New iOS text bug (aka text bomb) can crash your iPhone

A newly discovered bug is capable of crashing your Apple iPhone or iPad by simply receiving a text notification. The bug occurs when an iOS device user receives a text message or tries to read a tweet which is written using some Sindhi characters. 

This type of bug is known as a "text bomb", because a malicious individual can use it to prank, bully, cause Denial of Service (DoS), or even "troll" their targets by constantly forcing the receiver's app to crash. The original message sent had the Italian flag in it and it was using the hashtag: #CaptureTheFlag. 

It is being reported from different sources on social media that the text message other that your iPhone it also may crash your iPad, Apple Watch, and other Apple Gadgets.

The text bomb looks like any of the following group of Sindhi characters with any emoji in between: 

For obvious reasons I had to take a screenshot so not to be held responsible for propagating this. It was tested and it works. 

Text bombs aren’t something new. There have been numerous cases in the past few years where  random strings of text have caused mobile devices to behave in an unexpected way. However, this one is slightly different as it will crash the iPhone to crash if the phone received a message or notification in any social media chat applications. Unfortunately there is nothing much a user can do to avoid this other that wait to install the new update from Apple. The issue seems to be affecting  all Apple's mobile OS version from 13.3 onwards. 

Note: If you receive this type of message use alternative means, e.g. through your Mac laptop or Twitter app under Windows, to delete the received/posted message. This will allow your phone to be able to have access to the affected app without being forced to crash. If you phone hangs completely, you will need to keep pressing the power and volume up keys, until it reboots.

Awareness around COVID-19 SMS Phishing (Smishing)

This blog-post discusses an issue known for almost 20years, which is related to the online SMS platforms. Given the recent pandemic and the use of the GSM network for sending SMS notifications to the public, it in an opportunity to raise awareness regarding Smishing (SMS Phishing) attempts, targeting the public which is affected by COVID-19.

In Greece, the number 13033 is being used to send SMS confirmations to people who use this particular service, which is used for registering in advance their daily movements when it comes to get essential goods (such as, going to the supermarket, the pharmacy, etc.) before they exit their homes. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this process attempts to limit people’s unnecessary movement(s), in an attempt to minimise the risk of getting affected, or contaminating others in case the person is a carrier of the virus.

Given the importance of the pandemic and the necessity of this service, it is mandatory to mention that it is possible to spoof the SEND ID in order to send SMS updates to recipients pretending to be from the original 13033 service number. This action, have the potential to trick the recipients (general public) in clicking on malicious links, or by using Social Engineering (and potentially scare tactics) to ask recipients to pay a fine that has been imposed. 

"Given the current situation, it would be beneficial to everyone if the Ministry in Greece responsible for operating the 13033 service (and other Ministries around the globe that use similar services), could promote a campaign educating all recipients regarding the potential threat of Smishing"

More specifically, the public should be informed that they should under no circumstances visits any URLs received by the 13033 service and that the 13033 service will not send any messages requesting to pay any fines. The public need to be aware that in case they receive such messages, these should be ignored and deleted.  

The proof of concept for the alluded was tested and proven by @DimisMeu and we decided to publish this blog post in order to be able to raise the necessary awareness. 

Ransomware outbreak at a global scale | #wannacry

Approximately 74 countries are currently under an ongoing cyber-attack. The NHS in the UK has been massively affected, along with major companies worldwide. 

Computer systems are being infected with the ransomware known as WanaCrypt0r 2.0 (known as WCry and WannaCry). The malicious file targets a known computer vulnerability (MS17-010). 

System Administrators:
- Ensure systems are fully patched, especially by addressing the MS17-010 vulnerability. 
- Disable SMBv1.
- Firewall protect ports: 139/445 & 3389
- Make sure you have a backup of your data and it is also stored offline. 
- Ensure Antivirus is installed and active.

Legacy systems should be isolated and any systems which are infected, consider removing them from the network. 

Under Attack?

• Customers in the healthcare sector should follow the national guidance as instructed by the NHS and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
• UK customers consult the Cyber Information Sharing Platform (CiSP).
• DeepRecce customers requiring further advice or information should contact our 24/7 incident response line www.deeprecce.com

--

Repository of information:

WannaCry|WannaDecrypt0r NSA-Cybereweapon-Powered Ransomware Worm
https://gist.github.com/pcostesi/87a04a3bbbdbc4aeb8b787f45eb21197 

Microsoft released notes:
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/mmpc/2017/05/12/wannacrypt-ransomware-worm-targets-out-of-date-systems/

Ticketbleed (CVE-2016-9244)

A vulnerability similar to the well-known heartbleed was discovered in the TLS/SSL stack of F5 BIG-IP appliances that allows a remote attacker to extract up to 31 bytes of uninitialized memory at a time. This vulnerability is called Ticketbleed as it lies in the implementation of Session Tickets, which is a resumption technique used to speed up repeated connections. The vulnerability affects the proprietary F5 TLS stack which exposes 31 bytes at a time.

F5 published article K05121675 addressing this vulnerability. You can read the story of how Ticketbleed was found and a complete technical walkthrough on the Filippo.io blog.

Test
You can test your domain using the automated script which you can find at: https://filippo.io/Ticketbleed/

Alternatively, you can test for Ticketbleed yourself with a Go script: here

Fixes and mitigation
The full list of affected versions is available on the F5 website. At the time of this public disclosure not all releases have upgrade candidates available.

Disabling Session Tickets is a complete mitigation, which will only cause a performance degradation in the set-up phase of resumed connections.

Reproduced here are the instructions provided by F5 and available at the link above.

1. Log in to the Configuration utility
2. Navigate on the menu to Local Traffic > Profiles > SSL > Client
3. Toggle the option for Configuration from Basic to Advanced
4. Uncheck the Session Ticket option to disable the feature
5. Click Update to save the changes

Source: https://filippo.io/Ticketbleed/

Decrypting RSA with Obsolete and Weakened eNcryption (DROWN)

An OpenSSL security hole enables Secure Sockets Layer (SSLv2), to be used to attack modern web sites. Even though this is a  an ancient, long deprecated security protocol, it is estimated to be able to "kill" at least one-third of all HTTPS servers (approx. 11.5 million servers). 

The attack is dubbed as DROWN based on the words: 

Decrypting RSA with Obsolete and Weakened eNcryption. 

Obsolete Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) versions 7 and earlier are vulnerable as well, and editions of Network Security Services (NSS), a common cryptographic library built into many server products prior to 2012's 3.13 version, are also open to attack. 

OpenSSL 1.0.2 users should upgrade to 1.0.2g. 
OpenSSL 1.0.1 users should upgrade to 1.0.1s. 

If you're using another version move up to 1.0.2g or 1.0.1s

OpenSSL 1.0.2g is available for download via HTTP and FTP from the following master locations (you can find the various FTP mirrors under http://www.openssl.org/source/mirror.html):

• http://www.openssl.org/source/
• ftp://ftp.openssl.org/source/

The flaw was identified by academics and the code for the attack has not yet been released. The main reason for this, is to allow people to patch their systems before the vulnerability starts being exploited. 

For further information on the issue, please visit the site: https://drownattack.com

Migration/Protection: https://drownattack.com/#mitigation
Instructions for Apache: https://drownattack.com/apache.html
Instructions for Postfix: https://drownattack.com/postfix.html
Instructions for Nginx: https://drownattack.com/nginx.html

There is also an offline scanner available on GitHub: 
https://github.com/nimia/public_drown_scanner

SSH vulnerability in Fortinet Fortigate products

It was stated that an SSH "backdoor" was identified in Fortinet Fortigate products and the proof-of-concept source code was posted on the Full Disclosure mailing list. 

See here: http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Jan/26

Fortinet released a brief statement regarding the issues found with FortiOS on January 12, 2016. The brief statement says that the issue that was recently disclosed publicly was resolved and a patch was made available in July 2014. 

Fortinet stated that: "This was not a “backdoor” vulnerability issue but rather a management authentication issue. The issue was identified by our Product Security team as part of their regular review and testing efforts. After careful analysis and investigation, we were able to verify this issue was not due to any malicious activity by any party, internal or external."

Message Header Analyzer (Microsoft & Google)

Spear-phishing attacks still happen and are still successful. According to Symantec: “The FBI estimates that the amount lost to BEC (Business Email Compromise) between October 2013 and August 2015 was over $1.2 billion. With such huge returns, it’s unlikely that these scams will cease any time soon.”

Symantec researchers also explained that “BEC attackers target senior-level employees rather than consumers as it’s easier to scam them out of large amounts. In one incident, we observed the scammers asking the target to transfer over US$370,000. By requesting large amounts of money, the scammers only need to be successful a couple of times to make a profit,”.

Usually spear-phishing emails are used for untargeted attacks. Lately we saw spear-phishing attacks becoming more targeted. An example is the CEO fraud attacks. A cyber criminal sends an email that appears to be from an executive (usually from the CEO to the CFO) asking for a specific payment to be processed immediately. The payment may be in any currently or even BitCoin(s). 

There are a couple of tools online that you can use to check the email headers of incoming emails. The email headers allow you to check if a suspicious incoming email is actually a spoofed email as part of a spear-phishing attack campaign.

Joomla Critical 0day Remote Command Execution Vulnerability - Patch Now

A vulnerability that affects all versions of Joomla from 1.5.0 to 3.4.5 have just been released (CVE-2015-8562). 

The Joomla security team released a patch to address this critical remote command execution vulnerability that is already being exploited in the wild. 

Joomla is one of the most popular Content Management Systems (CMS), alongside Wordpress, Drupal and Magento. Joomla CMS is used to build web sites and online applications in conjunction with the many supported shopping cart, e-commerce and payment gateway extensions.  

Joomla users need to upgrade to version 3.4.6 immediately. For Joomla 3 and above, updating is a simple one-click process through the admin panel. For the unsupported versions 1.5.x - 2.5.x the users need to patch using the Joomla hotfixes.

A Weapon for the Mass Destruction of Computer Infrastructures

Disclaimer: This is NOT a weapon. This is AN EXPERIMENT. 

You MUST NOT try this at home. The tests were performed under the supervision of licensed electricians, in a controlled environment. 

I intentionally do not provide any technical details about the devices. The purpose of this blog post is not to tell you how to do this, but to raise the awareness that this can actually happen. I believe, entities should be aware of this threat and take any necessary actions to protect their infrastructures. 

Having done a number of physical security assessments over the years, I started wondering how vulnerable our computer infrastructures are. I tried to think of a way for a malicious insider or an external third-party, to target a company’s computer network and take it down by damaging it (someone who doesn't have physical access to the server room). I started thinking about this from a different perspective and I tried to approach this "question" with an outside-the-box point of view. 

Due to my experience with physical security assessments I noticed that there are many unattended Ethernet ports (sockets) everywhere around a building. These ports might not be “active” but most of the time they are connected at the far-end on a managed or unmanaged network switch. 

I started wondering what would be the effect if one tried to apply electric current on an Ethernet socket from a power socket directly. The picture on the left illustrates a cable which sends electric current (220V-250V) directly from the power socket to the Ethernet port (This is very dangerous, do not make one, and do not try to use it). In reality, such attempt is actually pointless, as it will only "toast" the device you connect this modified power cable. 

The hypothetical network switch at the other end will end up toasted in a split second and the person doing this will experience a loud bang and a bright flash, along with the smell of burned plastic at the Ethernet socket side. 

This is a very dangerous thing for one to do and not a very convenient or an effective way for taking down the whole computer infrastructure. The whole point is to manage to "fry" all the devices behind the network switch!!! (..even after the network switch is "toasted", and the circuits are burned). Also, without exposing ourselves to any danger, as it would have happen if someone have used the cable mentioned earlier on. 

Critical Patch by Microsoft - MS15-078

Vulnerability in Microsoft font driver could allow remote code execution. This vulnerability requires immediate remediation (16 July 2015). 

Microsoft patch MS 15-078 addresses a serious security flaw found in the way Windows products read certain types of fonts. 

An attacker can send you an office document or ask you to visit a specific web page with a specific font being used. The attack is straight forward and simple to execute, and for that reason it is highly important to patch immediately. 

The attack is possible because it focuses on the Windows Adobe Type Manager Library and the way it deals with OpenType fonts, allowing Remote Code Execution. 

Please note that this vulnerability affects all modern versions of Windows. Also, if you install a language pack after you install this update, you must reinstall this update. Therefore, install any language packs that you need before you install this update. For more information, see Add language packs to Windows.

Linkedin - security issue - Unvalidated Redirects and Forwards

This is a Linkedin shortened URL that seems to be pointing to Linkedin (when you try to reverse it) but in reality, it redirects to this blog post! https://lnkd.in/eSQcwhD

Below we are going to prove that this unvalidated redirect method (OWASP A10) can be used to deceive users and redirect them to malicious websites and malicious executable files by letting them think they are being redirected to Linkedin.

>> Responsible Disclosure: Before I start describing the issue I would like to mention that I followed LinkedIn's policy on reporting vulnerabilities process to the letter (responsible disclosure) and reported the issue exactly as it is described in this page:

https://help.linkedin.com/app/safety/answers/detail/a_id/37022/chapter/reporting_policy 

After sending a detailed description of the issue (on 27/May/2015), I received the following reply from Linkedin.

Thank you for contacting us and sending us your writeup.

We do perform validation for third-party links that users submit to LinkedIn, checking the destination for inclusion on malware and safe browsing blacklists. The hash you observed is used for that purpose. 

Regarding unwinding of our short links or obfuscation, URL encoding is working as expected and the depth of third-party inspectors is not something under our control. Note that some of our redirects use JavaScript, so they may not be capable of analyzing the content. Those redirects also clearly show an interstitial that a redirect is occurring.
If you believe we have misinterpreted your report, please let us know.
Thanks!

[name of responder not being disclosed]
LinkedIn House Security

From my point of view, Linkedin did not understand the extend of the issue I described. So, I replied to that person giving him a couple of examples why I believe this unvalidated redirect "feature" doesn't seem to be working as "expected". Simply because, it can redirect/trick/deceive users into downloading malware and/or visit a malicious website, while under the impression they are being redirected to Linkedin instead. So, my reply to Linkedin response was the following:

Understanding the significance of Operations Security (OPSEC) in a fast evolving threat landscape

It is not the first time a military term is being used by the Information Security community in order to describe an Information Assurance process. Operations Security (OPSEC) is a military term referring to the protection of different types of unclassified information which could end up exposing the security of an entity if put together and combined. In other words, in information security OPSEC describes the process by which publicly available information (unclassified) can be used against us if taken advantage by cyber criminals and/or adversaries with malicious intent.

Download recursively all files from a certain directory listing using wget

This is going to be a quick blog post about wget which I believe it is very interesting for you to know how to do this. From your Linux box you can use wget to recursively download all the files listed in a directory listing. 

If you have seen something similar to Figure 1, then this is what directory listing looks like. If someone wants you to have access to their files on the web server through HTTP then it is a quick and easy way of doing it, but most of the time is a misconfiguration allowing the hosted files to be publicly available to unauthorised users. 

Figure 1 - Directory Listing

How to prevent a business from being the next exploited target

Over the past few years, Cybersecurity has become a high priority task on the agenda of every organisation that wants to: prevent unpleasant security incidents, avoid being breached by sophisticated attacks and Advance Persistent Threats, detect malicious activity which is specifically designed to evade detection and last but not least respond proactively to the emerging cyber threat landscape. During 2014 in particular, cyberattacks became the norm making headlines on a regular basis with a number of high profile breaches being in the spotlight which as a result affected the number of online transactions. More specifically, it was reported that the levels of fraud increased in 2013-2014 by 12% which accounts for 37% of the total £603m cost of retail crime as reported by the BRC Retail Crime Survey.