Ivanti Connect Secure | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Two recently disclosed security flaws in Ivanti Connect Secure (ICS) devices are being exploited to deploy the infamous  Mirai botnet . That's according to  findings  from Juniper Threat Labs, which said the vulnerabilities  CVE-2023-46805 and CVE-2024-21887  have been leveraged to deliver the botnet payload. While CVE-2023-46805 is an authentication bypass flaw, CVE-2024-21887 is a command injection vulnerability, thereby allowing an attacker to chain the two into an exploit chain to execute arbitrary code and take over susceptible instances. In the attack chain observed by the network security company, CVE-2023-46805 is exploited to gain access to the "/api/v1/license/key-status/;" endpoint, which is vulnerable to command injection, and inject the payload. As  previously outlined  by Assetnote in their technical deep dive of the CVE-2024-21887, the exploit is triggered by means of a request to "/api/v1/totp/user-backup-code/" to deplo...

The MITRE Corporation revealed that it was the target of a nation-state cyber attack that exploited two zero-day flaws in Ivanti Connect Secure appliances starting in January 2024. The intrusion led to the compromise of its Networked Experimentation, Research, and Virtualization Environment (NERVE), an unclassified research and prototyping network. The unknown adversary "performed reconnaissance of our networks, exploited one of our Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) through two Ivanti Connect Secure zero-day vulnerabilities, and skirted past our multi-factor authentication using session hijacking," Lex Crumpton, a defensive cyber operations researcher at the non-profit,  said  last week. The attack entailed the  exploitation  of CVE-2023-46805 (CVSS score: 8.2) and CVE-2024-21887 (CVSS score: 9.1), which could be weaponized by threat actors to bypass authentication and run arbitrary commands on the infected system. Upon gaining initial access, the threat actors m...

Identity-based attacks are on the rise. Attackers are targeting identities with compromised credentials, hijacked authentication methods, and misused privileges. While many threat detection solutions focus on cloud, endpoint, and network threats, they overlook the unique risks posed by SaaS identity ecosystems. This blind spot is wreaking havoc on heavily SaaS-reliant organizations big and small. The question is, what can security teams do about it? Have no fear, because Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) is here to save the day. It's essential to have the visibility and response mechanisms to stop attacks before they become breaches. Here's the super lineup that every team needs to stop SaaS identity threats. #1 Full coverage: cover every angle  Like Cap's shield, this defense should cover every angle. Traditional threat detection tools such as XDRs and EDRs fail to cover SaaS applications and leave organizations vulnerable. SaaS identity threat detection and re...

As many as five different malware families were deployed by suspected nation-state actors as part of post-exploitation activities leveraging  two zero-day vulnerabilities  in Ivanti Connect Secure (ICS) VPN appliances since early December 2023. "These families allow the threat actors to circumvent authentication and provide backdoor access to these devices," Mandiant  said  in an analysis published this week. The Google-owned threat intelligence firm is tracking the threat actor under the moniker  UNC5221 .  The attacks leverage an exploit chain comprising an authentication bypass flaw (CVE-2023-46805) and a code injection vulnerability (CVE-2024-21887) to take over susceptible instances. Volexity, which attributed the activity to a suspected Chinese espionage actor named UTA0178, said the twin flaws were used to gain initial access, deploy webshells, backdoor legitimate files, capture credentials and configuration data, and pivot further into the vict...