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The Golden Age of Automated Penetration Testing is Here

The Golden Age of Automated Penetration Testing is Here

Mar 29, 2024 Pen Testing / Regulatory Compliance
Network penetration testing plays a vital role in detecting vulnerabilities that can be exploited. The current method of performing pen testing is pricey, leading many companies to undertake it only when necessary, usually once a year for their compliance requirements. This manual approach often misses opportunities to find and fix security issues early on, leaving businesses vulnerable to expensive cyberattacks and potential breaches. However, new technologies using automation and AI have revolutionized the process, making regular network pentesting easy and affordable. We're now in the golden era of pentesting, where every company can assess the security of their networks without breaking the bank.  Automating pen testing is a game-changer   Automation in cybersecurity is becoming a big deal and it's only going to get bigger. Nowadays, we need automation to help deal with the fact that there just aren't enough cybersecurity pros to go around. Businesses can't keep
New Linux Bug Could Lead to User Password Leaks and Clipboard Hijacking

New Linux Bug Could Lead to User Password Leaks and Clipboard Hijacking

Mar 29, 2024 Vulnerability / Linux
Details have emerged about a vulnerability impacting the "wall" command of the util-linux package that could be potentially exploited by a bad actor to leak a user's password or alter the clipboard on certain Linux distributions. The bug, tracked as CVE-2024-28085, has been codenamed  WallEscape  by security researcher Skyler Ferrante. It has been described as a case of improper neutralization of escape sequences. "The util-linux wall command does not filter  escape sequences  from command line arguments," Ferrante  said . "This allows unprivileged users to put arbitrary text on other users' terminals, if mesg is set to "y" and wall is setgid." The  vulnerability  was introduced as part of a  commit  made in August 2013.  The "wall" command is used to write a message to the terminals of all users that are currently logged in to a server, essentially allowing users with elevated permissions to  broadcast key information  to
How to Accelerate Vendor Risk Assessments in the Age of SaaS Sprawl

How to Accelerate Vendor Risk Assessments in the Age of SaaS Sprawl

Mar 21, 2024SaaS Security / Endpoint Security
In today's digital-first business environment dominated by SaaS applications, organizations increasingly depend on third-party vendors for essential cloud services and software solutions. As more vendors and services are added to the mix, the complexity and potential vulnerabilities within the  SaaS supply chain  snowball quickly. That's why effective vendor risk management (VRM) is a critical strategy in identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks to protect organizational assets and data integrity. Meanwhile, common approaches to vendor risk assessments are too slow and static for the modern world of SaaS. Most organizations have simply adapted their legacy evaluation techniques for on-premise software to apply to SaaS providers. This not only creates massive bottlenecks, but also causes organizations to inadvertently accept far too much risk. To effectively adapt to the realities of modern work, two major aspects need to change: the timeline of initial assessment must shorte
Linux Version of DinodasRAT Spotted in Cyber Attacks Across Several Countries

Linux Version of DinodasRAT Spotted in Cyber Attacks Across Several Countries

Mar 28, 2024 Linux / Network Security
A Linux version of a multi-platform backdoor called  DinodasRAT  has been detected in the wild targeting China, Taiwan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan,  new findings  from Kaspersky reveal. DinodasRAT, also known as XDealer, is a C++-based malware that offers the ability to harvest a wide range of sensitive data from compromised hosts. In October 2023, Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET  revealed  that a governmental entity in Guyana had been targeted as part of a cyber espionage campaign dubbed Operation Jacana to deploy the Windows version of the implant. Then last week, Trend Micro  detailed  a threat activity cluster it tracks as Earth Krahang and which has shifted to using DinodasRAT since 2023 in its attacks aimed at several government entities worldwide. The use of DinodasRAT has been attributed to various China-nexus threat actors, including  LuoYu , once again reflecting the tool sharing prevalent among hacking crews identified as acting on behalf of the country. Kaspersky said it
cyber security

Automated remediation solutions are crucial for security

websiteWing SecurityShadow IT / SaaS Security
Especially when it comes to securing employees' SaaS usage, don't settle for a longer to-do list. Auto-remediation is key to achieving SaaS security.
New ZenHammer Attack Bypasses RowHammer Defenses on AMD CPUs

New ZenHammer Attack Bypasses RowHammer Defenses on AMD CPUs

Mar 28, 2024 Hardware Security / Vulnerability
Cybersecurity researchers from ETH Zurich have developed a new variant of the RowHammer DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) attack that, for the first time, successfully works against AMD Zen 2 and Zen 3 systems despite mitigations such as Target Row Refresh (TRR). "This result proves that AMD systems are equally vulnerable to Rowhammer as Intel systems, which greatly increases the attack surface, considering today's AMD market share of around 36% on x86 desktop CPUs," the researchers  said . The technique has been codenamed  ZenHammer , which can also trigger RowHammer bit flips on DDR5 devices for the first time. RowHammer , first publicly disclosed in 2014, is a  well-known attack  that exploits DRAM's memory cell architecture to alter data by repeatedly accessing a specific row (aka hammering) to cause the electrical charge of a cell to leak to adjacent cells. This can induce random bit flips in neighboring memory rows (from 0 to 1, or vice versa), which can
Microsoft Edge Bug Could Have Allowed Attackers to Silently Install Malicious Extensions

Microsoft Edge Bug Could Have Allowed Attackers to Silently Install Malicious Extensions

Mar 27, 2024 Vulnerability / API Security
A now-patched security flaw in the Microsoft Edge web browser could have been abused to install arbitrary extensions on users' systems and carry out malicious actions.  "This flaw could have allowed an attacker to exploit a private API, initially intended for marketing purposes, to covertly install additional browser extensions with broad permissions without the user's knowledge," Guardio Labs security researcher Oleg Zaytsev  said  in a new report shared with The Hacker News. Tracked as  CVE-2024-21388  (CVSS score: 6.5), it was addressed by Microsoft in Edge stable version 121.0.2277.83 released on January 25, 2024, following responsible disclosure in November 2023. The Windows maker credited both Zaytsev and Jun Kokatsu for reporting the issue. "An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the privileges needed to install an extension," Microsoft said in an advisory for the flaw, adding it "could lead to a browser sandbo
SASE Solutions Fall Short Without Enterprise Browser Extensions, New Report Reveals

SASE Solutions Fall Short Without Enterprise Browser Extensions, New Report Reveals

Mar 27, 2024 Data Protection / Browser Security
As SaaS applications dominate the business landscape, organizations need optimized network speed and robust security measures. Many of them have been turning to SASE, a product category that offers cloud-based network protection while enhancing network infrastructure performance. However, a new report: "Better Together: SASE and Enterprise Browser Extension for the SaaS-First Enterprise" ( Download here ), challenges SASE's ability to deliver comprehensive security against web-borne cyber threats on its own. From phishing attacks to malicious extensions and account takeovers, traditional network traffic analysis and security falls short. The report sheds light on these limitations and introduces the role of secure browser extensions as an essential component in a comprehensive security strategy. SASE Advantages and Limitations SASE takes on a dual role in addressing both infrastructure and security. However, while SASE offers clear advantages in security, it may not e
Critical Unpatched Ray AI Platform Vulnerability Exploited for Cryptocurrency Mining

Critical Unpatched Ray AI Platform Vulnerability Exploited for Cryptocurrency Mining

Mar 27, 2024 Vulnerability / Data Security
Cybersecurity researchers are warning that threat actors are actively exploiting a "disputed" and unpatched vulnerability in an open-source artificial intelligence (AI) platform called Anyscale Ray to hijack computing power for illicit cryptocurrency mining. "This vulnerability allows attackers to take over the companies' computing power and leak sensitive data," Oligo Security researchers Avi Lumelsky, Guy Kaplan, and Gal Elbaz  said  in a Tuesday disclosure. "This flaw has been under active exploitation for the last seven months, affecting sectors like education, cryptocurrency, biopharma, and more." The campaign, ongoing since September 2023, has been codenamed  ShadowRay  by the Israeli application security firm. It also marks the first time AI workloads have been targeted in the wild through shortcomings underpinning the AI infrastructure. Ray is an  open-source, fully-managed compute framework  that allows organizations to build, train, and
Alert: New Phishing Attack Delivers Keylogger Disguised as Bank Payment Notice

Alert: New Phishing Attack Delivers Keylogger Disguised as Bank Payment Notice

Mar 27, 2024 Vulnerability / Cybercrime
A new phishing campaign has been observed leveraging a novel loader malware to deliver an information stealer and keylogger called  Agent Tesla . Trustwave SpiderLabs said it identified a phishing email bearing this attack chain on March 8, 2024. The message masquerades as a bank payment notification, urging the user to open an archive file attachment. The archive ("Bank Handlowy w Warszawie - dowód wpłaty_pdf.tar.gz") conceals a malicious loader that activates the procedure to deploy Agent Tesla on the compromised host. "This loader then used obfuscation to evade detection and leveraged polymorphic behavior with complex decryption methods," security researcher Bernard Bautista  said  in a Tuesday analysis. "The loader also exhibited the capability to bypass antivirus defenses and retrieved its payload using specific URLs and user agents leveraging proxies to further obfuscate traffic." The tactic of embedding malware within seemingly benign files is
Two Chinese APT Groups Ramp Up Cyber Espionage Against ASEAN Countries

Two Chinese APT Groups Ramp Up Cyber Espionage Against ASEAN Countries

Mar 27, 2024 Cyber Espionage / Vulnerability
Two China-linked advanced persistent threat (APT) groups have been observed targeting entities and member countries affiliated with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as part of a cyber espionage campaign over the past three months. This includes the threat actor known as  Mustang Panda , which has been recently linked to  cyber attacks against Myanmar  as well as other Asian countries with a variant of the PlugX (aka Korplug) backdoor dubbed  DOPLUGS . Mustang Panda, also called Camaro Dragon, Earth Preta, and Stately Taurus, is believed to have targeted entities in Myanmar, the Philippines, Japan and Singapore, targeting them with phishing emails designed to deliver two malware packages. "Threat actors created malware for these packages on March 4-5, 2024, coinciding with the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit (March 4-6, 2024)," Palo Alto Networks Unit 42  said  in a report shared with The Hacker News. One of the malware package is a ZIP file that contains
CISA Alerts on Active Exploitation of Flaws in Fortinet, Ivanti, and Nice Products

CISA Alerts on Active Exploitation of Flaws in Fortinet, Ivanti, and Nice Products

Mar 26, 2024 Cyber Attack / Vulnerability
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Monday  placed  three security flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities ( KEV ) catalog, citing evidence of active exploitation. The vulnerabilities added are as follows - CVE-2023-48788  (CVSS score: 9.3) - Fortinet FortiClient EMS SQL Injection Vulnerability CVE-2021-44529  (CVSS score: 9.8) - Ivanti Endpoint Manager Cloud Service Appliance (EPM CSA) Code Injection Vulnerability CVE-2019-7256  (CVSS score: 10.0) - Nice Linear eMerge E3-Series OS Command Injection Vulnerability The shortcoming impacting Fortinet FortiClient EMS  came to light  earlier this month, with the company describing it as a flaw that could allow an unauthenticated attacker to execute unauthorized code or commands via specifically crafted requests. Fortinet has since revised its advisory to confirm that it has been exploited in the wild, although no other details regarding the nature of the attacks are currently available. CVE-20
New "GoFetch" Vulnerability in Apple M-Series Chips Leaks Secret Encryption Keys

New "GoFetch" Vulnerability in Apple M-Series Chips Leaks Secret Encryption Keys

Mar 25, 2024 Hardware Security / Data Protection
A new security shortcoming discovered in Apple M-series chips could be exploited to extract secret keys used during cryptographic operations. Dubbed  GoFetch , the vulnerability relates to a microarchitectural side-channel attack that takes advantage of a feature known as data memory-dependent prefetcher (DMP) to target constant-time cryptographic implementations and capture sensitive data from the CPU cache. Apple was made aware of the findings in December 2023. Prefetchers are a hardware optimization technique that predicts what memory addresses a currently running program will access in the near future and retrieve the data into the cache accordingly from the main memory. The goal of this approach is to reduce the program's memory access latency. DMP is a type of prefetcher that takes into account the contents of memory based on previously observed access patterns when determining what to prefetch. This behavior makes it ripe for cache-based attacks that trick the prefetche
AWS Patches Critical 'FlowFixation' Bug in Airflow Service to Prevent Session Hijacking

AWS Patches Critical 'FlowFixation' Bug in Airflow Service to Prevent Session Hijacking

Mar 22, 2024 Amazon Web Services / Vulnerability
Cybersecurity researchers have shared details of a now-patched security vulnerability in Amazon Web Services (AWS) Managed Workflows for Apache Airflow ( MWAA ) that could be potentially exploited by a malicious actor to hijack victims' sessions and achieve remote code execution on underlying instances. The vulnerability, now addressed by AWS, has been codenamed  FlowFixation  by Tenable. "Upon taking over the victim's account, the attacker could have performed tasks such as reading connection strings, adding configurations and triggering directed acyclic graphs (DAGS)," senior security researcher Liv Matan  said  in a technical analysis. "Under certain circumstances such actions can result in RCE on the instance that underlies the MWAA, and in lateral movement to other services." The root cause of the vulnerability, per the cybersecurity firm, is a combination of  session fixation  on the web management panel of AWS MWAA and an AWS domain misconfigura
China-Linked Group Breaches Networks via Connectwise, F5 Software Flaws

China-Linked Group Breaches Networks via Connectwise, F5 Software Flaws

Mar 22, 2024 Cyber Defense / Vulnerability
A China-linked threat cluster leveraged security flaws in Connectwise ScreenConnect and F5 BIG-IP software to deliver custom malware capable of delivering additional backdoors on compromised Linux hosts as part of an "aggressive" campaign. Google-owned Mandiant is  tracking  the activity under its uncategorized moniker  UNC5174  (aka Uteus or Uetus), describing it as a "former member of Chinese hacktivist collectives that has since shown indications of acting as a contractor for China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) focused on executing access operations." The threat actor is believed to have orchestrated widespread attacks against Southeast Asian and U.S. research and education institutions, Hong Kong businesses, charities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and U.S. and U.K. government organizations between October and November 2023, and again in February 2024 using the ScreenConnect bug. Initial access to target environments is facilitated by t
Massive Sign1 Campaign Infects 39,000+ WordPress Sites with Scam Redirects

Massive Sign1 Campaign Infects 39,000+ WordPress Sites with Scam Redirects

Mar 22, 2024 Web Security / Vulnerability
A massive malware campaign dubbed  Sign1  has compromised over 39,000 WordPress sites in the last six months, using malicious JavaScript injections to redirect users to scam sites. The most recent variant of the malware is estimated to have infected no less than 2,500 sites over the past two months alone, Sucuri said in a report published this week. The attacks entail injecting rogue JavaScript into legitimate HTML widgets and plugins that allow for arbitrary JavaScript and other code to be inserted, providing attackers with an opportunity to add their malicious code. The XOR-encoded JavaScript code is subsequently decoded and used to execute a JavaScript file hosted on a remote server, which ultimately facilitates redirects to a  VexTrio -operated traffic distribution system (TDS) but only if certain criteria are met. What's more, the malware uses time-based randomization to fetch dynamic URLs that change every 10 minutes to get around blocklists. These domains are registere
AndroxGh0st Malware Targets Laravel Apps to Steal Cloud Credentials

AndroxGh0st Malware Targets Laravel Apps to Steal Cloud Credentials

Mar 21, 2024 Threat Intelligence / Vulnerability
Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a tool referred to as  AndroxGh0st  that's used to target Laravel applications and steal sensitive data. "It works by scanning and taking out important information from .env files, revealing login details linked to AWS and Twilio," Juniper Threat Labs researcher Kashinath T Pattan  said . "Classified as an SMTP cracker, it exploits SMTP using various strategies such as credential exploitation, web shell deployment, and vulnerability scanning." AndroxGh0st has been detected in the wild since at least 2022, with threat actors leveraging it to access Laravel environment files and steal credentials for various cloud-based applications like Amazon Web Services (AWS), SendGrid, and Twilio. Attack chains involving the Python malware are known to exploit known security flaws in Apache HTTP Server, Laravel Framework, and PHPUnit to gain initial access and for privilege escalation and persistence. Earlier this January, U
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