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Weekly Vulnerability Report: Critical Security Flaws Identified by Cyble in Microsoft, VMware, Veeam, ASUS Products

✇Cybersecurity News and Magazine
By: Paul Shread
24 June 2024 at 14:40

The Cyber Express & Cyble Weekly Vulnerability Report

Cyble Research & Intelligence Labs (CRIL) last week analyzed 154 vulnerabilities in its weekly vulnerability report, including critical flaws in products from the likes of Microsoft, VMware, Veeam and ASUS. A whopping 126 of the vulnerabilities occurred in Siemens industrial control systems (ICS) products, potentially putting critical manufacturing infrastructure at risk. About 25,000 new security vulnerabilities are discovered each year, yet only a small percentage of those are actively exploited by threat actors. To help security teams focus on the most important vulnerabilities and threats, The Cyber Express is collaborating with Cyble’s highly skilled dark web and threat intelligence researchers to highlight security vulnerabilities that warrant particularly close attention.

The Week’s Top Vulnerabilities

Cyble’s weekly report focused on 9 of the vulnerabilities in particular; they are:

CVE-2024-37079, CVE-2024-37080 and CVE-2024-37081: VMware

Impact Analysis: These critical and high severity heap-overflow and privilege escalation vulnerabilities impact the VMware vCenter Server, a central management platform for VMware vSphere, enabling the management of virtual machines and ESXi hosts. With the global usage of the impacted product and the history of leveraging flaws impacting vCenter, there is strong potential for threat actors (Tas) to leverage these critical vulnerabilities also. Internet Exposure: Yes Available Patch? Yes

CVE-2024-3080: ASUS Router Bypass

Impact Analysis: This critical authentication bypass vulnerability impacts certain ASUS router models, allowing unauthenticated remote attackers to log in to the device. Recently, the Taiwan Computer Emergency Response Team informed users about the vulnerability and released an advisory with fixes to patch the flaw. Internet Exposure: Yes Patch Available? Yes

CVE-2024-3912: ASUS Arbitrary Firmware Upload Vulnerability

Impact Analysis: This critical arbitrary firmware upload vulnerability impacts certain ASUS router models, allowing unauthenticated remote attackers to execute arbitrary system commands on the device. The Taiwan Computer Emergency Response Team also informed users about this vulnerability and released an advisory with fixes to patch the flaw. Internet Exposure: Yes Patch Available? Yes

CVE-2024-29855: Veeam Recovery Orchestrator

Impact Analysis: This critical authentication bypass vulnerability impacts the Veeam Recovery Orchestrator. The recovery solution extends the capabilities of the Veeam Data Platform by automating recovery processes and providing comprehensive reporting and testing features. The availability of a recent publicly available proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit for this vulnerability elevates the risk of exploitation in attacks by TAs. Internet Exposure: No Patch Available? Yes

CVE-2024-30103: Microsoft Outlook RCE Vulnerability

Impact Analysis: This high-severity remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability impacts Microsoft Outlook. Since the zero-click RCE flaw can be exploited simply by opening and previewing an email that contains a malicious payload in the body of the email, requiring no further interaction from the user, there are high possibilities for the weaponization of the vulnerability by TAs in targeting government and private entities. Internet Exposure: No Patch Available? Yes

CVE-2024-30078: Windows Wi-Fi Driver RCE Vulnerability

Impact Analysis: This high severity remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability impacts Windows Wi-Fi Driver. With the wide usage of Windows devices around the world and the ability to exploit without the need for any user interaction, TAs can leverage the flaw to gain initial access to the devices and later install malware and exfiltrate user data. Internet Exposure: No Patch Available? Yes

CVE-2024-37051: JetBrains GitHub Plugin Vulnerability

Impact Analysis: This critical vulnerability in the JetBrains GitHub plugin on the IntelliJ open-source platform affects all IntelliJ-based IDEs, leading to the exposure of GitHub access tokens. TAs can leverage the vulnerability by using exposed tokens to gain unauthorized access to user GitHub accounts and repositories and possibly deploy malicious code or delete the repositories. Internet Exposure: No Patch Available? Yes

CISA Adds 5 Vulnerabilities to KEV Catalog

Five of the vulnerabilities in the Cyble report were added to CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog:
  • CVE-2024-32896, an Android Pixel vulnerability with a 7.8 CVSSv3 criticality score
  • CVE-2024-26169, a Microsoft Windows error reporting service elevation of privilege vulnerability with a 7.8 criticality rating
  • CVE-2024-4358, a Progress Telerik Report Server vulnerability with a 9.8 rating
  • CVE-2024-4610, an Arm Mali GPU Kernel Driver vulnerability with a 5.5 rating
  • CVE-2024-4577, a PHP remote code execution flaw, a 9.8 vulnerability that Cyble addressed in last week’s report
The full Cyble report available for clients covers all these vulnerabilities, along with details and discussion around exploits found on the dark web, industrial control system (ICS) vulnerability intelligence, and cybersecurity defenses. Cyble security analysts also conducted scans of customer environments to alert them of any exposures – and found more than 2 million exposures to 13 of the vulnerabilities. Weekly Vulnerability Report Stay ahead of cyber threats with the Weekly Vulnerability Intelligence Report by Cyble, brought to you by The Cyber Express. Subscribe now for the latest insights powered by Cyble's advanced AI-driven threat intelligence.

High-severity vulnerabilities affect a wide range of Asus router models

✇Ars Technica
By: Dan Goodin
17 June 2024 at 14:39
High-severity vulnerabilities affect a wide range of Asus router models

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

Hardware manufacturer Asus has released updates patching multiple critical vulnerabilities that allow hackers to remotely take control of a range of router models with no authentication or interaction required of end users.

The most critical vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-3080 is an authentication bypass flaw that can allow remote attackers to log into a device without authentication. The vulnerability, according to the Taiwan Computer Emergency Response Team / Coordination Center (TWCERT/CC), carries a severity rating of 9.8 out of 10. Asus said the vulnerability affects the following routers:

Model name Support Site link
XT8 and XT8_V2 https://www.asus.com/uk/supportonly/asus%20zenwifi%20ax%20(xt8)/helpdesk_bios/
RT-AX88U https://www.asus.com/supportonly/RT-AX88U/helpdesk_bios/
RT-AX58U https://www.asus.com/supportonly/RT-AX58U/helpdesk_bios/
RT-AX57 https://www.asus.com/networking-iot-servers/wifi-routers/asus-wifi-routers/rt-ax57/helpdesk_bios
RT-AC86U https://www.asus.com/supportonly/RT-AC86U/helpdesk_bios/
RT-AC68U https://www.asus.com/supportonly/RT-AC68U/helpdesk_bios/

A favorite haven for hackers

A second vulnerability tracked as CVE-2024-3079 affects the same router models. It stems from a buffer overflow flaw and allows remote hackers who have already obtained administrative access to an affected router to execute commands.

Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Apple warns people of mercenary attacks via threat notification system

✇Malwarebytes Labs
11 April 2024 at 15:51

Apple has reportedly sent alerts to individuals in 92 nations on Wednesday, April 10, to say it’s detected that they may have been a victim of a mercenary attack. The company says it has sent out these types of threat notifications to over 150 countries since the start in 2021.

Mercenary spyware is used by governments to target people like journalists, political activists, and similar targets, and involves the use of sophisticated tools like Pegasus. Pegasus is one of the world’s most advanced and invasive spyware tools, known to utilize zero-day vulnerabilities against mobile devices.

The second number became known when Apple changed the wording of the relevant support page. The change also included the title that went from “About Apple threat notifications and protecting against state-sponsored attacks” to “About Apple threat notifications and protecting against mercenary spyware.”

If you look at the before and after, you’ll also notice an extra paragraph, again with the emphasis on the change from “state-sponsored attacks” to “mercenary spyware.”

The cause for the difference in wording might be because “state-sponsored” is often used to indicate attacks targeted at entities, like governments or companies, while these mercenary attacks tend to be directed at individual people.

The extra paragraph specifically calls out the NSO Group and the Pegasus spyware it sells. While the NSO Group claims to only sell to “government clients,” we have no reason to take its word for it.

Apple says that when it detects activity consistent with a mercenary spyware attack it uses two different means of notifying the users about the attack:

  • Displays a Threat Notification at the top of the page after the user signs into appleid.apple.com.
  • Sends an email and iMessage notification to the email addresses and phone numbers associated with the user’s Apple ID.

Apple says it doesn’t want to share information about what triggers these notifications, since that might help mercenary spyware attackers adapt their behavior to evade detection in the future.

The NSO Group itself argued in a court case started by Meta for spying on WhatsApp users, that it should be recognized as a foreign government agent and, therefore, be entitled to immunity under US law limiting lawsuits against foreign countries.

NSO Group has also said that its tool is increasingly necessary in an era when end-to-end encryption is widely available to criminals.

How to stay safe

Apple advises iPhone users to:

We’d like to add:

  • Use an anti-malware solution on your device.
  • If you’re not sure about something that’s been sent to you, verify it with the person or company via another communcation channel.
  • Use a password manager.

We don’t just report on phone security—we provide it

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your mobile devices by downloading Malwarebytes for iOS, and Malwarebytes for Android today.

Predator spyware vendor banned in US

✇Malwarebytes Labs
7 March 2024 at 08:20

The US Treasury Department has sanctioned Predator spyware vendor Intellexa Consortium, and banned the company from doing business in the US.

Predator can turn infected smartphones into surveillance devices. Intellexa is based in Greece but the Treasury Department imposed the sanctions because of the use of the spyware against Americans, including US government officials, journalists, and policy experts.

Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said:

“Today’s actions represent a tangible step forward in discouraging the misuse of commercial surveillance tools, which increasingly present a security risk to the United States and our citizens.”

Since its founding in 2019, the Intellexa Consortium has marketed the Predator label as a suite of tools created by a variety of offensive cybercompanies that enable targeted and mass surveillance campaigns.

Predator is capable of infiltrating a range of electronic devices without any user interaction (known as ‘zero-click’). Once installed, Predator deploys its extensive data-stealing and surveillance capabilities, giving the attacker access to a variety of applications and personal information on the compromised device. The spyware is capable of turning on the user’s microphone and camera, downloading their files without their knowledge, tracking their location, and more.

Under the sanctions, Americans and people who do business with the US are forbidden from transacting with Intellexa, its founder and architect Tal Dilian, employee Sara Hamou and four of the companies affiliated with Intellexa.

Sanctions of this magnitude leveraged against commercial spyware vendors for enabling misuse of their tools are unprecedented, but the US has expressed concerns about commercial spyware vendors before.

“A growing number of foreign governments around the world, moreover, have deployed this technology to facilitate repression and enable human rights abuses, including to intimidate political opponents and curb dissent, limit freedom of expression, and monitor and target activists and journalists.”

In July 2023, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) added Intellexa and Cytrox AD to the Entity List for trafficking in cyber exploits used to gain access to information systems. Cytrox AD is a North Macedonia-based company within the Intellexa Consortium and acts as a developer of the consortium’s Predator spyware.

The Entity List is a trade control list created and maintained by the US government. It identifies foreign individuals, organizations, companies, and government entities that are subject to specific export controls and restrictions due to their involvement in activities that threaten US national security or foreign policy interests.

Earlier this month, a California federal judge ordered spyware maker NSO Group to hand over the code for Pegasus and other spyware products used to spy on WhatsApp users.

While you’ll see Predator and Pegasus usually deployed in small-scale and targeted attacks, putting a stop to the development and deployment of spyware by these commercial entities is good news for everyone.

How to remove spyware

Because spyware apps install under a different name and hide themselves from the user, it can be hard to find and remove them. That is where Malwarebytes for Android can help you.

  1. Open Malwarebytes for Android and navigate to the dashboard
  2. Tap Scan now
  3. It may take a few minutes to scan your device, but it will tell you if it finds spyware or any other nasties.
  4. You can then uninstall the app.

We don’t just report on phone security—we provide it

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your mobile devices by downloading Malwarebytes for iOS, and Malwarebytes for Android today.

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