threatpost.com
Open in
urlscan Pro
35.173.160.135
Public Scan
URL:
https://threatpost.com/exploited-microsoft-zero-day-spoofing-malware/177045/
Submission: On December 15 via api from GB — Scanned from GB
Submission: On December 15 via api from GB — Scanned from GB
Form analysis
4 forms found in the DOMPOST /exploited-microsoft-zero-day-spoofing-malware/177045/#gf_5
<form method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data" target="gform_ajax_frame_5" id="gform_5" action="/exploited-microsoft-zero-day-spoofing-malware/177045/#gf_5">
<div class="gform_body">
<ul id="gform_fields_5" class="gform_fields top_label form_sublabel_below description_below">
<li id="field_5_8" class="gfield field_sublabel_below field_description_below gfield_visibility_visible"><label class="gfield_label" for="input_5_8"></label>
<div class="ginput_container ginput_container_text"><input name="input_8" id="input_5_8" type="text" value="" class="medium" placeholder="Your name" aria-invalid="false"></div>
</li>
<li id="field_5_1" class="gfield gfield_contains_required field_sublabel_below field_description_below gfield_visibility_visible"><label class="gfield_label" for="input_5_1"><span class="gfield_required">*</span></label>
<div class="ginput_container ginput_container_email">
<input name="input_1" id="input_5_1" type="text" value="" class="medium" placeholder="Your e-mail address" aria-required="true" aria-invalid="false">
</div>
</li>
<li id="field_5_9" class="gfield js-kaspersky-gform-recaptcha-placeholder gform_hidden field_sublabel_below field_description_below gfield_visibility_hidden"><input name="input_9" id="input_5_9" type="hidden" class="gform_hidden"
aria-invalid="false" value=""></li>
<li id="field_5_2" class="gfield input-without-label label-gdpr gfield_contains_required field_sublabel_below field_description_below gfield_visibility_visible"><label class="gfield_label"><span class="gfield_required">*</span></label>
<div class="ginput_container ginput_container_checkbox">
<ul class="gfield_checkbox" id="input_5_2">
<li class="gchoice_5_2_1">
<input name="input_2.1" type="checkbox" value="I agree" id="choice_5_2_1">
<label for="choice_5_2_1" id="label_5_2_1">I agree to my personal data being stored and used to receive the newsletter</label>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</li>
<li id="field_5_5" class="gfield input-without-label label-gdpr gfield_contains_required field_sublabel_below field_description_below gfield_visibility_visible"><label class="gfield_label"><span class="gfield_required">*</span></label>
<div class="ginput_container ginput_container_checkbox">
<ul class="gfield_checkbox" id="input_5_5">
<li class="gchoice_5_5_1">
<input name="input_5.1" type="checkbox" value="I agree" id="choice_5_5_1">
<label for="choice_5_5_1" id="label_5_5_1">I agree to accept information and occasional commercial offers from Threatpost partners</label>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</li>
<li id="field_5_10" class="gfield gform_validation_container field_sublabel_below field_description_below gfield_visibility_visible"><label class="gfield_label" for="input_5_10">Comments</label>
<div class="ginput_container"><input name="input_10" id="input_5_10" type="text" value=""></div>
<div class="gfield_description" id="gfield_description__10">This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.</div>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="gform_footer top_label"> <input type="submit" id="gform_submit_button_5" class="gform_button button" value="Subscribe" onclick="if(window["gf_submitting_5"]){return false;} window["gf_submitting_5"]=true; "
onkeypress="if( event.keyCode == 13 ){ if(window["gf_submitting_5"]){return false;} window["gf_submitting_5"]=true; jQuery("#gform_5").trigger("submit",[true]); }" style="display: none;"> <input
type="hidden" name="gform_ajax" value="form_id=5&title=&description=&tabindex=0">
<input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="is_submit_5" value="1">
<input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="gform_submit" value="5">
<input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="gform_unique_id" value="">
<input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="state_5" value="WyJbXSIsImIwODQwZTA2ZGQ0NzYwODcyOTBkZjNmZDM1NDk2Y2ZkIl0=">
<input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="gform_target_page_number_5" id="gform_target_page_number_5" value="0">
<input type="hidden" class="gform_hidden" name="gform_source_page_number_5" id="gform_source_page_number_5" value="1">
<input type="hidden" name="gform_field_values" value="">
</div>
</form>
GET https://threatpost.com/
<form class="c-site-search__form" role="search" method="get" action="https://threatpost.com/">
<input type="text" class="c-site-search__field" name="s" placeholder="Search">
<button type="submit" class="c-button c-button--secondary c-button--smaller c-site-search__button" value="Search"><svg class="icon fill">
<use xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="https://threatpost.com/wp-content/themes/threatpost-2018/assets/sprite/icons.svg#icon-search"></use>
</svg> Search</button>
<div class="c-site-search__overlay"></div>
</form>
POST https://threatpost.com/wp-comments-post.php
<form action="https://threatpost.com/wp-comments-post.php" method="post" id="commentform" class="comment-form">
<div class="o-row">
<div class="o-col-12@md">
<div class="c-form-element"><textarea id="comment" name="comment" cols="45" rows="8" aria-required="true" placeholder="Write a reply..."></textarea></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="o-row">
<div class="o-col-6@md">
<div class="c-form-element"><input id="author" name="author" placeholder="Your name" type="text" value="" size="30"></div>
</div>
<div class="o-col-6@md">
<div class="c-form-element"><input id="email" name="email" placeholder="Your email" type="text" value="" size="30"></div>
</div>
</div>
<p class="form-submit"><input name="submit" type="submit" id="submit" class="c-button c-button--primary" value="Send Comment"> <input type="hidden" name="comment_post_ID" value="177045" id="comment_post_ID">
<input type="hidden" name="comment_parent" id="comment_parent" value="0">
</p>
<p style="display: none;"><input type="hidden" id="akismet_comment_nonce" name="akismet_comment_nonce" value="c19e6637b4"></p><!-- the following input field has been added by the Honeypot Comments plugin to thwart spambots -->
<input type="hidden" id="weNg6BpT0kcud51eqoWOSxwJx" name="aFnnhMU6SoeBNjl3ZAtxrMP4W">
<script type="text/javascript">
document.addEventListener("input", function(event) {
if (!event.target.closest("#comment")) return;
var captchaContainer = null;
captchaContainer = grecaptcha.render("recaptcha-submit-btn-area", {
"sitekey": "6LfsdrAaAAAAAMVKgei6k0EaDBTgmKv6ZQrG7aEs",
"theme": "standard"
});
});
</script>
<script src="https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api.js?hl=en&render=explicit" async="" defer=""></script>
<div id="recaptcha-submit-btn-area"> </div>
<noscript>
<style type="text/css">
#form-submit-save {
display: none;
}
</style>
<input name="submit" type="submit" id="submit-alt" tabindex="6" value="Submit Comment">
</noscript><textarea name="ak_hp_textarea" cols="45" rows="8" maxlength="100" style="display: none !important;"></textarea><input type="hidden" id="ak_js" name="ak_js" value="1639548565589">
</form>
GET https://threatpost.com/
<form class="c-site-search__form" role="search" method="get" action="https://threatpost.com/">
<input type="text" class="c-site-search__field" name="s" placeholder="Search">
<button type="submit" class="c-button c-button--secondary c-button--smaller c-site-search__button" value="Search"><svg class="icon fill">
<use xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="https://threatpost.com/wp-content/themes/threatpost-2018/assets/sprite/icons.svg#icon-search"></use>
</svg> Search</button>
<div class="c-site-search__overlay"></div>
</form>
Text Content
Newsletter SUBSCRIBE TO OUR THREATPOST TODAY NEWSLETTER Join thousands of people who receive the latest breaking cybersecurity news every day. The administrator of your personal data will be Threatpost, Inc., 500 Unicorn Park, Woburn, MA 01801. Detailed information on the processing of personal data can be found in the privacy policy. In addition, you will find them in the message confirming the subscription to the newsletter. * * * * * * * I agree to my personal data being stored and used to receive the newsletter * * * I agree to accept information and occasional commercial offers from Threatpost partners * Comments This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. This iframe contains the logic required to handle Ajax powered Gravity Forms. The administrator of your personal data will be Threatpost, Inc., 500 Unicorn Park, Woburn, MA 01801. Detailed information on the processing of personal data can be found in the privacy policy. In addition, you will find them in the message confirming the subscription to the newsletter. Threatpost * Cloud Security * Malware * Vulnerabilities * InfoSec Insiders * Webinars * * * * * * * Search * 400 Banks’ Customers Targeted with Anubis TrojanPrevious article * Apple iOS Update Fixes Cringey iPhone 13 Jailbreak ExploitNext article ACTIVELY EXPLOITED MICROSOFT ZERO-DAY ALLOWS APP SPOOFING, MALWARE DELIVERY Author: Tara Seals December 14, 2021 5:21 pm 7 minute read Write a comment Share this article: * * December’s Patch Tuesday updates address six publicly known bugs and seven critical security vulnerabilities. Microsoft has addressed a zero-day vulnerability that was exploited in the wild to deliver Emotet, Trickbot and more in the form of fake applications. The patch came as part of the computing giant’s December Patch Tuesday update, which included a total of 67 fixes for security vulnerabilities. The patches cover the waterfront of Microsoft’s portfolio, affecting ASP.NET Core and Visual Studio, Azure Bot Framework SDK, Internet Storage Name Service, Defender for IoT, Edge (Chromium-based), Microsoft Office and Office Components, SharePoint Server, PowerShell, Remote Desktop Client, Windows Hyper-V, Windows Mobile Device Management, Windows Remote Access Connection Manager, TCP/IP, and the Windows Update Stack. Seven of the bugs addressed are rated critical, six were previously disclosed as zero-days and 60 are considered “important.” The update brings the total number of CVEs patched by Microsoft this year to 887, which is down 29 percent in volume from a very busy 2020. ZERO-DAY EXPLOITED IN WILD The zero-day (CVE-2021-43890) is an important-rated spoofing vulnerability in the Windows AppX Installer, which is a utility for side-loading Windows 10 apps, available on the App Store. Kevin Breen, director of cyber-threat research at Immersive Labs, explained that the bug “allows an attacker to create a malicious package file and then modify it to look like a legitimate application, and has been used to deliver Emotet malware, which made a comeback this year.” Breen warned, “the patch should mean that packages can no longer be spoofed to appear as valid, but it will not stop attackers from sending links or attachments to these files.” Prior to its fix today, the bug was seen in multiple attacks associated with Emotet, TrickBot and Bazaloader, according to Satnam Narang, staff research engineer at Tenable. “To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to convince a user to open a malicious attachment, which would be conducted through a phishing attack,” he explained via email. “Once exploited, the vulnerability would grant an attacker elevated privileges, particularly when the victim’s account has administrative privileges on the system.” If patching isn’t an option, Microsoft has provided some workarounds to protect against the exploitation of this vulnerability. OTHER PUBLICLY KNOWN MICROSOFT VULNERABILITIES It’s worth noting that Microsoft also patched CVE-2021-43883, a privilege-escalation vulnerability in Windows Installer, for which there’s been an exploit circulating, and, reportedly, active targeting by attackers – even though Microsoft said it has seen no exploitation. “This appears to be a fix for a patch bypass of CVE-2021-41379, another elevation-of-privilege vulnerability in Windows Installer that was reportedly fixed in November,” Narang said. “However, researchers discovered that fix was incomplete, and a proof-of-concept was made public late last month.” Breen noted that this kind of vulnerability is highly sought after by attackers looking to move laterally across a network. “After gaining the initial foothold, achieving administrator-level access can allow attackers to disable security tools and deploy additional malware or tools like Mimikatz,” he said. “Almost all ransomware attacks in the last year employed some form of privilege escalation as a key component of the attack prior to launching ransomware.” Four other bugs were listed as “publicly known” but not exploited, all rated important and allowing privilege escalation: * CVE-2021-43240, a NTFS Set Short Name * CVE-2021-43893, a Windows Encrypting File System (EFS) * CVE-2021-43880, Windows Mobile Device Management * CVE-2021-41333, Windows Print Spooler The update does not address CVE-2021-24084, an unpatched Windows security vulnerability disclosed in late November, which could allow information disclosure and local privilege escalation (LPE). CRITICAL-RATED MICROSOFT SECURITY BUGS FOR DECEMBER 1. CVE-2021-43215 IN ISNS SERVER The first critical bug (CVE-2021-43215) to cover allows remote code-execution (RCE) on the Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS) server, which enables automated discovery and management of iSCSI devices on a TCP/IP storage network. It rates 9.8 out of 10 on the vulnerability-severity scale. The bug can be exploited if an attacker sends a specially crafted request to an affected server, according to Microsoft’s advisory. “In other words, if you’re running a storage-area network (SAN) in your enterprise, you either have an iSNS server or you configure each of the logical interfaces individually,” said Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative researcher Dustin Childs, in a Tuesday blog. “If you have a SAN, prioritize testing and deploying this patch.” Breen concurred that it’s critical to patch quickly if an organization operates iSNS services. “Remember that this is not a default component, so check this before you bump it up the list,” he said via email. However, “as this protocol is used to facilitate data storage over the network, it would be a high priority target for attackers looking to damage an organization’s ability to recover from attacks like ransomware. These services are also typically trusted from a network perspective – which is another reason attackers would choose this kind of target.” 2. CVE-2021-43907 IN VISUAL STUDIO CODE WSL EXTENSION Another 9.8-out-of-10-rated bug is CVE-2021-43907, an RCE issue in Visual Studio Code WSL Extension that Microsoft said can be exploited by an unauthenticated attacker, with no user interaction. It didn’t provide further details. “This impacted component lets users use the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) as a full-time development environment from Visual Studio Code,” Childs explained. “It allows you to develop in a Linux-based environment, use Linux-specific tool chains and utilities, and run and debug Linux-based applications all from within Windows. This sort of cross-platform functionality is used by many in the DevOps community.” 3. CVE-2021-43899 – MICROSOFT 4K WIRELESS DISPLAY ADAPTER The third and final 9.8 CVSS-rate bug is CVE-2021-43899, which also allows RCE on an affected device, if the attacker has a foothold on the same network as the Microsoft 4K Display Adapter. Exploitation is a matter of sending specially crafted packets to the affected device, according to Microsoft. “Patching this won’t be an easy chore,” Childs said. “To be protected, users need to install the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter application from the Microsoft Store onto a system connected to the Microsoft 4K Wireless Display Adapter. Only then can [they] use the ‘Update & Security’ section of the app to download the latest firmware to mitigate this bug.” 4. CVE-2021-43905 IN MICROSOFT OFFICE Another critical RCE bug (CVE-2021-43905) exists in the Microsoft Office app; it rates 9.6 on the CVSS vulnerability-severity scale, and Microsoft marked it as “exploitation more likely.” “Very little is given away in the advisory to identify what the immediate risk is – it simply states the affected product as ‘Office App,'” Breen noted. “This can make it difficult for security teams to prioritize or put mitigations in place if quick patching is not available – especially when security teams are already tied down with other critical patching.” However, Aleks Haugom, researcher at Automox, said it should be a priority for patching. “As a low-complexity vulnerability, an attacker can expect repeated results,” he said in a Tuesday analysis. “Although Microsoft has not disclosed exactly what user interaction is required for the attacker to succeed they have confirmed that the Preview Pane is not an attacker vector. Given that this threat can impact resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority immediate remediation actions are advised.” 5. CVE-2021-42310 IN MICROSOFT DEFENDER FOR IOT One of 10 issues found in Defender for IoT, this bug (CVE-2021-42310) allows RCE and rates 8.1 on the CVSS scale. “A password reset request consists of a signed JSON document, a signing certificate, and an intermediate certificate that was used to sign the signing certificate,” explained Childs. “The intermediate certificate is supposed to chain up to a root CA certificate built into the appliance. Due to a flaw in this process, an attacker can reset someone else’s password. Patching these bugs requires a sysadmin to take action on the device itself.” The other nine bugs in the platform include seven other RCE vulnerabilities, one elevation of privilege vulnerability and one data disclosure vulnerability, all rated “important.” 6. CVE-2021-43217 IN THE WINDOWS ENCRYPTING FILE SYSTEM (EFS) This bug (CVE-2021-43217) allows RCE and rates 8.1 on the CVSS scale. “An attacker could cause a buffer overflow that would leading to unauthenticated non-sandboxed code execution, even if the EFS service isn’t running at the time,” Childs explained. “EFS interfaces can trigger a start of the EFS service if it is not running.” Jay Goodman, in the Automox posting, noted that it can be chained with the publicly disclosed elevation of privilege vulnerability in EFS and thus presents a special threat. “While either of these vulnerabilities constitute impactful disclosures that need to be handled quickly, the combination of the two in a near universal service critical to securing and protecting data creates a unique situation,” he said. “Attacks could use the combination of RCE with privilege elevation to quickly deploy, elevate and execute code on a target system with full system rights. This can allow attackers to easily take full control of the system as well as create a base of operations within the network to spread laterally.” In other words: This is a critical pair of vulnerabilities to address as soon as possible to minimize organizational risk. 7. CVE-2021-43233 IN REMOTE DESKTOP CLIENT The flaw (CVE-2021-43233) allows RCE and rates 7 on the CVSS scale. It’s listed as “exploitation more likely.” “This one…would likely require a social engineering or phishing component to be successful,” Breen explained. “A similar vulnerability, CVE-2021-38666, was reported and patched in November. While it was also marked as ‘exploitation more likely,’ thankfully there have been no reports of proof-of-concept code or of it being exploited in the wild, which goes to show how important it is to make your own risk-based approach to prioritizing patches.” Automox researcher Gina Geisel emphasized the bug’s high complexity for exploitation. “To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker requires control of a server and then must convince users to connect to it, through social engineering, DNS poisoning or using a man-in-the-middle (MITM) technique, as examples,” she said. “An attacker could also compromise a legitimate server, host malicious code on it, and wait for the user to connect.” OTHER MICROSOFT BUGS OF NOTE FOR DECEMBER Childs also flagged CVE-2021-42309, an RCE issue in Microsoft SharePoint Server, as a vulnerability to prioritize. It allows an attacker to bypass the restriction against running arbitrary server-side web controls. “The vulnerability allows a user to elevate and execute code in the context of the service account,” he explained. “An attacker would need ‘Manage Lists’ permissions on a SharePoint site, but by default, any authorized user can create their own new site where they have full permissions.” He said the issue is similar to the previously patched CVE-2021-28474, except that the unsafe control “is ‘smuggled’ in a property of an allowed control.” Operating system bugs should be prioritized, researchers added. “The disclosures include a functional example in the case of the Print Spooler, proof-of-concept for the NTFS and Windows Installer vulnerabilities, so there is some cause to put urgency on the OS updates this month,” Chris Goettl, vice president of product management at Ivanti, told Threatpost. Write a comment Share this article: * Cloud Security * IoT * Malware * Vulnerabilities * Web Security SUGGESTED ARTICLES APPLE IOS UPDATE FIXES CRINGEY IPHONE 13 JAILBREAK EXPLOIT It took just 15 seconds to hack the latest, greatest, shiniest iPhone 13 Pro on stage at the Tianfu Cup in October, using a now-fixed iOS kernel bug. December 14, 2021 400 BANKS’ CUSTOMERS TARGETED WITH ANUBIS TROJAN The new campaign masqueraded as an Orange Telecom account management app to deliver the latest iteration of Anubis banking malware. December 14, 2021 WHAT THE LOG4SHELL BUG MEANS FOR SMBS: EXPERTS WEIGH IN An exclusive roundtable of security researchers discuss the specific implications of CVE-2021-44228 for smaller businesses, including what’s vulnerable, what an attack looks like and to how to remediate. December 14, 2021 2 DISCUSSION LEAVE A COMMENT CANCEL REPLY This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. INFOSEC INSIDER * NEXT-GEN MALDOCS & HOW TO SOLVE THE HUMAN VULNERABILITY December 10, 2021 * NOT WITH A BANG BUT A WHISPER: THE SHIFT TO STEALTHY C2 December 8, 2021 * ARE YOU GUILTY OF THESE 8 NETWORK-SECURITY BAD PRACTICES? December 6, 2021 * PANDEMIC-INFLUENCED CAR SHOPPING: JUST USE THE MANUFACTURER API December 3, 2021 * HOW DECRYPTION OF NETWORK TRAFFIC CAN IMPROVE SECURITY November 30, 2021 3 Newsletter SUBSCRIBE TO THREATPOST TODAY Join thousands of people who receive the latest breaking cybersecurity news every day. Subscribe now Twitter There’s a sea of unstructured data on the internet relating to the latest #cybersecurity threats. Join Threatpost’s… https://t.co/y6ZfyTh5I0 4 days ago Follow @threatpost NEXT 00:02 01:34 360p 720p HD 1080p HD Auto (360p) About Connatix V142496 Closed Captions About Connatix V142496 1/1 Skip Ad Continue watching after the ad Visit Advertiser website GO TO PAGE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER, THREATPOST TODAY! Get the latest breaking news delivered daily to your inbox. Subscribe now Threatpost The First Stop For Security News * Home * About Us * Contact Us * Advertise With Us * RSS Feeds * Copyright © 2021 Threatpost * Privacy Policy * Terms and Conditions * Advertise * * * * * * * TOPICS * Black Hat * Breaking News * Cloud Security * Critical Infrastructure * Cryptography * Facebook * Government * Hacks * IoT * Malware * Mobile Security * Podcasts * Privacy * RSAC * Security Analyst Summit * Videos * Vulnerabilities * Web Security Threatpost * * * * * * * TOPICS * Cloud Security * Malware * Vulnerabilities * Privacy Show all * Black Hat * Critical Infrastructure * Cryptography * Facebook * Featured * Government * Hacks * IoT * Mobile Security * Podcasts * RSAC * Security Analyst Summit * Slideshow * Videos * Web Security AUTHORS * Tara Seals * Tom Spring * Lisa Vaas THREATPOST * Home * About Us * Contact Us * Advertise With Us * RSS Feeds Search * * * * * * * InfoSec Insider INFOSEC INSIDER POST Infosec Insider content is written by a trusted community of Threatpost cybersecurity subject matter experts. Each contribution has a goal of bringing a unique voice to important cybersecurity topics. Content strives to be of the highest quality, objective and non-commercial. Sponsored SPONSORED CONTENT Sponsored Content is paid for by an advertiser. Sponsored content is written and edited by members of our sponsor community. This content creates an opportunity for a sponsor to provide insight and commentary from their point-of-view directly to the Threatpost audience. The Threatpost editorial team does not participate in the writing or editing of Sponsored Content. We use cookies to make your experience of our websites better. By using and further navigating this website you accept this. Detailed information about the use of cookies on this website is available by clicking on more information. ACCEPT AND CLOSE