Researchers unveil February 2019's most wanted malware
Vulnerabilities mentionedAll →
| CVE | Vulnerability | CVSS | EPSS | Flags | Affected | Exposure | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2014-0160 | Heartbleed: unauthenticated memory disclosure in OpenSSL TLS/DTLS heartbeat handling The flaw (CVE-2014-0160, widely known as 'Heartbleed') is an out-of-bounds read (CWE-125) in the TLS and DTLS implementations of OpenSSL, caused by improper handling of Heartbeat Extension packets. A remote, unauthenticated attacker triggers it by sending a crafted heartbeat request whose declared payload length exceeds the data actually sent, causing OpenSSL to copy up to roughly 64 KB of adjacent process memory into the response. The attacker gains chunks of process memory per request — potentially TLS private keys, session cookies, usernames and passwords — and can repeat the request to harvest more, typically without any trace in logs. Any server or client running a vulnerable OpenSSL release that enables TLS or DTLS heartbeats is affected, which at the time of disclosure included hundreds of thousands of internet-exposed HTTPS servers as well as appliances, load balancers, and bundled libraries. Exploitation is confirmed in the wild: the vulnerability is listed in CISA KEV (added 2022-05-04, required action: apply updates per vendor instructions) and EPSS assigns it the maximum 100% probability of exploitation within 30 days. Do: Apply OpenSSL updates per your OS or vendor's instructions — the upstream fix at the time of the 2014 disclosure was OpenSSL 1.0.1g, with most distributions shipping backported patches — and restart or rebuild every service linked against OpenSSL, including bundled copies in load balancers, appliances, and VPN or management interfaces. Because leaked memory can include TLS private keys, treat keys and certificates on affected endpoints as compromised: rotate keys, reissue and revoke certificates, and invalidate session cookies and credentials that may have leaked. Confirm the heartbeat fix is present on all TLS/DTLS endpoints to satisfy the CISA KEV required action. | — | 100% | KEV |
| mass≈500,000+ internet-exposed HTTPS servers at the time of disclosure, plus vastly larger embedded/library deployments | |
| CVE-2017-7269 | Buffer Overflow in Microsoft IIS 6.0 via WebDAV PROPFIND Header CVE-2017-7269 is a buffer overflow (CWE-119) in Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0, the web server shipped with Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2. A remote attacker triggers it by sending a WebDAV PROPFIND request whose overly long header begins with 'If: <http://', overflowing a buffer during header parsing. Successful exploitation allows remote code execution on the affected web server, giving the attacker control of the host at the web service's privilege level. Only organizations still running IIS 6.0 on Windows Server 2003 R2 are affected, typically legacy web servers, since that OS reached end of support in July 2015. The flaw is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03) and carries a 99.8% EPSS score (100th percentile), indicating active in-the-wild exploitation; no public PoC is recorded in this data and, because the OS is out of support, no generally distributed patch exists. Do: Inventory internet-facing systems still running IIS 6.0 on Windows Server 2003 R2 and prioritize migration to a supported Windows/IIS version, since no general patch was released for this out-of-support product (custom-support customers may be able to obtain a hotfix from Microsoft). As interim mitigation, disable WebDAV if it is not needed, or block or limit PROPFIND requests and long 'If' headers via IIS request filtering, a reverse proxy, or a WAF. Per the KEV entry, apply updates per vendor instructions; ransomware association is currently unknown. | 9.8 | 100% | KEV PoC ×5 |
| largetens of thousands of internet-exposed IIS 6.0 servers today (hundreds of thousands at the 2017 disclosure) |
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Coinhive has once again led Check Point’s Global Threat Index for the 15th consecutive month, despite the announcement that its services have been shut down from March 8th 2019.

GandCrab ransomware
Researchers have also discovered several widespread campaigns distributing the GandCrab ransomware that have targeted Japan, Germany, Canada and Australia. These nations are just part of the targeted countries. These operations have emerged over the last two months, and Check Point’s researchers noticed a new version of the ransomware being distributed in one of the latest campaigns.
The new version, Gandcrab 5.2, includes most of the features of the last, but with a change in the encryption method that causes the decryption tool for previous versions of the ransomware to be ineffective.
Cryptominers
In February, the most prevalent malware variants were cryptominers. Coinhive remains the top malware, impacting 10% of organizations worldwide. This follows a downward trend in Coinhive’s global impact, from 18% in October 2018 to 12% in January 2019 and with a 2% drop this month. This decrease has been caused by the rising cost of mining along with the decline in Monero’s value.
Cryptoloot rose to second place in February replacing XMRig, and was followed by Emotet, an advanced, self-propagate and modular Trojan, which replaced Jsecoin in third place in the index.
“As we saw in January, threat actors continue to exploit new ways to distribute malware, while creating new and more dangerous variants of existing malware forms. GandCrab’s new version proves once again that although there are malware families that stay in the top malware list for several months and seems to be static, they are actually evolving and being developed to evade detection. To effectively combat this, our researchers continuously trace them based on their malware family DNA – so it’s essential that organizations keep their security solutions fully updated,” said Maya Horowitz, Threat Intelligence and Research Director at Check Point.
February 2019: Most wanted malware
1. Coinhive – Crypto Miner designed to perform online mining of Monero cryptocurrency when a user visits a web page without the user’s knowledge or approval the profits with the user. The implanted JavaScript uses a great deal of the computational resources of end users’ machines to mine coins, and may crash the system.
2. Cryptoloot – Crypto-Miner that uses the victim’s CPU or GPU power and existing resources for crypto mining – adding transactions to the blockchain and releasing new currency. It is a competitor to Coinhive, trying to pull the rug under it by asking a smaller percentage of revenue from websites.
3. Emotet – Advanced, self-propagate and modular Trojan. Emotet once used to employ as a banking Trojan, and recently is used as a distributer to other malware or malicious campaigns. It uses multiple methods for maintaining persistence and evasion techniques to avoid detection. In addition, it can be spread through phishing spam emails containing malicious attachments or links.
This month Lotoor is the most prevalent mobile malware, replacing Hiddad at first place in the top mobile malware list. Triada remains in third place.
February 2019: Most wanted mobile malware
1. Lotoor – Hack tool that exploits vulnerabilities on Android operating system in order to gain root privileges on compromised mobile devices.
2. Hiddad – Android malware which repackages legitimate apps and then released them to a third-party store. Its main function is displaying ads, however it is also able to gain access to key security details built into the OS, allowing an attacker to obtain sensitive user data.
3. Triada – Modular Backdoor for Android which grants super user privileges to downloaded malware, as helps it to get embedded into system processes. Triada has also been seen spoofing URLs loaded in the browser.
February 2019: Most exploited vulnerabilities
1. Microsoft IIS WebDAV ScStoragePathFromUrl Buffer Overflow (CVE-2017-7269) – By sending a crafted request over a network to Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 through Microsoft Internet Information Services 6.0, a remote attacker could execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service conditions on the target server. That is mainly due to a buffer overflow vulnerability resulted by improper validation of a long header in HTTP request.
2. OpenSSL TLS DTLS Heartbeat Information Disclosure (CVE-2014-0160; CVE-2014-0346) – An information disclosure vulnerability exists in OpenSSL. The vulnerability is due to an error when handling TLS/DTLS heartbeat packets. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to disclose memory contents of a connected client or server.
3. Web servers PHPMyAdmin Misconfiguration Code Injection – A code injection vulnerability has been reported in PHPMyAdmin. The vulnerability is due to PHPMyAdmin misconfiguration. A remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending a specially crafted HTTP request to the target.
Text extracted automatically; images, tables and formatting may be missing. Original: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2019/03/12/february-2019-most-wanted-malware/