This is a backdoored version of openssh-8.0p1 where the ssh client will log the ssh username and ssh password into /opt/.../log.txt.

OpenSSH 8 Password Backdoor

By Deeba Ahmed
Critical 'BatBadBut' Flaw in Windows Lets Hackers Inject Commands (Patch Now!)
This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Windows Apps Vulnerable to Command Injection via “BatBadBut” Flaw

Flatt Security has discovered a critical vulnerability called “BatBadBut” that could allow attackers to inject malicious commands into Windows applications. The flaw, discovered by Flatt Security’s security engineer RyotaK, affects multiple programming languages. It was reported to the CERT Coordination Center and registered as CVE-2024-24576 on GitHub with a severity score of 10.0.

****What’s the Issue?****

Windows Rust developers are being urged to update their versions due to a critical vulnerability called ‘BatBadBut’, which could lead to malicious command injections on machines. The vulnerability affects the Rust standard library, which improperly escaped arguments when invoking batch files on Windows using the Command API.

BatBadBut vulnerability allows attackers to inject commands into Windows applications that rely on the ‘CreateProcess’ function. This is because cmd.exe, which executes batch files, has complex parsing rules and programming language runtimes fail to escape command arguments properly.

****Why it Occurs?****

The ‘BatBadBut’ issue occurs from the interaction between programming languages and the Windows operating system. When a program calls the “CreateProcess” function, Windows launches a separate process, “cmd.exe,” to handle the execution. This separate process parses the commands in the .bat file. 

For your information, Windows by default includes .bat and.cmd files in the PATHEXT environment variable, which can cause runtimes to execute batch files against developers’ intentions. An attacker can inject commands into Windows applications by controlling the command arguments section of batch files. To do this, the application must execute a command on Windows, specify the command file extension, control the command arguments, and fail to escape them.

“Some runtimes execute batch files against the developers’ intention if there is a batch file with the same name as the command that the developer intended to execute,” ” Ryotak explained.

****Impacted Applications****

Haskell process library, Rust, Node.js, PHP, and yt-dlp are affected by this bug. The Rust Security Response Working Group was notified on April 9 2024 that the Rust standard library, which is used to invoke batch files on Windows, is not properly escaping arguments, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary shell commands by bypassing the escaping. Haskell, Rust, and yt-dlp have issued patches.  

Ryotak reports that this isn’t an “internet breaking vulnerability” and most applications are not affected by it with several mitigations already available. Some programming languages have addressed it by adding an escaping mechanism. In addition, BatBadBut only affects Rust versions before 1.77.2, affecting no other platform or use.

****Mitigation Strategies:****

Researchers advise developers to exercise caution when using functions that interact with external processes, especially when dealing with user-supplied data. They recommend validating and sanitizing user input before incorporating it into commands, using safe alternatives, and staying updated with the latest security patches and fixes provided by framework and library developers.

1.  Rust-Based macOS Backdoor Linked to Ransomware Gangs
2.  Windows Defender SmartScreen Flaw Exploited with Malware
3.  Rust-Based Injector Deploys Remcos RAT in Multi-Stage Attack

Windows Apps Vulnerable to Command Injection via “BatBadBut” Flaw

Threat actors have been exploiting the newly disclosed zero-day flaw in Palo
  Alto Networks PAN-OS software dating back to March 26, 2024, nearly three
  weeks before it came to light yesterday.



  The network security company's Unit 42 division is tracking the activity under the name Operation MidnightEclipse, attributing it as the work of a single threat actor of

Hackers Deploy Python Backdoor in Palo Alto Zero-Day Attack

Our collection of the most relevant reporting and industry perspectives for those guiding cybersecurity strategies and focused on SecOps. Also included: facing hard truths in software security, and the latest guidance from the NSA.

Source: Chroma Craft Media Group via Alamy Stock Photo

Welcome to CISO Corner, Dark Reading's weekly digest of articles tailored specifically to security operations readers and security leaders. Every week, we offer articles gleaned from across our news operation, The Edge, DR Technology, DR Global, and our Commentary section. We're committed to bringing you a diverse set of perspectives to support the job of operationalizing cybersecurity strategies, for leaders at organizations of all shapes and sizes.

**In this issue of CISO Corner**

*   The Race for AI-Powered Security Platforms Heats Up
    
*   Why MLBOMs Are Useful for Securing the AI/ML Supply Chain
    
*   The Fight for Cybersecurity Awareness
    
*   Ambitious Training Initiative Taps Talents of Blind and Visually Impaired
    
*   Vietnamese Cybercrime Group CoralRaider Nets Financial Data
    
*   XZ Utils Scare Exposes Hard Truths About Software Security
    
*   NSA Updates Zero-Trust Advice to Reduce Attack Surfaces
    

**The Race for AI-Powered Security Platforms Heats Up**

By Robert Lemos, Contributing Writer, Dark Reading

Microsoft, Google, and Simbian each offers generative AI systems that allow security operations teams to use natural language to automate cybersecurity tasks.

Both Google and Microsoft have committed massive resources to developing generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools for cybersecurity. Security Copilot from Microsoft can find breaches, gather, and analyze data with help from generative AI. Google's Gemini in Security is a similar rival service.

Now a startup has entered the fray, Simbian, with its own system that leverages generative AI as well as large language models (LLMs) to help security teams by automating configuring event management systems (SIEM) or security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR).

While each offering has its own set of benefits, they all strive to streamline processes for strained cybersecurity teams. The question that has yet to be answered is whether teams will ultimately trust the automated systems to operate as intended.

Read more: The Race for AI-Powered Security Platforms Heats Up

Related: How AI and Automation Can Help Bridge the Cybersecurity Talent Gap

**Why MLBOMs Are Useful for Securing the AI/ML Supply Chain**

Commentary By Diana Kelley, CISO, Protect AI

A machine learning bill of materials (MLBOM) framework can bring transparency, auditability, control, and forensic insight into AI and ML supply chains.

The software bill of materials (SBOM) has become an essential tool for identifying the code that makes up an application, but in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) the SBOM has some limitations in machine learning frameworks.

A machine learning software bill of materials, or MLBOM, could fill the gaps left in a traditional SBOM and add protections to data and assets.

Read More: Why MLBOMs Are Useful for Securing the AI/ML Supply Chain

Related: Where SBOMs Stand Today

**  
The Fight for Cybersecurity Awareness**

Commentary By Erik Gross, CISO, QAD

Investing in cybersecurity skills creates a safer digital world for everyone.

Spreading awareness of risk is the best way to mitigate cybersecurity risk, but the task of constantly training and re-training people on the latest threats can be daunting. The age of artificial intelligence is making it even more difficult.

Building a culture of security is paramount, and it can be achieved with thoughtful cybersecurity training with a focus on a personal approach, storytelling, and helping people feel comfortable talking openly about cybersecurity. Humans are unpredictable, and a cybersecurity training process that accepts that humans are complex creatures have had the most success.

Read More: The Fight for Cybersecurity Awareness

Related: Q&A: The Cybersecurity Training Gap in Industrial Networks

**Ambitious Training Initiative Taps Talents of Blind and Visually Impaired**

By Jennifer Lawinski, Contributing Writer, Dark Reading

Novacoast's Apex Program prepares individuals with visual impairments for cybersecurity careers.

Blind and visually impaired (BVI) people are an untapped talent resource for cybersecurity companies struggling to attract talent. With just a computer outfitted with a screen reader and Braille keyboard, BVI people can become valuable contributors. Two cyber CEOs have launched Apex Program, an online, on-demand course for BVI people who want to break into cybersecurity.

So far, four students have completed the course and one has already landed a job as a SOC 1 Analyst. Now the White House is getting involved, and there's even a short film in the works featuring the Apex Program.

Read More: Ambitious Training Initiative Taps Talents of Blind and Visually Impaired

Related: 3 Ways Businesses Can Overcome the Cybersecurity Skills Shortage

**Vietnamese Cybercrime Group CoralRaider Nets Financial Data**

By Robert Lemos, Contributing Writer, Dark Reading

With a complex attack chain and using Telegram for its command and control, CoralRaider targets victims in Asian countries — and appears to have accidentally infected itself as well.

A newcomer on the Vietnamese cybercrime scene, a group called CoralRaider is making moves — and rookie mistakes like infecting their own systems — along the way.

Security researchers at Cisco Talos have been tracking CoralRaider's activities and found they are motivated by profit, even though the group is having trouble getting their operation off the ground. So far, Cisco Talos analysts haven't seen any indication CoralRaider has yet successfully delivered a payload, but the group is actively working to improve their cybercrime skills.

Read More: Vietnamese Cybercrime Group CoralRaider Nets Financial Data

Related: Ransomware, Junk Bank Accounts: Cyber Threats Proliferate in Vietnam

**  
XZ Utils Scare Exposes Hard Truths About Software Security**

By Jai Vijayan, Contributing Writer, Dark Reading

Much of the open source code embedded in enterprise software stacks comes from small, under-resourced, volunteer-run projects.

The backdoor recently discovered in the XZ Utils tool should be a wake-up call for cyber teams that open source repositories are riddled with vulnerabilities.

These projects are volunteer-run, under-resourced, and unable to keep up with the latest threats. XZ Utils is itself a one-person operation. Enterprises using code from these open sources do so at their own risk.

Organizations are advised to vet their use of code from public repositories and determine whether they have appropriate security controls. Experts also recommend having engineering and cybersecurity teams define processes and roles for onboarding open source code.

Read More: XZ Utils Scare Exposes Hard Truths About Software Security

**NSA Updates Zero-Trust Advice to Reduce Attack Surfaces**

By Dark Reading Staff

Agency encourages broader use of encryption, data-loss prevention, as well as data rights management to safeguard data, networks, and users.

In its ongoing effort to provide both the public, as well as the private, sectors with support in getting on a path to zero trust, the National Security Administration has issued guidance related to data protection, or as NSA categorizes it, the "data pillar." Recommendations from the agency include the use of encryption, tagging, labeling, and more.

Prior to this data security guidance, NSA provided a detailed guide to network macro- and micro-segmentation and its role in building up a zero-trust framework.

Read More: NSA Updates Zero-Trust Advice to Reduce Attack Surfaces

Related: NSA's Zero-Trust Guidelines Focus on Segmentation

CISO Corner: Securing the AI Supply Chain; AI-Powered Security Platforms; Fighting for Cyber Awareness

Microsoft, Google, and Simbian each offers generative AI systems that allow security operations teams to use natural language to automate cybersecurity tasks.

Source: Ole.CNX via Shutterstock

When a major vulnerability shakes up the cybersecurity world — such as the recent XZ backdoor or the Log4j2 flaws of 2021 — the first question that most companies ask is, "Are we affected?" In the absence of well-written playbooks, the simple question can require a great deal of effort to answer.

Microsoft and Google are investing heavily in generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) systems that can turn large security questions into concrete actions, assist security operations, and, increasingly, take automated actions. Microsoft offers overworked security operations centers with Security Copilot, a GenAI-based service that can identify breaches, connect threat signals, and analyze data. And Google's Gemini in Security is a collection of security capabilities powered by the company's Gemini GenAI.

Startup Simbian is joining the race with its new GenAI-based platform for helping companies tackle their security operations. Simbian's system combines large language models (LLMs) for summarizing data and understanding native languages, other machine learning models to connect disparate data points, and a software based expert system based on security information culled from the Internet.

Where configuring a security information and event management system (SIEM) or a security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) system could take weeks or months, using AI cuts the time to — in some cases — seconds, says Ambuj Kumar, co-founder and CEO of Simbian.

"With Simbian, literally, these things are done in seconds," he says. "You ask a question, you express your goal in natural language, we break into steps code execution, and this is all done automatically. It's self sufficient."

Helping overworked security analysts and incident responders streamline their jobs is a perfect application for the more powerful capabilities of GenAI, says Eric Doerr, vice president of engineering at Google Cloud.

"The opportunity in security is particularly acute given the elevated threat landscape, the well publicized talent gap in cybersecurity professionals, and the toil that is the status quo in most security teams," Doerr says. "Accelerating productivity and driving down mean time to detect, respond, and contain \[or\] mitigate threats through the use of GenAI will enable security teams to catch up and defend their organizations more successfully."

**Different Starting Points, Different 'Advantages'**

Google's advantages in the market are evident. The IT and Internet giant has the budget to stay the course, the technical expertise in machine learning and AI from its DeepMind projects to innovate, and access to a lot of training data — a critical consideration for creating LLMs.

"We have a tremendous amount of proprietary data that we've used to train a custom security LLM — SecLM — which is part of Gemini for Security," Doerr says. "This is the superset of 20 years of Mandiant intelligence, VirusTotal, and more, and we're the only platform that has an open API — part of Gemini for Security — that allows partners and enterprise customers to extend our security solutions and have a single AI that can operate with all the context of the enterprise."

Like Simbian's guidance, Gemini in Security Operations — one capability under the Gemini in Security umbrella — will assist in investigations starting at the end of April, guiding the security analyst and recommending actions from within Chronicle Enterprise.

Simbian uses natural language queries to generate results, so asking, "Are we affected by the XZ vulnerability?" will produce a table of IP addresses of vulnerable applications. The systems also uses curated security knowledge gathered from Internet to create guidebooks for security analysts that show them a script of prompts to give to the system to accomplish a specific task.

"The guidebook is a way of personalizing or creating trusted content," says Simbian's Kumar. "Right now, we are creating the guidebooks, but once ... people just start to use it, then they can create their own."

**Strong ROI Claims for LLMs**

The returns on investment will grow as companies move from a manual process to an assisted process to autonomous activity. Most GenAI-based systems have advanced only to the stage of an assistant or copilot, when it suggests actions or takes only a limited series of actions, after gaining the users permissions.

The real return on investment will come later, Kumar says.

"What we are excited about building is autonomous — autonomous is making decisions on your behalf that are within the scope of guidance you have given it," he says.

Google's Gemini also seems to straddle the gap between an AI assistant and an automated engine. Financial services firm Fiserv is using Gemini in Security Operations for creating detections and playbooks faster and with less effort, and for helping security analysts quickly find answers using natural language search, boosting the productivity of security teams, Doerr says.

Yet trust is still an issue and a hurdle for increased automation, he says. To bolster trust in the system and solutions, Google remains focused on creating explainable AI systems that are transparent in how they come to a decision.

"When you use a natural language input to create a new detection, we show you the detection language syntax and you choose to run that," he says. "This is part of the process of building confidence and context with Gemini for Security."

**About the Author(s)**

Veteran technology journalist of more than 20 years. Former research engineer. Written for more than two dozen publications, including CNET News.com, Dark Reading, MIT's Technology Review, Popular Science, and Wired News. Five awards for journalism, including Best Deadline Journalism (Online) in 2003 for coverage of the Blaster worm. Crunches numbers on various trends using Python and R. Recent reports include analyses of the shortage in cybersecurity workers and annual vulnerability trends.

The Race for AI-Powered Security Platforms Heats Up

"Test files" associated with the XZ Utils backdoor have made their way to a Rust crate known as liblzma-sys, new findings from Phylum reveal.
liblzma-sys, which has been downloaded over 21,000 times to date, provides Rust developers with bindings to the liblzma implementation, an underlying library that is part of the XZ Utils data compression software. The

Popular Rust Crate liblzma-sys Compromised with XZ Utils Backdoor Files

Attackers have compromised an 8-year-old version of the cloud platform to distribute various malware that can take over infected systems.

Source: Age Foto Stock via Alamy Stock Photo

Attackers are using an 8-year-old version of the Redis open-source database server to maliciously use Metasploit's Meterpreter module to expose exploits within a system, potentially allowing for takeover and distribution of a host of other malware.

Researchers from AhnLab Security Intelligence Center (ASEC) said in a blog post that attackers likely are exploiting inappropriate settings or a vulnerability present in an implementation of Redis to distribute Meterpreter for nefarious use.

"Such malware strains attack Redis servers open to the public on the Internet with the authentication feature disabled," ASEC researcher Sanseo wrote in the post. "After gaining access to Redis, threat actors can install malware through known attack methods."

Meterpreter is an aspect of the legitimate Metasploit pen-testing tool that allows threat actors to fetch various Metasploit modules, or working exploits for known bugs, and then use them on the targeted system, according to ASEC. Metasploit is a tool similar to Cobalt Strike that also is oft-abused by threat actors to execute attacks.

"When Metasploit is installed, the threat actor can take control of the infected system and also dominate the internal network of an organization using the various features offered by the malware," Senseo explained.

**How It's Done**

Redis is an open source, in-memory data structure storage service that is increasingly being used in various ways in cloud environments; its primary purpose is typically for session management, message broker, and queues, according to ASEC. This increased prevalence also is making it a more popular target for attackers, who have abused vulnerable Redis servers to spread a host of malware, including Kinsing, P2PInfect, Skidmap, Migo, and HeadCrab.

By using Metasploit Meterpreter, there are two main attacks methods that actors can employ to spread malware once they've gained access to Redis. One is to register the malware-executing command as a Cron task, and the other is using the SLAVEOF command to set the command as the Slave server of the Redis server that has the malware.

ASEC witnessed an attack targeting a system that used Windows, along with version Redis 3.x, which was developed in 2016. The age of the abused platform means "it was likely vulnerable to attacks that abuse misconfiguration or attacks on known vulnerabilities," Senseo noted.

In the attack, the threat actor first downloaded PrintSpoofer, a privilege escalation tool, in the installation path for Redis. Attackers often use this tool against vulnerable services that are not managed properly or have not been patched to the recent version; in fact, ASEC has witnessed a flurry of these attacks against Redis since the second half of last year.

"The difference between the cases from the past and the cases now is that PrintSpoofer is installed using the CertUtil tool instead of PowerShell," Senseo explained.

**Meterpreter As Malicious Backdoor**

After installing PrintSpoofer, the threat actor installed Meterpreter Stager — one of two types of the module, the difference between which depends on the way it is installed. Meterpreter is to the Metasploit tool as Beacon is to Cobalt Strike.

When an attacker uses Stager, it means the installation is via the staged version, which downloads Meterpreter directly from the attacker's command-and-control (C2) server. This decreases its footprint version downloading it in a "stageless" way within a payload, according to ASEC.

Once this process is complete, Meterpreter is executed in the memory, which allows the threat actor to take control over the infected system and "also dominate the internal network of an organization using the various features offered by the malware," Senseo wrote.

**Update Now**

ASEC included a list of files, behaviors, and indicators of compromise of the attack in its post to help network administrators identify evidence of the threat on a system.

To avoid being compromised by the attack vector, ASEC advised that administrators of environments with Redis 3.x installed should, at the very least, update the server immediately with available patches to ensure that known vulnerabilities can't be exploited. The best-case scenario, however, would be to update V3 to the latest version of the server.

Administrators should also install security-protection software that restricts external access to Redis servers open to the Internet so they can't be identified and abused, ASEC advised.

**About the Author(s)**

Elizabeth Montalbano is a freelance writer, journalist, and therapeutic writing mentor with more than 25 years of professional experience. Her areas of expertise include technology, business, and culture. Elizabeth previously lived and worked as a full-time journalist in Phoenix, San Francisco, and New York City; she currently resides in a village on the southwest coast of Portugal. In her free time, she enjoys surfing, hiking with her dogs, traveling, playing music, yoga, and cooking.

Expired Redis Service Abused to Use Metasploit Meterpreter Maliciously

The security community is still reflecting on the “What If” of the XZ backdoor.

Thursday, April 11, 2024 14:00

I feel like over the past several years, the “holiday” that is April Fool’s Day has really died down. At this point, there are few headlines you can write that would be more ridiculous than something you’d find on a news site any day of the week. 

And there are so many more serious issues that are developing, too, that making a joke about a fake news story is just in bad taste, even if it’s in “celebration” of a “holiday.” 

Thankfully in the security world, I think we’ve all gotten the hint at this point that we can’t just post whatever we want on April 1 of each calendar year and expect people to get the joke. I’ve put my guard down so much at this point that I actually did legitimately fall for one April Fool’s joke from Nintendo, because I could definitely see a world in which they release a Virtual Boy box for the Switch that would allow you to play virtual reality games. 

But at least from what I saw on April 1 of this year, no one tried to “get” anyone with an April Fool’s joke about a ransomware actor requesting payment in the form of “Fortnite” in-game currency, or an internet-connected household object that in no universe needs to be connected to the internet (which, as it turns out, smart pillows exist!).  

We’re already dealing with digitally manipulated photos of “Satanic McDonalds,” Twitter’s AI generating fake news about the solar eclipse, and an upcoming presidential election that is sure to generate a slew of misinformation, AI-generated photos and more that I hesitate to even make up. 

So, all that is to say, good on you, security community, for just letting go of April Fool’s. Our lives are too stressful without bogus headlines that we, ourselves, generate.  

**The one big thing **

Talos discovered a new threat actor we’re calling “CoralRaider” that we believe is of Vietnamese origin and financially motivated. CoralRaider has been operating since at least 2023, targeting victims in several Asian and Southeast Asian countries. This group focuses on stealing victims’ credentials, financial data, and social media accounts, including business and advertisement accounts. CoralRaider appears to use RotBot, a customized variant of QuasarRAT, and XClient stealer as payloads. The actor uses the dead drop technique, abusing a legitimate service to host the C2 configuration file and uncommon living-off-the-land binaries (LoLBins), including Windows Forfiles.exe and FoDHelper.exe 

**Why do I care? **

This is a brand new actor that we believe is acting out of Vietnam, traditionally not a country who is associated with high-profile state-sponsored actors. CoralRaider appears to be after targets’ social media logins, which can later be leveraged to spread scams, misinformation, or all sorts of malicious messages using the victimized account. 

**So now what? **

CoralRaider primarily uses malicious LNK files to spread their malware, though we currently don’t know how those files are spread, exactly. Threat actors have started shifting toward using LNK files as an initial infection vector after Microsoft disabled macros by default — macros used to be a primary delivery system. For more on how the info in malicious LNK files can allow defenders to learn more about infection chains, read our previous research here. 

**Top security headlines of the week **

**The security community is still reflecting on the “What If” of the XZ backdoor** that was discovered and patched before threat actors could exploit it. A single Microsoft developer, who works on a different open-source project, found the backdoor in xz Utils for Linux distributions several weeks ago seemingly on accident, and is now being hailed as a hero by security researchers and professionals. Little is known about the user who had been building the backdoor in the open-source utility for at least two years. Had it been exploited, the vulnerability would have allowed its creator to hijack a user’s SSH connection and secretly run their own code on that user’s machine. The incident is highlighting networking’s reliance on open-source projects, which are often provided little resource and usually only maintained as a hobby, for free, by individuals who have no connection to the end users. The original creator of xz Utils worked alone for many years, before they had to open the project because of outside stressors and other work. Government officials have also been alarmed by the near-miss, and are now considering new ways to protect open-source software. (New York Times, Reuters) 

**AT&T now says that more than 51 million users were affected by a data breach** that exposed their personal information on a hacking forum. The cable, internet and cell service provider has still not said how the information was stolen. The incident dates back to 2021, when threat actor ShinyHunters initially offered the data for sale for $1 million. However, that data leaked last month on a hacking forum belonging to an actor known as “MajorNelson.” AT&T’s notification to affected customers stated that, "The \[exposed\] information varied by individual and account, but may have included full name, email address, mailing address, phone number, social security number, date of birth, AT&T account number and AT&T passcode." The company has also started filing required formal notifications with U.S. state authorities and regulators. While AT&T initially denied that the data belonged to them, reporters and researchers soon found that the information were related to AT&T and DirecTV (a subsidiary of AT&T) accounts. (BleepingComputer, TechCrunch) 

**Another ransomware group claims they’ve stolen data from United HealthCare, though there is little evidence yet to prove their claim.** Change Health, a subsidiary of United, was recently hit with a massive data breach, pausing millions of dollars of payments to doctors and healthcare facilities to be paused for more than a month. Now, the ransomware gang RansomHub claims it has 4TB of data, requesting an extortion payment from United, or it says it will start selling the data to the highest bidder 12 days from Monday. RansomHub claims the stolen information contains the sensitive data of U.S. military personnel and patients, as well as medical records and financial information. Blackcat initially stated they had stolen the data, but the group quickly deleted the post from their leak site. A person representing RansomHub told Reuters that a disgruntled affiliate of Blackcat gave the data to RansomHub after a previous planned payment fell through. (DarkReading, Reuters) 

**Can’t get enough Talos? **

*   Talos Takes Ep. #178: Turla has been around for 20-plus years at this point, but they're still mixing things up 
*   Vulnerability in some TP-Link routers could lead to factory reset 
*   April’s Patch Tuesday includes 150 vulnerabilities, 60 which could lead to remote code execution 
*   Vietnamese Cybercrime Group CoralRaider Nets Financial Data 
*   Safeguarding Against CoralRaider: Protecting Your Data from Vietnamese Hackers 

**Upcoming events where you can find Talos **

**Botconf** **(April 23 - 26)** 

_Nice, Côte d'Azur, France_

> _This presentation from Chetan Raghuprasad details the Supershell C2 framework. Threat actors are using this framework massively and creating botnets with the Supershell implants._

**CARO Workshop 2024** **(May 1 - 3)** 

_Arlington, Virginia_

> Over the past year, we’ve observed a substantial uptick in attacks by YoroTrooper, a relatively nascent espionage-oriented threat actor operating against the Commonwealth of Independent Countries (CIS) since at least 2022. Asheer Malhotra's presentation at CARO 2024 will provide an overview of their various campaigns detailing the commodity and custom-built malware employed by the actor, their discovery and evolution in tactics. He will present a timeline of successful intrusions carried out by YoroTrooper targeting high-value individuals associated with CIS government agencies over the last two years.

**RSA** **(May 6 - 9)** 

_San Francisco, California_    

**Most prevalent malware files from Talos telemetry over the past week **

**SHA 256:** c67b03c0a91eaefffd2f2c79b5c26a2648b8d3c19a22cadf35453455ff08ead0  
**MD5:** 8c69830a50fb85d8a794fa46643493b2  
**Typical Filename:** AAct.exe  
**Claimed Product:** N/A  
**Detection Name:** PUA.Win.Dropper.Generic::1201

**SHA 256:** abaa1b89dca9655410f61d64de25990972db95d28738fc93bb7a8a69b347a6a6  
**MD5:** 22ae85259273bc4ea419584293eda886  
**Typical Filename:** KMSAuto++ x64.exe  
**Claimed Product:** KMSAuto++  
**Detection Name:** W32.File.MalParent

**SHA 256:** 161937ed1502c491748d055287898dd37af96405aeff48c2500b834f6739e72d  
**MD5:** fd743b55d530e0468805de0e83758fe9  
**Typical Filename:** KMSAuto Net.exe  
**Claimed Product:** KMSAuto Net  
**Detection Name:** PUA.Win.Tool.Kmsauto::1201

**SHA 256:** b8aec57f7e9c193fcd9796cf22997605624b8b5f9bf5f0c6190e1090d426ee31  
**MD5:** 2fb86be791b4bb4389e55df0fec04eb7  
**Typical Filename:** KMSAuto Net.exe  
**Claimed Product:** KMSAuto Net  
**Detection Name:** W32.File.MalParent

**SHA 256:** 58d6fec4ba24c32d38c9a0c7c39df3cb0e91f500b323e841121d703c7b718681  
**MD5:** f1fe671bcefd4630e5ed8b87c9283534  
**Typical Filename:** KMSAuto Net.exe  
**Claimed Product:** KMSAuto Net  
**Detection Name:** PUA.Win.Tool.Hackkms::1201

The internet is already scary enough without April Fool’s jokes

Microsoft has fixed 149 vulnerabilities, two of which are reportedly being exploited in the wild.

The April 2024 Patch Tuesday update includes patches for 149 Microsoft vulnerabilities and republishes 6 non-Microsoft CVEs. Three of those 149 vulnerabilities are listed as critical, and one is listed as actively exploited by Microsoft. Another vulnerability is claimed to be a zero-day by researchers that have found it to be used in the wild.

Let’s first have a look at the two zero-days. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database lists publicly disclosed computer security flaws. The CVEs for these two vulnerabilities are:

CVE-2024-26234 (CVSS score 6.7 out of 10): a proxy driver spoofing vulnerability that Microsoft listed as “Exploitation detected” hours after it initially listed it as non-exploited.

In fact, the patch is a revocation of a Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibility Publisher signature that was used to sign a file which contained a backdoor using an embedded proxy server to monitor and intercept network traffic on an infected Windows machine. Apparently, the software, designed to remote-control phones, was used to make them act like online bots, collectively liking posts, following people on social media, and posting comments.

CVE-2024-29988 (CVSS score 8.8 out of 10): a SmartScreen prompt security feature bypass vulnerability. Microsoft still has this listed as “Exploitation More Likely” and acknowledges the fact that functional exploit code is available. Which means that the exploit code works in most situations where the vulnerability exists.

One reason for the contradiction could be that the exploitation requires some form of user interaction. It requires an attacker to get the victim to click on a link or open a file. If the victim falls for that, the bug allows the attacker to bypass the SmartScreen security feature in Windows that’s supposed to alert users to any untrusted websites or other threats.

Researchers said that attackers are using the weakness to send targets exploits in a zipped file which bypasses the Mark of the Web (MotW) warnings, a warning message users should see when trying to open a file downloaded from the internet.

The exploit for the vulnerability was called “trivial” and “embarrassingly easy” by the researchers that wrote about it.

A few applications that deserve some of your attention if you’re using them are SQL Server (38 vulnerabilities), and Windows Remote Access Connection Manager (9).

**Other vendors**

Other vendors have synchronized their periodic updates with Microsoft. Here are few major ones that you may find in your environment.

The **Android** Security Bulletin for April 2024 contains details of security vulnerabilities for patch level 2024-04-05 or later.

Google also updated **Chrome** to patch a zero-day vulnerability.

**SAP** has released its April 2024 Patch Day updates.

**We don’t just report on vulnerabilities—we identify them, and prioritize action.**

Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep vulnerabilities in tow by using ThreatDown Vulnerability and Patch Management.

 Microsoft’s April 2024 Patch Tuesday includes two actively exploited zero-day vulnerabilities 

Much of the open source code embedded in enterprise software stacks comes from small, under-resourced, volunteer-run projects.

Source: Juliana\_haris via Shutterstock

The recent discovery of a backdoor in the XZ Utils data compression utility — present in nearly all major Linux distributions — is a stark reminder that organizations who consume open source components ultimately own responsibility for securing the software.

XZ Utils, like thousands of other open source projects, is volunteer-run and, in its case, has a single maintainer managing it. Such projects often have little to no resources for handling security issues, meaning organizations use the software at their own risk. That means security and development teams must implement measures for managing open source risk the same way they do with internally developed code, security experts say.

"While it's unlikely an organization can effectively prevent \[all\] exposure to supply chain risks, organizations can absolutely focus on a strategy to reduce the probability that a supply chain attack is successful," says Jamie Scott, founding product manager at Endor Labs.

Open source is not the same as outsourcing: "Open source maintainers of software are volunteers. At an industry level, we need to treat them as such. We own our software; we are responsible for the software we re-use."

**Well-Intentioned, Under-Resourced**

Concerns over open source software security are by no means new. But it often takes discoveries like the Log4Shell vulnerability and the backdoor in XZ Utils to really drive home just how vulnerable organizations are to components in their code. And often, the code comes from well-intentioned yet hopelessly under-resourced open source projects that are minimally maintained.

XZ Utils, for instance, is essentially a one-person project. Another individual managed to sneak the backdoor into the utility over a nearly three-year period, by gradually gaining enough trust from the project maintainer. If a Microsoft developer had not chanced upon it in late March when investigating odd behavior associated with a Debian installation, the backdoor might well have ended up on millions of devices globally — including those belonging to large corporations and government agencies. As it turned out, the backdoor had minimal impact because it affected versions of XZ Utils that were only present in unstable and beta versions of Debian, Fedora, Kali, open SUSE, and Arch Linux.

The next such open source code compromise could be far worse. "The scariest part for enterprise organizations is that their applications are built on top of open source software projects just like XZ Utils," says Donald Fischer, co-founder and CEO of Tidelift. "XZ Utils is one package of tens of thousands that are in use every day by typical enterprise organizations," he says.

Most of these organizations lack sufficient visibility into the security and resilience of this part of their software supply chain to be able to evaluate risk, he notes.

A recent Harvard Business School study estimated the demand-side value of open source software to be an astonishing $8.8 trillion. Maintainers are at the core of this ecosystem and many of them are flying solo, Fischer says. A survey conducted by Tidelift last year found 44% of open source project maintainers describe themselves as the sole maintainers of their projects. Sixty percent identified themselves as unpaid hobbyists, and the same percentage said they have either quit or have considered quitting their roles as project maintainers. Many maintainers described their efforts as stressful, lonely, and financially unrewarding work, Fischer says.

"The XZ utils hack brings into stark relief the risks of under-investing in the health and resilience of the open source software supply chain \[that\] enterprise organizations rely on," Fischer says. "Enterprise organizations need to realize that the majority of the most relied-upon open source packages are maintained by volunteers who describe themselves as unpaid hobbyists. These maintainers are not enterprise suppliers but are expected to work and deliver like them."

**Danger: Transitive Dependencies**

A study that Endor conducted in 2022 found that 95% of open source vulnerabilities are present in so-called transitive dependencies, or secondary open source packages or libraries that a primary open-source package might depend upon. Often, these are packages that developers don't directly select themselves but are automatically employed by an open source package in their development project.

"For example, when you trust one Maven package, on average there are an additional 14 dependencies you implicitly trust as a result," Scott says. "This number is even larger in certain software ecosystems such as NPM where you on average import 77 other software components for every one you trust."

One way to start start mitigating open source risks is to pay attention to these dependencies and be selective about what projects you choose, he says.

Organizations should vet dependencies, especially the smaller, one-off-packages, manned by one- and two-person teams, adds Dimitri Stiliadis, Endor's CTO and co-founder. They should determine if dependencies in their environment have proper security controls or if a single individual commits all code; whether they have binary files in their repositories that no one knows about; or even if someone is actively maintaining the project at all, Stiliadis says.

"Focus your efforts on improving your response effectiveness — foundational controls such as maintaining a mature software inventory remains one of the highest value programs you can have in place to quickly identify, scope, and respond to software risks once they're identified," Scott advises.

Software-composition analysis tools, vulnerability scanners, EDR/XDR systems, and SBOMs can also all help organizations quickly identify vulnerable and compromised open source components.

**Acknowledging the Threat**

"Mitigating exposure starts with shared understanding and acknowledgement in the C-suite and even at the board level that roughly 70% of the ingredients of the average software product are open source software historically created by mostly uncompensated contributors," Tidelift's Fischer says.  

New regulations and guidelines in the financial services industry, the FDA, and NIST will shape how software is developed in the years ahead and organizations need to prepare for them now. "Winners here will quickly adapt from a reactive strategy to a proactive strategy to managing open source-related risk," he says.

Fischer recommends that organizations get their security and engineering teams to identify how new open source components come into their environment. They should also define roles for monitoring these components and proactively remove ones that don't fit the company's risk appetite. "Reacting to late stage problems has become an ineffective way to deal with the scale of the risk to the business over the last several years, and the US Government is signaling that era is coming to an end," he says.

**About the Author(s)**

Jai Vijayan is a seasoned technology reporter with over 20 years of experience in IT trade journalism. He was most recently a Senior Editor at Computerworld, where he covered information security and data privacy issues for the publication. Over the course of his 20-year career at Computerworld, Jai also covered a variety of other technology topics, including big data, Hadoop, Internet of Things, e-voting, and data analytics. Prior to Computerworld, Jai covered technology issues for The Economic Times in Bangalore, India. Jai has a Master's degree in Statistics and lives in Naperville, Ill.

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