Hackers Distributing Password Cracking Tool for PLCs and HMIs to Target Industrial Systems

Industrial engineers and operators are the focus on of a new marketing campaign that leverages password cracking computer software to seize control of Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and co-opt the equipment to a botnet.

The application “exploited a vulnerability in the firmware which authorized it to retrieve the password on command,” Dragos security researcher Sam Hanson explained. “Additional, the software program was a malware dropper, infecting the machine with the Sality malware and turning the host into a peer in Sality’s peer-to-peer botnet.”

The industrial cybersecurity organization explained the password retrieval exploit embedded in the malware dropper is intended to get well the credential associated with Automation Immediate DirectLOGIC 06 PLC.

The exploit, tracked as CVE-2022-2003 (CVSS rating: 7.7), has been explained as a situation of cleartext transmission of sensitive details that could direct to details disclosure and unauthorized adjustments. The issue was tackled in firmware Model 2.72 unveiled very last month.

The infections culminate in the deployment of the Sality malware for carrying out duties this sort of as cryptocurrency mining and password cracking in a distributed vogue, when also taking methods to continue being undetected by terminating security program functioning in the compromised workstations.

What’s much more, the artifact unearthed by Dragos capabilities drops a crypto-clipper payload that steals cryptocurrency in the course of a transaction by substituting the primary wallet tackle saved in the clipboard with the attacker’s wallet tackle.

Automation Immediate is not the only vendor impacted as the instrument claim to encompass numerous PLCs, HMIs, human-device interface (HMI), and challenge files spanning Omron, Siemens, ABB Codesys, Delta Automation, Fuji Electric powered, Mitsubishi Electrical, Schneider Electric’s Pro-face, Vigor PLC, Weintek, Rockwell Automation’s Allen-Bradley, Panasonic, Fatek, IDEC Corporation, and LG.

This is considerably from the 1st time trojanized computer software has singled out operational technology (OT) networks. In Oct 2021, Mandiant disclosed how legit transportable executable binaries are becoming compromised by a assortment of malware this sort of as Sality, Virut, and Ramnit, between other folks.

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Some components of this article are sourced from:
thehackernews.com