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Category — reverse engineering
Researchers Uncover 'LLMjacking' Scheme Targeting Cloud-Hosted AI Models

Researchers Uncover 'LLMjacking' Scheme Targeting Cloud-Hosted AI Models

May 10, 2024 Vulnerability / Cloud Security
Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a novel attack that employs stolen cloud credentials to target cloud-hosted large language model (LLM) services with the goal of selling access to other threat actors. The attack technique has been codenamed  LLMjacking  by the Sysdig Threat Research Team. "Once initial access was obtained, they exfiltrated cloud credentials and gained access to the cloud environment, where they attempted to access local LLM models hosted by cloud providers," security researcher Alessandro Brucato  said . "In this instance, a local Claude (v2/v3) LLM model from Anthropic was targeted." The intrusion pathway used to pull off the scheme entails breaching a system running a vulnerable version of the Laravel Framework (e.g.,  CVE-2021-3129 ), followed by getting hold of Amazon Web Services (AWS) credentials to access the LLM services. Among the tools used is an  open-source Python script  that checks and validates keys f...
North Korea's Lazarus Group Deploys New Kaolin RAT via Fake Job Lures

North Korea's Lazarus Group Deploys New Kaolin RAT via Fake Job Lures

Apr 25, 2024 Malware / Cyber Threat
The North Korea-linked threat actor known as Lazarus Group employed its time-tested fabricated job lures to deliver a new remote access trojan called Kaolin RAT as part of attacks targeting specific individuals in the Asia region in summer 2023. The malware could, "aside from standard RAT functionality, change the last write timestamp of a selected file and load any received DLL binary from [command-and-control] server," Avast security researcher Luigino Camastra  said  in a report published last week. The RAT acts as a pathway to deliver the FudModule rootkit, which has been recently observed leveraging a now-patched  admin-to-kernel exploit  in the appid.sys driver (CVE-2024-21338, CVSS score: 7.8) to obtain a kernel read/write primitive and ultimately disable security mechanisms. The Lazarus Group's use of job offer lures to infiltrate targets is not new. Dubbed Operation Dream Job, the  long-running campaign ...
How AI Is Transforming IAM and Identity Security

How AI Is Transforming IAM and Identity Security

Nov 15, 2024Machine Learning / Identity Security
In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has begun revolutionizing Identity Access Management (IAM), reshaping how cybersecurity is approached in this crucial field. Leveraging AI in IAM is about tapping into its analytical capabilities to monitor access patterns and identify anomalies that could signal a potential security breach. The focus has expanded beyond merely managing human identities — now, autonomous systems, APIs, and connected devices also fall within the realm of AI-driven IAM, creating a dynamic security ecosystem that adapts and evolves in response to sophisticated cyber threats. The Role of AI and Machine Learning in IAM AI and machine learning (ML) are creating a more robust, proactive IAM system that continuously learns from the environment to enhance security. Let's explore how AI impacts key IAM components: Intelligent Monitoring and Anomaly Detection AI enables continuous monitoring of both human and non-human identities , including APIs, service acc...
Dormakaba Locks Used in Millions of Hotel Rooms Could Be Cracked in Seconds

Dormakaba Locks Used in Millions of Hotel Rooms Could Be Cracked in Seconds

Mar 29, 2024 Reverse Engineering / RFID Security
Security vulnerabilities discovered in Dormakaba's Saflok electronic RFID locks used in hotels could be weaponized by threat actors to forge keycards and stealthily slip into locked rooms. The shortcomings have been collectively named  Unsaflok  by researchers Lennert Wouters, Ian Carroll, rqu, BusesCanFly, Sam Curry, sshell, and Will Caruana. They were reported to the Zurich-based company in September 2022. "When combined, the identified weaknesses allow an attacker to unlock all rooms in a hotel using a single pair of forged keycards," they  said . Full technical specifics about the vulnerabilities have been withheld, considering the potential impact, and are expected to be made public in the future. The issues impact more than three million hotel locks spread across 13,00 properties in 131 countries. This includes the models Saflok MT, and Quantum, RT, Saffire, and Confidant series devices, which are used in combination with the System 6000, Ambiance, and Communit...
cyber security

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.
Ivanti Pulse Secure Found Using 11-Year-Old Linux Version and Outdated Libraries

Ivanti Pulse Secure Found Using 11-Year-Old Linux Version and Outdated Libraries

Feb 15, 2024 Firmware Security / Reverse Engineering
A reverse engineering of the firmware running on Ivanti Pulse Secure appliances has revealed numerous weaknesses, once again underscoring the challenge of securing software supply chains. Eclypsiusm, which acquired firmware version 9.1.18.2-24467.1 as part of the process, said the base operating system used by the Utah-based software company for the device is CentOS 6.4. "Pulse Secure runs an 11-year-old version of Linux which hasn't been supported since November 2020," the firmware security company  said  in a report shared with The Hacker News. The development comes as threat actors are capitalizing on a number of security flaws discovered in Ivanti Connect Secure, Policy Secure, and ZTA gateways to  deliver  a  wide range of malware , including web shells, stealers, and backdoors. The vulnerabilities that have come under active exploitation in recent months comprise CVE-2023-46805, CVE-2024-21887, and CVE-2024-21893. Last week, Ivanti also  disclose...
4 Steps to Creating a Powerful Research Lab for Reverse Engineering

4 Steps to Creating a Powerful Research Lab for Reverse Engineering

Mar 29, 2023 Malware Analysis / Cybersecurity
However, manual lab setup and configuration can prove to be a laborious and time-consuming process. In this article, we'll look at 4 ways to create a reverse engineering lab, discuss how to save time, and, potentially, improve the detection rate using a  sandbox-as-a-service , and a recommended list of tools for a comprehensive setup. What is a malware analysis lab? In essence, a malware analysis lab provides a safe, isolated space for examining malware. The setup can range from a straightforward virtual machine using VirtualBox to a more intricate network of interconnected machines and actual networking hardware. But in this article, we'll look at building a lab tailored for static analysis, so what we will need is a secure environment where we can run disassemblers, edit binary files and debug. There are a couple of ways we can go about creating it: 1 — Virtualization Perhaps the simplest way to create a secure and isolated environment is by using a virtual machine....
NSA Releases GHIDRA Source Code — Free Reverse Engineering Tool

NSA Releases GHIDRA Source Code — Free Reverse Engineering Tool

Apr 04, 2019
Update (4/4/2019) — Great news. NSA today finally released the complete source code for GHIDRA version 9.0.2 which is now available on its Github repository . GHIDRA  is agency's home-grown classified software reverse engineering tool that agency experts have been using internally for over a decade to hunt down security bugs in software and applications. GHIDRA is a Java-based reverse engineering framework that features a graphical user interface (GUI) and has been designed to run on a variety of platforms including Windows, macOS, and Linux. Reverse engineering a program or software involves disassembling, i.e. converting binary instructions into assembly code when its source code is unavailable, helping software engineers, especially malware analysts, understand the functionality of the code and actual design and implementation information. The existence of GHIDRA was first publicly revealed by WikiLeaks in CIA Vault 7 leaks , but the NSA today publicly released t...
NSA to release its GHIDRA reverse engineering tool for free

NSA to release its GHIDRA reverse engineering tool for free

Jan 07, 2019
The United States' National Security Agency (NSA) is planning to release its internally developed reverse engineering tool for free at the upcoming RSA security conference 2019 that will be held in March in San Francisco. The existence of the framework, dubbed GHIDRA, was first publicly revealed by WikiLeaks in CIA Vault 7 leaks, but the tool once again came to light after Senior NSA Adviser Robert Joyce announced to publicly release the tool for free in his RSA Conference session description. Reverse engineering tool is a disassembler, for example, IDA-Pro, that help researchers identify certain portions of a program to see how they work by reading information like its processor instructions, instruction lengths, and more. GHIDRA is a Java-based reverse engineering framework that features a graphical user interface (GUI) and has been designed to run on a variety of platforms including Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems, and also supports a variety of processor ...
Most LokiBot samples in the wild are "hijacked" versions of the original malware

Most LokiBot samples in the wild are "hijacked" versions of the original malware

Jul 06, 2018
Hacker himself got hacked. It turns out that most samples of the LokiBot malware being distributed in the wild are modified versions of the original sample, a security researcher has learned. Targeting users since 2015, LokiBot is a password and cryptocoin-wallet stealer that can harvest credentials from a variety of popular web browsers, FTP, poker and email clients, as well as IT administration tools such as PuTTY. The original LokiBot malware was developed and sold by online alias "lokistov," a.k.a. "Carter," on multiple underground hacking forums for up to $300, but later some other hackers on the dark web also started selling same malware for a lesser price (as low as $80). It was believed that the source code for LokiBot was leaked which might have allowed others to compile their own versions of the stealer. However, a researcher who goes by alias " d00rt " on Twitter found that someone made little changes (patching) in the original Lok...
Pre-Installed Keylogger Found On Over 460 HP Laptop Models

Pre-Installed Keylogger Found On Over 460 HP Laptop Models

Dec 09, 2017
HP has an awful history of 'accidentally' leaving keyloggers onto its customers' laptops. At least two times this year, HP laptops were caught with pre-installed keylogger or spyware applications. I was following a tweet made by a security researcher claiming to have found a built-in keylogger in several HP laptops, and now he went public with his findings. A security researcher who goes by the name of ZwClose discovered a keylogger in several Hewlett-Packard (HP) laptops that could allow hackers to record your every keystroke and steal sensitive data, including passwords, account information, and credit card details. The Keylogger was found embedded in the SynTP.sys file, a part of Synaptics touchpad driver that ships with HP notebook computers, leaving more than 460 HP Notebook models vulnerable to hackers. Although the keylogger component is disabled by default, hackers can make use of available open source tools for bypassing User Account Control (UAC) to...
w00t! Google OnHub Router actually Runs on Chrome OS; Here's How to Root it

w00t! Google OnHub Router actually Runs on Chrome OS; Here's How to Root it

Oct 12, 2015
Are you intrigued with the idea of disassembling things and making them work your ways? Then you'll find this coverage to be one of its kind! Google OnHub Router runs ChromiumOS ( Chrome OS ), the same Linux-based operating system that powers Google Chromebook laptops and desktops. Yeah, It's True. A Group of researchers has revealed that Google OnHub Router is actually a modified Chromebook in Cylindrical form and without screen. OnHub is a modern dual-band wireless router, designed by Google and TP-Link, operates networks on both the 2.4GHz & 5GHz frequency bands simultaneously and offers the speed of up to 1900 Mbps. Unlike traditional Broadband Routers, Google OnHub is designed to support " The Internet of Things " as well as other Smart devices, including Smartphones, Connected TVs and Computers. A Team of Modders at Exploitee.rs , also famous as GTVHacker , have successfully managed to root Google OnHub device, in the same way, they ...
Uber’s Android app is Literally Malware?

Uber's Android app is Literally Malware?

Nov 29, 2014
The popular ride-sharing service Uber has been hit by various controversies lately, but now the things gone even worse for the company when a security researcher made a worrying discovery this week and claims, " Uber's app is literally malware. " The ride-hailing company is in disputes of handling privacy of its customers data. A Phoenix-based security researcher Joe Giron found that a surprising amount of users' data is being collected by the company's mobile application for Android. Researcher, who runs a cyber security firm in Arizona , just reverse-engineered the code of Uber's Android application and come to the conclusion that it is a malware. He discovered that the app " calls home " and sends data back to the company. But this excessive amount of access to users' data is not the sort of app data a taxi company should have access to in the first place. It really seems strange and unnecessary to collect. " Christ man! Why the hell woul...
Student Decrypts Simplocker Android Ransomware that Encrypts Files

Student Decrypts Simplocker Android Ransomware that Encrypts Files

Jun 17, 2014
In a previous story, I reported about a new ransomware threat known as Simplocker discovered by researchers at the security firm ESET, targeting Android users in the UK, Switzerland, Germany, India and Russia, for ransom. Simplocker (Android/Simplocker.A) is the latest Android ransomware that has ability to encrypt the files using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) on the Android device SD cards demanding users pay a ransom of 260 UAH ( Ukrainian hryvnias ), which is roughly equal to $21 US, for those files to be decrypted. To hide their track, the malware author is using the Command-and-Control server hosted on TOR .onion domain, which makes it difficult to trace the server's physical location or determine who is operating it. The malware collects information about the users' phone such as IMEI number, Operating System, phone model and manufacturer to send it all to Command-and-Control server. STUDENT CRACKS SIMPLOCKER RANSOMWARE Now, an undergraduate stu...
Backdoor found in Chinese Tenda Wireless Routers, allows Root access to Hackers

Backdoor found in Chinese Tenda Wireless Routers, allows Root access to Hackers

Oct 19, 2013
Last week Craig Heffner, specialized on the embedded device hacking exposed a serious backdoor in number of D-Link routers allows unauthorized backdoor access. Recently he published his another researcher, Titled ' From China, With Love ', exposed that D-Link is not only the vendor who puts backdoors in their products. According to him, China based networking device and equipment manufacturer - Tenda Technology  (www.tenda.cn) also added potential backdoors into their Wireless Routers. He unpacked the software framework update and locate the httpd binary an found that the manufacturer is using GoAhead server, which has been substantially modified. These routers are protected with standard Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) and WPA encryption key, but still by sending a UDP packet with a special string , an attacker could take over the router. Routers contain a flaw in the httpd component, as the MfgThread() function spawns a b...
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