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Date: 8/15/2022
HelpNetSecurity has reported a dramatic increase of phishing-based credential attacks during the first half of 2022, based on a security report by Abnormal Security.
It was found that phishing attacks have risen 48% over the last six months, with 68.5% containing credential stealing links. Additionally, it was found that 15% of phishing emails impersonated well-known brands, most commonly being social networks and Microsoft products. Of all the social network platforms, LinkedIn was found to be the single most impersonated; with Outlook, OneDrive, and Microsoft 365 themed attacks making up over 20% of all attacks seen.
Credential stealing phishing attacks remain one of the primary sources of Business Email Compromise (BEC) in today’s threat landscape. This can lead to internal malicious phishing campaigns and the exfiltration of sensitive and/or confidential data.
Phishing attacks are notoriously popular (and successful) largely due to the fact that threat actors don’t need to spend time and resources attempting to bypass technical security controls, as they can simply exploit end-users via social engineering. It is imperative for organizations to conduct routine security awareness training, including conducting phishing campaigns against users. This is especially important for users that have access to sensitive data – such as personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI) – or have access to business-critical systems.
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There are two vulnerabilities affecting Zimbra Collaboration. These vulnerabilities have been recognized by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) as being actively exploited in the wild. CVE-2022-27925 and CVE-2022-37042
The two vulnerabilities, tracked as CVE-2022-27925 and CVE-2022-37042, can be chained together to achieve unauthenticated remote code execution. CVE-2022-37042 allows for authentication bypass, while CVE-2022-27925 permits attackers to execute code remotely. Exploitation can be successful without valid administrative credentials.
Patches have been released for both vulnerabilities:
It is also recommended that Endpoint Detection & Response software with 24/7 monitoring be deployed to all Internet-facing systems. Lastly, it is recommended that external vulnerability scans be conducted on a regular basis to ensure all Internet-facing systems are patched.
Sources
https://thehackernews.com/2022/08/researchers-warn-of-ongoing-mass.html
Microsoft has released a patch in August 2022 to address a zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2022-34713) dubbed ‘Dogwalk’ that is actively being exploited in the wild. This vulnerability was first discovered in January 2020 by researchers, yet successful exploitation was not observed in the wild until May 2022. This vulnerability is tied to the Microsoft Windows Support Diagnostic Tool and allows a remote attacker to execute code on a vulnerable system.
For exploitation to occur, local user interaction is required. In an email attack scenario, an attacker could exploit the vulnerability by sending the specially crafted file to the user and convincing the user to open the file. In a web-based threat scenario, an attacker could host a website containing a crafted file designed to exploit the vulnerability. Attackers who are able to achieve remote code execution on systems within corporate networks are likely to attempt lateral movement or sell access to groups looking to deploy ransomware.
It is recommended that users are regularly educated on phishing and other social engineering threats. Administrators should ensure that Endpoint Detection & Response software is protecting all end user systems. Lastly and most importantly, administrators should ensure that the patch for this vulnerability is applied quickly.
Sources
https://threatpost.com/microsoft-patches-dogwalk-zero-day-and-17-critical-flaws/180378/
https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/en-US/vulnerability/CVE-2022-34713
Recently security researchers at Cyble have discovered at least 9,000 exposed Virtual Network Computing (VNC) severs accessible without authentication. VNC servers are meant to facilitate platform-independent remote connection to Windows, macOS, and *NIX systems. Threat actors can exploit remotely accessible VNC servers to gain subsequent access to corporate networks, especially if the VNC server is without authentication, as found by Cyble researchers. These servers have primarily been found in China and Sweden; however, they have been found in the United States, Spain, and Brazil as well. In addition, some of these exposed systems were found to be industrial control systems (ISC), posing a significantly greater threat.
Threat actors can exploit remote access to conduct post-exploitation activities such as data exfiltration, lateral movement, and domain privilege escalation. This can be particularly difficult to detect if a threat actor can gain access without the need for remote exploitation – i.e., logging into a VNC server without authentication – as this will reduce the chance for security alerts to populate.
VNC servers being set without authentication is normally a result of negligence, error, or improper security policies. Organizations must practice security best practices and be hyper-aware of the configurations(s) for any internet-exposed systems in their corporate environment. Additionally, organizations should conduct regular vulnerability assessments and external penetration tests to uncover any potential access points into the internal network.
On Aug 13, 2022, Zoom issued a security patch to address CVE-2022-28756, a local privilege escalation vulnerability that can allow for administrative control on macOS systems. This comes just four days after another security patch addressing CVE-2022-28751, yet another local privilege escalation vulnerability.
Local privilege escalation vulnerabilities allow low-privileged users to bypass security controls and escalate their current session(s) to administrator/root privileges. This allows threat actors to completely control systems and accomplish virtually any post-compromise actions on that local system.
Specific to these two vulnerabilities, organizations must ensure any macOS systems with the Zoom client installed are updated to the latest version. Generally speaking, organizations should ensure their patch management process includes continuous checks for updates and security patches to any software in the corporate technology stack.
Sources
https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/14/23305548/zoom-update-macos-fix-dangerous-security-flaw-hackers?&web_view=true
https://explore.zoom.us/en/trust/security/security-bulletin/
Last week’s (August 9, 2022) Patch Tuesday updates from Microsoft included several security updates for Microsoft Exchange. Some of these updates require enabling of “Windows Extended Protection” on Exchange servers.
The privilege escalation vulnerabilities patched this month could allow attackers to gain access to messages stored on Exchange Servers. As of today (August 15, 2022), a publicly available exploit is not yet available. Exchange Servers remain a popular target among attackers, however, and therefore it is likely that these vulnerabilities will be exploited in the wild soon.
Apply patches and enable “Windows Extended Protection” (the link from Microsoft below provides additional details). Subscribe to trustworthy threat intelligence feeds to keep up with important security news.
Sources
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/exchange-team-blog/released-august-2022-exchange-server-security-updates/ba-p/3593862
https://microsoft.github.io/CSS-Exchange/Security/Extended-Protection/
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