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Category — elevation of privilege
Google Warns of Pixel Firmware Security Flaw Exploited as Zero-Day

Google Warns of Pixel Firmware Security Flaw Exploited as Zero-Day

Jun 13, 2024 Mobile Security / Vulnerability
Google has warned that a security flaw impacting Pixel Firmware has been exploited in the wild as a zero-day. The high-severity vulnerability, tagged as CVE-2024-32896 , has been described as an elevation of privilege issue in Pixel Firmware. The company did not share any additional details related to the nature of attacks exploiting it, but noted "there are indications that CVE-2024-32896 may be under limited, targeted exploitation." The June 2024 security update addresses a total of 50 security vulnerabilities, five of which relate to various components in Qualcomm chipsets. Some of the notable issues patched include denial-of-service (DoS) issue impacting Modem, and numerous information disclosure flaws affecting GsmSs, ACPM, and Trusty.  The updates are available for supported Pixel devices , such as Pixel 5a with 5G, Pixel 6a, Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 7a, Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 8a, and Pixel Fold. Earlier this April, Google resolved...
Researchers Uncover Windows Flaws Granting Hackers Rootkit-Like Powers

Researchers Uncover Windows Flaws Granting Hackers Rootkit-Like Powers

Apr 22, 2024 Rootkit / Software Security
New research has found that the DOS-to-NT path conversion process could be exploited by threat actors to achieve rootkit-like capabilities to conceal and impersonate files, directories, and processes. "When a user executes a function that has a path argument in Windows, the DOS path at which the file or folder exists is converted to an NT path," SafeBreach security researcher Or Yair  said  in an analysis, which was  presented  at the Black Hat Asia conference last week. "During this conversion process, a known issue exists in which the function removes trailing dots from any path element and any trailing spaces from the last path element. This action is completed by most user-space APIs in Windows." These so-called MagicDot paths allow for rootkit-like functionality that's accessible to any unprivileged user, who could then weaponize them to carry out a series of malicious actions without having admin permissions and remain undetected. They include the ab...
Unlocking Google Workspace Security: Are You Doing Enough to Protect Your Data?

Unlocking Google Workspace Security: Are You Doing Enough to Protect Your Data?

Nov 22, 2024Google Workspace / SaaS Backup
Google Workspace has quickly become the productivity backbone for businesses worldwide, offering an all-in-one suite with email, cloud storage and collaboration tools. This single-platform approach makes it easy for teams to connect and work efficiently, no matter where they are, enabling seamless digital transformation that's both scalable and adaptable. As companies shift from traditional, on-premises setups focused on device security, to more user-centered, hybrid models, Google Workspace is perfectly positioned to support this evolution. Now, the user account itself is the central hub, allowing access from any device or location — a game changer in today's remote and distributed work environments. However, with all this connectivity and flexibility comes a challenge. Google Workspace connects to countless apps and touches every user in the organization, making it an appealing target for cybercriminals. The platform's internet accessibility opens up additional entry points, raisi...
Researchers Uncover New Linux Kernel 'StackRot' Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Researchers Uncover New Linux Kernel 'StackRot' Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

Jul 06, 2023 Linux / Endpoint Security
Details have emerged about a newly identified security flaw in the Linux kernel that could allow a user to gain elevated privileges on a target host. Dubbed  StackRot  ( CVE-2023-3269 , CVSS score: 7.8), the flaw impacts Linux versions 6.1 through 6.4. There is no evidence that the shortcoming has been exploited in the wild to date. "As StackRot is a Linux kernel vulnerability found in the memory management subsystem, it affects almost all kernel configurations and requires minimal capabilities to trigger," Peking University security researcher Ruihan Li  said . "However, it should be noted that maple nodes are freed using RCU callbacks, delaying the actual memory deallocation until after the RCU grace period. Consequently, exploiting this vulnerability is considered challenging." Following  responsible disclosure  on June 15, 2023, it has been  addressed  in stable versions 6.1.37, 6.3.11, and 6.4.1 as of July 1, 2023, after a two-week effort le...
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Creating, Managing and Securing Non-Human Identities

websitePermisoCybersecurity / Identity Security
A new class of identities has emerged alongside traditional human users: non-human identities (NHIs). Permiso Security's new eBook details everything you need to know about managing and securing non-human identities, and strategies to unify identity security without compromising agility.
Update Your Windows PCs to Patch 117 New Flaws, Including 9 Zero-Days

Update Your Windows PCs to Patch 117 New Flaws, Including 9 Zero-Days

Jul 14, 2021
Microsoft rolled out  Patch Tuesday updates  for the month of July with fixes for a total of 117 security vulnerabilities, including nine zero-day flaws, of which four are said to be under active attacks in the wild, potentially enabling an adversary to take control of affected systems.  Of the 117 issues, 13 are rated Critical, 103 are rated Important, and one is rated as Moderate in severity, with six of these bugs publicly known at the time of release.  The updates span across several of Microsoft's products, including Windows, Bing, Dynamics, Exchange Server, Office, Scripting Engine, Windows DNS, and Visual Studio Code. July also marks a dramatic jump in the volume of vulnerabilities, surpassing the number Microsoft collectively addressed as part of its updates in  May  (55) and  June  (50). Chief among the security flaws actively exploited are as follows — CVE-2021-34527  (CVSS score: 8.8) - Windows Print Spooler Remote Code Exec...
Dangerous Rootkit found Pre-Installed on nearly 3 Million Android Phones

Dangerous Rootkit found Pre-Installed on nearly 3 Million Android Phones

Nov 19, 2016
Here's some bad news for Android users again. Nearly 3 Million Android devices worldwide are vulnerable to man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks that could allow attackers to remotely execute arbitrary code with root privileges, turning over full control of the devices to hackers. According to a new report from security rating firm BitSight, the issue is due to a vulnerability in the insecure implementation of the OTA (Over-the-Air) update mechanism used by certain low-cost Android devices, including BLU Studio G from US-based Best Buy. Backdoor/Rootkit Comes Pre-installed The vulnerable OTA mechanism, which is associated with Chinese mobile firm Ragentek Group, contains a hidden binary — resides as /system/bin/debugs — that runs with root privileges and communicates over unencrypted channels with three hosts. According to the researchers, this privileged binary not only exposes user-specific information to MITM attackers but also acts as a rootkit, potentially allowing ...
This Hack Gives Linux Root Shell Just By Pressing 'ENTER' for 70 Seconds

This Hack Gives Linux Root Shell Just By Pressing 'ENTER' for 70 Seconds

Nov 16, 2016
A hacker with little more than a minute can bypass the authentication procedures on some Linux systems just by holding down the Enter key for around 70 seconds. The result? The act grants the hacker a shell with root privileges, which allows them to gain complete remote control over encrypted Linux machine. The security issue relies due to a vulnerability ( CVE-2016-4484 ) in the implementation of the Cryptsetup utility used for encrypting hard drives via Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS), which is the standard implementation of disk encryption on a Linux-based operating system. The flaw actually is in the way the Cryptsetup utility handles password failures for the decryption process when a system boots up, which lets a user retry the password multiple times. What's even worse? Even if the user has tried up all 93 password attempts, the user is dropped to a shell (Busybox in Ubuntu) that has root privileges. In other words, if you enter a blank password 93 times – or s...
Google Discloses Another Unpatched Windows 8.1 Vulnerability

Google Discloses Another Unpatched Windows 8.1 Vulnerability

Jan 14, 2015
Google has once again released the details of a new privilege escalation bug in Microsoft's Windows 8.1 operating system before Microsoft planned to patch the bug, triggering a new quarrel between the two tech giants. This is second time in less than a month when the Google's security research team known as Project Zero released details of the vulnerability in Microsoft's operating system, following its 90-day public disclosure deadline policy. Google Project Zero team routinely finds vulnerabilities in different products from different companies. The vulnerabilities then get reported to the affected software vendors and if they do not patch the flaws in 90 days, Google automatically makes the vulnerability along with its details public. DISCLOSURE OF TWO SECURITY HOLES IN LESS THAN A MONTH Two weeks back, Google Project Zero team disclosed details of an elevation of privilege (EoP) vulnerability  affecting Windows 8.1 that may have allowed hackers to modify cont...
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