Hackers Exploit Atlassian Confluence Vulnerability to Deploy New 'Ljl' Backdoor
Vulnerabilities mentionedAll →
| CVE | Vulnerability | CVSS | EPSS | Flags | Affected | Exposure | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2019-2725 | Unauthenticated Injection in Oracle WebLogic Web Services Enables RCE CVE-2019-2725 is an easily exploitable injection flaw (CWE-74) in the Web Services subcomponent of Oracle WebLogic Server within Oracle Fusion Middleware, publicly documented as affecting WebLogic 10.3.6.0, 12.1.3.0, 12.2.1.1 and 12.2.1.3. It is triggered when an unauthenticated remote attacker sends attacker-controlled XML over HTTP to the WebLogic Web Services async response endpoint (the /_async/AsyncResponseService servlet), which processes the input unsafely. Successful attacks give the attacker takeover of the affected WebLogic server (remote code execution); in the 2019 exploitation wave this was used to install cryptocurrency miners and deploy ransomware. Any organization running affected Oracle WebLogic Server versions is exposed, with the greatest risk where the async/Web Services endpoints are reachable, especially on internet-facing servers. Exploitation is confirmed in the wild: CISA added the CVE to its KEV catalog on 2022-01-10 with ransomware use known and requires applying vendor updates, the EPSS probability of exploitation is 100% (100th percentile), and no public PoC is catalogued. Do: Apply Oracle's updates per vendor instructions: this CVE was fixed by Oracle's April 2019 out-of-band WebLogic patch and is covered by subsequent Critical Patch Updates, so bring affected WebLogic 10.3.6.0/12.1.3.0/12.2.1.x servers to a patched level (CISA KEV requires this action). Until patched, restrict or remove the async response service deployments (wls9_async_response.war / wls_wsee_async_response.war, exposing the /_async/AsyncResponseService endpoint) and keep WebLogic ports off the internet. Also review logs for unsolicited POSTs to /_async/AsyncResponseService and for signs of dropped miners or ransomware payloads. | 9.8 | 100% | KEV ransomware PoC |
| largetens of thousands of internet-exposed WebLogic servers (~30,000+ reported in 2019 internet scans), plus a much larger internal install base | |
| CVE-2022-26134 | Unauthenticated OGNL Injection RCE in Atlassian Confluence Server/Data Center Atlassian Confluence Server and Data Center contain an unauthenticated remote code execution flaw caused by improper neutralization of expression-language (OGNL) input (CWE-917): an attacker with network access to the application can submit a crafted request that is evaluated as an expression and executed by the server. Successful exploitation lets a remote, unauthenticated attacker run arbitrary code with the privileges of the Confluence process, without any credentials. All organizations running self-managed Confluence Server or Data Center are affected, particularly instances exposed to the internet; Confluence Cloud is not listed among the affected products. Exploitation is confirmed in the wild: the flaw was added to CISA's KEV on 2022-06-02 with ransomware use marked as known, and EPSS assigns a 100% probability of exploitation within 30 days (100th percentile). CVSS has not yet been scored in this data, but the KEV listing and known ransomware use make unpatched, internet-facing instances a top-priority patching target. Do: Immediately upgrade to the patched Confluence release specified in Atlassian's 2022-06-02 security advisory, and until patched follow the CISA required action to block all internet traffic to and from affected instances. Because in-the-wild exploitation and ransomware use are confirmed, also hunt for compromise indicators on both patched and unpatched hosts, such as webshells, unexpected child processes of the Confluence service, and unusual outbound connections. | 9.8 | 100% | KEV ransomware PoC ×2 |
| largetens of thousands of internet-exposed instances (public scan counts of roughly 60,000-90,000 Confluence Server/Data Center hosts around the June 2022… |
Full article310 words · extracted from infosecurity-magazine.com · click to collapse
Cybersecurity experts from Deepwatch spotted activity from threat actors (TA) that "highly likely" exploited a security flaw in the Atlassian Confluence server (CVE-2022-26134) to deploy a new backdoor dubbed “Ljl” against a number of unnamed organizations.
Deepwatch’s Adversary Tactics and Intelligence group (ATI) described the findings in an advisory published on Tuesday.
After gaining initial access, the TA, dubbed TAC-040, would have run various commands to enumerate the local system, network and Active Directory environment.
Additionally, Deepwatch said the TA likely used RAR and 7zip to archive files and folders from multiple directories, including registry hives.
According to network logs, TAC-040 exfiltrated a total of around 700 MBs of archived data before the victim took the server offline.
Before disconnecting, however, the TA would have dropped a never-before-seen backdoor, called “Ljl Backdoor” onto the compromised server.
“TAC-040 has the capability to create or access custom, never-before-seen malware,” the advisory reads.
In terms of the motifs behind the attacks, Deepwatch said they were likely espionage-related, but the company cannot completely rule out that they were financially motivated, since it said it also spotted a loader for an XMRig crypto miner on the system.
Targets of TAC-040 were organizations that conduct research in healthcare, education, international development, and environmental and agriculture, as well as some that provide technical services.
For context, the Atlassian vulnerability suspected to have been exploited by TAC-040 is an Object-Graph Navigation Language (OGNL) injection bug that allows for arbitrary code execution on a Confluence Server or Data Center instance.
The issue was addressed by Atlassian in June, but this is not the first time since then that unpatched systems get exploited by hackers.
For instance, in July Microsoft’s Security Intelligence team said it spotted a campaign by TA 8220 targeting i686 and x86_64 Linux systems that used RCE exploits for CVE-2022-26134 and CVE-2019-2725 (Oracle WebLogic) for initial access.
Text extracted automatically; images, tables and formatting may be missing. Original: https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/hackers-exploit-atlassian/