Malware-as-a-service hackers from Spain decided to use a public code repository to openly advertise their wares.

Researchers have discovered malware peddlers advertising an info-stealer out in the open on the Python Package Index (PyPI) — the official, public repository for the Python programming language — with only the thinnest veneer of obfuscation.

The perpetrators — whom researchers from Sonatype associated with a Spain-based malware-as-aservice (MaaS) gang called SylexSquad — gave their program a not-so-subtle name: "reverse-shell." Reverse shells are programs that hackers commonly use to run commands remotely and receive data from targeted computers.

"I think what's quite funny about this is that it's just so blatant," says Dan Conn, developer advocate at Sonatype. "Perhaps SylexSquad were advertising themselves, or they simply didn't care about being caught."

However, their brazenness doesn't end there.

**Inside the 'reverse-shell' Data-Heisting Malware**

Sonatype researchers did a double-take when they found a package called "reverse-shell" uploaded to a public forum. "Why would someone name a malicious package in such an blatantly obvious way?" the researchers wondered in their Malware Monthly blog post.

The program turned out to be much more than a reverse shell, in fact. That became clear when the researchers examined one of its files, called "WindowsDefender.py."

WindowsDefender.py includes various obviously named functions, including get\_login\_data(), get\_web\_history(), get\_downloads(), get\_cookies(), get\_credit\_cards(), and ImageGrab.grab(). Per the theme, the hackers had not tried hard to conceal their intentions: this was malware designed to steal information.

"With no obfuscation, \[this\] appears to be ... a Discord bot that executes commands and performs actions on the infected machine," according to the analysis. "The malware can retrieve cookies, take screenshots, run shell commands, steal browsing history, and send all this data to the attacker's Discord channel."

Further answers lay in another file, "setup.py." Here, there were several Spanish-language instructions to "Clone GitHub repository and execute file," "replace with URL of your GitHub repository," and "path where you want to clone the repo" — an indication that reverse-shell was a MaaS product.

Further digging uncovered multiple "Made by SylexSquad" tags scattered in the code, some of which was lightly obfuscated. SylexSquad, the researchers found, was once a hacking marketplace operating over the Sellix e-commerce platform in 2022. It has since been shut down.

Publishing so openly to a public repo may have been a way for the group to intentionally draw attention to their product. "How do we know about groups like Anonymous or LulzSec or Killnet?" Conn asks, rhetorically. "It's because they get a reputation."

But PyPI holds much more value to them than that.

**Why Hackers Use Public Repos**

The SylexSquad attackers aren't the only miscreants utilizing forums like PyPI and GitHub, and there are many reasons for such brazenness, according to Sonatype.

"Hosting malicious files on a public repository provides bad actors more control over them," the researchers explained in their blog. "It gives them the power of deleting, upgrading, or even doing version control of the payload."

Among other benefits, "it allows the malware to be shared a lot more widely," Conn elaborates, "and it might actually trip up, in particular, a lot of antivirus software that uses generic signatures — like, actual bytes — to store whether something is malicious or not."

In other words, rather than delivering malware upfront — which antivirus scanners can pick up on quickly — hackers can simply link to their malicious code elsewhere: "By providing a link to a GitHub, they're maybe circumventing that check,"”" he notes.

Public repositories have protective measures in place to avoid becoming a hub for hackers. Still, even the best scanners and moderators aren't perfect, and they can't be everywhere at once.

"Hackers take certain measures like encoding or otherwise obfuscating the code they host, to make it a little bit more difficult for automated engines to pick up," Juan Aguirre, security researcher at Sonatype, points out. In this case, SylexSquad encoded their malicious script as numbers, using easily reversible ASCII codes corresponding to each character.

In this case, Sonatype reported the package to the PyPI maintainers and it was taken down. But "it's just a game of cat and mouse," Aguirre says. "Someone catches them and they just run to the next spot."

Aguirre views this story in light of a broader concern with open source software — that, as long as malware authors find use in public repositories, organizations must be aware of the kinds of packages they might be sweeping up.

"It's important to understand what it is that you're running," he concludes. "This is a great case for that. You have to have a bill of materials, you've got to know what you're doing, and what dependencies you're using. If you're just blindly installing things and grabbing code you see, things like this could very easily get into your system."

'Blatantly Obvious': Spyware Offered to Cyberattackers via PyPI Python Repository

A download of code without Integrity check vulnerability [CWE-494] in FortiClientMac version 7.0.0 through 7.0.7, 6.4 all versions,  6.2 all versions, 6.0 all versions, 5.6 all versions, 5.4 all versions, 5.2 all versions, 5.0 all versions and 4.0 all versions may allow a local attacker to escalate their privileges via modifying the installer upon upgrade.

** PSIRT Advisories**

**FortiClient (Mac) - update functionality may lead to privilege escalation vulnerability**

**Summary**

A download of code without Integrity check vulnerability \[CWE-494\] in FortiClientMac may allow a local attacker to escalate their privileges via modifying the installer upon upgrade.

**Affected Products**

FortiClientMac version 7.0.0 through 7.0.7  
FortiClientMac version 6.4 all versions  
FortiClientMac version 6.2 all versions  
FortiClientMac version 6.0 all versions

**Solutions**

Please upgrade to  FortiClientMac version 7.0.8 or above.  
Please upgrade to  FortiClientMac version 7.2.0 or above.

**Acknowledgement**

Internally discovered and reported by Eric Hu of Fortinet Software Development team.

**Timeline**

2023-04-03: Initial publication

CVE-2023-22635: Fortiguard

An improper certificate validation vulnerability [CWE-295] in FortiAnalyzer and FortiManager 7.2.0 through 7.2.1, 7.0.0 through 7.0.5, 6.4.8 through 6.4.10 may allow a remote and unauthenticated attacker to perform a Man-in-the-Middle attack on the communication channel between the device and the remote FortiGuard server hosting outbreakalert ressources.

**Outbreak Alerts**

What you need to know about the latest cybersecurity attacks - VM2 Sandbox Escape Vulnerability

**Threat Signal Report**

Patch Released for Critical vm2 Sandbox Escape Vulnerability (CVE-2023-29017 and CVE-2023-29199) - Apr 12, 2023

**Research Center**

\[Insomni'hack 2023\] Hacking your Jump Rope or your Coffee Machine - Mar 24, 2023

CVE-2023-22642: Fortiguard

A missing authentication for critical function vulnerability [CWE-306] in FortiPresence infrastructure server before version 1.2.1 allows a remote, unauthenticated attacker to access the Redis and MongoDB instances via crafted authentication requests.

CVE-2022-41331: Fortiguard

Multiple vulnerabilities including an incorrect permission assignment for critical resource [CWE-732] vulnerability and a time-of-check time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition [CWE-367] vulnerability in Fortinet FortiClientWindows before 7.0.7 allows attackers on the same file sharing network to execute commands via writing data into a windows pipe.

CVE-2022-43946: Fortiguard

An improper neutralization of special elements used in an OS command vulnerability [CWE-78] in FortiADC 5.x all versions, 6.0 all versions, 6.1 all versions, 6.2.0 through 6.2.4, 7.0.0 through 7.0.3, 7.1.0; FortiDDoS 4.x all versions, 5.0 all versions, 5.1 all versions, 5.2 all versions, 5.3 all versions, 5.4 all versions, 5.5 all versions, 5.6 all versions and FortiDDoS-F 6.4.0, 6.3.0 through 6.3.3, 6.2.0 through 6.2.2, 6.1.0 through 6.1.4 may allow an authenticated attacker to execute unauthorized commands via specifically crafted arguments to existing commands.

CVE-2022-40679: Fortiguard

Apple Security Advisory 2023-04-10-3 - macOS Big Sur 11.7.6 addresses code execution and out of bounds write vulnerabilities.

    -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----Hash: SHA256APPLE-SA-2023-04-10-3 macOS Big Sur 11.7.6macOS Big Sur 11.7.6 addresses the following issues.Information about the security content is also available athttps://support.apple.com/HT213725.IOSurfaceAcceleratorAvailable for: macOS Big SurImpact: An app may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernelprivileges. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have beenactively exploited.Description: An out-of-bounds write issue was addressed with improvedinput validation.CVE-2023-28206: Clément Lecigne of Google's Threat Analysis Group andDonncha Ó Cearbhaill of Amnesty International’s Security LabmacOS Big Sur 11.7.6 may be obtained from the Mac App Store orApple's Software Downloads web site:https://support.apple.com/downloads/All information is also posted on the Apple Security Updatesweb site: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222.This message is signed with Apple's Product Security PGP key,and details are available at:https://www.apple.com/support/security/pgp/-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----iQIzBAEBCAAdFiEEBP+4DupqR5Sgt1DB4RjMIDkeNxkFAmQ0VJIACgkQ4RjMIDkeNxkW2Q//bj0ZmcXsCzpQmhCc5hZ+P4cnesy9Kc4DRLofsYBtPVlR450wIjxiGqlUkpbLBWpBXaXn4EeBoqxxXB9FKXANvZVkdS+xpTLdHpdPnRMntJf3S4WiYyDr/G3coHVtHbNMbj/K/MbsRGBefVtGAueLpwwHFN5GsyvuMrp5xEl9wgQ3aMfi+x8hHXuFzxHIHyNf6OU5cBSf6R80FQcV55eOjPe9gX1B59n4ffZtaao3QqT+z++wA64eyVCVk9hSWXYsMKBNgcoyh108DHb6aYfr0G6SvcvzX2zR2zJtL0JFDNckHx/nvAws/Sd5O39oHzvS46gNcYZIHujHbemh/DsFJjgKbOd4O9oLyJeAcVjv0c5i61Qa+odERpvX2bJR8xWLlDGYIV5XmGYzxL8lksDim9hD2IOGf6P7ReARUcpahe9jaAIoj+BoFkKUMvr8iORx0752+3h+dMej1nu/1RhjmeWYawbUsH+yECu0L2GkQc0I9gFg0Dq21OFlHEfB46D+XRTWYWkM6l9KPMNcH1PX74d86ZkuqqMzlKmsRdJz0ESepIj6RzQ3Zy5SvZ63C78RJvWGPeg/8rQFIBQE9WktUoPz5+6bU/E1nq8ExbrTXxJKvt/VseIwBTi08UfQ2oYnyyAirIkTRi9PH5pviXBu9r/AiBYSj9J88QBzrV8QXHw==Lq+b-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Apple Security Advisory 2023-04-10-3

Apple Security Advisory 2023-04-10-2 - macOS Monterey 12.6.5 addresses code execution and out of bounds write vulnerabilities.

    -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----Hash: SHA256APPLE-SA-2023-04-10-2 macOS Monterey 12.6.5macOS Monterey 12.6.5 addresses the following issues.Information about the security content is also available athttps://support.apple.com/HT213724.IOSurfaceAcceleratorAvailable for: macOS MontereyImpact: An app may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernelprivileges. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have beenactively exploited.Description: An out-of-bounds write issue was addressed with improvedinput validation.CVE-2023-28206: Clément Lecigne of Google's Threat Analysis Group andDonncha Ó Cearbhaill of Amnesty International’s Security LabmacOS Monterey 12.6.5 may be obtained from the Mac App Store orApple's Software Downloads web site:https://support.apple.com/downloads/All information is also posted on the Apple Security Updatesweb site: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222.This message is signed with Apple's Product Security PGP key,and details are available at:https://www.apple.com/support/security/pgp/-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----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Iilf-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Apple Security Advisory 2023-04-10-2

Apple Security Advisory 2023-04-07-3 - Safari 16.4.1 addresses code execution and use-after-free vulnerabilities.

    -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----Hash: SHA256APPLE-SA-2023-04-07-3 Safari 16.4.1Safari 16.4.1 addresses the following issues.Information about the security content is also available athttps://support.apple.com/HT213722.WebKitAvailable for: macOS Big Sur and macOS MontereyImpact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead toarbitrary code execution. Apple is aware of a report that this issuemay have been actively exploited.Description: A use after free issue was addressed with improvedmemory management.WebKit Bugzilla: 254797CVE-2023-28205: Clément Lecigne of Google's Threat Analysis Group andDonncha Ó Cearbhaill of Amnesty International’s Security LabAll information is also posted on the Apple Security Updatesweb site: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222.This message is signed with Apple's Product Security PGP key,and details are available at:https://www.apple.com/support/security/pgp/-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----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JOpa-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Apple Security Advisory 2023-04-07-3

Apple Security Advisory 2023-04-07-2 - macOS Ventura 13.3.1 addresses code execution, out of bounds write, and use-after-free vulnerabilities.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----  
Hash: SHA256

APPLE-SA-2023-04-07-2 macOS Ventura 13.3.1

macOS Ventura 13.3.1 addresses the following issues.  
Information about the security content is also available at  
https://support.apple.com/HT213721.

IOSurfaceAccelerator  
Available for: macOS Ventura  
Impact: An app may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel  
privileges. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been  
actively exploited.  
Description: An out-of-bounds write issue was addressed with improved  
input validation.  
CVE-2023-28206: Clément Lecigne of Google's Threat Analysis Group and  
Donncha Ó Cearbhaill of Amnesty International’s Security Lab

WebKit  
Available for: macOS Ventura  
Impact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to  
arbitrary code execution. Apple is aware of a report that this issue  
may have been actively exploited.  
Description: A use after free issue was addressed with improved  
memory management.  
WebKit Bugzilla: 254797  
CVE-2023-28205: Clément Lecigne of Google's Threat Analysis Group and  
Donncha Ó Cearbhaill of Amnesty International’s Security Lab

macOS Ventura 13.3.1 may be obtained from the Mac App Store or  
Apple's Software Downloads web site:  
https://support.apple.com/downloads/  
All information is also posted on the Apple Security Updates  
web site: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222.

This message is signed with Apple's Product Security PGP key,  
and details are available at:  
https://www.apple.com/support/security/pgp/  
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