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Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a new remote access trojan and information stealer used by Iranian state-sponsored actors to conduct reconnaissance of compromised endpoints and execute malicious commands. Cybersecurity company Check Point has codenamed the malware WezRat , stating it has been detected in the wild since at least September 1, 2023, based on artifacts uploaded to the VirusTotal platform. "WezRat can execute commands, take screenshots, upload files, perform keylogging, and steal clipboard content and cookie files," it said in a technical report. "Some functions are performed by separate modules retrieved from the command and control (C&C) server in the form of DLL files, making the backdoor's main component less suspicious." WezRat is assessed to be the work of Cotton Sandstorm, an Iranian hacking group that's better known under the cover names Emennet Pasargad and, more recently, Aria Sepehr Ayandehsazan (ASA). The malware w...

Google on Thursday rolled out fixes to address a high-severity security flaw in its Chrome browser that it said has been exploited in the wild. Assigned the CVE identifier  CVE-2024-5274 , the vulnerability relates to a type confusion bug in the V8 JavaScript and WebAssembly engine. It was reported by Clément Lecigne of Google's Threat Analysis Group and Brendon Tiszka of Chrome Security on May 20, 2024. Type confusion vulnerabilities  occur when a program attempts to access a resource with an incompatible type. It can have  serious consequences  as it allows threat actors to perform out-of-bounds memory access, cause a crash, and execute arbitrary code. The development marks the fourth zero-day that Google has patched since the start of the month after  CVE-2024-4671 ,  CVE-2024-4761 , and  CVE-2024-4947 . The tech giant did not disclose additional technical details about the flaw, but  acknowled...

Vulnerability Management (VM) has long been a cornerstone of organizational cybersecurity. Nearly as old as the discipline of cybersecurity itself, it aims to help organizations identify and address potential security issues before they become serious problems. Yet, in recent years, the limitations of this approach have become increasingly evident.  At its core, Vulnerability Management processes remain essential for identifying and addressing weaknesses. But as time marches on and attack avenues evolve, this approach is beginning to show its age. In a recent report, How to Grow Vulnerability Management into Exposure Management (Gartner, How to Grow Vulnerability Management Into Exposure Management, 8 November 2024, Mitchell Schneider Et Al.), we believe Gartner® addresses this point precisely and demonstrates how organizations can – and must – shift from a vulnerability-centric strategy to a broader Exposure Management (EM) framework. We feel it's more than a worthwhile read an...

Google on Tuesday released updates to fix four security issues in its Chrome browser, including an actively exploited zero-day flaw. The issue, tracked as CVE-2024-0519 , concerns an out-of-bounds memory access in the V8 JavaScript and WebAssembly engine, which can be weaponized by threat actors to trigger a crash. "By reading out-of-bounds memory, an attacker might be able to get secret values, such as memory addresses, which can be bypass protection mechanisms such as ASLR in order to improve the reliability and likelihood of exploiting a separate weakness to achieve code execution instead of just denial of service," according to MITRE's Common Weakness Enumeration ( CWE ). Additional details about the nature of the attacks and the threat actors that may be exploiting it have been withheld in an attempt to prevent further exploitation. The issue was reported anonymously on January 11, 2024. "Out-of-bounds memory access in V8 in Google Chrome prior to 120....

Google has rolled out security updates for the Chrome web browser to address a high-severity zero-day flaw that it said has been exploited in the wild. The vulnerability, assigned the CVE identifier  CVE-2023-7024 , has been described as a  heap-based buffer overflow bug  in the WebRTC framework that could be exploited to result in program crashes or arbitrary code execution. Clément Lecigne and Vlad Stolyarov of Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) have been credited with discovering and reporting the flaw on December 19, 2023. No other details about the security defect have been released to prevent further abuse, with Google  acknowledging  that "an exploit for CVE-2023-7024 exists in the wild." Given that WebRTC is an open-source project and that it's also supported by Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari, it's currently not clear if the flaw has any impact beyond Chrome and Chromium-based browsers. The development marks the resolution of the eighth activel...

The malware loader known as PikaBot is being distributed as part of a  malvertising   campaign  targeting users searching for legitimate software like AnyDesk. "PikaBot was previously only distributed via malspam campaigns similarly to QakBot and emerged as one of the preferred payloads for a threat actor known as TA577," Malwarebytes' Jérôme Segura  said . The malware family, which  first   appeared  in early 2023, consists of a loader and a core module that allows it to operate as a backdoor as well as a distributor for other payloads. This  enables  the threat actors to gain unauthorized remote access to compromised systems and transmit commands from a command-and-control (C2) server, ranging from arbitrary shellcode, DLLs, or executable files, to other malicious tools such as Cobalt Strike. One of the threat actors leveraging PikaBot in its attacks is  TA577 , a prolific cybercrime threat actor that has, in the past, delivered ...

Google has officially begun its rollout of Privacy Sandbox in the Chrome web browser to a majority of its users, nearly four months after it  announced the plans . "We believe it is vital to both improve privacy and preserve access to information, whether it's news, a how-to-guide, or a fun video," Anthony Chavez, vice president of Privacy Sandbox initiatives at Google,  said . "Without viable privacy-preserving alternatives to third-party cookies, such as the Privacy Sandbox, we risk reducing access to information for all users, and incentivizing invasive tactics such as fingerprinting." To that end, the search giant is initially leaving nearly three percent of users unaffected by the change in order to conduct sufficient tests. General availability is expected to encompass all users in the coming months. Privacy Sandbox is Google's  umbrella term  for a set of technologies that aim to eliminate third-party tracking cookies on the web and replace them...

Google has announced plans to add a new feature in the upcoming version of its Chrome web browser to proactively alert users when an extension they have installed has been removed from the Chrome Web Store. The feature, set for release alongside Chrome 117, allows users to be notified when an add-on has been unpublished by a developer, taken down for violating Chrome Web Store policy, or marked as malware. The tech giant said it intends to highlight such extensions under a "Safety check" category in the "Privacy and security" section of the browser settings page. "When a user clicks 'Review,' they will be taken to their extensions and given the choice to either remove the extension or hide the warning if they wish to keep the extension installed," Oliver Dunk, a developer relations engineer for Chrome extensions,  said . "As in previous versions of Chrome, extensions marked as malware are automatically disabled." The development co...

Google has announced plans to officially flip the switch on its twice-delayed  Privacy Sandbox  initiatives as it slowly works its way to deprecate support for third-party cookies in Chrome browser. To that end, the search and advertising giant said it intends to phase out third-party cookies for 1% of Chrome users globally in the first quarter of 2024. "This will support developers in conducting real world experiments that assess the readiness and effectiveness of their products without third-party cookies," Anthony Chavez, vice president of Privacy Sandbox at Google,  said . Prior to rolling this out, Google said it would introduce the ability for third-party developers to simulate the process for a configurable subset of their users (up to 10%) in Q4 2023. Google further emphasized that the plans have been designed and developed with regulatory oversight and input from the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority ( CMA ), which is overseeing the implementation to...

Google has stepped in to remove a bogus Chrome browser extension from the official Web Store that masqueraded as OpenAI's ChatGPT service to harvest Facebook session cookies and hijack the accounts. The "ChatGPT For Google" extension, a trojanized version of a  legitimate open source browser add-on , attracted over 9,000 installations since March 14, 2023, prior to its removal. It was originally uploaded to the Chrome Web Store on February 14, 2023. According to  Guardio Labs  researcher Nati Tal, the extension was propagated through  malicious   sponsored Google search results  that were designed to redirect unsuspecting users searching for "Chat GPT-4" to fraudulent landing pages that point to the fake add-on. Installing the extension adds the promised functionality – i.e., enhancing search engines with ChatGPT – but it also stealthily activates the ability to capture Facebook-related cookies and exfiltrate it to a remote server in an encrypted manne...

Google on Thursday released software updates to address yet another zero-day flaw in its Chrome web browser. Tracked as  CVE-2022-4135 , the high-severity vulnerability has been described as a heap buffer overflow in the GPU component. Clement Lecigne of Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) has been credited with reporting the flaw on November 22, 2022. Heap-based buffer overflow bugs can be  weaponized  by threat actors to crash a program or execute arbitrary code, leading to unintended behavior. According to the NIST's National Vulnerability Database, the flaw could permit a "remote attacker who had compromised the renderer process to potentially perform a sandbox escape via a crafted HTML page." "Google is aware that an exploit for CVE-2022-4135 exists in the wild," the tech giant  acknowledged  in an advisory. But like other actively exploited issues, technical specifics have been withheld until a majority of the users are updated with a fix and t...

Google on Thursday rolled out emergency fixes to contain an actively exploited zero-day flaw in its Chrome web browser. The vulnerability , tracked as  CVE-2022-3723 , has been described as a type confusion flaw in the V8 JavaScript engine. Security researchers Jan Vojtěšek, Milánek, and Przemek Gmerek of Avast have been credited with reporting the flaw on October 25, 2022. "Google is aware of reports that an exploit for CVE-2022-3723 exists in the wild," the internet giant acknowledged in an advisory without getting into more specifics about the nature of the attacks. CVE-2022-3723 is the third actively exploited type confusion bug in V8 this year after  CVE-2022-1096  and  CVE-2022-1364 . The latest fix also marks the resolution of the seventh zero-day in Google Chrome since the start of 2022 - CVE-2022-0609  - Use-after-free in Animation CVE-2022-1096  - Type confusion in V8 CVE-2022-1364  - Type confusion in V8 CVE-2022-2294  - Hea...

In what's a new phishing technique, it has been demonstrated that the Application Mode feature in Chromium-based web browsers can be abused to create "realistic desktop phishing applications." Application Mode is designed to offer native-like experiences in a manner that causes the website to be launched in a separate browser window, while also displaying the website's favicon and hiding the address bar. According to security researcher mr.d0x – who also devised the browser-in-the-browser ( BitB ) attack method earlier this year – a bad actor can leverage this behavior to resort to some HTML/CSS trickery and display a fake address bar on top of the window and fool users into giving up their credentials on rogue login forms. "Although this technique is meant more towards internal phishing, you can technically still use it in an external phishing scenario," mr.d0x  said . "You can deliver these fake applications independently as files." This is...

Google on Friday shipped emergency fixes to address a security vulnerability in the Chrome web browser that it said is being actively exploited in the wild. The issue, assigned the identifier  CVE-2022-3075 , concerns a case of insufficient data validation in  Mojo , which refers to a collection of runtime libraries that provide a platform-agnostic mechanism for inter-process communication (IPC). An anonymous researcher has been credited with reporting the high-severity flaw on August 30, 2022. "Google is aware of reports that an exploit for CVE-2022-3075 exists in the wild," the internet giant  said , without delving into additional specifics about the nature of the attacks to prevent additional threat actors from taking advantage of the flaw. The latest update makes it the sixth zero-day vulnerability in Chrome that Google has resolved since the start of the year - CVE-2022-0609  - Use-after-free in Animation CVE-2022-1096  - Type confusion in V8 CVE...

Google on Thursday announced a slew of improvements to its  password manager  service aimed at creating a more consistent look and feel across different platforms. Central to the changes is a "simplified and unified management experience that's the same in Chrome and Android settings," Ali Sarraf, Google Chrome product manager,  said  in a blog post. The updates are also expected to automatically group multiple passwords for the same sites as well as introduce an option to manually add passwords. Although Google appears to be not ready yet to make Password Manager as a standalone app, users on Android can now add a shortcut to it on the homescreen. In a related change on iOS, should users opt for Chrome as the  default autofill provider , Password Manager now comes with the ability to generate unique, strong passwords. The built-in Password Checkup feature on Android is receiving an upgrade of its own too. Beyond checking for hacked credentials, it can f...

A malvertising threat is witnessing a new surge in activity since its emergence earlier this year. Dubbed ChromeLoader , the malware is a "pervasive and persistent browser hijacker that modifies its victims' browser settings and redirects user traffic to advertisement websites," Aedan Russell of Red Canary  said  in a new report. ChromeLoader is a rogue Chrome browser extension and is typically distributed in the form of ISO files via pay-per-install sites and baited social media posts that advertise QR codes to cracked video games and pirated movies. While it primarily functions by hijacking user search queries to Google, Yahoo, and Bing and redirecting traffic to an advertising site, it's also notable for its use of PowerShell to inject itself into the browser and get the extension added. The malware, also known as Choziosi Loader, was first documented by G DATA earlier this February. "For now the only purpose is getting revenue via unsolicited adverti...

Google today announced  plans  to implement support for passwordless logins in Android and the Chrome web browser to allow users to seamlessly and securely sign in across different devices and websites irrespective of the platform. "This will simplify sign-ins across devices, websites, and applications no matter the platform — without the need for a single password," Google  said . Apple and Microsoft are also expected to extend the support to iOS, macOS, and Windows operating systems as well as Safari and Edge browsers. The common Fast IDentity Online ( FIDO ) sign-in system does away with passwords entirely in favor of displaying a prompt asking a user to unlock the phone when signing into a website or an application. This is made possible by storing a cryptographically-secured FIDO credential called a passkey on the phone that's used to log in to the online account after unlocking the device. "Once you've done this, you won't need your phone again a...

Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) on Thursday disclosed that it acted to mitigate threats from two distinct government-backed attacker groups based in North Korea that exploited a recently-uncovered remote code execution flaw in the Chrome web browser. The campaigns, once again "reflective of the regime's immediate concerns and priorities," are said to have targeted U.S. based organizations spanning news media, IT, cryptocurrency, and fintech industries, with one set of the activities sharing direct infrastructure overlaps with previous attacks  aimed at security researchers  last year. The shortcoming in question is  CVE-2022-0609 , a use-after-free vulnerability in the browser's Animation component that Google addressed as part of updates (version 98.0.4758.102) issued on February 14, 2022. It's also the first zero-day flaw patched by the tech giant since the start of 2022. "The earliest evidence we have of this exploit kit being actively deploy...

Google on Thursday rolled out an emergency update for its Chrome web browser, including fixes for two zero-day vulnerabilities that it says are being actively exploited in the wild. Tracked as  CVE-2021-38000  and  CVE-2021-38003 , the weaknesses relate to insufficient validation of untrusted input in a feature called Intents as well as a case of inappropriate implementation in V8 JavaScript and WebAssembly engine. The internet giant's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) has been credited with discovering and reporting the two flaws on September 15, 2021, and October 26, 2021, respectively. "Google is aware that exploits for CVE-2021-38000 and CVE-2021-38003 exist in the wild," the company  noted  in an advisory without delving into technical specifics about how the two vulnerabilities were used in attacks or the threat actors that may have weaponized them. Also addressed as part of this stable channel update is a  use-after-free  vulnerability in the Web...

Google has rolled out yet another update to Chrome browser for Windows, Mac, and Linux to fix four security vulnerabilities, including one zero-day flaw that's being exploited in the wild. Tracked as  CVE-2021-30554 , the high severity flaw concerns a  use after free vulnerability  in WebGL (aka Web Graphics Library), a JavaScript API for rendering interactive 2D and 3D graphics within the browser. Successful exploitation of the flaw could mean corruption of valid data, leading to a crash, and even execution of unauthorized code or commands. The issue was reported to Google anonymously on June 15, Chrome technical program manager Srinivas Sista  noted , adding the company is "aware that an exploit for CVE-2021-30554 exists in the wild." While it's usually the norm to limit details of the vulnerability until a majority of users are updated with the fix, the development comes less than 10 days after Google addressed another zero-day vulnerability exploited in ac...

Google on Tuesday  announced  a new feature to its password manager that could be used to change a stolen password automatically with a single tap. Automated password changes build on the tool's ability to  check the safety  of saved passwords. Thus when Chrome finds a password that may have been compromised as part of a data breach, it will prompt users with an alert containing a "Change Password" button, tapping which "Chrome will not only navigate to the site, but also go through the entire process of changing your password." Enabling this in the background is Google's  Duplex  technology, which it debuted in 2018 and expanded in 2019 to support various functions in Google Assistant like booking a rental car, ordering food, and buying movie tickets. The search giant, however, noted that users could take over control at any point during the process and change the password manually. The feature is currently being rolled out in Chrome for Android to a...