Microsoft's January 2024 Windows Update Patches 48 New Vulnerabilities

Microsoft has addressed a total of 48 security flaws spanning its software as part of its Patch Tuesday updates for January 2024. Of the 48 bugs, two are rated Critical and 46 are rated Important in severity. There is no evidence that any of the issues are publicly known or under active attack at the time of release, making it the second consecutive Patch Tuesday with no zero-days. The

CISA Flags 6 Vulnerabilities - Apple, Apache, Adobe, D-Link, Joomla Under Attack

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has added six security flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, citing evidence of active exploitation. This includes CVE-2023-27524 (CVSS score: 8.9), a high-severity vulnerability impacting the Apache Superset open-source data visualization software that could enable remote code execution.

SpectralBlur: New macOS Backdoor Threat from North Korean Hackers

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new Apple macOS backdoor called SpectralBlur that overlaps with a known malware family that has been attributed to North Korean threat actors. “SpectralBlur is a moderately capable backdoor that can upload/download files, run a shell, update its configuration, delete files, hibernate, or sleep, based on commands issued from the [

Exposed Secrets are Everywhere. Here's How to Tackle Them

Picture this: you stumble upon a concealed secret within your company's source code. Instantly, a wave of panic hits as you grasp the possible consequences. This one hidden secret has the power to pave the way for unauthorized entry, data breaches, and a damaged reputation. Understanding the secret is just the beginning; swift and resolute action becomes imperative. However, lacking the

Alert: Ivanti Releases Patch for Critical Vulnerability in Endpoint Manager Solution

Ivanti has released security updates to address a critical flaw impacting its Endpoint Manager (EPM) solution that, if successfully exploited, could result in remote code execution (RCE) on susceptible servers. Tracked as CVE-2023-39336, the vulnerability has been rated 9.6 out of 10 on the CVSS scoring system. The shortcoming impacts EPM 2021 and EPM 2022 prior to SU5. “If exploited, an

Three Ways To Supercharge Your Software Supply Chain Security

Section four of the "Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity" introduced a lot of people in tech to the concept of a “Software Supply Chain” and securing it. If you make software and ever hope to sell it to one or more federal agencies, you have to pay attention to this. Even if you never plan to sell to a government, understanding your Software Supply Chain and

Malware Using Google MultiLogin Exploit to Maintain Access Despite Password Reset

Information stealing malware are actively taking advantage of an undocumented Google OAuth endpoint named MultiLogin to hijack user sessions and allow continuous access to Google services even after a password reset. According to CloudSEK, the critical exploit facilitates session persistence and cookie generation, enabling threat actors to maintain access to a valid session in an

New Variant of DLL Search Order Hijacking Bypasses Windows 10 and 11 Protections

Security researchers have detailed a new variant of a dynamic link library (DLL) search order hijacking technique that could be used by threat actors to bypass security mechanisms and achieve execution of malicious code on systems running Microsoft Windows 10 and Windows 11. The approach "leverages executables commonly found in the trusted WinSxS folder and exploits them via the classic DLL

New Terrapin Flaw Could Let Attackers Downgrade SSH Protocol Security

Security researchers from Ruhr University Bochum have discovered a vulnerability in the Secure Shell (SSH) cryptographic network protocol that could allow an attacker to downgrade the connection's security by breaking the integrity of the secure channel. Called Terrapin (CVE-2023-48795, CVSS score: 5.9), the exploit has been described as the "first ever practically exploitable prefix

Google Cloud Resolves Privilege Escalation Flaw Impacting Kubernetes Service

Google Cloud has addressed a medium-severity security flaw in its platform that could be abused by an attacker who already has access to a Kubernetes cluster to escalate their privileges. "An attacker who has compromised the Fluent Bit logging container could combine that access with high privileges required by Anthos Service Mesh (on clusters that have enabled it) to

Critical Zero-Day in Apache OfBiz ERP System Exposes Businesses to Attack

A new zero-day security flaw has been discovered in Apache OfBiz, an open-source Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that could be exploited to bypass authentication protections. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2023-51467, resides in the login functionality and is the result of an incomplete patch for another critical vulnerability (CVE-2023-49070, CVSS score: 9.8) that was released

Chinese Hackers Exploited New Zero-Day in Barracuda's ESG Appliances

Barracuda has revealed that Chinese threat actors exploited a new zero-day in its Email Security Gateway (ESG) appliances to deploy backdoors on a "limited number" of devices. Tracked as CVE-2023-7102, the issue relates to a case of arbitrary code execution that resides within a third-party and open-source library named Spreadsheet::ParseExcel that's used by the Amavis scanner

Decoy Microsoft Word Documents Used to Deliver Nim-Based Malware

A new phishing campaign is leveraging decoy Microsoft Word documents as bait to deliver a backdoor written in the Nim programming language. "Malware written in uncommon programming languages puts the security community at a disadvantage as researchers and reverse engineers' unfamiliarity can hamper their investigation," Netskope researchers Ghanashyam Satpathy and Jan Michael Alcantara&nbsp

UAC-0099 Using WinRAR Exploit to Target Ukrainian Firms with LONEPAGE Malware

The threat actor known as UAC-0099 has been linked to continued attacks aimed at Ukraine, some of which leverage a high-severity flaw in the WinRAR software to deliver a malware strain called LONEPAGE. "The threat actor targets Ukrainian employees working for companies outside of Ukraine," cybersecurity firm Deep Instinct said in a Thursday analysis. UAC-0099 was first

Hackers Exploiting MS Excel Vulnerability to Spread Agent Tesla Malware

Attackers are weaponizing an old Microsoft Office vulnerability as part of phishing campaigns to distribute a strain of malware called Agent Tesla. The infection chains leverage decoy Excel documents attached in invoice-themed messages to trick potential targets into opening them and activate the exploitation of CVE-2017-11882 (CVSS score: 7.8), a memory corruption vulnerability in Office's

Urgent: New Chrome Zero-Day Vulnerability Exploited in the Wild - Update ASAP

Google has rolled out security updates for the Chrome web browser to address a high-severity zero-day flaw that it said has been exploited in the wild. The vulnerability, assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2023-7024, has been described as a heap-based buffer overflow bug in the WebRTC framework that could be exploited to result in program crashes or arbitrary code execution. Clément

Double-Extortion Play Ransomware Strikes 300 Organizations Worldwide

The threat actors behind the Play ransomware are estimated to have impacted approximately 300 entities as of October 2023, according to a new joint cybersecurity advisory from Australia and the U.S. "Play ransomware actors employ a double-extortion model, encrypting systems after exfiltrating data and have impacted a wide range of businesses and critical infrastructure organizations in North

Beware: Experts Reveal New Details on Zero-Click Outlook RCE Exploits

Technical details have emerged about two now-patched security flaws in Microsoft Windows that could be chained by threat actors to achieve remote code execution on the Outlook email service sans any user interaction. "An attacker on the internet can chain the vulnerabilities together to create a full, zero-click remote code execution (RCE) exploit against Outlook clients," Akamai security

CISA Urges Manufacturers Eliminate Default Passwords to Thwart Cyber Threats

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is urging manufacturers to get rid of default passwords on internet-exposed systems altogether, citing severe risks that could be exploited by malicious actors to gain initial access to, and move laterally within, organizations. In an alert published last week, the agency called out Iranian threat actors affiliated with

New Security Vulnerabilities Uncovered in pfSense Firewall Software - Patch Now

Multiple security vulnerabilities have been discovered in the open-source Netgate pfSense firewall solution called pfSense that could be chained by an attacker to execute arbitrary commands on susceptible appliances. The issues relate to two reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) bugs and one command injection flaw, according to new findings from Sonar. "Security inside a local network is often

New Hacker Group 'GambleForce' Tageting APAC Firms Using SQL Injection Attacks

A previously unknown hacker outfit called GambleForce has been attributed to a series of SQL injection attacks against companies primarily in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region since at least September 2023. "GambleForce uses a set of basic yet very effective techniques, including SQL injections and the exploitation of vulnerable website content management systems (CMS) to steal sensitive

Unveiling the Cyber Threats to Healthcare: Beyond the Myths

Let's begin with a thought-provoking question: among a credit card number, a social security number, and an Electronic Health Record (EHR), which commands the highest price on a dark web forum?  Surprisingly, it's the EHR, and the difference is stark: according to a study, EHRs can sell for up to $1,000 each, compared to a mere $5 for a credit card number and $1 for a social

Apple Releases Security Updates to Patch Critical iOS and macOS Security Flaws

Apple on Monday released security patches for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and Safari web browser to address multiple security flaws, in addition to backporting fixes for two recently disclosed zero-days to older devices. This includes updates for 12 security vulnerabilities in iOS and iPadOS spanning AVEVideoEncoder, ExtensionKit, Find My, ImageIO, Kernel, Safari

New Critical RCE Vulnerability Discovered in Apache Struts 2 - Patch Now

Apache has released a security advisory warning of a critical security flaw in the Struts 2 open-source web application framework that could result in remote code execution. Tracked as CVE-2023-50164, the vulnerability is rooted in a flawed "file upload logic" that could enable unauthorized path traversal and could be exploited under the circumstances to upload a malicious file

Lazarus Group Using Log4j Exploits to Deploy Remote Access Trojans

The notorious North Korea-linked threat actor known as the Lazarus Group has been attributed to a new global campaign that involves the opportunistic exploitation of security flaws in Log4j to deploy previously undocumented remote access trojans (RATs) on compromised hosts. Cisco Talos is tracking the activity under the name Operation Blacksmith, noting the use of three DLang-based

New 5G Modem Flaws Affect iOS Devices and Android Models from Major Brands

A collection of security flaws in the firmware implementation of 5G mobile network modems from major chipset vendors such as MediaTek and Qualcomm impact USB and IoT modems as well as hundreds of smartphone models running Android and iOS. Of the 14 flaws – collectively called 5Ghoul (a combination of "5G" and "Ghoul") – 10 affect 5G modems from the two companies, out of which three

WordPress Releases Update 6.4.2 to Address Critical Remote Attack Vulnerability

WordPress has released version 6.4.2 with a patch for a critical security flaw that could be exploited by threat actors by combining it with another bug to execute arbitrary PHP code on vulnerable sites. "A remote code execution vulnerability that is not directly exploitable in core; however, the security team feels that there is a potential for high severity when combined with some plugins,

New Bluetooth Flaw Let Hackers Take Over Android, Linux, macOS, and iOS Devices

A critical Bluetooth security flaw could be exploited by threat actors to take control of Android, Linux, macOS and iOS devices. Tracked as CVE-2023-45866, the issue relates to a case of authentication bypass that enables attackers to connect to susceptible devices and inject keystrokes to achieve code execution as the victim. "Multiple Bluetooth stacks have authentication bypass

Hacking the Human Mind: Exploiting Vulnerabilities in the 'First Line of Cyber Defense'

Humans are complex beings with consciousness, emotions, and the capacity to act based on thoughts. In the ever-evolving realm of cybersecurity, humans consistently remain primary targets for attackers. Over the years, these attackers have developed their expertise in exploiting various human qualities, sharpening their skills to manipulate biases and emotional triggers with the objective of

Building a Robust Threat Intelligence with Wazuh

Threat intelligence refers to gathering, processing, and analyzing cyber threats, along with proactive defensive measures aimed at strengthening security. It enables organizations to gain a comprehensive insight into historical, present, and anticipated threats, providing context about the constantly evolving threat landscape. Importance of threat intelligence in the cybersecurity ecosystem

New Stealthy 'Krasue' Linux Trojan Targeting Telecom Firms in Thailand

A previously unknown Linux remote access trojan called Krasue has been observed targeting telecom companies in Thailand by threat actors to main covert access to victim networks at lease since 2021. Named after a nocturnal female spirit of Southeast Asian folklore, the malware is "able to conceal its own presence during the initialization phase," Group-IB said in a report

Scaling Security Operations with Automation

In an increasingly complex and fast-paced digital landscape, organizations strive to protect themselves from various security threats. However, limited resources often hinder security teams when combatting these threats, making it difficult to keep up with the growing number of security incidents and alerts. Implementing automation throughout security operations helps security teams alleviate

Hackers Exploited ColdFusion Vulnerability to Breach Federal Agency Servers

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned of active exploitation of a high-severity Adobe ColdFusion vulnerability by unidentified threat actors to gain initial access to government servers. "The vulnerability in ColdFusion (CVE-2023-26360) presents as an improper access control issue and exploitation of this CVE can result in arbitrary code execution,"

Atlassian Releases Critical Software Fixes to Prevent Remote Code Execution

Atlassian has released software fixes to address four critical flaws in its software that, if successfully exploited, could result in remote code execution. The list of vulnerabilities is below - CVE-2022-1471 (CVSS score: 9.8) - Deserialization vulnerability in SnakeYAML library that can lead to remote code execution in multiple products CVE-2023-22522 (CVSS score

Qualcomm Releases Details on Chip Vulnerabilities Exploited in Targeted Attacks

Chipmaker Qualcomm has released more information about three high-severity security flaws that it said came under "limited, targeted exploitation" back in October 2023. The vulnerabilities are as follows - CVE-2023-33063 (CVSS score: 7.8) - Memory corruption in DSP Services during a remote call from HLOS to DSP. CVE-2023-33106 (CVSS score: 8.4) - Memory corruption in

15,000 Go Module Repositories on GitHub Vulnerable to Repojacking Attack

New research has found that over 15,000 Go module repositories on GitHub are vulnerable to an attack called repojacking. "More than 9,000 repositories are vulnerable to repojacking due to GitHub username changes," Jacob Baines, chief technology officer at VulnCheck, said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "More than 6,000 repositories were vulnerable to repojacking due to account

Microsoft Warns of Kremlin-Backed APT28 Exploiting Critical Outlook Vulnerability

Microsoft on Monday said it detected Kremlin-backed nation-state activity exploiting a now-patched critical security flaw in its Outlook email service to gain unauthorized access to victims' accounts within Exchange servers. The tech giant attributed the intrusions to a threat actor it called Forest Blizzard (formerly Strontium), which is also widely tracked under the

New P2PInfect Botnet MIPS Variant Targeting Routers and IoT Devices

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new variant of an emerging botnet called P2PInfect that's capable of targeting routers and IoT devices. The latest version, per Cado Security Labs, is compiled for Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipelined Stages (MIPS) architecture, broadening its capabilities and reach. "It's highly likely that by targeting MIPS, the P2PInfect developers

CACTUS Ransomware Exploits Qlik Sense Vulnerabilities in Targeted Attacks

A CACTUS ransomware campaign has been observed exploiting recently disclosed security flaws in a cloud analytics and business intelligence platform called Qlik Sense to obtain a foothold into targeted environments. "This campaign marks the first documented instance [...] where threat actors deploying CACTUS ransomware have exploited vulnerabilities in Qlik Sense for initial access,"

GoTitan Botnet Spotted Exploiting Recent Apache ActiveMQ Vulnerability

The recently disclosed critical security flaw impacting Apache ActiveMQ is being actively exploited by threat actors to distribute a new Go-based botnet called GoTitan as well as a .NET program known as PrCtrl Rat that's capable of remotely commandeering the infected hosts. The attacks involve the exploitation of a remote code execution bug (CVE-2023-46604, CVSS score: 10.0)

Zero-Day Alert: Google Chrome Under Active Attack, Exploiting New Vulnerability

Google has rolled out security updates to fix seven security issues in its Chrome browser, including a zero-day that has come under active exploitation in the wild. Tracked as CVE-2023-6345, the high-severity vulnerability has been described as an integer overflow bug in Skia, an open source 2D graphics library. Benoît Sevens and Clément Lecigne of Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) have

Design Flaw in Google Workspace Could Let Attackers Gain Unauthorized Access

Cybersecurity researchers have detailed a "severe design flaw" in Google Workspace's domain-wide delegation (DWD) feature that could be exploited by threat actors to facilitate privilege escalation and obtain unauthorized access to Workspace APIs without super admin privileges. "Such exploitation could result in theft of emails from Gmail, data exfiltration from Google Drive, or other

Hackers Can Exploit 'Forced Authentication' to Steal Windows NTLM Tokens

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a case of "forced authentication" that could be exploited to leak a Windows user's NT LAN Manager (NTLM) tokens by tricking a victim into opening a specially crafted Microsoft Access file. The attack takes advantage of a legitimate feature in the database management system solution that allows users to link to external data sources, such as a remote

Warning: 3 Critical Vulnerabilities Expose ownCloud Users to Data Breaches

The maintainers of the open-source file-sharing software ownCloud have warned of three critical security flaws that could be exploited to disclose sensitive information and modify files. A brief description of the vulnerabilities is as follows - CVE-2023-49103 (CVSS score: 10.0) - Disclosure of sensitive credentials and configuration in containerized deployments impacting graphapi versions from

Konni Group Using Russian-Language Malicious Word Docs in Latest Attacks

A new phishing attack has been observed leveraging a Russian-language Microsoft Word document to deliver malware capable of harvesting sensitive information from compromised Windows hosts. The activity has been attributed to a threat actor called Konni, which is assessed to share overlaps with a North Korean cluster tracked as Kimsuky (aka APT43). "This campaign relies on a remote access trojan

Mirai-based Botnet Exploiting Zero-Day Bugs in Routers and NVRs for Massive DDoS Attacks

An active malware campaign is leveraging two zero-day vulnerabilities with remote code execution (RCE) functionality to rope routers and video recorders into a Mirai-based distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) botnet. “The payload targets routers and network video recorder (NVR) devices with default admin credentials and installs Mirai variants when successful,” Akamai said in an advisory

N. Korean Hackers Distribute Trojanized CyberLink Software in Supply Chain Attack

A North Korean state-sponsored threat actor tracked as Diamond Sleet is distributing a trojanized version of a legitimate application developed by a Taiwanese multimedia software developer called CyberLink to target downstream customers via a supply chain attack. "This malicious file is a legitimate CyberLink application installer that has been modified to include malicious code that downloads,

LockBit Ransomware Exploiting Critical Citrix Bleed Vulnerability to Break In

Multiple threat actors, including LockBit ransomware affiliates, are actively exploiting a recently disclosed critical security flaw in Citrix NetScaler application delivery control (ADC) and Gateway appliances to obtain initial access to target environments. The joint advisory comes from the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),

Kinsing Hackers Exploit Apache ActiveMQ Vulnerability to Deploy Linux Rootkits

The Kinsing threat actors are actively exploiting a critical security flaw in vulnerable Apache ActiveMQ servers to infect Linux systems with cryptocurrency miners and rootkits. "Once Kinsing infects a system, it deploys a cryptocurrency mining script that exploits the host's resources to mine cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, resulting in significant damage to the infrastructure and a negative

Why Defenders Should Embrace a Hacker Mindset

Today’s security leaders must manage a constantly evolving attack surface and a dynamic threat environment due to interconnected devices, cloud services, IoT technologies, and hybrid work environments. Adversaries are constantly introducing new attack techniques, and not all companies have internal Red Teams or unlimited security resources to stay on top of the latest threats. On top of that,

Russian Cyber Espionage Group Deploys LitterDrifter USB Worm in Targeted Attacks

Russian cyber espionage actors affiliated with the Federal Security Service (FSB) have been observed using a USB propagating worm called LitterDrifter in attacks targeting Ukrainian entities. Check Point, which detailed Gamaredon's (aka Aqua Blizzard, Iron Tilden, Primitive Bear, Shuckworm, and Winterflounder) latest tactics, branded the group as engaging in large-scale campaigns that are

Discover 2023's Cloud Security Strategies in Our Upcoming Webinar - Secure Your Spot

In 2023, the cloud isn't just a technology—it's a battleground. Zenbleed, Kubernetes attacks, and sophisticated APTs are just the tip of the iceberg in the cloud security warzone. In collaboration with the esteemed experts from Lacework Labs, The Hacker News proudly presents an exclusive webinar: 'Navigating the Cloud Attack Landscape: 2023 Trends, Techniques, and Tactics.' Join us for an

CISA Adds Three Security Flaws with Active Exploitation to KEV Catalog

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Thursday added three security flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog based on evidence of active exploitation in the wild. The vulnerabilities are as follows - CVE-2023-36584 (CVSS score: 5.4) - Microsoft Windows Mark-of-the-Web (MotW) Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability CVE-2023-1671 (CVSS score: 9.8) -

Zero-Day Flaw in Zimbra Email Software Exploited by Four Hacker Groups

A zero-day flaw in the Zimbra Collaboration email software was exploited by four different groups in real-world attacks to pilfer email data, user credentials, and authentication tokens. "Most of this activity occurred after the initial fix became public on GitHub," Google Threat Analysis Group (TAG) said in a report shared with The Hacker News. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2023-37580 (CVSS score:

Experts Uncover DarkCasino: New Emerging APT Threat Exploiting WinRAR Flaw

A hacking group that leveraged a recently disclosed security flaw in the WinRAR software as a zero-day has now been categorized as an entirely new advanced persistent threat (APT). Cybersecurity company NSFOCUS has described DarkCasino as an "economically motivated" actor that first came to light in 2021. "DarkCasino is an APT threat actor with strong technical and learning ability, who is good

Reptar: New Intel CPU Vulnerability Impacts Multi-Tenant Virtualized Environments

Intel has released fixes to close out a high-severity flaw codenamed Reptar that impacts its desktop, mobile, and server CPUs. Tracked as CVE-2023-23583 (CVSS score: 8.8), the issue has the potential to "allow escalation of privilege and/or information disclosure and/or denial of service via local access." Successful exploitation of the vulnerability could also permit a bypass of the CPU's

Urgent: VMware Warns of Unpatched Critical Cloud Director Vulnerability

VMware is warning of a critical and unpatched security flaw in Cloud Director that could be exploited by a malicious actor to get around authentication protections. Tracked as CVE-2023-34060 (CVSS score: 9.8), the vulnerability impacts instances that have been upgraded to version 10.5 from an older version. "On an upgraded version of VMware Cloud Director Appliance 10.5, a malicious actor with

The Importance of Continuous Security Monitoring for a Robust Cybersecurity Strategy

In 2023, the global average cost of a data breach reached $4.45 million. Beyond the immediate financial loss, there are long-term consequences like diminished customer trust, weakened brand value, and derailed business operations. In a world where the frequency and cost of data breaches are skyrocketing, organizations are coming face-to-face with a harsh reality: traditional cybersecurity

CISA Sets a Deadline - Patch Juniper Junos OS Flaws Before November 17

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has given a November 17, 2023, deadline for federal agencies and organizations to apply mitigations to secure against a number of security flaws in Juniper Junos OS that came to light in August. The agency on Monday added five vulnerabilities to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, based on evidence of active

Chinese Hackers Launch Covert Espionage Attacks on 24 Cambodian Organizations

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered what they say is malicious cyber activity orchestrated by two prominent Chinese nation-state hacking groups targeting 24 Cambodian government organizations. "This activity is believed to be part of a long-term espionage campaign," Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 researchers said in a report last week. "The observed activity aligns with geopolitical goals of