Log4Shell – Follow This Multi-Layered Approach for Detection and Remediation

Since the Log4Shell vulnerability was first discovered, Qualys has analyzed and responded to the threat in a systematic way approaching it from all angles – detection, mitigation and remediation. Recognizing the challenge it poses to large enterprises, we recommend that organizations follow a...

mod_ssl Bug and SSL Labs Renegotiation Test

Update February 20, 2019: To give more time to fix, we will re-enable the SSL Labs Renegotiation Test on March 11, 2019 two additional weeks. The Apache Security Team fixed a bug which triggers whenever a client attempts renegotiation with Apache HTTP Server 2.4.37 and OpenSSL 1.1.1. This bug...

June 2022 Patch Tuesday | Microsoft Releases 55 Vulnerabilities with 3 Critical; Adobe Releases 6 Advisories, 46 Vulnerabilities with 40 Critical.

Microsoft Patch Tuesday Summary Microsoft has fixed 55 vulnerabilities aka flaws in the June 2022 update, including three 3 vulnerabilities classified as Critical as they allow Remote Code Execution RCE. This months Patch Tuesday cumulative Windows update includes the fix for one 1 zero-day...

Microsoft Fixes Malware Protection Engine and Several 0-Day Vulnerabilities, and Deprecates SHA-1

Hours before today’s Patch Tuesday release on the eve of May 8, Microsoft released an emergency updated to fix a vulnerability in their Malware Protection Engine. This critical vulnerability allows an attacker to take complete control of the victim's machine by just sending an e-mail attachment...

Oh Snap! More Lemmings: Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability Discovered in snap-confine (CVE-2021-44731)

The Qualys Research Team has discovered multiple vulnerabilities in the snap-confine function on Linux operating systems, the most important of which can be exploited to escalate privilege to gain root privileges. Qualys recommends security teams apply patches for these vulnerabilities as soon as...

New EOL QIDs for Microsoft Windows 7 and 2008/R2

Qualys Vulnerability Signature, version 2.4.815-2, will include EOL QIDs detections for end-of-life software for Windows 7, Windows 2008, and Windows 2008 R2. Customers will be able to scan the QIDs shown below using Qualys Vulnerability Management VM: QID 105859 - EOL/Obsolete Operating System:...

Apache HTTP Server Path Traversal & Remote Code Execution (CVE-2021-41773 & CVE-2021-42013)

On October 4, 2021, Apache HTTP Server Project released Security advisory on a Path traversal and File disclosure vulnerability in Apache HTTP Server 2.4.49 and 2.4.50 tracked as CVE-2021-41773 and CVE-2021-42013. In the advisory, Apache also highlighted “the issue is known to be exploited in the...

Qualys API Best Practices: Host List API

When you’re looking to add automation to your vulnerability management and policy compliance program, a good starting point is the Host List, which is your scanned asset inventory. More precisely, it represents which assets have been scanned and when for Qualys Vulnerability Management VM or Poli...

Qualys Study Reveals How Enterprises Responded to Log4Shell

On December 9, 2021, a critical zero-day vulnerability affecting Apache’s Log4j2 library, a Java-based logging utility, was disclosed to the world. This was no small announcement. As the third most used computer language, Java is practically ubiquitous. Its Log4j2 library is extremely popular...

Microsoft Misfires with Meltdown Patch, while WannaCry Pops Up at Boeing

In our weekly roundup of InfoSec happenings, we start, as has often been the case this year, with concerning Meltdown / Spectre news -- this time involving Microsoft -- and also touch on a password hack at Under Armour, a WannaCry infection at Boeing, and a severe Drupal vulnerability. Microsoft...

Apache Tomcat HTTP Request Smuggling Vulnerability (CVE-2021-33037)

A vulnerability CVE-2021-33037 discovered this year in Apache Tomcat causes incorrect parsing of the HTTP transfer-encoding request header in some circumstances, leading to the possibility of HTTP Request Smuggling HRS when used with a reverse proxy. HTTP Request Smuggling HRS is a web applicatio...

May 2022 Patch Tuesday | Microsoft Releases 75 Vulnerabilities with 8 Critical; Adobe Releases 5 Advisories, 18 Vulnerabilities with 16 Critical.

Microsoft Patch Tuesday Summary Microsoft has fixed 75 vulnerabilities in the May 2022 update, including one advisory ADV2200011 for Azure in response to CVE-2022-29972, a publicly exposed Zero-Day Remote Code Execution RCE Vulnerability, and eight 8 vulnerabilities classified as Critical as they...

Blue is a color we love but can’t Keep!

Recent reports this year revealed nearly 1 million computer systems are still vulnerable and exposed to BlueKeep in the wild. These systems are still easy targets for an unauthenticated attacker or malware to execute code leveraging this patchable vulnerability. Because so many systems are still...

Assess Your Risk From Ransomware Attacks, Powered by Qualys Research

Ransomware attacks are among the most significant cyber threats facing businesses today. Recent warnings about Conti ransomware, issued by a joint cybersecurity advisory from the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA, FBI and National Security Agency, are a strong signal that...

July 2020 Patch Tuesday – 123 Vulnerabilities, 18 Critical, Hyper-V RemoteFX, DNS Server, Workstation, Adobe

This month’s Microsoft Patch Tuesday addresses 123 vulnerabilities with 18 of them labeled as Critical. The 18 Critical vulnerabilities cover Hyper-V, DNS Server, PerformancePoint, SharePoint Server, Office, Outlook, Remote Desktop, and several other workstation vulnerabilities. Adobe issued...

OpenBSD OpenSMTPD Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (CVE-2020-7247)

Qualys Research Labs discovered a vulnerability in OpenBSD's OpenSMTPD mail server that allows an attacker to execute arbitrary shell commands with elevated privileges. OpenBSD developers have confirmed the vulnerability and also quickly provided a patch. Proof-of-concept exploits are published i...

Microsoft and Adobe Patch Tuesday, May 2023 Security Update Review

Microsoft has addressed 49 vulnerabilities in its May Patch Tuesday edition. The security advisories cover various vulnerabilities in different products, features, and roles. Lets guide you through this months Patch Tuesday details. Microsoft Patch Tuesday for May 2023 Microsoft has also addresse...

October 2020 Patch Tuesday – 87 Vulnerabilities, 11 Critical, SharePoint, TCP/IP Stack, Graphics, Adobe Vulns

This month’s Microsoft Patch Tuesday addresses 87 vulnerabilities with 11 of them labeled as Critical. The 11 Critical vulnerabilities cover TCP/IP Stack, SharePoint, Windows Camera Codec Pack, Graphics and several other workstation vulnerabilities. Adobe issued patches today for Adobe Flash...

June 2019 Patch Tuesday – 88 Vulns, 21 Critical, Hyper-V Escape, Adobe Vulns

This month's Microsoft Patch Tuesday addresses 88 vulnerabilities with 21 of them labeled as Critical. Of the 21 Critical vulns, 17 are for scripting engines and browsers, and 3 are potential hypervisor escapes in Hyper-V. The remaining vulnerability is an RCE in the Microsoft Speech API. Microso...

Qualys Cloud Platform (VM, PC) 8.17 New Features

Qualys Cloud Platform VM, PC version 8.17 contains various feature enhancements in Qualys Vulnerability Management and Qualys Policy Compliance. In addition, this release also lowers the time required before pausing or canceling an ongoing scan. Previously, scheduled scans could be cancelled or...

regreSSHion: Remote Unauthenticated Code Execution Vulnerability in OpenSSH server

The Qualys Threat Research Unit TRU has discovered a Remote Unauthenticated Code Execution RCE vulnerability in OpenSSH’s server sshd in glibc-based Linux systems. CVE assigned to this vulnerability is CVE-2024-6387. The vulnerability, which is a signal handler race condition in OpenSSHs server...

Mitigating the Risk of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities by using Compensating Controls

Zero-day vulnerability attacks have emerged as a major cybersecurity threat in the last few years. Organizations most often targeted include large enterprises and government/Federal agencies. However, any organization, regardless of its size, business, or industry, is a potential target for...

Microsoft & Adobe Patch Tuesday (November 2021) – Microsoft 55 Vulnerabilities with 6 Critical, 6 Zero-Days. Adobe 4 Vulnerabilities

Microsoft Patch Tuesday – November 2021 Microsoft patched 55 vulnerabilities in their November 2021 Patch Tuesday release, of which six are rated as critical severity and six were previously reported as zero-days. Critical Microsoft Vulnerabilities Patched CVE-2021-42298 - Microsoft Defender Remo...

August 2019 Patch Tuesday – 93 Vulns, 29 Critical, 7 Remote Desktop Vulns, Hyper-V, DHCP, Adobe vulns

Update Aug 13, 2019: Detect and Patch Windows Remote Desktop Vulnerabilities This month’s Microsoft Patch Tuesday addresses 93 vulnerabilities with 29 of them labeled as Critical. Of the 29 Critical vulns, 10 are for scripting engines and browsers, 6 for Windows Graphics/Font Library, and 4 are f...

NSA Announces Sandworm Actors Exploiting Exim MTA Vulnerability (CVE-2019-10149)

The Exim MTA vulnerability, initially reported by Qualys in May 2019, is currently being exploited in the wild. Recently, the US National Security Agency NSA announced that Sandworm actors Russian hacker group have been actively exploiting the Exim Mail Transfer Agent vulnerability. Qualys releas...

New Options Profiles for Log4Shell Detection

We have now added two new option profiles to our library for Log4Shell vulnerabilities. Option profiles define the settings you want to use for your scan. These new option profiles are tuned to quickly detect the Log4Shell vulnerability on assets in your environment. The following two...

Meltdown/Spectre and Qualys Cloud Platform

In light of the recently released information about two security vulnerabilities, Qualys has considered the impact on the Qualys Cloud Platform and associated services. Qualys released a detailed advisory for customers of the Qualys Cloud Platform to help customers identify these vulnerabilities...

Qualys Threat Research Unit: Threat Thursdays, December 2022

Welcome to the fourth edition of the Qualys Threat Research Unit’s TRU “Threat Research Thursday”, where we collect and curate notable new tools, techniques, procedures, threat intelligence, cybersecurity news, malware attacks, and more. This also happens to be the last edition for the year...

How to Make Log4Shell Remediation Quick & Effective

Confronting the Log4Shell vulnerability in your environment has seemed anything but “easy” due to its prevalence in Java applications. Rapid remediation is critical. In this blog, Qualys offers some advice – and a new utility – to speed up the process. Remediation is a critical step to ensure tha...

Apache Struts 2 Double OGNL Evaluation Vulnerability (CVE-2020-17530)

A vulnerability CVE-2020-17530 discovered last year in the Object Graph Navigation Language OGNL evaluation function of Apache Struts versions 2.0.0 – 2.5.25 can be exploited by attackers to perform remote code execution. This RCE vulnerability doesn’t come packaged with Apache struts but is...

May 2019 Patch Tuesday – 79 Vulns, 22 Critical, RDP RCE, MDS Attacks, Adobe Vulns

This month's Microsoft Patch Tuesday addresses 79 vulnerabilities with 22 of them labeled as Critical. Of the 22 Critical vulns, 18 are for scripting engines and browsers. The remaining 4 are remote code execution RCE in Remote Desktop, DHCP Server, GDI+, and Word. Microsoft also released guidanc...

CVE-2023-25136: Pre-Auth Double Free Vulnerability in OpenSSH Server 9.1

OpenSSH, the widely used open-source implementation of the Secure Shell SSH protocol, recently released version 9.2 on 2023-02-02 to address a pre-authentication vulnerability in the OpenSSH server version 9.1. This specific version of the OpenSSH server, which was released in October 2022, was...

April 2022 Patch Tuesday: Microsoft Releases 145 Vulnerabilities with 10 Critical; Adobe Releases 4 Advisories, 78 Vulnerabilities with 51 Critical.

Microsoft Patch Tuesday Summary Microsoft has fixed 145 vulnerabilities, including 17 Microsoft Edge vulnerabilities, in the April 2022 update, with ten 10 classified as Critical as they allow Remote Code Execution RCE. This month’s Patch Tuesday release includes fixes for two 2 zero-day...

Qualys Research Nominated for Pwnie Awards 2021

The Qualys Research team has been nominated for five Pwnie Awards this year in three different categories. In addition to nominations for Best Privilege Escalation Bug 2 nominations and Best Server-Side Bug 2 nominations, the team is also nominated for Most Under-Hyped Research. Qualys is honored...

Lessons Learned from SQL Injection Fix in Joomla 3.7.0

The Joomla community recently patched a SQL injection vulnerability introduced in Joomla 3.7.0. The article reporting this vulnerability explains how to identify the vulnerability which was discovered via static code analysis and how to craft an attack, e.g...

Apple fixes zero-day in iOS and iPadOS 15.0.2 emergency release: Detect and Prioritize Vulnerabilities using VMDR for Mobile Devices

Apple recently released iOS and iPadOS 15.0.2 as an emergency security update that addresses 1 critical zero-day vulnerabilities, which is exploited in wild. Qualys recommends that security teams should immediately update all devices running iOS and iPadOS to the latest version. "Apple is aware o...

January 2020 Patch Tuesday – 50 Vulns, 8 Critical, Adobe Vulns

This month’s Microsoft Patch Tuesday addresses 50 vulnerabilities with only 8 of them labeled as Critical. Of the 8 Critical vulns, one is for browser and scripting engines, 3 are for .NET Framework and one for ASP.NET. In addition, Microsoft has patched 3 critical RCEs in Remote Desktop Gateway...

March 2021 Patch Tuesday – 82 Vulnerabilities, 10 Critical, Adobe

This month’s Microsoft Patch Tuesday addresses 82 vulnerabilities, of which 10 are rated with Critical severity. This follows an out-of-band security update on March 2 to address critical vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange. Adobe released patches today for its FrameMaker, Creative Cloud Deskto...

CVE-2023-4911: Looney Tunables – Local Privilege Escalation in the glibc’s ld.so

The Qualys Threat Research Unit TRU has discovered a buffer overflow vulnerability in GNU C Librarys dynamic loaders processing of the GLIBCTUNABLES environment variable. We have successfully identified and exploited this vulnerability a local privilege escalation that grants full root privileges...

Enhanced API Scanning with Postman Support in Qualys WAS

Due to the fast-growing usage of REST APIs, having a way to test them for vulnerabilities in an automated, reliable way is more important than ever. Automated testing of APIs is a little trickier than for web applications. You can't simply enter a starting URL for the scanner and click "Go"...

Microsoft & Adobe Patch Tuesday (October 2021) – Microsoft 74 Vulnerabilities with 3 Critical, 4 Zero-Days. Adobe 10 Vulnerabilities

Microsoft Patch Tuesday – October 2021 Microsoft patched 74 vulnerabilities in their October 2021 Patch Tuesday release, of which three are rated as critical severity and four were previously reported as zero-days. Critical Microsoft Vulnerabilities Patched CVE-2021-40449 - Win32k Elevation of...

Qualys Cloud Platform 2.39 New Features

This release of the Qualys Cloud Platform version 2.39 includes updates and new features for Out-of-Band Configuration Assessment OCA, Vulnerability Management, and Web Application Scanning, highlights as follows. Vulnerability Management Trending uses Include/Exclude Filters in Dashboard – Widge...

Automatically Discover, Prioritize and Remediate Apache Tomcat AJP File Inclusion Vulnerability (CVE-2020-1938) using Qualys VMDR

A severe vulnerability exists in Apache Tomcat’s Apache JServ Protocol. The Chinese cyber security company Chaitin Tech discovered the vulnerability, which is named "Ghostcat" and is tracked using CVE-2020-1938. The security issue has received a critical severity rating score of 9.8 based on CVSS...

How to Install the Qualys Cloud Agent for Remote Workforce

The Qualys Cloud Agent can be automatically deployed using any third-party software deployment tools including Microsoft SCCM, Microsoft Intune, Microsoft GPO, HCL BigFix, Dell KACE, and others. For remote or roaming users, deploying packages using software deployment tools requires that the targ...

Google and Mozilla are Deprecating Existing Symantec Certificates

Earlier this month, after roughly six months of deliberation and planning, Google finalised their plans for staged deprecation of Symantec certificates. The process began in March 2017 when Google had announced on the Blink mailing list that they had lost confidence about Symantec’s certificate...

Microsoft & Adobe Patch Tuesday (January 2022) – Microsoft 126 Vulnerabilities with 9 Critical, Adobe 41 Vulnerabilities, 22 critical

Microsoft Patch Tuesday – January 2022 Microsoft patched 126 vulnerabilities in their January 2022 Patch Tuesday release. Out of these, nine are rated as critical severity. As of this writing, none of the 126 vulnerabilities are known to be actively exploited. Microsoft has fixed problems in thei...

November 2020 Patch Tuesday – 112 Vulnerabilities, 17 Critical, Windows Codecs, Network File System, Workstation, Adobe

This month’s Microsoft Patch Tuesday addresses 112 vulnerabilities with 17 of them labeled as Critical. The 17 Critical vulnerabilities cover Windows Codecs, Network File System, Sharepoint, Windows Print Spooler, and several other workstation vulnerabilities. Adobe released patches today for Ado...

May 2018 Patch Tuesday – Medium Weight, However One Active Exploit Needs Attention

This May's Patch Tuesday has quite a few Microsoft fixes for both the OS and browsers. In all, 67 unique CVEs are addressed in 17 KB articles, with 21 CVEs marked Critical. 32 of these CVEs reference Remote Code Execution, 19 of which are Critical. Those who use Hyper-V have some updates to pay...

Microsoft Windows TCP/IP Remote Code Execution Vulnerability (CVE-2020-16898) – Automatically Discover, Prioritize and Remediate Using Qualys VMDR®

On October 13, 2020, Microsoft fixed a critical remote code execution vulnerability in the Windows TCP/IP stack for handling ICMPv6 Router Advertisement packets. While Microsoft ranks this vulnerability as “Exploitation More Likely,” we may see a proof-of-concept released soon. The security issue...

October 2019 Patch Tuesday – 59 vulns, 9 Critical, Azure App Service, Remote Desktop Client, PoC for Windows Error Reporting

This month’s Microsoft Patch Tuesday addresses 59 vulnerabilities with only 9 of them labeled as Critical. Of the 9 Critical vulns, 7 of them are for browsers and scripting engines. The remaining 2 are for Azure App Service and Remote Desktop Client. In addition, PoC code has been published for a...