Sea Turtle DNS Hijacking Campaign Utilizes At Least Seven Patched Vulnerabilities
The Sea Turtle campaign exploits seven patchable vulnerabilities dating from 2009 to 2018 to breach organizations and hijack their DNS name records.
Antecedentes
On April 17, researchers at Cisco’s Talos Intelligence Group published a blog entitled DNS Hijacking Abuses Trust In Core Internet Service. This blog provided additional details about a two-year attack campaign targeting a variety of businesses and government organizations, particularly those located in the Middle East and North Africa. This blog was preceded by a January 2019 alert from the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about a DNS infrastructure hijacking campaign that included some technical details along with indicators of compromise (IOCs) for the public at large. The DHS alert referenced research from FireEye’s Threat Research team and Crowdstrike, as well as a similar report from Cisco Talos in late November 2018.
Análisis
The analysis of the Sea Turtle campaign sheds light on some of the techniques used to breach targeted organizations including seven previously patched vulnerabilities and spearphishing emails. The vulnerabilities used by the attackers were either used to breach the organizations first or to move laterally within them post-compromise.
The following is Cisco’s list of vulnerabilities observed in the Sea Turtle attacks. It should not be considered a complete list:
Software/System Application Vulnerabilities:
- CVE-2009-1151 - Static Code Injection Vulnerability in phpMyAdmin
- CVE-2014-6271 - Command Injection in GNU Bash (Shellshock AKA Bash Bug)
- CVE-2017-12617 - Arbitrary File Upload of JSP Files in Apache Tomcat
- CVE-2018-7600 - “Drupalgeddon” Vulnerability in Drupal Core
Cisco Product-Related Vulnerabilities:
- CVE-2017-3881 - Telnet Bug in Cluster Management Protocol for Cisco IOS and IOS XE
- CVE-2017-6736 - Buffer Overflow in the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) for Cisco IOS and IOS XE
- CVE-2018-0296 - Input Validation Vulnerability in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA)
Proof-of-concept or exploit code is available for all of the vulnerabilities listed above.
Solución
Because the Sea Turtle campaign is leveraging known vulnerabilities disclosed over the last several years, it is vital for organizations to ensure they are conducting regular vulnerability assessments and have a thorough patch management process.
Identificación de los sistemas afectados
A list of Nessus plugins to identify these vulnerabilities can be found here.
Obtenga más información
- Cisco Talos Blog: DNS Hijacking Abuses Trust In Core Internet Service
- US-CERT Alert: DNS Infrastructure Hijacking Campaign
Únase al Equipo de respuesta de seguridad de Tenable en Tenable Community.
Obtenga más información sobre Tenable, la primera plataforma de Cyber Exposure para el control integral de la superficie de ataque moderna.
Get a free 60-day trial of Tenable.io Vulnerability Management.
Artículos relacionados
Cybersecurity Snapshot: Find MITRE ATT&CK Complex? Need Help Mapping to It? There’s an App for That!
March 10, 2023Learn about a new tool that streamlines MITRE ATT&CK mapping. Plus, known vulnerabilities remain a major cyber risk – just ask LastPass. Also, discover why SaaS data protection remains difficult. Plus, a look at the U.S. National Cybersecurity Strategy. And much more!
The Ransomware Ecosystem: In Pursuit of Fame and Fortune
July 28, 2022The key players within the ransomware ecosystem, including affiliates and initial access brokers, work together cohesively like a band of musicians, playing their respective parts as they strive for fame and fortune.
Brazen, Unsophisticated and Illogical: Understanding the LAPSUS$ Extortion Group
July 20, 2022Having gained the industry’s attention in the first months of 2022, the LAPSUS$ extortion group has largely gone quiet. What can we learn from this extortion group’s story and tactics?
Operational Technology in the DoD: Ensuring a Secure and Efficient Power Grid
April 19, 2024In an evolving threat landscape, the DoD must make sure that its mission-critical operations don’t experience power outages.
Cybersecurity Snapshot: Cyber Agencies Offer Secure AI Tips, while Stanford Issues In-Depth AI Trends Analysis, Including of AI Security
April 19, 2024Check out recommendations for securing AI systems from the Five Eyes cybersecurity agencies. Plus, Stanford University offers a comprehensive review of AI trends. Meanwhile, a new open-source tool aims to simplify SBOM usage. And don’t miss the latest CIS Benchmarks updates. And much more!
Tenable and Thales Collaborate to Provide Cyber Defense Simulations to Better Secure Operational Technology Environments
April 18, 2024The heart of the Welsh Valleys is home to the Thales Ebbw Vale campus, a world-class facility jointly funded by the Welsh government as part of its regeneration program for the region. At the core of the facility is the Cyber Range, a simulation and virtualization platform for training, testing, exercising and R&D. Tenable has joined the lineup of solutions used to run real world simulations in this controlled environment.
- Threat Intelligence
- Threat Management
- Vulnerability Management
- Vulnerability Scanning