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VMware has released updates to address critical flaws impacting Cloud Foundation, vCenter Server, and vSphere ESXi that could be exploited to achieve privilege escalation and remote code execution. The list of vulnerabilities is as follows - CVE-2024-37079 & CVE-2024-37080 (CVSS scores: 9.8) - Multiple heap-overflow vulnerabilities in the implementation of the DCE/RPC protocol that could allow a bad actor with network access to vCenter Server to achieve remote code execution by sending a specially crafted network packet CVE-2024-37081 (CVSS score: 7.8) - Multiple local privilege escalation vulnerabilities in VMware vCenter arising due to the misconfiguration of sudo that an authenticated local user with non-administrative privileges could exploit to obtain root permissions This is not the first time VMware has addressed shortcomings in the implementation of the DCE/RPC protocol. In October 2023, the Broadcom-owned virtualization services provider patched another criti

Ransomware attacks targeting VMware ESXi infrastructure follow an established pattern regardless of the file-encrypting malware deployed, new findings show. "Virtualization platforms are a core component of organizational IT infrastructure, yet they often suffer from inherent misconfigurations and vulnerabilities, making them a lucrative and highly effective target for threat actors to abuse," cybersecurity firm Sygnia  said  in a report shared with The Hacker News. The Israeli company, through its incident response efforts involving various ransomware families like LockBit, HelloKitty, BlackMatter, RedAlert (N13V), Scattered Spider, Akira, Cactus, BlackCat and Cheerscrypt, found that attacks on virtualization environments adhere to a similar sequence of actions. This includes the following steps - Obtaining initial access through phishing attacks, malicious file downloads, and exploitation of known vulnerabilities in internet-facing assets Escalating their privilege

As a vCISO, you are responsible for your client's cybersecurity strategy and risk governance. This incorporates multiple disciplines, from research to execution to reporting. Recently, we published a comprehensive playbook for vCISOs, "Your First 100 Days as a vCISO – 5 Steps to Success" , which covers all the phases entailed in launching a successful vCISO engagement, along with recommended actions to take, and step-by-step examples.  Following the success of the playbook and the requests that have come in from the MSP/MSSP community, we decided to drill down into specific parts of vCISO reporting and provide more color and examples. In this article, we focus on how to create compelling narratives within a report, which has a significant impact on the overall MSP/MSSP value proposition.  This article brings the highlights of a recent guided workshop we held, covering what makes a successful report and how it can be used to enhance engagement with your cyber security clients.

 Microsoft on Monday confirmed its plans to deprecate NT LAN Manager (NTLM) in Windows 11 in the second half of the year, as it announced a slew of new security measures to harden the widely-used desktop operating system. "Deprecating NTLM has been a huge ask from our security community as it will strengthen user authentication, and deprecation is planned in the second half of 2024," the tech giant  said . The Windows maker  originally announced  its decision to drop NTLM in favor of Kerberos for authentication in October 2023. NTLM's lack of support for cryptographic methods such as AES or SHA-256 notwithstanding, the protocol has also been rendered susceptible to relay attacks, a technique that has been widely exploited by the Russia-linked  APT28 actor  via zero-day flaws in Microsoft Outlook. Other changes coming to Windows 11 include enabling  Local Security Authority (LSA) protection  by default for new consumer devices and the use of virtualization-based secur

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed a new sophisticated Android malware called  FjordPhantom  that has been observed targeting users in Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam since early September 2023. "Spreading primarily through messaging services, it combines app-based malware with social engineering to defraud banking customers," Oslo-based mobile app security firm Promon  said  in an analysis published Thursday. Propagated mainly via email, SMS, and messaging apps, attack chains trick recipients into downloading a purported banking app that comes fitted with legitimate features but also incorporates rogue components. Victims are then subjected to a social engineering technique akin to telephone-oriented attack delivery ( TOAD ), which involves calling a bogus call center to receive step-by-step instructions for running the app. A key characteristic of the malware that sets it apart from other banking trojans of its kind is the use of

Virtualization services provider VMware has alerted customers to the existence of a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit for a recently patched security flaw in Aria Operations for Logs. Tracked as CVE-2023-34051 (CVSS score: 8.1), the high-severity vulnerability relates to a case of authentication bypass that could lead to remote code execution. "An unauthenticated, malicious actor can inject files into the operating system of an impacted appliance which can result in remote code execution," VMware  noted  in an advisory on October 19, 2023. James Horseman from Horizon3.ai and the Randori Attack Team have been credited with discovering and reporting the flaw. Horizon3.ai has since made available a  PoC for the vulnerability , prompting VMware to revise its advisory this week. It's worth noting that CVE-2023-34051 is a patch bypass for a  set of critical flaws  that were addressed by VMware earlier this January that could expose users to remote code execution attacks. &

German security researchers claim to have found a new practical attack against virtual machines (VMs) protected using AMD's Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV) technology that could allow attackers to recover plaintext memory data from guest VMs. AMD's Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV) technology, which comes with EPYC line of processors, is a hardware feature that encrypts the memory of each VM in a way that only the guest itself can access the data, protecting it from other VMs/containers and even from an untrusted hypervisor. Discovered by researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied and Integrated Security in Munich, the page-fault side channel attack, dubbed SEVered, takes advantage of lack in the integrity protection of the page-wise encryption of the main memory, allowing a malicious hypervisor to extract the full content of the main memory in plaintext from SEV-encrypted VMs. Here's the outline of the SEVered attack, as briefed in the paper :

Just after a new security vulnerability surfaced Wednesday, many tech outlets started comparing it with HeartBleed, the serious security glitch uncovered last year that rendered communications with many well-known web services insecure, potentially exposing Millions of plain-text passwords. But don't panic. Though the recent vulnerability has a more terrific name than HeartBleed , it is not going to cause as much danger as HeartBleed did. Dubbed VENOM , stands for Virtualized Environment Neglected Operations Manipulation , is a virtual machine security flaw uncovered by security firm CrowdStrike that could expose most of the data centers to malware attacks, but in theory. Yes, the risk of Venom vulnerability is theoretical as there is no real-time exploitation seen yet, while, on the other hand, last year's HeartBleed bug was practically exploited by hackers unknown number of times, leading to the theft of critical personal information. Now let's know more about Ven

Fedora 14, known as "Laughlin," officially launched on Tuesday, offering numerous new features aimed at enhancing the user experience for this open-source desktop operating system. Usability Focus In recent releases, Fedora, sponsored by Red Hat, has concentrated on improving usability. According to DistroWatch, Fedora is the second most popular Linux distribution after Ubuntu. Recent improvements have targeted networking, software management, and hardware support, focusing on bug fixes and stability in the latest release. Enhanced Desktop Environment One significant addition to Fedora 14 is "libjpegturbo," a library that dramatically improves performance for users loading and saving JPEG images. This library "practically halves processing time on most systems," claim the developers, even benefiting those on older hardware. Another notable feature is SPICE (Simple Protocol for Independent Computing Environment), a desktop virtualization framework enha