Reflecting on supply chain attacks halfway through 2023

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Threat Source newsletter. Between the Talos Takes episode last week and helping my colleague Hazel with the Half-Year in Review, I realized how much I had already forgotten about 2023 already. Its been a whirlwind, personally and professionally, and I think it...

URLs have always been a great hiding place for threat actors

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Threat Source newsletter. Talos recent blog post on the dangers posed by the newly released ".zip" top-level domain TLD recently outlined how threat actors could create real URLs that look like file names and trick users into clicking on their links. .Zip and...

Threat Round up for January 13 to January 20

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats weve observed between Jan. 13 and Jan. 20. As with previous roundups, this post isnt meant to be an in-depth analysis. Instead, this post will summarize the threats weve observed by highlighting key behavioral characteristics,...

Threat Source newsletter (Nov. 17, 2022): Hot off the press! The Snort 2023 Calendar is here

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Threat Source newsletter. Its everyones favorite time of year again and no, I dont mean the impending holidays. The Snort 2023 calendar is finally here, and yall, its a good one. Packed full of classic memes and punny Snorties, the calendar is sure to delight...

Operation Layover: How we tracked an attack on the aviation industry to five years of compromise

By Tiago Pereira and Vitor Ventura. Cisco Talos linked the recent aviation targeting campaigns to an actor who has been targeting the aviation industry for two years.The same actor has been running successful malware campaigns for more than five years.Although always using commodity malware, the...

Neurevt trojan takes aim at Mexican users

By Chetan Raghuprasad, with contributions from Vanja Svajcer. News summaryCisco Talos discovered a new version of the Neurevt trojan with spyware and backdoor capabilities in June 2021 using Cisco Secure Endpoint product telemetry.This version of Neurevt appears to target users of Mexican...

Talos Takes Ep: #61: SideCopy sounds so familiar, but I just can't put my finger on it...

By Jon Munshaw. The latest episode of Talos Takes is available now. Download this episode and subscribe to Talos Takes using the buttons below, or visit the Talos Takes page. Asheer Malhotra of Talos Outreach has spent the past few months tracking APTs all along the same line. APT 36, aka... This...

Recording: Analyzing Android Malware — From triage to reverse-engineering

It's easy to get wrapped up worry about large-scale ransomware attacks on the threat landscape. These are the types of attacks that make headlines and strike fear into the hearts of CISOs everywhere. But if you want to defend the truly prolific and widespread threats that target some of the...

The wolf is back...

By Warren Mercer, Paul Rascagneres and Vitor Ventura. News summaryThai Android devices and users are being targeted by a modified version of DenDroid we are calling "WolfRAT," now targeting messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Line.We assess with high confidence that this modified...

Vulnerability Spotlight: WAGO products contain remote code execution, other vulnerabilities

Patrick DeSantis, Carl Hurd, Kelly Leuschner and Lilith --; of Cisco Talos discovered these vulnerabilities. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Cisco Talos recently discovered several vulnerabilities in multiple products from the company WAGO. WAGO produces a line of automation software called “e!COCKPIT,” an...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Multiple remote code execution vulnerabilities in Foxit PDF Reader

Aleksandar Nikolic of Cisco Talos discovered these vulnerabilities. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Cisco Talos recently discovered four remote code execution vulnerabilities in Foxit PDF Reader. Foxit PDF Reader is a popular program for reading and editing PDFs. The software supports JavaScript to allow fo...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Kakadu Software SDK ATK marker code execution vulnerability

Aleksandar Nikolic and Emmanuel Tacheau of Cisco Talos discovered this vulnerability. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Kakadu Software’s SDK contains an exploitable heap overflow. Kakadu serves as a framework for developers to create a variety of commercial and non-commercial applications. An attacker could...

Threat Roundup for Nov. 9 to Nov. 16

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between Nov. 09 and Nov. 16. As with previous roundups, this post isn't meant to be an in-depth analysis. Instead, this post will summarize the threats we've observed by highlighting key behavioral characteristics...

Threat Roundup Sept 28 - Oct 5

Today, as we do every week, Talos is giving you a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we’ve observed this week — covering the dates between Sept. 28 and Oct. 5. As with previous roundups, this post isn’t meant to be an in-depth analysis. Instead, we will summarize the threats we’ve observed b...

Vulnerability Spotlight: VMWare Workstation DoS Vulnerability

Today, Talos is disclosing a vulnerability in VMWare Workstation that could result in Denial of Service. VMWare Workstation is a widely used virtualization platform designed to run alongside a normal operating system, allowing users to use both virtualized and physical systems concurrently...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Multiple Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Vulnerabilities

Discovered by Aleksandar Nikolic of Cisco Talos Update 05/15/18: The CVE for TALOS-2018-0517 has been corrected below. Overview Today, Talos is releasing details of a new vulnerabilities within Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. Adobe Acrobat Reader is the most popular and most feature-rich PDF reader. It...

Beers with Talos EP20: Crypto, Vuln Disco, and the Spectre Meltdown

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast Episode 20 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos: If iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing: www.talosintelligence.com/podcast EP20 Show Notes: This is easily our best podcast of 2018 so far. The crew discusses the recent spike in...

How multiple vulnerabilities in Microsoft apps for macOS pave the way to stealing permissions

Cisco Talos has identified eight vulnerabilities in Microsoft applications for the macOS operating system. An adversary could exploit these vulnerabilities by injecting malicious libraries into Microsofts applications to gain their entitlements and user-granted permissions. Permissions regulate...

We all just need to agree that ad blockers are good

I dont think this is a particularly bold take -- but Im not afraid to say that ad blockers are good! Ever since I started using one sometime in 2016, my experience of using the internet has improved exponentially. I can finally easily find a recipe for dinner on a random influencers blog, get a...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Vulnerability in ManageEngine OpManager could lead to XXE attack

Marcin "Icewall" Noga of Cisco Talos discovered this vulnerability. Cisco Talos recently discovered a vulnerability in ManageEngine OpManager that could lead to an XML external entity XXE attack. OpManager is network monitoring software that allows users to track and manage the performance of...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Netgear Orbi router vulnerable to arbitrary command execution

Christopher McBee and Dave McDaniel of Cisco Talos discovered these vulnerabilities. Cisco Talos recently discovered four vulnerabilities in the Netgear Orbi mesh wireless system, including the main hub router and satellite routers that extend the networks range. A mesh system allows users to set...

Threat Round up for January 20 to January 27

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats weve observed between Jan. 20 and Jan. 27. As with previous roundups, this post isnt meant to be an in-depth analysis. Instead, this post will summarize the threats weve observed by highlighting key behavioral characteristics,...

Talos Takes Ep. #56: The first security steps you should take when you return to the office

By Jon Munshaw. The latest episode of Talos Takes is available now. Download this episode and subscribe to Talos Takes using the buttons below, or visit the Talos Takes page. We started out the COVID-19 pandemic by thinking we'd be away from the office for a month — maybe two. More than 12... Thi...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Heap-based buffer overflow in Google Chrome could lead to code execution

Marcin “Icewall” Noga of Cisco Talos discovered this vulnerability. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Cisco Talos recently discovered an exploitable heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in Google Chrome. Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser — and Chromium is the open-source... This is only the...

Hafnium Update: Continued Microsoft Exchange Server Exploitation

Update 3/11: The following OSQuery detects active commands being run through webshells observed used by actors on compromised Exchange servers. While systems may have been patched to defend against Hafnium and others, threat actors may have leveraged these vulnerabilities to establish additional...

Beers with Talos Ep. #68: Takes from Talos on IoT (and the NEW “Talos Takes” podcast!)

By Mitch Neff. Beers with Talos BWT Podcast episode No. 68 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos: If iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing, click here. Recorded Dec. 9, 2019 We have a big announcement to make today! Check your feed for a few episodes of a ne...

Beers with Talos EP40: BWT XL feat. SuperMicro, Giant Patches, and More Mobile Malware

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast Ep. 40 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos: If iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing, click here. Ep. 40 show notes: Recorded Oct. 19, 2018 — In celebration of episode No. 40 and hitting over 1 million downloads!!!, we go XL...

GPlayed Trojan - .Net playing with Google Market

This blog post is authored by Vitor Ventura. Introduction In a world where everything is always connected, and mobile devices are involved in individuals' day-to-day lives more and more often, malicious actors are seeing increased opportunities to attack these devices. Cisco Talos has identified...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Multiple Issues in Foxit PDF Reader

Vulnerabilities discovered by Aleksandar Nikolic of Cisco Talos Overview Cisco Talos is disclosing eightteen vulnerabilities in Foxit PDF Reader, a popular free program for viewing, creating and editing PDF documents. It is commonly used as an alternative to Adobe Acrobat Reader and has a widely...

Talk of election security is good, but we still need more money to solve the problem

Last week, six Secretaries of State testified to U.S. Congress about the current state of election security ahead of November's Presidential election. Some of the same topics came up as usual -- disinformation campaigns, influence from foreign actors, and the physical protection of poll workers o...

New decryptor for Babuk Tortilla ransomware variant released

Cisco Talos obtained executable code capable of decrypting files affected by the Babuk Tortilla ransomware variant, allowing Talos to extract and share the private decryption key used by the threat actor. Cisco Talos shared the key with our peers at Avast for inclusion in the Avast Babuk decrypto...

Vulnerability Spotlight: XSS vulnerability in Ghost CMS

Dave McDaniel of Cisco Talos discovered this vulnerability. Cisco Talos recently discovered a cross-site scripting XSS vulnerability in Ghost CMS. Ghost is a content management system with tools to build a website, publish content and send newsletters. Ghost offers paid subscriptions to members a...

Threat Roundup for October 21 to October 28

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats weve observed between Oct. 21 and Oct. 28. As with previous roundups, this post isnt meant to be an in-depth analysis. Instead, this post will summarize the threats weve observed by highlighting key behavioral characteristics,...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Vulnerabilities in Abode Systems home security kit could allow attacker to take over cameras, remotely disable them

Matt Wiseman of Cisco Talos discovered these vulnerabilities. Cisco Talos recently discovered several vulnerabilities in the Abode Systems iota All-In-One Security Kit. This kit includes a main security camera and hub that can alert users of unwanted movement in their homes. It also includes...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Data deserialization in VMware vCenter could lead to remote code execution

Marcin "Icewall" Noga of Cisco Talos discovered this vulnerability. Cisco Talos recently discovered an exploitable data deserialization vulnerability in the VMware vCenter server platform. VMware is one of the most popular virtual machine solutions currently available, and its vCenter software...

ModernLoader delivers multiple stealers, cryptominers and RATs

By Vanja Svajcer Cisco Talos recently observed three separate, but related, campaigns between March and June 2022 delivering a variety of threats, including the ModernLoader bot, RedLine information-stealer and cryptocurrency-mining malware to victims. The actors use PowerShell, .NET assemblies,...

Threat Source newsletter (Aug. 5, 2021)

Newsletter compiled by Jon Munshaw.Good afternoon, Talos readers. We hope everyone is enjoying BlackHat and/or DEFCON this week, regardless of if you're attending virtually or in person. In case you missed any of our talks from BlackHat, you can check them out here, along... This is only the...

Threat Source newsletter (July 8, 2021)

Newsletter compiled by Jon Munshaw.Good afternoon, Talos readers. Just like everyone else in the security world, our week's been dominated by the Kaseya supply chain attack. We went live on pretty much every social media platform we could think of yesterday to update everyone on the... This is on...

Talos Takes Ep. #59: How to secure the devices that secure your home network

By Jon Munshaw. As consumers start having more “smart” devices connected to their home network, they may want an easy solution to keeping those devices safe. But what if that device gets owned? Carl Hurd of our vulnerability research team recently discovered several vulnerabilities in Trend...

Threat Source newsletter (June 24, 2021)

Newsletter compiled by Jon Munshaw.Good afternoon, Talos readers. Even though spam emails asking for gift cards may seem like the oldest trick in the book, they're still effective in 2021. The FBI estimates that business email compromise cost victims around $1.8 billion in 2020,... This is only t...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Code execution vulnerabilities in PrusaSlicer

Lilith of Cisco Talos discovered these vulnerabilities. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Cisco Talos recently discovered two out-of-bounds write vulnerabilities in Prusa Research’s PrusaSlicer. Prusa Slicer is an open-source 3-D printer slicing program forked off Slic3r that can convert various 3-D... This i...

Talos Takes Ep. #48: The complete history of ObliqueRAT

By Jon Munshaw. The latest episode of Talos Takes is available now. Download this episode and subscribe to Talos Takes using the buttons below, or visit the Talos Takes page. After researching and writing about ObliqueRAT for several months now, Asheer Malhotra joins Talos Takes for... This is on...

Threat Source newsletter (March 4, 2021)

Newsletter compiled by Jon Munshaw. Of course, we will start things off talking about the Microsoft Exchange Server zero-day vulnerabilities disclosed earlier this week. Microsoft said in a statement that a threat actor is exploiting these vulnerabilities in the wild to steal users’ emails,...

Prometei botnet and its quest for Monero

By Vanja Svajcer. NEWS SUMMARYWe are used to ransomware attacks and big-game hunting making the headlines, but there are still methods adversaries use to monetize their efforts in less intrusive ways.Cisco Talos recently discovered a cryptocurrency-mining botnet attack we're calling "Prometei"...

Vulnerability Spotlight: SQL injection vulnerabilities in Forma Learning Management System

Yuri Kramarz of Security Advisory EMEAR discovered these vulnerabilities. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Cisco Talos recently discovered three SQL injection vulnerabilities in the authenticated portion of the Formal Learning Management System. LMS is a set of software that allows companies to build and hos...

Talos, Cisco Incident Response team up to offer more protection than ever

By Sean Mason Over the years, I've had the honor and privilege to work within some of the greatest security teams on the planet, working alongside such passionate and talented people at Cisco makes delivering this announcement perhaps the greatest honor yet. The best security organizations on the...

Threat Source newsletter (Aug. 1, 2019)

Newsletter compiled by Jon Munshaw. Welcome to this week’s Threat Source newsletter — the perfect place to get caught up on all things Talos from the past week. Are you heading to Vegas next week for Hacker Summer Camp? Talos will. We’ll be at Black Hat and DEFCON holding a series of talks, takin...

Dynamic binary instrumentation (DBI) with DynamoRio

This blog introduces dynamic binary instrumentation DBI and guides you through building your own DBI tool with the open-source DynamoRIO framework on Windows 11. DBI enables powerful runtime analysis and modification of binaries critical for malware analysis, security auditing, reverse engineerin...

Abusing with style: Leveraging cascading style sheets for evasion and tracking

Cisco Talos has identified actors abusing Cascading Style Sheets CSS to 1 evade spam filters and detection engines, and 2 track users' actions and preferences. This blog is a follow-up to our previous report on how threat actors could abuse CSS using a technique called "hidden text salting" to...

Talos discloses multiple zero-day vulnerabilities, two of which could lead to code execution

Cisco Talos Vulnerability Research team recently disclosed three zero-day vulnerabilities that are still unpatched as of Wednesday, May 8. Two vulnerabilities in this group -- one in the Tinyroxy HTTP proxy daemon and another in the stbvorbis.c file library -- could lead to arbitrary code...