QR Code phishing, ESXi being exploited, malware being delivered through Safari and Chrome and lots of patches.. all in this week's security news...
Welcome to this week’s Security News. We’ve collated the best articles from the around the internet and put them all into one place. If you have any queries or concerns about anything in this week’s news, then please get in touch with our team who can advise further. For our existing clients, if we believe anything may affect your organisation, our team will be in touch directly.
Vulnerabilities and Patches
Cisco Patches Multiple NX-OS Software Vulnerabilities
Cisco on Wednesday announced patches for multiple NX-OS software vulnerabilities as part of its semiannual FXOS and NX-OS security advisory bundled publication. The most severe of the bugs is CVE-2024-20446, a high-severity flaw in the DHCPv6 relay agent of NX-OS that could be exploited by remote, unauthenticated attackers to cause a denial-of-service (DoS) condition. Improper handling of specific fields in DHCPv6 messages allows attackers to send crafted packets to any IPv6 address configured on a vulnerable device. “A successful exploit could allow the attacker to cause the dhcp_snoop process to crash and restart multiple times, causing the affected device to reload and resulting in a DoS condition,” Cisco explains.
Fortra Issues Patch for High-Risk FileCatalyst Workflow Security Vulnerability
Fortra has addressed a critical security flaw impacting FileCatalyst Workflow that could be abused by a remote attacker to gain administrative access. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-6633, carries a CVSS score of 9.8, and stems from the use of a static password to connect to a HSQL database.”The default credentials for the setup HSQL database (HSQLDB) for FileCatalyst Workflow are published in a vendor knowledge base article,” Fortra said in an advisory. “Misuse of these credentials could lead to a compromise of confidentiality, integrity, or availability of the software”. “The HSQLDB is only included to facilitate installation, has been deprecated, and is not intended for production use per vendor guides. However, users who have not configured FileCatalyst Workflow to use an alternative database per recommendations are vulnerable to attack from any source that can reach the HSQLDB.”
Cyber Attacks
Russian Hackers Exploit Safari and Chrome Flaws in High-Profile Cyberattack
Cybersecurity researchers have flagged multiple in-the-wild exploit campaigns that leveraged now-patched flaws in Apple Safari and Google Chrome browsers to infect mobile users with information-stealing malware. “These campaigns delivered n-day exploits for which patches were available, but would still be effective against unpatched devices,” Google Threat Analysis Group (TAG) researcher Clement Lecigne said in a report shared with The Hacker News. The activity, observed between November 2023 and July 2024, is notable for delivering the exploits by means of a watering hole attack on Mongolian government websites, cabinet.gov[.]mn and mfa.gov[.]mn. The vulnerabilities at the center of the campaigns are CVE-2023-41993, CVE-2024-4671 and CVE-2024-5274.
BlackByte Ransomware Exploits VMware ESXi Flaw in Latest Attack Wave
The threat actors behind the BlackByte ransomware group have been observed likely exploiting a recently patched security flaw impacting VMware ESXi hypervisors, while also leveraging various vulnerable drivers to disarm security protections. “The BlackByte ransomware group continues to leverage tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) that have formed the foundation of its tradecraft since its inception, continuously iterating its use of vulnerable drivers to bypass security protections and deploying a self-propagating, wormable ransomware encryptor,” Cisco Talos said in a technical report shared with The Hacker News. The exploitation of CVE-2024-37085, an authentication bypass vulnerability in VMware ESXi that has also been weaponized by other ransomware groups, is a sign that the e-crime group is pivoting from established approaches.
In Other News...
How AitM Phishing Attacks Bypass MFA and EDR—and How to Fight Back
Attackers are increasingly using new phishing toolkits (open-source, commercial, and criminal) to execute adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) attacks. AitM enables attackers to not just harvest credentials but steal live sessions, allowing them to bypass traditional phishing prevention controls such as MFA, EDR, and email content filtering. In this article, we’re going to look at what AitM phishing is, how it works, and what organizations need to be able to detect and block these attacks effectively. AitM phishing is a technique that uses dedicated tooling to act as a proxy between the target and a legitimate login portal for an application. As it’s a proxy to the real application, the page will appear exactly as the user expects, because they are logging into the legitimate site – just taking a detour via the attacker’s device. For example, if accessing their webmail, the user will see all their real emails; if accessing their cloud file store then all their real files will be present, etc.
New QR Code Phishing Campaign Exploits Microsoft Sway to Steal Credentials
Cybersecurity researchers are calling attention to a new QR code phishing (aka quishing) campaign that leverages Microsoft Sway infrastructure to host fake pages, once again highlighting the abuse of legitimate cloud offerings for malicious purposes. “By using legitimate cloud applications, attackers provide credibility to victims, helping them to trust the content it serves,” Netskope Threat Labs researcher Jan Michael Alcantara said. “Additionally, a victim uses their Microsoft 365 account that they’re already logged-into when they open a Sway page, that can help persuade them about its legitimacy as well. Sway can also be shared through either a link (URL link or visual link) or embedded on a website using an iframe”. The attacks have primarily singled out users in Asia and North America, with technology, manufacturing, and finance sectors being the most sought-after sectors.