A New APT Hacking Group Targeting Fuel, Energy, and Aviation Industries
Vulnerabilities mentionedAll →
| CVE | Vulnerability | CVSS | EPSS | Flags | Affected | Exposure | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2017-12149 | Unauthenticated Deserialization RCE in Red Hat JBoss EAP 5.2 HTTP Invoker CVE-2017-12149 is a critical (CVSS 9.8) unauthenticated deserialization flaw in the doFilter method of the ReadOnlyAccessFilter of the HTTP Invoker in JBoss Application Server as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Application Platform 5.2 (CWE-502). Because the filter does not restrict which classes it will deserialize, a remote, unauthenticated attacker can send crafted serialized data to the HTTP Invoker endpoint over the network and have the server deserialize it. Successful exploitation yields arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the JBoss server process, giving attackers a foothold for full system compromise. Any organization running the affected JBoss Application Server/EAP 5.2 with the HTTP Invoker enabled is affected. The flaw is actively exploited: it is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog (added 2021-12-10) with known ransomware use, EPSS estimates a 90.7% chance of exploitation within 30 days, and reporting links it to campaigns by the ChamelGang APT group against energy and aviation targets. Do: Per the KEV required action, apply the vendor's updates to Red Hat JBoss EAP following Red Hat's instructions. As an interim mitigation, restrict or remove access to the HTTP Invoker endpoints (for example, block or firewall the invoker paths so they are not reachable by untrusted clients). Prioritize patching on internet-facing JBoss servers and hunt for signs of exploitation, given the known ransomware use. | 9.8 | 91% | KEV ransomware |
| largeroughly tens of thousands of internet-exposed JBoss HTTP Invoker servers (estimate) | |
| CVE-2021-31207 | Security feature bypass in Microsoft Exchange Server (ProxyShell) enables webshell RCE CVE-2021-31207 is a security feature bypass in Microsoft Exchange Server, classified as an unrestricted file-write issue (CWE-434) that lets an attacker bypass intended restrictions and write files of their choosing to the server. It is the final bug in the ProxyShell chain: chained with the autodiscover SSRF and PowerShell backend elevation flaws, it allows an unauthenticated attacker to reach the Exchange PowerShell API, write arbitrary files such as an ASPX webshell, and execute code with SYSTEM privileges. A successful attacker gains full control of the on-premises Exchange server, including mailbox access, stolen credentials, and a foothold for lateral movement; the bug has been used to deploy ransomware and keyloggers. On-premises deployments of Microsoft Exchange Server (2013, 2016, and 2019 per vendor advisories) are affected, while Exchange Online/cloud mailboxes are not. Exploitation is essentially certain and ongoing: the flaw is in CISA's KEV (added 2021-11-03) with known ransomware use, public ProxyShell PoC/exploit code is available, and EPSS puts the 30-day exploitation probability at 99.8%. Do: Apply Microsoft's July 2021 security updates for Exchange Server 2013, 2016, and 2019 (or any later security/cumulative update) per vendor instructions, and restrict untrusted access to Exchange's autodiscover and PowerShell endpoints. Hunt for ASPX webshells under the Exchange FrontEnd directories and review IIS logs for autodiscover.json requests chaining PowerShell, since many servers were compromised before patching. Given known ransomware use and KEV listing, treat any server that was unpatched or internet-exposed during the exploitation window as potentially compromised. | 6.6 | 100% | KEV ransomware PoC |
| massHundreds of thousands of on-premises Exchange servers (public scans around the July 2021 ProxyShell disclosure showed roughly 400,000-600,000 internet-exposed… | |
| CVE-2021-34473 +1 in the same advisory: …34523 | SSRF (CWE-918) in Microsoft Exchange Server Enabling RCE (ProxyShell) Microsoft Exchange Server contains a server-side request forgery (SSRF, CWE-918) in the Autodiscover service that unauthenticated remote attackers can reach over HTTP. This flaw is the first stage of the widely documented 'ProxyShell' chain, in which the SSRF is combined with privilege escalation and an arbitrary file write in the Exchange PowerShell backend to achieve unauthenticated remote code execution on the server. An attacker who successfully exploits it gains the ability to run code on the Exchange server, and ransomware operators (e.g., Cuba ransomware) leveraged this chain to deploy payloads. Organizations running on-premises Microsoft Exchange Server (2013, 2016, and 2019 per the vendor's advisories) are affected; hosted Exchange Online is a separately managed cloud service. Exploitation is confirmed in the wild: CISA added the flaw to the KEV catalog on 2021-11-03 with known ransomware use, and EPSS assigns it a 100% probability of exploitation within 30 days (100th percentile). Do: Apply Microsoft's July 2021 (or later) Exchange Server security updates, which include the ProxyShell fixes, to all on-premises servers. If patching is delayed, restrict internet access to the Autodiscover/EWS frontend endpoints and consider the URL Rewrite mitigation Microsoft published for ProxyShell. Given the KEV listing and known ransomware use, treat internet-facing, unpatched Exchange servers as potentially compromised and hunt for webshells, unusual Exchange processes, and suspicious account or mailbox activity. | 9.1 group max | 100% | KEV ransomware PoC |
| masshundreds of thousands of on-prem Exchange servers; public internet scans at the time of disclosure showed roughly 400,000+ internet-exposed Exchange instances,… |
Full article483 words · extracted from thehackernews.com · click to collapse
Ravie LakshmananOct 04, 2021
A previously undocumented threat actor has been identified as behind a string of attacks targeting fuel, energy, and aviation production industries in Russia, the U.S., India, Nepal, Taiwan, and Japan with the goal of stealing data from compromised networks.
Cybersecurity company Positive Technologies dubbed the advanced persistent threat (APT) group ChamelGang — referring to their chameleellonic capabilities, including disguising "its malware and network infrastructure under legitimate services of Microsoft, TrendMicro, McAfee, IBM, and Google."
"To achieve their goal, the attackers used a trending penetration method—supply chain," the researchers said of one of the incidents investigated by the firm. "The group compromised a subsidiary and penetrated the target company's network through it. Trusted relationship attacks are rare today due to the complexity of their execution. Using this method […], the ChamelGang group was able to achieve its goal and steal data from the compromised network."
Intrusions mounted by the adversary are believed to have commenced at the end of March 2021, with later attacks in August leveraging what's called the ProxyShell chain of vulnerabilities affecting Microsoft Exchange Servers, the technical details of which were first revealed at the Black Hat USA 2021 security conference earlier that month.
The attack in March is also notable for the fact that the operators breached a subsidiary organization to gain access to an unnamed energy company's network by exploiting a flaw in Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application (CVE-2017-12149) to remotely execute commands on the host and deploy malicious payloads that enable the actor to launch the malware with elevated privileges, laterally pivot across the network, and perform reconnaissance, before deploying a backdoor called DoorMe.
"The infected hosts were controlled by the attackers using the public utility FRP (fast reverse proxy), written in Golang," the researchers said. "This utility allows connecting to a reverse proxy server. The attackers' requests were routed using the socks5 plugin through the server address obtained from the configuration data."
On the other hand, the August attack against a Russian company in the aviation production sector involved the exploitation of ProxyShell flaws (CVE-2021-34473, CVE-2021-34523, and CVE-2021-31207) to drop additional web shells and conduct remote reconnaissance on the compromised node, ultimately leading to the installation of a modified version of the DoorMe implant that comes with expanded capabilities to run arbitrary commands and carry out file operations.
"Targeting the fuel and energy complex and aviation industry in Russia isn't unique — this sector is one of the three most frequently attacked," Positive Technologies' Head of Threat Analysis, Denis Kuvshinov, said. "However, the consequences are serious: Most often such attacks lead to financial or data loss—in 84% of all cases last year, the attacks were specifically created to steal data, and that causes major financial and reputational damage."
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Text extracted automatically; images, tables and formatting may be missing. Original: https://thehackernews.com/2021/10/a-new-apt-hacking-group-targeting-fuel.html