to any known threat groups," the researchers said. "However, the following similarities to the Spiral intrusion in late 2020 suggest that the Spiral threat group was responsible for both intrusions."
The connection to China stems from the fact that attacks targeting ManageEngine servers have long been associated with threat groups located in the country, not to mention the modus operandi of exploiting long-term persistence to collect credentials, exfiltrate sensitive data, and plunder intellectual property.
But more solid evidence arrived in the form of an IP address that geolocated to China, which the researchers said came from a host that was used by the attackers to run Secureworks's endpoint detection and response (EDR) software for reasons best known to the threat actor, suggesting the software may have been stolen from the compromised customer.
"The threat group likely downloaded the endpoint agent installer from the network and executed it on the attacker-managed infrastructure," the researchers detailed. "The exposure of the IP address was likely unintentional, so its geolocation supports the hypothesis that the Spiral threat group operates out of China."
It's worth pointing out that SolarWinds addressed Supernova in an update to Orion Platform released on December 23, 2020.
| Cyber_Attack |
Phoenix Exploit's Kit 2.8 mini version | https://thehackernews.com/2011/10/phoenix-exploits-kit-28-mini-version.html | Phoenix Exploit's Kit 2.8 mini version
Back in April of this year, we reported the leak of Phoenix Exploit Kit 2.5. The version currently in circulation is 2.8, and despite its lower activity for the last half of this year, it remains one of the preferred exploit packs used by cyber-criminals.
In comparison to the Black Hole Exploit Pack, the PEK has a similar licensing model. The last version released offered an "alternative" to purchasing the exploit pack. This "alternative" is the Phoenix Exploit's Kit 2.8 mini.
The current licensing model consists of the following:
· Simple Domain (Closed) – USD $2,200.00
· Multithreaded Domain (Closed) – USD $2,700.00
· Extra-Encryption Service (ReFUDing) – USD $40.00
The mini version does not change the characteristics of the Exploit Pack, at least in regards to its graphical interface and functionality in relation to previous versions. Each section has the same type of display and statistical information, which is provided in a minimalistic yet concise manner. Although trivial, this is one of the main reasons for the adoption of Phoenix by cyber-criminals. The ability to easily locate information and merge the functionality of this Exploit Pack with a Malware Kit, such as SpyEye or ZeuS, increases their level of success and attack strategies.
The main difference between the full version and the mini version is that the mini version is subject to a domain under the simple mode, while the full version allows multitasking.
There isn't much new about the Exploit Pack. The code has been optimized to increase the success rate of exploitation and the exploit for Java Runtime Environment to Trusted has been added.
Also removed were the following exploits pre-compiled in version 2.7:
· Windows Help and Support Center Protocol Handler Vulnerability – CVE-2010-1885
· Integer overflow in the AVM2 abcFile parser in Adobe Flash Player – CVE-2009-1869
· Integer overflow in Adobe Flash Player 9 – CVE-2007-0071
· IEPeers Remote Code Execution – CVE-2009-0806
· Internet Explorer Recursive CSS Import Vulnerability – CVE-2010-3971
Although it's basically the same exploits (similar in all cases, including those incorporating other Exploit Packs in the wild), the author's optimized for each version. In this case, it includes the following exploits:
· Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) - CVE-2006-0003
· Adobe Reader Javascript Printf Buffer Overflow - CVE-2008-2992
· Adobe Reader LibTiff - CVE-2010-0188
· Adobe Reader Collab GetIcon - CVE-2009-0927
· Java SMB - CVE-2010-0746
· Java Runtime Environment Trusted - CVE-2010-0840
· Java Skyline Plug-in component in Oracle Java SE and Java for Business 6 - CVE-2010-3552
· Java Deployment Toolkit Component - CVE-2010-0886
Despite the optimization of the components for each version, it is interesting that chain optimization and updating MDAC exploits remains the most prevalent, not only in this Exploit Pack but in any of the existing Exploit Packs. What is the reason? It comes down to a lack of experience by the users (application, customers around the basic procedures update) that transforms them into a potential target and highly susceptible through this old, but effective vulnerability.
[Source]
| Vulnerability |
Adobe Releases First 2020 Patch Tuesday Software Updates | https://thehackernews.com/2020/01/adobe-software-updates.html | Adobe today released software updates to patch a total of 9 new security vulnerabilities in two of its widely used applications, Adobe Experience Manager and Adobe Illustrator.
It's the first Patch Tuesday for the year 2020 and one of the lightest patch releases in a long time for Adobe users.
Moreover, none of the security vulnerabilities patched this month were either publicly disclosed or found being actively exploited in the wild.
5 of the 9 security vulnerabilities are 'critical' in severity, and all of them affect Adobe Illustrator CC versions 24.0 and earlier, which were reported to the company by Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs researcher Honggang Ren.
According to an advisory published by Adobe, all five critical issues in Adobe Illustrator software are memory corruption bugs that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on targeted systems in the context of the current user.
The rest 4 security vulnerabilities affect Adobe Experience Manager—a comprehensive content management solution for building websites, mobile apps, and forms—none of which are critical in severity but should be patched at your earliest convenience.
That's also because Adobe has marked security updates for Adobe Experience Manager with a priority rating of 2, which means similar flaws have previously been seen exploited in the wild, but for now, the company has found no evidence of any exploitation of these vulnerabilities in the wild.
These reported issues—which include: reflected cross-site scripting, user interface injection, and expression language injection—affect multiple versions of Adobe Experience Manager, all leading to sensitive information disclosure, where three of them are important in severity and one moderate.
Adobe today released Illustrator CC 2019 version 24.0.2 for Windows operating system and patches for Adobe Experience Manager versions 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5.
Adobe recommends end-users and administrators to install the latest security updates as soon as possible to protect their systems and businesses from potential cyber-attacks.
| Vulnerability |
How to Build a Successful Incident Response Plan | https://thehackernews.com/2015/11/how-to-incident-response-plan.html | The fight to protect your company's data isn't for the faint of heart.
As an embattled IT warrior, with more systems, apps, and users to support than ever before, keeping everything up and running is a battle in itself.
When it comes to preventing the worst-case scenario from happening, you need all the help you can get, despite your super-hero status.
According to SANS, there are 6 key phases of an incident response plan.
Preparation - Preparing users and IT to handle potential incidents in case they happen
Identification - Figuring out what we mean by a "security incident" (which events can we ignore vs. which we must act on right now?)
Containment - Isolating affected systems to prevent further damage
Eradication - Finding and eliminating the root cause (removing affected systems from production)
Recovery - Permitting affected systems back into the production environment (and watching them closely)
Lessons Learned - Writing everything down and reviewing and analyzing with all team members so you can improve future incident response efforts
Here are three examples from the front lines of incident response that can help you at each phase as you build out your plan.
On Defining Success Incident Response Success
There are many levels of success in defensive work… the common wisdom is that the attacker only has to be right once, but the defender has to be right every time, but that's not always true.
Attacks are not all-or-nothing affairs - they happen over time, with multiple stages before final success.
To remain undetected against an attentive defender, it is the attacker who must make every move correctly; if an astute defender detects them even once, they have the possibility to locate and stop the whole attack.
You aren't going to immediately detect everything that happens during an attack - but as long as you detect (and correctly identify) enough of an attack to stop it in its tracks, that's success.
Don't Panic. Stay Focused.
Execution is key - the range of ways to attack a target can seem limitless - expecting to be an expert on all of them is pointlessly unrealistic.
The most important part of incident response is to handle every situation in a way that limits damage, and reduces recovery time and costs.
At the end of the day, that's how you'll be measured on a job well done… not that you've covered every angle of every potential vulnerability.
Start with Simple Steps. Attackers are Lazy.
Attackers have technical and economic imperatives to use the minimum amount of effort and resources to breach their targets - the more you remove the low-hanging fruit on your network, the more you raise the actual level of work an attacker has to expend to successfully infiltrate it.
AlienVault has recently created a 5 chapter eBook titled the Insider's Guide to Incident Response that goes further into fundamental strategies that can help you create an efficient and effective incident response plan.
The eBook covers:
Arming & Aiming Your Incident Response Team
Incident Response Process and Procedures
Types of Security Incidents
Incident Response Tools
Incident Response Training
You can download the entire eBook at AlienVault's website here.
Learn more about AlienVault USM:
Download a free 30-day trial
Watch a demo on-demand
Play with USM in our product sandbox (no download required)
| Cyber_Attack |
WordPress plugin W3 Total Cache critical Vulnerability disclosed | https://thehackernews.com/2012/12/wordpress-plugin-w3-total-cache_26.html | One of the most popular Wordpress Plugin called "W3 Total Cache" which is used to Improve site performance and user experience via caching, having potential vulnerability. On Christmas day, someone disclose it on full-disclosure site that how a plugin misconfiguration leads to possible Wordpress cms hack.
The loophole is actually activated on the fact that how W3TC stores the database cache. Jason disclosed that cache data is stored in public accessible directory, from where a malicious attack can can retrieve password hashes and other database information.
Default location where this plugin stores data is "/wp-content/w3tc/dbcache/" and if directory listing is enabled, attacker can browse and download it.
He said,"Even with directory listings off, cache files are by default publicly downloadable, and the key values / file names of the database cache items are easily predictable."
Because the plugin is very famous ,so this makes quite easy for hackers to play with WordPress blogs. Author also publish a simple shell script to identify and exploit this bug.
We would like to recommend webmasters to either upgrade the plugin to new version or deny access to plugin directory by making an extra .htccess in that folder.
Update 29-Dec-2012 : WordPress plugin W3 Total Cache updated to version 0.9.2.5 with fix for above vulnerability.
Change Log : Fixed security issue that can occur if using database caching to disk. If using database caching to disk with a web server with directory listing or web accessible wp-content/w3tc/dbcache/* directories. This patch works for all hosting environments / types where PHP is properly configured, i.e. .htaccess modifications (or other web server configuration changes) are *not* necessary to ensure proper security. Empty the database cache after performing the update if you use database caching to disk.
Download W3 Total Cache Plugin for Wordpress
| Vulnerability |
Adult Friend Finder... Hacked & 3.5 Million Users' Database Leaked Online | https://thehackernews.com/2015/05/adult-friend-finder.html | Until now, hackers have targeted companies and websites that hold your credit card details or medical information, but now they are showing interest in your sex life instead.
You heard it right. Adult Friend Finder, a casual dating website with the tagline "hookup, find sex or meet someone hot now", has suffered a massive data breach.
Nearly 4 Million users of AdultFriendFinder have had their personal details, including email addresses, usernames, dates of birth, postcodes and IP addresses, exposed on the dark web for sale online.
The Channel 4 news site broke the story on Thursday and warned users of the California-based dating site with 64 million members who want to have sex and one night stands with strangers.
Nearly 4 Million Sex Life Exposed!!!
The leaked data also includes the information on whether the users are gay or straight and even which ones might be seeking extramarital affairs. This data could be goldmines for hacker trying to blackmail people to extort money, and Channel 4 says this may already be happening.
Shaun Harper is one of those members whose details were made public, even after he already had deleted his account. This clearly indicates that AdultFriendFinder do not get rid of data after customers leave.
So far, no hacking group or individual has claimed responsibility for the hack, but this data breach is embarrassing for those who had their sex life exposed in just one shot.
Now, let's have a look at what AdultFriendFinder parent company FriendFinder Networks has to say on its part?
FriendFinder Networks confirmed that there has been a data breach at AdultFriendFinder, but would not specify how many customers have been affected by the hack and to what extent.
Here's a statement by FriendFinder Networks offered to Channel 4 News:
"FriendFinder Networks Inc understands and fully appreciates the seriousness of the issue. We have already begun working closely with law enforcement and have launched a comprehensive investigation with the help of leading third-party forensics expert. We pledge to take the appropriate steps needed to protect our customers if they are affected."
According to Channel 4, the leaked data has come from a hacker nicknamed ROR[RG] who posted the details of users of Adult FriendFinder to an online forum. It appears that the hacker attempted to blackmail the users to extort $100,000 before publishing the data online.
| Data_Breaches |
Critical Pre-Auth RCE Flaw Found in F5 Big-IP Platform — Patch ASAP! | https://thehackernews.com/2021/03/critical-pre-auth-rce-flaw-found-in-f5.html | Application security company F5 Networks on Wednesday published an advisory warning of four critical vulnerabilities impacting multiple products that could result in a denial of service (DoS) attack and even unauthenticated remote code execution on target networks.
The patches concern a total of seven related flaws (from CVE-2021-22986 through CVE-2021-22992), two of which were discovered and reported by Felix Wilhelm of Google Project Zero in December 2020.
The four critical flaws affect BIG-IP versions 11.6 or 12.x and newer, with a critical pre-auth remote code execution (CVE-2021-22986) also affecting BIG-IQ versions 6.x and 7.x. F5 said it's not aware of any public exploitation of these issues.
Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities could lead to a full compromise of vulnerable systems, including the possibility of remote code execution as well as trigger a buffer overflow, leading to a DoS attack.
Urging customers to update their BIG-IP and BIG-IQ deployments to a fixed version as soon as possible, F5 Networks' Kara Sprague said the "vulnerabilities were discovered as a result of regular and continuous internal security testing of our solutions and in partnership with respected third parties working through F5's security program."
The vulnerabilities have been addressed in the following products:
BIG-IP versions: 16.0.1.1, 15.1.2.1, 14.1.4, 13.1.3.6, 12.1.5.3, and 11.6.5.3
BIG-IQ versions: 8.0.0, 7.1.0.3, and 7.0.0.2
Besides these flaws, Wednesday's patches also include fixes for 14 other unrelated security issues.
The fixes are notable for the fact that it's the second time in as many years that F5 has revealed flaws that could allow remote code execution.
The latest update to BIG-IP software arrives less than a year after the company addressed a similar critical flaw (CVE-2020-5902) in early July 2020, with multiple hacking groups exploiting the bug to target unpatched devices, prompting the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to issue an alert cautioning of a "broad scanning activity for the presence of this vulnerability across federal departments and agencies."
"This bug is probably going to fly under the radar, but this is a much bigger deal than it looks because it says something is really really broken in the internal security process of F5 BIG-IP devices," said Matt "Pwn all the Things" Tait in a tweet.
| Vulnerability |
Reflection DDoS Attacks Using Millions of UPnP Devices on the Rise | https://thehackernews.com/2014/10/reflection-ddos-attacks-using-millions_16.html | After successful in launching reflection and amplification Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks by abusing various protocols such as DNS, NTP and SMTP, hackers are now abusing Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP) – part of the UPnP protocol standard – to target home and office devices, researchers warned.
SSDP is a network protocol based on the Internet Protocol Suite that comes enabled on millions of networked devices, such as computers, printers, Internet gateways, Router / Wi-Fi access points, mobile devices, webcams, smart TVs and gaming consoles, to discover each other and automatically establish working configurations that enable data sharing, media streaming, media playback control and other services.
FLAW IN UPnP USED IN AMPLIFICATION DDoS ATTACK
Prolexic Security Engineering & Response Team (PLXsert) at Akamai Technologies have issued a warning that the devices use in residential or small office environments are being co-opted into reflection and amplification distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks since July that abuse communications protocols enabled on UPnP devices.
"The rise of reflection attacks involving UPnP devices in an example of how fluid and dynamic the DDoS crime ecosystem can be in identifying, developing and incorporating new resources and attack vectors into its arsenal," the advisory states. "Further development and refinement of attack payloads and tools is likely in the near future."
The weakness in the Universal Plug-and-Play (UPnP) standard could allow an attacker to compromise millions of its consumer and business devices, which could be conscripted by them to launch an effective DDoS attack on a target.
Attackers have found that Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) – protocol used to exchange sensitive information in a decentralized, distributed environment – requests "can be crafted to elicit a response that reflects and amplifies a packet, which can be redirected towards a target."
This UPnP attack is useful for both reflection attacks, given the number of vulnerable devices, and amplification as researchers estimate that it can magnify attack traffic by a factor of 30, according to the advisory.
OVER 4.1 MILLIONS DEVICES VULNERABLE
According to the security researchers, about 38 percent of the 11 million Internet-facing UPnP devices, i.e. over 4.1 million devices, in use are potentially vulnerable to being used in this type of reflection DDoS attack.
"The number of UPnP devices that will behave as open reflectors is vast, and many of them are home-based Internet-enabled devices that are difficult to patch," said Akamai security business unit senior vice president and general manager Stuart Scholly. "Action from firmware, application and hardware vendors must occur in order to mitigate and manage this threat."
MAJOR TARGETED COUNTRIES
South Korea has the largest number of vulnerable devices, followed by the United States, Canada, and China, according to the advisory.
This isn't the first time when a security flaw in UPnP has allowed attackers to target home and business devices, back in January 2013, a flaw in UPnP exposed more than 50 millions computers, printers and storage drives to attack by hackers remotely.
| Vulnerability |
Your Linux Can Get Hacked Just by Opening a File in Vim or Neovim Editor | https://thehackernews.com/2019/06/linux-vim-vulnerability.html | Linux users, beware!
If you haven't recently updated your Linux operating system, especially the command-line text editor utility, do not even try to view the content of a file using Vim or Neovim.
Security researcher Armin Razmjou recently discovered a high-severity arbitrary OS command execution vulnerability (CVE-2019-12735) in Vim and Neovim—two most popular and powerful command-line text editing applications that come pre-installed with most Linux-based operating systems.
On Linux systems, Vim editor allows users to create, view or edit any file, including text, programming scripts, and documents.
Since Neovim is just an extended forked version of Vim, with better user experience, plugins and GUIs, the code execution vulnerability also resides in it.
Code Execution Flaw in Vim and Neovim
Razmjou discovered a flaw in the way Vim editor handles "modelines," a feature that's enabled-by-default to automatically find and apply a set of custom preferences mentioned by the creator of a file near the starting and ending lines in the document.
Though the editor only allows a subset of options in modelines (for security reasons) and uses sandbox protection if it contains an unsafe expression, Razmjou revealed that using ":source!" command (with a bang [!] modifier) can be used to bypass the sandbox.
Therefore, just opening an innocent looking specially crafted file using Vim or Neovim could allow attackers to secretly execute commands on your Linux system and take remote control over it.
The researcher has also released two proof-of-concept exploits to the public, one of which demonstrates a real-life attack scenario wherein a remote attacker gains access to a reverse shell from the victim's system as soon as he/she opens a file on it.
The maintainers of Vim (patch 8.1.1365) and Neovim (released in v0.3.6) have released updates for both utilities to address the issue, which users should install as soon as possible.
Besides this, the researcher has also recommended users to:
disable modelines feature,
disable "modelineexpr" to disallow expressions in modelines,
use "securemodelines plugin," a secure alternative to Vim modelines.
| Vulnerability |
Chinese Hackers Targeted India's Power Grid Amid Geopolitical Tensions | https://thehackernews.com/2021/03/chinese-hackers-targeted-indias-power.html | Amid heightened border tensions between India and China, cybersecurity researchers have revealed a concerted campaign against India's critical infrastructure, including the nation's power grid, from Chinese state-sponsored groups.
The attacks, which coincided with the standoff between the two nations in May 2020, targeted a total of 12 organizations, 10 of which are in the power generation and transmission sector.
"10 distinct Indian power sector organizations, including four of the five Regional Load Despatch Centres (RLDC) responsible for operation of the power grid through balancing electricity supply and demand, have been identified as targets in a concerted campaign against India's critical infrastructure," Recorded Future said in a report published yesterday. "Other targets identified included 2 Indian seaports."
Chief among the victims include a power plant run by National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Limited and New Delhi-based Power System Operation Corporation Limited.
Pinning the intrusions on a new group dubbed "RedEcho," investigators from the cybersecurity firm's Insikt Group said the malware deployed by the threat actor shares strong infrastructure and victimology overlaps with other Chinese groups APT41 (aka Barium, Winnti, or Wicked Panda) and Tonto Team.
Border conflicts have flared up since last year after deadly clashes between Indian and Chinese soldiers in Ladakh's Galwan Valley. While 20 Indian soldiers were killed in the clashes, China formally identified four casualties on its side for the first time on February 19.
In the intervening months, the Indian government has banned over 200 Chinese apps for allegedly engaging in activities that posed threats to "national security and defence of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India."
Noting that the standoff between the two countries was accompanied by increased espionage activity on both sides, Recorded Future said the attacks from China involved the use of infrastructure it tracks as AXIOMATICASYMPTOTE, which encompasses a modular Windows backdoor called ShadowPad that has been previously attributed to APT41 and subsequently shared between other Chinese state-backed actors.
Additionally, the report also raises questions about a possible connection between the skirmishes and a power blackout that crippled Mumbai last October.
While initial probe conducted by the cyber department of the western Indian state of Maharashtra traced the attack to malware identified at a Padgha-based State Load Despatch Centre, the researchers said, "the alleged link between the outage and the discovery of the unspecified malware variant remains unsubstantiated."
"However, this disclosure provides additional evidence suggesting the coordinated targeting of Indian Load Despatch Centres," they added.
Interestingly, these cyberattacks were described as originating from Chengdu, which is also the base for a network technology firm called Chengdu 404 Network Technology Company that operated as a front for a decade-long hacking spree targeting more than 100 high-tech and online gaming companies.
But it's not just China. In the weeks leading to the clashes in May, a state-sponsored group called Sidewinder — which operates in support of Indian political interests — is said to have singled out Chinese military and government entities in a spear-phishing attack using lures related to COVID-19 or the territorial disputes between Nepal, Pakistan, India, and China.
The modus operandi aside, the finding is yet another reminder of why critical infrastructure continues to be a lucrative target for an adversary looking to cut off access to essential services used by millions of people.
"The intrusions overlap with previous Indian energy sector targeting by Chinese threat activity groups in 2020 that also used AXIOMATICASYMPTOTE infrastructure," the researchers concluded. "Therefore, the focus in targeting India's electricity system possibly indicates a sustained strategic intent to access India's energy infrastructure."
We have reached out to India's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN), and we will update the story if we hear back.
UPDATE
A major power blackout that struck Mumbai last October may have been the result of a deliberate act of cyber sabotage, according to a preliminary report released by Maharashtra Cyber Cell said on Wednesday, adding it found possible evidence of 14 "Trojan horses" and 8GB of unexplained data deployed in the city's power system. In a statement to Reuters, China denied responsibility for carrying out the attack.
| Cyber_Attack |
Chinese Hackers Carried Out Country-Level Watering Hole Attack | https://thehackernews.com/2018/06/chinese-watering-hole-attack.html | Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered an espionage campaign that has targeted a national data center of an unnamed central Asian country in order to conduct watering hole attacks.
The campaign is believed to be active covertly since fall 2017 but was spotted in March by security researchers from Kaspersky Labs, who have attributed these attacks to a Chinese-speaking threat actor group called LuckyMouse.
LuckyMouse, also known as Iron Tiger, EmissaryPanda, APT 27 and Threat Group-3390, is the same group of Chinese hackers who was found targeting Asian countries with Bitcoin mining malware early this year.
The group has been active since at least 2010 and was behind many previous attack campaigns resulting in the theft of massive amounts of data from the directors and managers of US-based defense contractors.
This time the group chose a national data center as its target from an unnamed country in Central Asia in an attempt to gain "access to a wide range of government resources at one fell swoop."
According to the researchers, the group injected malicious JavaScript code into the official government websites associated with the data center in order to conduct watering hole attacks.
Although LuckyMouse has been spotted using a widely used Microsoft Office vulnerability (CVE-2017-11882) to weaponize Office documents in the past, researchers have no proofs of this technique being used in this particular attack against the data center.
The initial attack vector used in the attack against the data center is unclear, but researchers believe LuckyMouse possibly had conducted watering hole or phishing attacks to compromise accounts belonging to employees at the national data center.
The attack against the data center eventually infected the targeted system with a piece of malware called HyperBro, a Remote Access Trojan (RAT) deployed to maintain persistence in the targeted system and for remote administration.
"There were traces of HyperBro in the infected data center from mid-November 2017. Shortly after that different users in the country started being redirected to the malicious domain update.iaacstudio[.]com as a result of the waterholing of government websites," the researchers said in a blog post published today.
"These events suggest that the data center infected with HyperBro and the waterholing campaign are connected."
As a result of the waterholing attack, the compromised government websites redirected the country's visitors to either penetration testing suite Browser Exploitation Framework (BeEF) that focuses on the web browser, or the ScanBox reconnaissance framework, which perform the same tasks as a keylogger.
The main command and control (C&C) server used in this attack is hosted on an IP address which belongs to a Ukrainian ISP, specifically to a MikroTik router running a firmware version released in March 2016.
Researchers believe the Mikrotik router was explicitly hacked for the campaign in order to process the HyperBro malware's HTTP requests without detection.
| Cyber_Attack |
Beware: New Android Spyware Found Posing as Telegram and Threema Apps | https://thehackernews.com/2020/10/android-mobile-hacking.html | A hacking group known for its attacks in the Middle East, at least since 2017, has recently been found impersonating legitimate messaging apps such as Telegram and Threema to infect Android devices with a new, previously undocumented malware.
"Compared to the versions documented in 2017, Android/SpyC23.A has extended spying functionality, including reading notifications from messaging apps, call recording and screen recording, and new stealth features, such as dismissing notifications from built-in Android security apps," cybersecurity firm ESET said in a Wednesday analysis.
First detailed by Qihoo 360 in 2017 under the moniker Two-tailed Scorpion (aka APT-C-23 or Desert Scorpion), the mobile malware has been deemed "surveillanceware" for its abilities to spy on the devices of targeted individuals, exfiltrating call logs, contacts, location, messages, photos, and other sensitive documents in the process.
In 2018, Symantec discovered a newer variant of the campaign that employed a malicious media player as a lure to grab information from the device and trick victims into installing additional malware.
Then earlier this year, Check Point Research detailed fresh signs of APT-C-23 activity when Hamas operators posed as young teenage girls on Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram to lure Israeli soldiers into installing malware-infected apps on their phones.
The latest version of the spyware detailed by ESET expands on these features, including the ability to collect information from social media and messaging apps via screen recording and screenshots, and even capture incoming and outgoing calls in WhatsApp and read the text of notifications from social media apps, including WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook, Skype, and Messenger.
The infection begins when a victim visits a fake Android app store called "DigitalApps," and downloads apps such as Telegram, Threema, and weMessage, suggesting that the group's motivation behind impersonating messaging apps is to "justify the various permissions requested by the malware."
In addition to requesting invasive permissions to read notifications, turn off Google Play Protect, and record a user's screen under the guise of security and privacy features, the malware communicates with its command-and-control (C2) server to register the newly infected victim and transmit the device information.
The C2 servers, which typically masquerade as websites under maintenance, are also responsible for relaying the commands to the compromised phone, which can be used to record audio, restart Wi-Fi, uninstall any app installed on the device, among others.
What's more, it also comes equipped with a new feature that allows it to stealthily make a call while creating a black screen overlay to mask the call activity.
"Our research shows that the APT-C-23 group is still active, enhancing its mobile toolset and running new operations. Android/SpyC32.A – the group's newest spyware version — features several improvements making it more dangerous to victims," ESET said.
Apps downloaded from fraudulent third-party app stores has been a conduit for Android malware in recent years. It's always essential to stick to official sources to limit risk, and scrutinize permissions requested by apps before installing them on the device.
| Malware |
Exclusive: More than 200,000 Algerian TP-LINK Routers are vulnerable to Hackers | https://thehackernews.com/2014/01/TP-LINK-Routers-password-hacking.html | More than 15.2% of the Algerian population use Internet service which is provided by around 30 Internet Service Providers and one of the largest shares is served by Algerie Telecom.
Algerie Telecom provides TP-LINK TD-W8951ND Router to most of their home customers who Opt-In for Internet services and each of which has ZYXEL embedded firmware installed in it.
ABDELLI Nassereddine, penetration tester and Algerian Computer Science Student has reported highly critical unauthorized access and password disclosure vulnerabilities in the Routers provided by Algerie Telecom.
He told 'The Hacker News' that the vulnerabilities can be exploited by any remote hacker just by exploiting a very simple loophole in the firmware.
First, he found that an unauthorized access is available to 'Firmware/Romfile Upgrade' Section on the Router's panel that can be accessed without any login password i.e. https://IP//rpFWUpload.htmlThis page actually allows a user to upgrade the Firmware of the router and also allows to download the Romfile Backup file (rom-0) i.e. https://IP address/rom-0 (as shown)
This Romfile contains the administrative password of the Router and can be retrieved in plain text by reverse engineering it using a free online service: https://50.57.229.26/zynos.php. One just need to upload the Romfile and can get plain text output easily. Router's password will be displaced in the very first line of the output, as shown below:
He claimed that he has tested the IP address range that belongs to Algeria i.e. 41.107. x. x and found thousands of them are vulnerable to hackers.
A Quick search on SHODAN Search Engine using keyword 'RomPager country:dz' showing more than 2,59,744 devices available on the Internet and 95% of them are now at risk.
ABDELLI also submitted an automated exploit POC script on GITHUB, that can scan the complete subnet for vulnerable routers and will display respective passwords on the screen, as shown:
I have tested the flaw over 100's of routers, and found this as a very critical bug. Simply by changing the DNS servers from the victim's router, one can redirect the users' traffic to any malicious server. Such attacks allow hackers to inject the malicious DNS server to perform advance phishing attacks against Facebook, Gmail, Bank Accounts and also whole system can also be compromised.
There is no patch yet available from the vendor, so to prevent yourself from such vulnerability you can forward port 80 to any other website or unused IP address of your network.
| Vulnerability |
Here's the Facebook Hacking Tool that Can Really Hack Accounts, But... | https://thehackernews.com/2016/02/facebook-hacking-tool.html | Yes, you heard me right.
A newly discovered Facebook hacking tool actually has the capability to hack Facebook account, but YOURS, and not the one you desire to hack.
How to Hack Facebook account? How to Hack my Girlfriends Facebook account? My boyfriend is cheating on me, How do I hack his Facebook Account?
These are the queries that most of the Internet users search on Google.
But Beware! If you come across any Facebook hacking tool that promises you to help you hack your friends Facebook accounts, you may end up downloading a hacking tool that could hack you, instead of them.
Facebook Hacking Tool that Can Really Hack, But Your Accounts
Dubbed Remtasu, the tool is marketing itself as a Facebook hacking tool but actually is a Windows-based Trojan that has accelerated globally over the past year, and has now capability to disguise itself as an app for accessing people's Facebook account credentials.
The tool contains a Keylogger that can capture all your keystrokes and store them in a file that is subsequently sent to the attacker's server.
The malicious Facebook hacking tool is exploiting "the constant desire of a lot of users to take control of accounts from this well-known social network," according to a Monday blog post by IT security company ESET.
How Remtasu Works:
The malicious tool is delivered via direct download websites.
Once a user visits one of these websites, the dangerous Win32/Remtasu.Y malware automatically gets downloaded and executed on victim's machine and hide itself among other files.
Remtasu has capability to:
Open and obtain information from the clipboard.
Capture keystrokes.
Store all the data in a file which is subsequently sent to an FTP server.
The worst part is yet to come:
The malware remains on the infected computer even when the victim reboots their system or attempts to find the malware threat in the list of active processes.
"In this case, the malware replicates itself, saving the copy in a folder that it also creates within the system32 folder," reads the post. "The new InstallDir folder remains hidden inside the system files, making it difficult for users to access."
Most affected parts of the world include Colombia, Turkey, Thailand and elsewhere. In past, Remtasu was distributed through malicious files attached to phishing emails purporting to be from legitimate government or businesses organisations.
| Malware |
Tumblr Patches A Flaw That Could Have Exposed Users' Account Info | https://thehackernews.com/2018/10/tumblr-account-hacking.html | Tumblr today published a report admitting the presence of a security vulnerability in its website that could have allowed hackers to steal login credentials and other private information for users' accounts.
The affected information included users email addresses, protected (hashed and salted) account passwords, self-reported location (a feature no longer available), previously used email addresses, last login IP addresses, and names of the blog associated with every account.
According to the company, a security researcher discovered a critical vulnerability in the desktop version of its website and responsibly reported it to the Tumblr security team via its bug bounty program.
Though the company has not revealed the researcher's name or any technical details about the vulnerability, Tumblr has disclosed that the flaw resided in the "Recommended Blogs" feature of its website.
Recommended Blogs has been designed to display a short, rotating list of blogs of other users that may be of interest. The feature appears only for logged-in users.
Tumblr also says:
"If a blog appeared in the module, it was possible, using debugging software in a certain way, to view certain account information associated with the blog."
In short, your account could only be affected if it was recommended to some an attacker via the vulnerable feature.
The company fails to determine which specific accounts were recommended via the vulnerable feature, thus is unable to disclose the number of affected users, but it concludes that "the bug was rarely present."
Tumblr also assured that its internal investigation found no evidence of the bug being abused by an attacker.
"It's our mission to provide a safe space for people to express themselves freely and form communities around things they love," Tumblr says. "We feel that this bug could have affected that experience. We want to be transparent with you about it. In our view, it's simply the right thing to do."
Tumblr disclosure comes less than a week after Facebook announced its worst-ever security breach that allowed attackers to steal personal information, including secret access tokens, for 30 million users.
Also, over a week ago Google announced the shut down of its social media network Google+ following a massive data breach that exposed the private data of hundreds of thousands of Google Plus users to third-party developers.
Late last month, Twitter also revealed a similar security breach incident in which an API flaw inadvertently exposed direct messages (DMs) and protected tweets of more than 3 million people to unauthorized third-party app developers.
| Vulnerability |
Turkish Hacker Crashes Google Play Store Twice while testing vulnerability | https://thehackernews.com/2014/03/turkish-hacker-crashes-google-play.html | Last Weekend Google Play Store was crashed twice by a Turkish hacker when he tried to test vulnerability he discovered on the Android apps publishing system, known as Google's Developer Console.
Turkish hacker 'Ibrahim Balic' claimed responsibility for the Google Play Store attack and told 'The Hacker News', he found a flaw in the Android operating system while working with Android tools i.e. Compiler, debugger on his Emulators, that was crashing again and again. 'I successfully confirmed that it affects Android 4.2.2 , 4.3 and 2.3' he said.
Then he created an Android app to exploit the vulnerability, 'causes a possible memory corruption' and uploaded it to the Google's Developer Console.
Unfortunately, OR Luckily the malformed Android app crashed whole Google's Developer Console, and he didn't expect that the app will knock everyone offline from Play Store.
He was not sure about the outage caused by him or not, "I just wanted to be sure about (the) vulnerability," so he uploaded the 'malformed APK file' again second time to the Google Play Store, that results in crash of Google Play Store, not once, but twice.
The first crashed around mid-day on Sunday and the same happened again on Monday when he tried a second time, leaving Android users unable to download new apps and games, and developers unable to update their own apps. However, the outage was so minimal that not many of us even noticed.
This is not the first time he messed up with app stores. Last July, Apple was forced to take its developer site offline after Ibrahim uncovered multiple vulnerabilities in it.
He also apologized for the inconvenience caused to his online fellows. "I didn't have any malicious aim," Ibrahim said to CNN Money. "I am so sorry for this damage."
Ibrahim reported the flaw to the Google Security Team and has yet to hear back from them about the issue. The Play Store is becoming much wider, and Google should focus hard on their security parameters.
| Vulnerability |
First Android Ransomware that Encrypts SD Card Files | https://thehackernews.com/2014/06/first-android-ransomware-that-encrypts.html | We have seen cybercriminals targeting PCs with Ransomware malware that encrypts your files or lock down your computer and ask for a ransom amount to be paid in a specified duration of time to unlock it.
To deliver the Ransomware malwares to the mobile devices, cyber criminals have already started creating malicious software programs for android devices. Last month, we reported about a new Police Ransomware malware that locks up the devices until the victims pay a ransom to get the keys to unlock the phone. But, the malware just lock the mobile screen and a loophole in the its implementation allowed users to recover their device and data stored on SDcard.
Now, in an effort to overcome this, threat actors have adopted encryption in the development of mobile Ransomware malwares. Recently, the security firm ESET has discovered a new Android ransomware, dubbed as Android/Simplocker.A, that has ability to encrypt the files on the device SD card and then demand a ransom from the victim in order to decrypt those files.
Once installed, the malware scans the SD card for certain file types such as image, document or video with extensions - jpeg, jpg, png, bmp, gif, pdf, doc, docx, txt, avi, mkv, 3gp, mp4 and encrypts them using AES in a separate thread in the background. After encrypting the files, the malware displays the following ransom message, written in Russian, which clearly means that this threat is targeting Russian Android users.
"WARNING your phone is locked!
The device is locked for viewing and distributing child pornography , zoophilia and other perversions.
To unlock you need to pay 260 UAH.
1.) Locate the nearest payment kiosk.
2.) Select MoneXy
3.) Enter {REDACTED}.
4.) Make deposit of 260 Hryvnia, and then press pay. Do not forget to take a receipt!
After payment your device will be unlocked within 24 hours. In case of no PAYMENT YOU WILL LOSE ALL DATA ON your device!"
The Ransomware malware directs victim to pay the ransom amount i.e. 260 UAH, which is roughly equal to $21 US, through the MoneXy service, as this payment service is not easily traceable as the regular credit card.
To maintain anonymity the malware author is using the Command-and-Control server hosted on TOR .onion domain and the malware sends the information of the infected device such as IMEI number to its server. The researchers at ESET are still analysing the malware:
"Our analysis of the Android/Simplock.A sample revealed that we are most likely dealing with a proof-of-concept or a work in progress – for example, the implementation of the encryption doesn't come close to "the infamous Cryptolocker" on Windows."
The researchers have found that the malware is capable to encrypt the victim's files, which could be lost if the decryption key is not retrieved from the malware author by paying the ransom amount, but on the other hand the researchers strongly advise users against paying fine, as their is no guarantee that the hacker will provide you decryption keys even after paying the amount.
Unfortunately, mobile antivirus products are only capable to detect such known/detected threats only and can't detect similar the new threats. So, it is important for you to always keep the back-up of all your files either manually on the computer system or use cloud backup services like dropbox, google drive etc, in order to protect it from the emerging threats.
| Malware |
Tracy Morgan Dead? Facebook Scam Targeting Users with Malware | https://thehackernews.com/2014/06/tracy-morgan-dead-facebook-scam.html | Oh MY God! Is Tracy Morgan Really Dead? NO, Thankfully it's only a hoax, but scammers announced the popular comedian and actor Tracy Morgan dead.
Another Facebook scam is circulating across the social networking website just a day before the former "Saturday Night Live" and "30 Rock" star Tracy Morgan was critically hurt in a six-vehicle fatal accident on the New Jersey Turnpike that killed his friend and writer 62-year-old James McNair.
With the rise in various scams on the popular social networking giant, Facebook that has more than one billion active users, it became very clear that not only does the social networking platform provide special opportunities for people to connect and share information, but serves as a great platform for scammers as well.
TOTAL SCAM LEADS TO MALWARE
Scammers spare no incident to target as many victims as possible, and this time they made use of this roadway accident to target users by spreading the fake Facebook videos proclaiming the death of Tracy Morgan.
Malwarebytes warned about the Morgan video scam, saying that the fake video tricks users into sharing it that are spreading throughout the social network, with the Title, "[Death Video] R.I.P. Tracy Morgan died few minutes ago in hospital."
Once clicked, users are directed to share the fake videos and along with the video sharing, the spam leads users to download a file, which could be anything from a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP) to a malicious software that could steal users' sensitive or financial information from the infected system.
TRACY MORGAN DEAD? RUMORS REACHED TWITTER AS WELL
In response to this false news, people began tweeting that Tracy had passed away on June 10. The fake news spread like fire on the internet. Following are the tweets by his Fans:
JUST IGNORE IT
"Pay no attention to scammy and sensational sounding videos appearing on your Facebook feed and stick to trusted news sources for breaking stories and information," warned Malwarebytes. "Surveys are always a pain, but scam sites offering up random redirects always carry the potential to be even more problematic – you simply never know where you're going to end up."
We have seen various suspicious posts on Facebook, like "See your Friend's naked video", an app offering you a chance to see who has viewed your Facebook profile, and many more. Sometimes these scams are very obvious and easily avoidable, but many times they are irresistible and easy to fall for, like this new fake video scam.
SCAMS AT RISE, SO BE SAFE
With more tech skills, modern scammers have ability to reach billions of potential victims with just a single message or post, and their scams are getting more dangerous and critical day-by-day. Despite Facebook's security measures, safe and secured social networking rests in your own hands and if you aren't paying attention to such scams, you could fall for one such even without ever realizing.
So, if you are served with any suspicious link or post, do not try to click on it, no matter even if it's from your closest friend.
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Subsets and Splits