The North Korea-backed superior persistent menace often called APT37 exploited a zero-day vulnerability in Microsoft’s Web Explorer Internet browser over the summer season, utilizing it to mount a zero-click provide chain marketing campaign on South Korean targets, researchers revealed.
Whereas IE reached finish of life in 2022 and lots of organizations do not use it anymore, there are many legacy purposes that do. On this case, APT37 (aka RedAnt, RedEyes, ScarCruft, and Group123) particularly focused a Toast advert program that’s normally put in alongside numerous free software program, in line with AhnLab SEcurity intelligence Heart (ASEC). “Toasts” are pop-up notifications that seem on the right-bottom of a PC display screen.
“Many Toast advert packages use a characteristic referred to as WebView to render Internet content material for displaying adverts,” in line with AhnLab researchers. “Nonetheless, WebView operates primarily based on a browser. Subsequently, if this system creator used IE-based WebView to put in writing the code, IE vulnerabilities is also exploited in this system.”
A Scorching-Buttered Zero-Click on Toast Exploit
In accordance with AhnLab’s evaluation launched final week, the state-sponsored cyberattack group compromised an advert company, after which used the bug, tracked as CVE-2024-38178 (CVSS 7.5), to inject malicious code into the Toast script the company makes use of to obtain advert content material to folks’s desktops. As an alternative of adverts, the script started delivering malware.
“This vulnerability is exploited when the advert program downloads and renders the advert content material,” the researchers defined of their report on the assault, which they referred to as “Code on Toast.” “Because of this, a zero-click assault occurred with none interplay from the person.”
The malware delivered is the RokRAT, which APT37 has constantly used previously.
“After infecting the system, numerous malicious behaviors will be carried out, corresponding to distant instructions,” the researchers famous, including, “On this assault, the group additionally makes use of Ruby to safe malicious exercise persistence and performs command management via a industrial cloud server.”
The marketing campaign had the potential to trigger vital injury, they stated, however the assault was detected early. “As well as, safety measures have been additionally taken towards different Toast promoting packages that have been confirmed to have the potential for exploitation earlier than the vulnerability patch model was launched,” in line with AhnLab.
IE Lurks in Apps, Stays a Cyber Risk
Microsoft patched the bug in its August Patch Tuesday replace slate, however the continued use of IE as a built-in part or associated module inside different purposes stays a regarding assault vector, and an incentive for hackers to proceed to amass IE zero-day vulnerabilities.
“Such assaults usually are not solely troublesome to defend towards with customers’ consideration or antivirus, however may have a big impression relying on the exploited software program,” AhnLab researchers defined within the report (PDF, Korean).
They added, “Just lately, the technological degree of North Korean hacking teams is changing into extra superior, and assaults that exploit numerous vulnerabilities aside from IE are progressively rising.”
Accordingly, customers ought to be sure to maintain working techniques and software program updated, however “software program producers also needs to watch out to not use improvement libraries and modules which are weak to safety when growing merchandise,” they concluded.
Translation supplied by Google Translate.