Iranian Hackers Exploiting Unpatched Log4j 2 Bugs to Target Israeli Organizations

Iranian point out-sponsored actors are leaving no stone unturned to exploit unpatched units operating Log4j to target Israeli entities, indicating the vulnerability’s prolonged tail for remediation.

Microsoft attributed the most current established of activities to the umbrella menace team tracked as MuddyWater (aka Cobalt Ulster, Mercury, Seedworm, or Static Kitten), which is linked to the Iranian intelligence equipment, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).

The attacks are noteworthy for making use of SysAid Server instances unsecured against the Log4Shell flaw as a vector for original access, marking a departure from the actors’ sample of leveraging VMware programs for breaching focus on environments.

“Soon after attaining obtain, Mercury establishes persistence, dumps credentials, and moves laterally in just the specific organization employing each personalized and well-regarded hacking applications, as very well as crafted-in operating program applications for its arms-on-keyboard attack,” Microsoft explained.

The tech giant’s threat intelligence group reported it observed the attacks between July 23 and 25, 2022.

A productive compromise is reported to have been followed by the deployment of web shells to execute commands that allow the actor to conduct reconnaissance, create persistence, steal qualifications, and facilitate lateral motion.

Also utilized for command-and-management (C2) interaction in the course of intrusions is a remote monitoring and administration computer software known as eHorus and Ligolo, a reverse-tunneling tool of alternative for the adversary.

The conclusions arrive as the U.S. Division of Homeland Security’s Cyber Security Review Board (CSRB) considered the critical vulnerability in the open up-source Java-centered logging framework an endemic weakness that will go on to plague companies for decades to arrive as exploitation evolves.

Log4j’s extensive use throughout many suppliers’ software package and services implies subtle adversaries like country-point out actors and commodity operators alike have opportunistically taken advantage of the vulnerability to mount a smorgasbord of attacks.

The Log4Shell attacks also adhere to a the latest report from Mandiant that specific an espionage campaign aimed at Israeli transport, federal government, energy, and healthcare organizations by a likely Iranian hacking group dubbed UNC3890.

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