remote code execution | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Threat actors are actively exploiting a now-patched, critical security flaw impacting the Atlassian Confluence Data Center and Confluence Server to conduct illicit cryptocurrency mining on susceptible instances. "The attacks involve threat actors that employ methods such as the deployment of shell scripts and XMRig miners, targeting of SSH endpoints, killing competing crypto mining processes, and maintaining persistence via cron jobs," Trend Micro researcher Abdelrahman Esmail said . The security vulnerability exploited is CVE-2023-22527 , a maximum severity bug in older versions of Atlassian Confluence Data Center and Confluence Server that could allow unauthenticated attackers to achieve remote code execution. It was addressed by the Australian software company in mid-January 2024. Trend Micro said it observed a high number of exploitation attempts against the flaw between mid-June and end of July 2024 that leveraged it to drop the XMRig miner on unpatched hosts. At l

A South Korea-aligned cyber espionage has been linked to the zero-day exploitation of a now-patched critical remote code execution flaw in Kingsoft WPS Office to deploy a bespoke backdoor dubbed SpyGlace. The activity has been attributed to a threat actor dubbed APT-C-60 , according to cybersecurity firms ESET and DBAPPSecurity. The attacks have been found to infect Chinese and East Asian users with malware. The security flaw in question is CVE-2024-7262 (CVSS score: 9.3), which stems from a lack of proper validation of user-provided file paths. This loophole essentially allows an adversary to upload an arbitrary Windows library and achieve remote code execution. The bug "allows code execution via hijacking the control flow of the WPS Office plugin component promecefpluginhost.exe," ESET said , adding it found another way to achieve the same effect. The second vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2024-7263 (CVSS score: 9.3). The attack conceived by APT-C-60 weaponizes the

Want to know what's the latest and greatest in SecOps for 2024? Gartner's recently released Hype Cycle for Security Operations report takes important steps to organize and mature the domain of Continuous Threat Exposure Management, aka CTEM. Three categories within this domain are included in this year's report: Threat Exposure Management, Exposure Assessment Platforms (EAP), and Adversarial Exposure Validation (AEV). These category definitions are aimed at providing some structure to the evolving landscape of exposure management technologies. Pentera, listed as a sample vendor in the newly defined AEV category, is playing a pivotal role in increasing the adoption of CTEM, with a focus on security validation. Following is our take on the CTEM related product categories and what they mean for enterprise security leaders. The Industry is Maturing CTEM, coined by Gartner in 2022, presents a structural approach for continuously assessing, prioritizing, validating, and remediating expo

A critical security flaw has been disclosed in the WPML WordPress multilingual plugin that could allow authenticated users to execute arbitrary code remotely under certain circumstances. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-6386 (CVSS score: 9.9), impacts all versions of the plugin before 4.6.13, which was released on August 20, 2024. Arising due to missing input validation and sanitization, the issue makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Contributor-level access and above, to execute code on the server. WPML is a popular plugin used for building multilingual WordPress sites. It has over one million active installations. Security researcher stealthcopter, who discovered and reported CVE-2024-6386, said the problem lies in the plugin's handling of shortcodes that are used to insert post content such as audio, images, and videos. "Specifically, the plugin uses Twig templates for rendering content in shortcodes but fails to properly sanitize input, leadi

Two security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in the open-source Traccar GPS tracking system that could be potentially exploited by unauthenticated attackers to achieve remote code execution under certain circumstances. Both the vulnerabilities are path traversal flaws and could be weaponized if guest registration is enabled, which is the default configuration for Traccar 5, Horizon3.ai researcher Naveen Sunkavally said. A brief description of the shortcomings is as follows - CVE-2024-24809 (CVSS score: 8.5) - Path Traversal: 'dir/../../filename' and unrestricted upload of file with dangerous type CVE-2024-31214 (CVSS score: 9.7) - Unrestricted file upload vulnerability in device image upload could lead to remote code execution "The net result of CVE-2024-31214 and CVE-2024-24809 is that an attacker can place files with arbitrary content anywhere on the file system," Sunkavally said . "However an attacker only has partial control over the filename.

A maximum-severity security flaw has been disclosed in the WordPress GiveWP donation and fundraising plugin that exposes more than 100,000 websites to remote code execution attacks. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2024-5932 (CVSS score: 10.0), impacts all versions of the plugin prior to version 3.14.2, which was released on August 7, 2024. A security researcher, who goes by the online alias villu164, has been credited with discovering and reporting the issue. The plugin is "vulnerable to PHP Object Injection in all versions up to, and including, 3.14.1 via deserialization of untrusted input from the 'give_title' parameter," Wordfence said in a report this week. "This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject a PHP Object. The additional presence of a POP chain allows attackers to execute code remotely, and to delete arbitrary files." The vulnerability is rooted in a function named "give_process_donation_form()," which is used to vali

A previously undocumented backdoor named Msupedge has been put to use against a cyber attack targeting an unnamed university in Taiwan. "The most notable feature of this backdoor is that it communicates with a command-and-control (C&C) server via DNS traffic," the Symantec Threat Hunter Team, part of Broadcom, said in a report shared with The Hacker News. The origins of the backdoor are presently unknown as are the objectives behind the attack. The initial access vector that likely facilitated the deployment of Msupedge is said to involve the exploitation of a recently disclosed critical flaw impacting PHP ( CVE-2024-4577 , CVSS score: 9.8), which could be used to achieve remote code execution . The backdoor in question is a dynamic-link library (DLL) that's installed in the paths "csidl_drive_fixed\xampp\" and "csidl_system\wbem\." One of the DLLs, wuplog.dll, is launched by the Apache HTTP server (httpd). The parent process for the second

SolarWinds has released patches to address a critical security vulnerability in its Web Help Desk software that could be exploited to execute arbitrary code on susceptible instances. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2024-28986 (CVSS score: 9.8), has been described as a deserialization bug. "SolarWinds Web Help Desk was found to be susceptible to a Java deserialization remote code execution vulnerability that, if exploited, would allow an attacker to run commands on the host machine," the company said in an advisory. "While it was reported as an unauthenticated vulnerability, SolarWinds has been unable to reproduce it without authentication after thorough testing." The flaw impacts all versions of SolarWinds Web Help Desk including and prior to 12.8.3. It has been addressed in hotfix version 12.8.3 HF 1 . The disclosure comes as Palo Alto Networks patched a high-severity vulnerability affecting Cortex XSOAR that could result in command injection and code execution.

Microsoft on Tuesday shipped fixes to address a total of 90 security flaws , including 10 zero-days, of which six have come under active exploitation in the wild. Of the 90 bugs, nine are rated Critical, 80 are rated Important, and one is rated Moderate in severity. This is also in addition to 36 vulnerabilities that the tech giant resolved in its Edge browser since last month. The Patch Tuesday updates are notable for addressing six actively exploited zero-days - CVE-2024-38189 (CVSS score: 8.8) - Microsoft Project Remote Code Execution Vulnerability CVE-2024-38178 (CVSS score: 7.5) - Windows Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability CVE-2024-38193 (CVSS score: 7.8) - Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability CVE-2024-38106 (CVSS score: 7.0) - Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability CVE-2024-38107 (CVSS score: 7.8) - Windows Power Dependency Coordinator Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability CVE-2024-38213 (CVS

The maintainers of the FreeBSD Project have released security updates to address a high-severity flaw in OpenSSH that attackers could potentially exploit to execute arbitrary code remotely with elevated privileges. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-7589 , carries a CVSS score of 7.4 out of a maximum of 10.0, indicating high severity. "A signal handler in sshd(8) may call a logging function that is not async-signal-safe," according to an advisory released last week. "The signal handler is invoked when a client does not authenticate within the LoginGraceTime seconds (120 by default). This signal handler executes in the context of the sshd(8)'s privileged code, which is not sandboxed and runs with full root privileges." OpenSSH is an implementation of the secure shell (SSH) protocol suite, providing encrypted and authenticated transport for a variety of services, including remote shell access. CVE-2024-7589 has been described as "another instance&

As many as 10 security flaws have been uncovered in Google's Quick Share data transfer utility for Android and Windows that could be assembled to trigger remote code execution (RCE) chain on systems that have the software installed. "The Quick Share application implements its own specific application-layer communication protocol to support file transfers between nearby, compatible devices," SafeBreach Labs researchers Or Yair and Shmuel Cohen said in a technical report shared with The Hacker News. "By investigating how the protocol works, we were able to fuzz and identify logic within the Quick Share application for Windows that we could manipulate or bypass." The result is the discovery of 10 vulnerabilities – nine affecting Quick Share for Windows and one impacting Android – that could be fashioned into an "innovative and unconventional" RCE attack chain to run arbitrary code on Windows hosts. The RCE attack chain has been codenamed QuickShell

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered multiple critical flaws in Amazon Web Services (AWS) offerings that, if successfully exploited, could result in serious consequences. "The impact of these vulnerabilities range between remote code execution (RCE), full-service user takeover (which might provide powerful administrative access), manipulation of AI modules, exposing sensitive data, data exfiltration, and denial-of-service," cloud security firm Aqua said in a detailed report shared with The Hacker News. Following responsible disclosure in February 2024, Amazon addressed the shortcomings over several months from March to June. The findings were presented at Black Hat USA 2024. Central to the issue, dubbed Bucket Monopoly, is an attack vector referred to as Shadow Resource, which, in this case, refers to the automatic creation of an AWS S3 bucket when using services like CloudFormation, Glue, EMR, SageMaker, ServiceCatalog, and CodeStar. The S3 bucket name created in

Microsoft on Thursday disclosed four medium-severity security flaws in the open-source OpenVPN software that could be chained to achieve remote code execution (RCE) and local privilege escalation (LPE). "This attack chain could enable attackers to gain full control over targeted endpoints, potentially resulting in data breaches, system compromise, and unauthorized access to sensitive information," Vladimir Tokarev of the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Community said . That said, the exploit, presented by Black Hat USA 2024, requires user authentication and an advanced understanding of OpenVPN's inner workings. The flaws affect all versions of OpenVPN prior to version 2.6.10 and 2.5.10. The list of vulnerabilities is as follows - CVE-2024-27459 - A stack overflow vulnerability leading to a Denial-of-service (DoS) and LPE in Windows CVE-2024-24974 - Unauthorized access to the "\\openvpn\\service" named pipe in Windows, allowing an attacker to remotely inte

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered weaknesses in Sonos smart speakers that could be exploited by malicious actors to clandestinely eavesdrop on users. The vulnerabilities "led to an entire break in the security of Sonos's secure boot process across a wide range of devices and remotely being able to compromise several devices over the air," NCC Group security researchers Alex Plaskett and Robert Herrera said . Successful exploitation of one of these flaws could allow a remote attacker to obtain covert audio capture from Sonos devices by means of an over-the-air attack. They impact all versions prior to Sonos S2 release 15.9 and Sonos S1 release 11.12, which were shipped in October and November 2023. The findings were presented at Black Hat USA 2024. A description of the two security defects is as follows - CVE-2023-50809 - A vulnerability in the Sonos One Gen 2 Wi-Fi stack that does not properly validate an information element while negotiating a WPA2 four-wa

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new " 0.0.0.0 Day" impacting all major web browsers that malicious websites could take advantage of to breach local networks. The critical vulnerability "exposes a fundamental flaw in how browsers handle network requests, potentially granting malicious actors access to sensitive services running on local devices," Oligo Security researcher Avi Lumelsky said . The Israeli application security company said the implications of the vulnerability are far-reaching, and that it stems from the inconsistent implementation of security mechanisms and a lack of standardization across different browsers. As a result, a seemingly harmless IP address such as 0.0.0.0 could be weaponized to exploit local services, resulting in unauthorized access and remote code execution by attackers outside the network. The loophole is said to have been around since 2006. 0.0.0.0 Day impacts Google Chrome/Chromium, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safar

A critical security flaw impacting Progress Software WhatsUp Gold is seeing active exploitation attempts, making it essential that users move quickly to apply the latest. The vulnerability in question is CVE-2024-4885 (CVSS score: 9.8), an unauthenticated remote code execution bug impacting versions of the network monitoring application released before 2023.1.3. "The WhatsUp.ExportUtilities.Export.GetFileWithoutZip allows execution of commands with iisapppool\\nmconsole privileges," the company said in an advisory released in late June 2024. According to security researcher Sina Kheirkhah of the Summoning Team, the flaw resides in the implementation of the GetFileWithoutZip method, which fails to perform adequate validation of user-supplied paths prior to its use. An attacker could take advantage of this behavior to execute code in the context of the service account. A proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit has since been released by Kheirkhah. The Shadowserver Foundation s

A new zero-day pre-authentication remote code execution vulnerability has been disclosed in the Apache OFBiz open-source enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that could allow threat actors to achieve remote code execution on affected instances. Tracked as CVE-2024-38856 , the flaw has a CVSS score of 9.8 out of a maximum of 10.0. It affects Apache OFBiz versions prior to 18.12.15. "The root cause of the vulnerability lies in a flaw in the authentication mechanism," SonicWall, which discovered and reported the shortcoming, said in a statement. "This flaw allows an unauthenticated user to access functionalities that generally require the user to be logged in, paving the way for remote code execution." CVE-2024-38856 is also a patch bypass for CVE-2024-36104 , a path traversal vulnerability that was addressed in early June with the release of 18.12.14. SonicWall described the flaw as residing in the override view functionality that exposes critical endpoi

Cybersecurity company Acronis is warning that a now-patched critical security flaw impacting its Cyber Infrastructure (ACI) product has been exploited in the wild. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2023-45249 (CVSS score: 9.8), concerns a case of remote code execution that stems from the use of default passwords. The flaw impacts the following versions of Acronis Cyber Infrastructure (ACI) - < build 5.0.1-61 < build 5.1.1-71 < build 5.2.1-69 < build 5.3.1-53, and  < build 5.4.4-132 It has been addressed in versions 5.4 update 4.2, 5.2 update 1.3, 5.3 update 1.3, 5.0 update 1.4, and 5.1 update 1.2 released in late October 2023. There are currently no details on how the vulnerability is being weaponized in real-world cyber attacks and the identity of the threat actors that may be exploiting it. However, the Swiss-headquartered company acknowledged reports of active exploitation in an updated advisory last week. "This vulnerability is known to be exploi