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    RESOURCES  >   THREAT INTEL BRIEFINGS

    Date: 9/29/2022

    ** SPECIAL ALERT **

    Possible Microsoft Exchange Zero-Day Vulnerability Exploitation

    Overview

    The SOC team at GTSC, a Vietnamese cybersecurity organization, reports that a Chinese threat actor group is exploiting a ProxyShell-like Zero Day vulnerability affecting on-premises Microsoft Exchange servers. The referenced Indicators of Compromise are very similar to ProxyShell exploits from March and August of 2021. Attackers have been observed dropping webshells and other malicious software on vulnerable servers.

    GTSC has submitted the vulnerability to the Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) and is working with Microsoft to accelerate patch release.

    Potential Impact

    If this exploit is verified as a zero-day exploit on fully patched Microsoft Exchange servers, it is potentially quite disruptive. ProxyShell exploitation has been a favorite of ransomware threat actor groups since the disclosure of Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities CVE-2021-34473, CVE-2021-34523 and CVE-2021-31207 in May of 2021.

    Recommended Actions

    Though Microsoft has not released a patch for this vulnerability, there is a known workaround that will block exploitation attempts. This includes adding a new IIS Exchange Server rule with the URL rewrite module. Steps are as follows:

    • Within IIS for the FrontEnd Autodiscover site, select an option to add a request blocking rule.
    • Ensure that the rule will block access based on “URL Path”.
    • Add the string “.*autodiscover.json.*@.*Powershell.*” (without quotes).
    • Ensure that the rule is using regular expressions.
    • For the condition input, select {REQUEST_URI}.

    Please note this mitigation is not confirmed, however it will block the known indicator of attacker activity. Administrators should pay very close attention to incoming traffic to on-premises Microsoft Exchange servers for potential signs of compromise. Additionally, paying close attention to the future directions from Microsoft are imperative to securing servers.

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