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The malware known as GootLoader continues to be in active use by threat actors looking to deliver additional payloads to compromised hosts. "Updates to the GootLoader payload have resulted in several versions of GootLoader, with GootLoader 3 currently in active use," cybersecurity firm Cybereason said in an analysis published last week. "While some of the particulars of GootLoader payloads have changed over time, infection strategies and overall functionality remain similar to the malware's resurgence in 2020." GootLoader, a malware loader part of the Gootkit banking trojan, is linked to a threat actor named Hive0127 (aka UNC2565). It abuses JavaScript to download post-exploitation tools and is distributed via search engine optimization (SEO) poisoning tactics. It typically serves as a conduit for delivering various payloads such as Cobalt Strike, Gootkit, IcedID, Kronos, REvil, and SystemBC. In recent months, the threat actors behind GootLoader have...

The supply chain attack targeting the widely-used Polyfill[.]io JavaScript library is broader in scope than previously thought, with new findings from Censys showing that over 380,000 hosts are embedding a polyfill script linking to the malicious domain as of July 2, 2024. This includes references to "https://cdn.polyfill[.]io" or "https://cdn.polyfill[.]com" in their HTTP responses, the attack surface management firm said. "Approximately 237,700, are located within the Hetzner network (AS24940), primarily in Germany," it noted. "This is not surprising – Hetzner is a popular web hosting service, and many website developers leverage it." Further analysis of the affected hosts has revealed domains tied to prominent companies like WarnerBros, Hulu, Mercedes-Benz, and Pearson that reference the malicious endpoint in question. Details of the attack emerged in late June 2024 when Sansec alerted that code hosted on the Polyfill domain had been m...

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a new botnet called Zergeca that's capable of conducting distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. Written in Golang, the botnet is so named for its reference to a string named "ootheca" present in the command-and-control (C2) servers ("ootheca[.]pw" and "ootheca[.]top"). "Functionally, Zergeca is not just a typical DDoS botnet; besides supporting six different attack methods, it also has capabilities for proxying, scanning, self-upgrading, persistence, file transfer, reverse shell, and collecting sensitive device information," the QiAnXin XLab team said in a report. Zergeca is also notable for using DNS-over-HTTPS ( DoH ) to perform Domain Name System (DNS) resolution of the C2 server and using a lesser-known library known as Smux for C2 communications. There is evidence to suggest that the attackers behind the botnet are actively developing and updating the malware to support new commands...

Microsoft has revealed two security flaws in Rockwell Automation PanelView Plus that could be weaponized by remote, unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary code and trigger a denial-of-service (DoS) condition. "The [remote code execution] vulnerability in PanelView Plus involves two custom classes that can be abused to upload and load a malicious DLL into the device," security researcher Yuval Gordon said . "The DoS vulnerability takes advantage of the same custom class to send a crafted buffer that the device is unable to handle properly, thus leading to a DoS." The list of shortcomings is as follows - CVE-2023-2071 (CVSS score: 9.8) - An improper input validation vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to achieve remote code executed via crafted malicious packets. CVE-2023-29464 (CVSS score: 8.2) - An improper input validation vulnerability that allows an unauthenticated threat actor to read data from memory via crafted malicious pac...

Brazil's data protection authority, Autoridade Nacional de Proteção de Dados (ANPD), has temporarily banned Meta from processing users' personal data to train the company's artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. The ANPD said it found "evidence of processing of personal data based on inadequate legal hypothesis, lack of transparency, limitation of the rights of data subjects, and risks to children and adolescents." The decision follows the social media giant's update to its terms that allow it to use public content from Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram for AI training purposes. A recent report published by Human Rights Watch found that LAION-5B , one of the largest image-text datasets used to train AI models, contained links to identifiable photos of Brazilian children, putting them at risk of malicious deepfakes that could place them under even more exploitation and harm. Brazil has about 102 million active users, making it one of the largest ma...