Experts Detail Malicious Code Dropped Using ManageEngine ADSelfService Exploit
Nov 08, 2021
At least nine entities across the technology, defense, healthcare, energy, and education industries were compromised by leveraging a recently patched critical vulnerability in Zoho's ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus self-service password management and single sign-on (SSO) solution. The spying campaign, which was observed starting September 22, 2021, involved the threat actor taking advantage of the flaw to gain initial access to targeted organizations, before moving laterally through the network to carry out post-exploitation activities by deploying malicious tools designed to harvest credentials and exfiltrate sensitive information via a backdoor. "The actor heavily relies on the Godzilla web shell, uploading several variations of the open-source web shell to the compromised server over the course of the operation," researchers from Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 threat intelligence team said in a report. "Several other tools have novel characteristics or ha...