7-Zip 0-day was exploited in Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine
Vulnerabilities mentionedAll →
| CVE | Vulnerability | CVSS | EPSS | Flags | Affected | Exposure | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2025-0411 | Mark-of-the-Web Bypass in 7-Zip Enables Code Execution via Crafted Archives CVE-2025-0411 is a protection-mechanism bypass in 7-Zip's handling of archived files: when extracting a crafted archive that carries the Mark-of-the-Web, 7-Zip fails to propagate the MotW flag to the extracted files. Exploitation requires user interaction, as the target must visit a malicious page or open a malicious archive. Because the extracted files lose their MotW designation, Windows skips its usual security prompts on attacker-supplied executables or scripts, allowing arbitrary code execution in the context of the current user. Anyone running affected 7-Zip installations is exposed, including NetApp Active IQ Unified Manager deployments that incorporate 7-Zip. The flaw was exploited as a zero-day — Russian cybercrime groups and SmokeLoader campaigns, notably targeting Ukrainian organizations, abused it — and CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2025-02-06. Do: Upgrade 7-Zip to the latest patched release per vendor guidance, and for NetApp Active IQ Unified Manager apply the update specified in NetApp's security advisory; the CISA KEV required action is to apply vendor mitigations or discontinue use. Until patched, treat archives from untrusted sources with caution and verify extracted executables manually, since MotW prompts will not fire on extracted files. Hunt for signs of SmokeLoader-style post-extraction execution in user workstations. | 7.0 | 67% | KEV |
| masstens of millions of users (7-Zip is among the most widely deployed Windows archive utilities, plus NetApp-bundled deployments) |
Full article289 words · extracted from arstechnica.com · click to collapse
Researchers said they recently discovered a zero-day vulnerability in the 7-Zip archiving utility that was actively exploited as part of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The vulnerability allowed a Russian cybercrime group to override a Windows protection designed to limit the execution of files downloaded from the Internet. The defense is commonly known as MotW, short for Mark of the Web. It works by placing a “Zone.Identifier” tag on all files downloaded from the Internet or from a networked share. This tag, a type of NTFS Alternate Data Stream and in the form of a ZoneID=3, subjects the file to additional scrutiny from Windows Defender SmartScreen and restrictions on how or when it can be executed.
There’s an archive in my archive
The 7-Zip vulnerability allowed the Russian cybercrime group to bypass those protections. Exploits worked by embedding an executable file within an archive and then embedding the archive into another archive. While the outer archive carried the MotW tag, the inner one did not. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-0411, was fixed with the release of version 24.09 in late November.
Tag attributes of outer archive showing the MotW.
Credit: Trend Micro
Tag attributes of outer archive showing the MotW. Credit: Trend Micro
Attributes of inner-archive showing MotW tag is missing.
Credit: Trend Micro
Attributes of inner-archive showing MotW tag is missing. Credit: Trend Micro
“The root cause of CVE-2025-0411 is that prior to version 24.09, 7-Zip did not properly propagate MoTW protections to the content of double-encapsulated archives,” wrote Peter Girnus, a researcher at Trend Micro, the security firm that discovered the vulnerability. “This allows threat actors to craft archives containing malicious scripts or executables that will not receive MoTW protections, leaving Windows users vulnerable to attacks.”
Text extracted automatically; images, tables and formatting may be missing. Original: https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/02/7-zip-0-day-was-exploited-in-russias-ongoing-invasion-of-ukraine/