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Cybersecurity researchers have unearthed a novel rootkit signed by Microsoft that's engineered to communicate with an actor-controlled attack infrastructure. Trend Micro has attributed the activity cluster to the same actor that was previously identified as behind the  FiveSys rootkit , which came to light in October 2021. "This malicious actor originates from China and their main victims are the gaming sector in China," Trend Micro's Mahmoud Zohdy, Sherif Magdy, and Mohamed Fahmy  said . "Their malware seems to have passed through the Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) process for getting a valid signature." Multiple variants of the rootkit spanning eight different clusters have been discovered, with 75 such drivers signed using Microsoft's WHQL program in 2022 and 2023. Trend Micro's analysis of some of the samples has revealed the presence of debug messages in the source code, indicating that the operation is still in the development and te...

A new fileless attack dubbed  PyLoose  has been observed striking cloud workloads with the goal of delivering a cryptocurrency miner, new findings from Wiz reveal. "The attack consists of Python code that loads an XMRig Miner directly into memory using  memfd , a known Linux fileless technique," security researchers Avigayil Mechtinger, Oren Ofer, and Itamar Gilad  said . "This is the first publicly documented Python-based fileless attack targeting cloud workloads in the wild." The cloud security firm said it found nearly 200 instances where the attack method was employed for cryptocurrency mining. No other details about the threat actor are currently known other than the fact that they possess sophisticated capabilities. In the infection chain documented by Wiz, initial access is achieved through the exploitation of a publicly accessible Jupyter Notebook service that allowed for the execution of system commands using Python modules. PyLoose , first detected on...

Microsoft on Tuesday released updates to address a total  of 132 new security flaws  spanning its software, including six zero-day flaws that it said have been actively exploited in the wild. Of the 132 vulnerabilities, nine are rated Critical, 122 are rated Important in severity, and one has been assigned a severity rating of "None." This is in addition to  eight flaws  the tech giant patched in its Chromium-based Edge browser towards the end of last month. The list of issues that have come under active exploitation is as follows - CVE-2023-32046  (CVSS score: 7.8) - Windows MSHTML Platform Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability CVE-2023-32049  (CVSS score: 8.8) - Windows SmartScreen Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability CVE-2023-35311  (CVSS score: 8.8) - Microsoft Outlook Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability CVE-2023-36874  (CVSS score: 7.8) - Windows Error Reporting Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability CVE-2023-36884  (CVS...

While phishing and ransomware dominate headlines, another critical risk quietly persists across most enterprises: exposed Git repositories leaking sensitive data. A risk that silently creates shadow access into core systems Git is the backbone of modern software development, hosting millions of repositories and serving thousands of organizations worldwide. Yet, amid the daily hustle of shipping code, developers may inadvertently leave behind API keys, tokens, or passwords in configuration files and code files, effectively handing attackers the keys to the kingdom. This isn't just about poor hygiene; it's a systemic and growing supply chain risk. As cyber threats become more sophisticated, so do compliance requirements. Security frameworks like NIS2, SOC2, and ISO 27001 now demand proof that software delivery pipelines are hardened and third-party risk is controlled. The message is clear: securing your Git repositories is no longer optional, it's essential. Below, we look at the ris...

A Microsoft Windows policy loophole has been observed being exploited primarily by native Chinese-speaking threat actors to forge signatures on kernel-mode drivers. "Actors are leveraging multiple open-source tools that alter the signing date of kernel mode drivers to load malicious and unverified drivers signed with expired certificates," Cisco Talos said in an  exhaustive two-part report  shared with The Hacker News. "This is a major threat, as access to the kernel provides complete access to a system, and therefore total compromise." Following responsible disclosure, Microsoft  said  it has taken steps to block all certificates to mitigate the threat. It further stated that its investigation found "the activity was limited to the abuse of several developer program accounts and that no Microsoft account compromise has been identified." The tech giant, besides suspending developer program accounts involved in the incident, emphasized that the threat a...

Discover all the ways MITRE ATT&CK can help you defend your organization. Build your security strategy and policies by making the most of this important framework. What is the MITRE ATT&CK Framework? MITRE ATT&CK (Adversarial Tactics, Techniques, and Common Knowledge) is a widely adopted framework and knowledge base that outlines and categorizes the  tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used in cyberattacks . Created by the nonprofit organization MITRE, this framework provides security professionals with insights and context that can help them comprehend, identify, and mitigate cyber threats effectively. The techniques and tactics in the framework are organized in a dynamic matrix. This makes navigation easy and also provides a holistic view of the entire spectrum of adversary behaviors. As a result, the framework is more actionable and usable than if it were a static list. The MITRE ATT&CK Framework can be found here:  https://attack.mitre.org/ Loo...

Cloud environments continue to be at the receiving end of an ongoing advanced attack campaign dubbed SCARLETEEL, with the threat actors now setting their sights on Amazon Web Services (AWS) Fargate. "Cloud environments are still their primary target, but the tools and techniques used have adapted to bypass new security measures, along with a more resilient and stealthy command and control architecture," Sysdig security researcher Alessandro Brucato said in a new report shared with The Hacker News. SCARLETEEL was  first exposed  by the cybersecurity company in February 2023, detailing a sophisticated attack chain that culminated in the theft of proprietary data from AWS infrastructure and the deployment of cryptocurrency miners to profit off the compromised systems' resources illegally. A follow-up analysis by Cado Security  uncovered  potential links to a prolific cryptojacking group known as  TeamTNT , although Sysdig told The Hacker News that it "could be...

A developing piece of ransomware called  Big Head  is being distributed as part of a malvertising campaign that takes the form of bogus Microsoft Windows updates and Word installers. Big Head was  first documented  by Fortinet FortiGuard Labs last month, when it discovered multiple variants of the ransomware that are designed to encrypt files on victims' machines in exchange for a cryptocurrency payment. "One Big Head ransomware variant displays a fake Windows Update, potentially indicating that the ransomware was also distributed as a fake Windows Update," Fortinet researchers said at the time. "One of the variants has a Microsoft Word icon and was likely distributed as counterfeit software." A majority of the Big Head samples have been submitted so far from the U.S., Spain, France, and Turkey. In a new analysis of the .NET-based ransomware, Trend Micro detailed its inner workings, calling out its ability to deploy three encrypted binaries: 1.exe to propag...

Apple has released  Rapid Security Response  updates for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and Safari web browser to  address  a zero-day flaw that it said has been actively exploited in the wild. The WebKit bug, cataloged as  CVE-2023-37450 , could allow threat actors to achieve arbitrary code execution when processing specially crafted web content. The iPhone maker said it addressed the issue with improved checks. Credited with discovering and reporting the flaw is an anonymous researcher. As with most cases like this, there are scant details about the nature and the scale of the attacks and the identity of the threat actor behind them. But Apple noted in a terse advisory that it's "aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited." The updates, iOS 16.5.1 (a), iPadOS 16.5.1 (a), macOS Ventura 13.4.1 (a), and Safari 16.5.2, are available for devices running the following operating system versions: iOS 16.5.1 and iPadOS 16.5.1 macOS Ventura 13.4.1 ...

Mozilla has announced that some add-ons may be blocked from running on certain sites as part of a new feature called  Quarantined Domains . "We have introduced a new back-end feature to only allow some extensions monitored by Mozilla to run on specific websites for various reasons, including security concerns," the company  said  in its Release Notes for Firefox 115.0 shipped last week. The company said the openness afforded by the add-on ecosystem could be exploited by malicious actors to their advantage. "This feature allows us to prevent attacks by malicious actors targeting specific domains when we have reason to believe there may be malicious add-ons we have not yet discovered," Mozilla  said  in a separate support document. Users are expected to have more control over the setting for each add-on, starting with Firefox version 116. That said, it can be disabled by loading "about:config" in the address bar and setting "extensions.quarantined...