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Experts Sound Alarm Over Growing Attacks Exploiting Zoho ManageEngine Products
Multiple threat actors have been observed opportunistically weaponizing a now-patched critical security vulnerability impacting several Zoho ManageEngine products since January 20, 2023. Tracked as CVE-2022-47966 (CVSS score: 9.8), the remote code execution flaw allows a complete takeover of the susceptible systems by unauthenticated attackers. As many as 24 different products, including Access
Multiple threat actors have been observed opportunistically weaponizing a now-patched critical security vulnerability impacting several Zoho ManageEngine products since January 20, 2023.
Tracked as CVE-2022-47966 (CVSS score: 9.8), the remote code execution flaw allows a complete takeover of the susceptible systems by unauthenticated attackers.
As many as 24 different products, including Access Manager Plus, ADManager Plus, ADSelfService Plus, Password Manager Pro, Remote Access Plus, and Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM), are affected by the issue.
The shortcoming “allows unauthenticated remote code execution due to usage of an outdated third-party dependency for XML signature validation, Apache Santuario,” Bitdefender’s Martin Zugec said in a technical advisory shared with The Hacker News.
According to the Romanian cybersecurity firm, the exploitation efforts are said to have commenced the day after penetration testing firm Horizon3.ai released a proof-of-concept (PoC) last month.
A majority of the attack victims are located in Australia, Canada, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Ukraine, the U.K., and the U.S.
The main objective of the attacks detected to date revolves around deploying tools on vulnerable hosts such as Netcat and Cobalt Strike Beacon.
Some intrusions have leveraged the initial access to install AnyDesk software for remote access, while a few others have attempted to install a Windows version of a ransomware strain known as Buhti.
What’s more, there is evidence of a targeted espionage operation, with the threat actors abusing the ManageEngine flaw to deploy malware capable of executing next-stage payloads.
“This vulnerability is another clear reminder of the importance of keeping systems up to date with the latest security patches while also employing strong perimeter defense,” Zugec said.
“Attackers don’t need to scour for new exploits or novel techniques when they know that many organizations are vulnerable to older exploits due, in part, to the lack of proper patch management and risk management.”
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This Metasploit module exploits an unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability that affects Zoho ManageEngine Endpoint Central and MSP versions 10.1.2228.10 and below (CVE-2022-47966). Due to a dependency to an outdated library (Apache Santuario version 1.4.1), it is possible to execute arbitrary code by providing a crafted samlResponse XML to the Endpoint Central SAML endpoint. Note that the target is only vulnerable if it is configured with SAML-based SSO, and the service should be active.
This Metasploit module exploits an unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability that affects Zoho ManageEngine AdSelfService Plus versions 6210 and below. Due to a dependency to an outdated library (Apache Santuario version 1.4.1), it is possible to execute arbitrary code by providing a crafted samlResponse XML to the ADSelfService Plus SAML endpoint. Note that the target is only vulnerable if it has been configured with SAML-based SSO at least once in the past, regardless of the current SAML-based SSO status.
This Metasploit module exploits an unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability that affects Zoho ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus versions 14003 and below (CVE-2022-47966). Due to a dependency to an outdated library (Apache Santuario version 1.4.1), it is possible to execute arbitrary code by providing a crafted samlResponse XML to the ServiceDesk Plus SAML endpoint. Note that the target is only vulnerable if it has been configured with SAML-based SSO at least once in the past, regardless of the current SAML-based SSO status.
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