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Category — Authentication
New Xerox Printer Flaws Could Let Attackers Capture Windows Active Directory Credentials

New Xerox Printer Flaws Could Let Attackers Capture Windows Active Directory Credentials

Feb 18, 2025 Vulnerability / Enterprise Security
Security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in Xerox VersaLink C7025 Multifunction printers (MFPs) that could allow attackers to capture authentication credentials via pass-back attacks via Lightweight Directory Access Protocol ( LDAP ) and SMB/FTP services. "This pass-back style attack leverages a vulnerability that allows a malicious actor to alter the MFP's configuration and cause the MFP device to send authentication credentials back to the malicious actor," Rapid7 security researcher Deral Heiland said . "If a malicious actor can successfully leverage these issues, it would allow them to capture credentials for Windows Active Directory. This means they could then move laterally within an organization's environment and compromise other critical Windows servers and file systems." The identified vulnerabilities, which affect firmware versions 57.69.91 and earlier, are listed below - CVE-2024-12510 (CVSS score: 6.7) - Pass-back attack via LDAP CVE-202...
Microsoft: Russian-Linked Hackers Using 'Device Code Phishing' to Hijack Accounts

Microsoft: Russian-Linked Hackers Using 'Device Code Phishing' to Hijack Accounts

Feb 14, 2025 Enterprise Security / Cyber Attack
Microsoft is calling attention to an emerging threat cluster it calls Storm-2372 that has been attributed to a new set of cyber attacks aimed at a variety of sectors since August 2024. The attacks have targeted government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), information technology (IT) services and technology, defense, telecommunications, health, higher education, and energy/oil and gas sectors in Europe, North America, Africa, and the Middle East.  The threat actor, assessed with medium confidence to be aligned with Russian interests, victimology, and tradecraft, has been observed targeting users via messaging apps like WhatsApp, Signal, and Microsoft Teams by falsely claiming to be a prominent person relevant to the target in an attempt to build trust. "The attacks use a specific phishing technique called 'device code phishing' that tricks users to log into productivity apps while Storm-2372 actors capture the information from the log in (tokens) that they can us...
4 Ways to Keep MFA From Becoming too Much of a Good Thing

4 Ways to Keep MFA From Becoming too Much of a Good Thing

Feb 11, 2025IT Security / Threat Protection
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) has quickly become the standard for securing business accounts. Once a niche security measure, adoption is on the rise across industries. But while it's undeniably effective at keeping bad actors out, the implementation of MFA solutions can be a tangled mess of competing designs and ideas. For businesses and employees, the reality is that MFA sometimes feels like too much of a good thing. Here are a few reasons why MFA isn't implemented more universally. 1. Businesses see MFA as a cost center MFA for businesses isn't free, and the costs of MFA can add up over time. Third-party MFA solutions come with subscription costs, typically charged per user. Even built-in options like Microsoft 365's MFA features can cost extra depending on your Microsoft Entra license. Plus, there's the cost of training employees to use MFA and the time IT takes to enroll them. If MFA increases help desk calls, support costs go up too. While these expenses are far less t...
Palo Alto Networks Patches Authentication Bypass Exploit in PAN-OS Software

Palo Alto Networks Patches Authentication Bypass Exploit in PAN-OS Software

Feb 13, 2025 Network Security / Vulnerability
Palo Alto Networks has addressed a high-severity security flaw in its PAN-OS software that could result in an authentication bypass. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-0108 , carries a CVSS score of 7.8 out of 10.0. The score, however, drops to 5.1 if access to the management interface is restricted to a jump box . "An authentication bypass in the Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS software enables an unauthenticated attacker with network access to the management web interface to bypass the authentication otherwise required by the PAN-OS management web interface and invoke certain PHP scripts," Palo Alto Networks said in an advisory. "While invoking these PHP scripts does not enable remote code execution, it can negatively impact the integrity and confidentiality of PAN-OS." The vulnerability affects the following versions - PAN-OS 11.2 < 11.2.4-h4 (Fixed in >= 11.2.4-h4) PAN-OS 11.1 < 11.1.6-h1 (Fixed in >= 11.1.6-h1) PAN-OS 11.0 (Upgrade to a sup...
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Microsoft Patches Critical Azure AI Face Service Vulnerability with CVSS 9.9 Score

Microsoft Patches Critical Azure AI Face Service Vulnerability with CVSS 9.9 Score

Feb 04, 2025 Vulnerability / Cloud Security
Microsoft has released patches to address two Critical-rated security flaws impacting Azure AI Face Service and Microsoft Account that could allow a malicious actor to escalate their privileges under certain conditions. The flaws are listed below - CVE-2025-21396 (CVSS score: 7.5) - Microsoft Account Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability CVE-2025-21415 (CVSS score: 9.9) - Azure AI Face Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability "Authentication bypass by spoofing in Azure AI Face Service allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network," Microsoft in an advisory for CVE-2025-21415, crediting an anonymous researcher for reporting the flaw. CVE-2025-21396, on the other hand, stems from a case of missing authorization that could permit an unauthorized attacker to elevate privileges over a network. A security researcher who goes by the alias Sugobet has been acknowledged for discovering it. The tech giant also noted that it's aware of the existen...
OAuth Redirect Flaw in Airline Travel Integration Exposes Millions to Account Hijacking

OAuth Redirect Flaw in Airline Travel Integration Exposes Millions to Account Hijacking

Jan 28, 2025
Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a now-patched account takeover vulnerability affecting a popular online travel service for hotel and car rentals. "By exploiting this flaw, attackers can gain unauthorized access to any user's account within the system, effectively allowing them to impersonate the victim and perform an array of actions on their behalf – including booking hotels and car rentals using the victim's airline loyalty points, canceling or editing booking information, and more," API security firm Salt Labs said in a report shared with The Hacker News. Successful exploitation of the vulnerability could have put millions of online airline users at risk, it added. The name of the company was not disclosed, but it said the service is integrated into "dozens of commercial airline online services" and enables users to add hotel bookings to their airline itinerary. The shortcoming, in a nutshell, can be weaponized trivially by sending a...
GitHub Desktop Vulnerability Risks Credential Leaks via Malicious Remote URLs

GitHub Desktop Vulnerability Risks Credential Leaks via Malicious Remote URLs

Jan 27, 2025 Vulnerability / Software Security
Multiple security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in GitHub Desktop as well as other Git-related projects that, if successfully exploited, could permit an attacker to gain unauthorized access to a user's Git credentials. "Git implements a protocol called Git Credential Protocol to retrieve credentials from the credential helper ," GMO Flatt Security researcher Ry0taK, who discovered the flaws, said in an analysis published Sunday. "Because of improper handling of messages, many projects were vulnerable to credential leakage in various ways." The list of identified vulnerabilities, dubbed Clone2Leak, is as follows - CVE-2025-23040 (CVSS score: 6.6) - Maliciously crafted remote URLs could lead to credential leaks in GitHub Desktop  CVE-2024-50338 (CVSS score: 7.4) - Carriage-return character in remote URL allows the malicious repository to leak credentials in Git Credential Manager CVE-2024-53263 (CVSS score: 8.5) - Git LFS permits retrieval of cre...
Farewell to the Fallen: The Cybersecurity Stars We Lost Last Year

Farewell to the Fallen: The Cybersecurity Stars We Lost Last Year

Jan 07, 2025 Cybersecurity / Endpoint Security
It's time once again to pay our respects to the once-famous cybersecurity solutions whose usefulness died in the past year. The cybercriminal world collectively mourns the loss of these solutions and the easy access they provide to victim organizations. These solutions, though celebrated in their prime, succumbed to the twin forces of time and advancing threats. Much like a tribute to celebrities lost in the past year, this article will look back at a few of cybersecurity's brightest stars that went dark in the past year.  1. Legacy Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Cause of Death: Compromised by sophisticated phishing, man-in-the-middle (MitM), SIM-swapping, and MFA prompt bombing attacks. The superstar of access security for more than twenty years, legacy MFA solutions enjoyed broad adoption followed by almost-universal responsibility for cybersecurity failures leading to successful ransomware attacks. These outdated solutions relied heavily on SMS or email-based codes o...
Over 300K Prometheus Instances Exposed: Credentials and API Keys Leaking Online

Over 300K Prometheus Instances Exposed: Credentials and API Keys Leaking Online

Dec 12, 2024 Vulnerability / Cloud Security
Cybersecurity researchers are warning that thousands of servers hosting the Prometheus monitoring and alerting toolkit are at risk of information leakage and exposure to denial-of-service (DoS) as well as remote code execution (RCE) attacks. "Prometheus servers or exporters , often lacking proper authentication, allowed attackers to easily gather sensitive information, such as credentials and API keys," Aqua security researchers Yakir Kadkoda and Assaf Morag said in a new report shared with The Hacker News. The cloud security firm also said that the exposure of the "/debug/pprof" endpoints used for determining heap memory usage, CPU usage, and others, could serve as a vector for DoS attacks, rendering the servers inoperable. As many as 296,000 Prometheus Node Exporter instances and 40,300 Prometheus servers have been estimated to be publicly accessible over the internet, making them a huge attack surface that could put data and services at risk. The fact th...
Microsoft MFA AuthQuake Flaw Enabled Unlimited Brute-Force Attempts Without Alerts

Microsoft MFA AuthQuake Flaw Enabled Unlimited Brute-Force Attempts Without Alerts

Dec 11, 2024 Vulnerability / Authentication
Cybersecurity researchers have flagged a "critical" security vulnerability in Microsoft's multi-factor authentication (MFA) implementation that allows an attacker to trivially sidestep the protection and gain unauthorized access to a victim's account. "The bypass was simple: it took around an hour to execute, required no user interaction and did not generate any notification or provide the account holder with any indication of trouble," Oasis Security researchers Elad Luz and Tal Hason said in a report shared with The Hacker News. Following responsible disclosure, the issue – codenamed AuthQuake – was addressed by Microsoft in October 2024. While the Windows maker supports various ways to authenticate users via MFA, one method involves entering a six-digit code from an authenticator app after supplying the credentials. Up to 10 consequent failed attempts are permitted for a single session. The vulnerability identified by Oasis, at its core, concerns...
Google's New Restore Credentials Tool Simplifies App Login After Android Migration

Google's New Restore Credentials Tool Simplifies App Login After Android Migration

Nov 25, 2024 Mobile Security / Privacy
Google has introduced a new feature called Restore Credentials to help users restore their account access to third-party apps securely after migrating to a new Android device. Part of Android's Credential Manager API , the feature aims to reduce the hassle of re-entering the login credentials for every app during the handset replacement. "With Restore Credentials, apps can seamlessly onboard users to their accounts on a new device after they restore their apps and data from their previous device," Google's Neelansh Sahai said . The tech giant said the process occurs automatically in the background when a user restores apps and data from a previous device, enabling apps to sign users back into the respective accounts without requiring any additional interaction. This is accomplished by means of what's called a restore key, which, in reality, is a public key that's compatible with FIDO2 standards such as passkeys. Thus when a user signs in to an app that...
GitLab Patches Critical SAML Authentication Bypass Flaw in CE and EE Editions

GitLab Patches Critical SAML Authentication Bypass Flaw in CE and EE Editions

Sep 19, 2024 Enterprise Security / DevOps
GitLab has released patches to address a critical flaw impacting Community Edition (CE) and Enterprise Edition (EE) that could result in an authentication bypass. The vulnerability is rooted in the ruby-saml library (CVE-2024-45409, CVSS score: 10.0), which could allow an attacker to log in as an arbitrary user within the vulnerable system. It was addressed by the maintainers last week. The problem as a result of the library not properly verifying the signature of the SAML Response. SAML, short for Security Assertion Markup Language, is a protocol that enables single sign-on (SSO) and exchange of authentication and authorization data across multiple apps and websites.  "An unauthenticated attacker with access to any signed SAML document (by the IdP) can thus forge a SAML Response/Assertion with arbitrary contents, according to a security advisory . "This would allow the attacker to log in as arbitrary user within the vulnerable system." It's worth noting the fl...
Why Is It So Challenging to Go Passwordless?

Why Is It So Challenging to Go Passwordless?

Sep 11, 2024 Password Security / Identity Management
Imagine a world where you never have to remember another password. Seems like a dream come true for both end users and IT teams, right? But as the old saying goes, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."  If your organization is like many, you may be contemplating a move to passwordless authentication. But the reality is that a passwordless security approach comes with its own set of pitfalls and perils. In this post, we'll discuss the real-world complexity of going passwordless and explore why strengthening your existing password protocols may be the simpler solution.  The appeal of passwordless authentication Password-related vulnerabilities pose a major threat to organizational security. According to research by  LastPass , a full 80% of data breaches stem from weak, reused, or compromised passwords. This sobering statistic highlights the appeal of passwordless systems, which offer a way to completely circumvent the risks associated with traditional pas...
GitHub Patches Critical Security Flaw in Enterprise Server Granting Admin Privileges

GitHub Patches Critical Security Flaw in Enterprise Server Granting Admin Privileges

Aug 22, 2024 Enterprise Software / Vulnerability
GitHub has released fixes to address a set of three security flaws impacting its Enterprise Server product, including one critical bug that could be abused to gain site administrator privileges. The most severe of the shortcomings has been assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2024-6800, and carries a CVSS score of 9.5. "On GitHub Enterprise Server instances that use SAML single sign-on (SSO) authentication with specific IdPs utilizing publicly exposed signed federation metadata XML, an attacker could forge a SAML response to provision and/or gain access to a user account with site administrator privileges," GitHub said in an advisory. The Microsoft-owned subsidiary has also addressed a pair of medium-severity flaws - CVE-2024-7711 (CVSS score: 5.3) - An incorrect authorization vulnerability that could allow an attacker to update the title, assignees, and labels of any issue inside a public repository. CVE-2024-6337 (CVSS score: 5.9) - An incorrect authorization vulnerab...
ZKTeco Biometric System Found Vulnerable to 24 Critical Security Flaws

ZKTeco Biometric System Found Vulnerable to 24 Critical Security Flaws

Jun 14, 2024 Device Security / Authentication
An analysis of a hybrid biometric access system from Chinese manufacturer ZKTeco has uncovered two dozen security flaws that could be used by attackers to defeat authentication, steal biometric data, and even deploy malicious backdoors. "By adding random user data to the database or using a fake QR code, a nefarious actor can easily bypass the verification process and gain unauthorized access," Kaspersky said . "Attackers can also steal and leak biometric data, remotely manipulate devices, and deploy backdoors." The 24 flaws span six SQL injections, seven stack-based buffer overflows, five command injections, four arbitrary file writes, and two arbitrary file reads. A brief description of each vulnerability type is below - CVE-2023-3938 (CVSS score: 4.6) - An SQL injection flaw when displaying a QR code into the device's camera by passing a specially crafted request containing a quotation mark, thereby allowing an attacker to authenticate as any user in th...
CISA and OpenSSF Release Framework for Package Repository Security

CISA and OpenSSF Release Framework for Package Repository Security

Feb 12, 2024 Infrastructure Security / Software Supply Chain
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced that it's partnering with the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) Securing Software Repositories Working Group to publish a new framework to secure package repositories. Called the  Principles for Package Repository Security , the framework  aims  to establish a set of foundational rules for package managers and further harden open-source software ecosystems. "Package repositories are at a critical point in the open-source ecosystem to help prevent or mitigate such attacks," OpenSSF  said . "Even simple actions like having a documented account recovery policy can lead to robust security improvements. At the same time, capabilities must be balanced with resource constraints of package repositories, many of which are operated by non-profit organizations." Notably, the principles lay out four security maturity levels for package repositories across four categories of authenticati...
FCC Enforces Stronger Rules to Protect Customers Against SIM Swapping Attacks

FCC Enforces Stronger Rules to Protect Customers Against SIM Swapping Attacks

Nov 17, 2023 Fraud Prevention / Mobile Security
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is adopting new rules that aim to protect consumers from cell phone account scams that make it possible for malicious actors to orchestrate SIM-swapping attacks and port-out fraud. "The rules will help protect consumers from scammers who target data and personal information by covertly swapping SIM cards to a new device or porting phone numbers to a new carrier without ever gaining physical control of a consumer's phone," FCC  said  this week. While SIM swapping refers to transferring a user's account to a SIM card controlled by the scammer by convincing the victim's wireless carrier,  port-out fraud  occurs when the bad actor, posing as the victim, transfers their phone number from one service provider to another without their knowledge. The new rules,  first proposed in July 2023 , mandate wireless providers to adopt secure methods of authenticating a customer before redirecting a customer's phone number to...
1Password Detects Suspicious Activity Following Okta Support Breach

1Password Detects Suspicious Activity Following Okta Support Breach

Oct 24, 2023 Cyber Attack / Password Management
Popular password management solution 1Password said it detected suspicious activity on its Okta instance on September 29 following the support system breach, but reiterated that no user data was accessed. "We immediately terminated the activity, investigated, and found no compromise of user data or other sensitive systems, either employee-facing or user-facing," Pedro Canahuati, 1Password CTO,  said  in a Monday notice. The breach is said to have occurred using a session cookie after a member of the IT team shared a HAR file with Okta Support, with the threat actor performing the below set of actions - Attempted to access the IT team member's user dashboard, but was blocked by Okta Updated an existing IDP tied to our production Google environment Activated the IDP Requested a report of administrative users The company said it was alerted to the malicious activity after the IT team member received an email about the "requested" administrative user repor...
New Vulnerabilities Disclosed in SonicWall and Fortinet Network Security Products

New Vulnerabilities Disclosed in SonicWall and Fortinet Network Security Products

Jul 13, 2023 Network Security / Vulnerability
SonicWall on Wednesday urged customers of Global Management System (GMS) firewall management and Analytics network reporting engine software to apply the latest fixes to secure against a set of 15 security flaws that could be exploited by a threat actor to circumvent authentication and access sensitive information. Of the 15 shortcomings (tracked from CVE-2023-34123 through CVE-2023-34137), four are rated Critical, four are rated High, and seven are rated Medium in severity. The vulnerabilities were disclosed by NCC Group. The flaws impact on-premise versions of GMS 9.3.2-SP1 and before and Analytics 2.5.0.4-R7 and before. Fixes are available in versions GMS 9.3.3 and Analytics 2.5.2. "The suite of vulnerabilities allows an attacker to view data that they are not normally able to retrieve," SonicWall  said . "This might include data belonging to other users, or any other data that the application itself is able to access. In many cases, an attacker can modify or dele...
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