Phishing campaigns target US gov exploiting flaw CVE-2015
Vulnerabilities mentionedAll →
| CVE | Vulnerability | CVSS | EPSS | Flags | Affected | Exposure | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2015-5119 | Use-After-Free RCE in Adobe Flash Player (ActionScript 3 ByteArray) CVE-2015-5119 is a use-after-free memory-corruption vulnerability (CWE-119) in the ActionScript 3 ByteArray class of Adobe Flash Player. It is triggered when Flash processes crafted ActionScript/SWF content — typically a malicious .swf loaded from a web page, advertisement, email attachment, or document — causing Flash to access already-freed memory in an attacker-controllable way. A successful attack gives the adversary remote code execution in the context of the user running Flash. Anyone with Adobe Flash Player installed was exposed; at disclosure Flash was on the vast majority of internet-connected desktops, and today risk is concentrated in legacy browsers, office/document tooling, industrial or enterprise applications, and other systems where Flash was never removed. Exploitation status: this flaw has long-standing in-the-wild use (related headlines tie the leaked Hacking Team Flash exploit to APT campaigns against Japanese, East Asian, and US Government targets and to top 2016 exploit kits), it is listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-03-03; ransomware use unknown), and EPSS assigns a 99.3% probability of exploitation within 30 days. Do: Because Flash Player is end-of-life, CISA's required action is to disconnect it rather than patch: audit browsers, document/office tooling, and legacy or industrial applications for Flash dependencies and fully uninstall or disable Flash and any embedded SWF players. If a system must keep Flash temporarily, verify it runs a patched build from 2015 or later (Adobe's July 2015 emergency update, APSB15-16, addressed this flaw) and block untrusted SWF content via browser settings, email gateway, and web filtering. Prioritize cleanup on internet-facing endpoints and users who browse the web or open untrusted email attachments, the typical delivery route for this exploit. | — | 99% | KEV |
| mass≈ millions of legacy desktop installations |
Indicators of compromiseauto-extracted · verify before use · export allAll →
| Type | Indicator | Context |
|---|---|---|
| ipv4 | 107.20.255.57 | lowing IP addresses: bwxt.com dublincore.org 125.227.139.53 107.20.255.57 [adrotate banner=”9″] [adrotate banner=”12″] Pierluigi Paga |
| ipv4 | 125.227.139.53 | nked to the following IP addresses: bwxt.com dublincore.org 125.227.139.53 107.20.255.57 [adrotate banner=”9″] [adrotate banner=”12″] |
| url | http://ml.r-u.org.ua/message/ | otected] > FROM: Carrie Spencer < [email protected] > LINK: hxxp://ml.r-u.org.ua/message/ Moreover, the FBI memo reported malware activity linked to |
Full article480 words · extracted from securityaffairs.com · click to collapse
A recent FBI memo warns phishing attacks targeted government agencies trying to exploit the CVE-2015-5119 vulnerability linked to Hacking Team data breach.
According to an FBI warning, hackers have targeted US Government agencies using a recently patched Adobe Flash vulnerability (CVE-2015-5119). The Adobe Flash vulnerability was one of the flaws discovered by analyzing the 400Gb archive stolen from the Hacking Team and leaked online by the hackers.
The news is not surprising, as anticipated by many experts, several criminal gangs included the code for the exploitation of CVE-2015-5119 vulnerability in their exploit kits.
Despite Adobe promptly patched the vulnerability, according to security solutions provider Volexity, the Adobe Flash Player exploit has been leveraged by advanced persistent threat (APT) groups, including the Chinese Wekby APT (aka APT 18, Dynamite Panda and TG-0416).
Experts at Volexity confirmed that the Flash Player exploit has been leveraged in a number of cyber attacks run by APTs and also by common criminal groups.
“The exploit has since been added into the Angler Exploit Kit and integrated into Metasploit. However, not to be out done, APT attackers have also started leveraging the exploit in targeted spear phishing attacks as well.” reports the blog post published by the company.
The Wekby were sent out the malicious messages by using a spoofed Adobe email address and they included a link apparently pointing to the official Adobe download domain that was referring a domain set up to serve the SWF file crafted to exploit the CVE-2015-5119.
The Labels found by the experts in the SWF file suggest that the code for the Adobe exploits is the same leaked in the Hacking Team hack.
Now the FBI warned of a new wave of attacks started on July 8, the law enforcement Agency issued a memo (alert A-000062-PH).
“The FBI has received information regarding a likely ongoing phishing campaign that started 08 July 2015 and was observed targeting US government agencies. This campaign is similar to a June campaign launched by similar malicious actors. In both campaigns, the e-mails contain a link that exploits Adobe Flash vulnerability CVE-2015-5119.” reported CSO.
The experts noticed that another campaign was launched in June, when hackers targeted government agencies and private companies in a number of industries, including IT, aerospace, and transport.
The malicious phishing emails used as subject the text “AEP Energy Program Update: 2015 Program Year Kick Off” and “Review Link”.
Other Subjects used in the previous campaign are:
- SUBJECT: AEP Energy Program Update: 2015 Program Year Kick Off
- SUBJECT: Review Link
- SUBJECT: PLS Account A42660861
- FROM: Adam L Hannah <[email protected]>
- FROM: Carrie Spencer <[email protected]>
- LINK: hxxp://ml.r-u.org.ua/message/
Moreover, the FBI memo reported malware activity linked to the following IP addresses:
- bwxt.com
- dublincore.org
- 125.227.139.53
- 107.20.255.57
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(Security Affairs – CVE-2015-5119, Hacking Team)
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Text extracted automatically; images, tables and formatting may be missing. Original: https://securityaffairs.com/38707/cyber-crime/phishing-cve-2015-5119.html