Analysis Summary

Federal agencies in the United States have received a warning from CISA to protect their systems from persistent attacks that aim to exploit a high-severity Windows kernel vulnerability. This flaw, which has been tracked as CVE-2024-35250, is caused by an untrusted pointer dereference vulnerability that enables local attackers to obtain SYSTEM privileges through low-complexity attacks that don't involve user input.

The Microsoft Kernel Streaming Service (MSKSSRV.SYS) is the susceptible system component, according to the researchers who discovered the vulnerability and reported it to Microsoft through Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative. However, Microsoft did not provide any information in a security advisory released in June. On the first day of this year's Pwn2Own Vancouver 2024 hacking competition, security researchers used this MSKSSRV privilege escalation security issue to breach a fully patched Windows 11 system.

Four months after the flaw was patched during the June 2024 Patch Tuesday, the proof-of-concept exploit code was made available on GitHub. If an attacker were able to exploit this vulnerability effectively, they might obtain SYSTEM rights. CISA also added a significant Adobe ColdFusion vulnerability (identified as CVE-2024-20767) that Adobe patched in March. Numerous proof-of-concept exploits have since been made public online.

Due to an incorrect access control flaw, CVE-2024-20767 enables remote, unauthenticated attackers to read sensitive files and the system. According to researchers, an attacker can circumvent security protections and carry out arbitrary file system writes by successfully exploiting ColdFusion servers with an online admin panel. Although remotely accessible admin panels make it impossible to identify the precise ColdFusion servers, the Fofa search engine keeps track of approximately 145,000 servers that are exposed to the Internet.

Both vulnerabilities were marked as actively exploited by CISA and added to its list of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities. According to Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 22-01, federal agencies have three weeks until January 6 to safeguard their networks. These vulnerabilities provide serious dangers to the federal organization and are common attack points for malevolent cyber attackers. Although the primary purpose of CISA's KEV catalog is to notify government agencies about security flaws that need to be fixed immediately, commercial businesses are also encouraged to prioritize addressing these vulnerabilities to prevent continuous attacks.

Impact

• Privilege Escalation
• Unauthorized Access
• Security Bypass
• Information Exposure

Indicators of Compromise

CVE

• CVE-2024-35250
• CVE-2024-20767

Affected Vendors

Remediation

• Use Microsoft Automatic Update to apply the appropriate patch for your system, or the Microsoft Security Update Guide to search for available patches.
• Refer to Adobe Security Bulletin for patch, upgrade, or suggested workaround information.
• Organizations must test their assets for the vulnerabilities mentioned above and apply the available security patch or mitigation steps as soon as possible.
• Implement multi-factor authentication to add an extra layer of security to login processes.
• Regularly monitor network activity for any unusual behavior, as this may indicate that a cyberattack is underway.
• Organizations must stay vigilant and follow best practices for cybersecurity to protect their systems and data from potential threats. This includes regularly updating software and implementing strong access controls and monitoring tools.
• Develop a comprehensive incident response plan to respond effectively in case of a security breach or data leakage.
• Maintain regular backups of critical data and systems to ensure data recovery in case of a security incident.
• Adhere to security best practices, including the principle of least privilege, and ensure that users and applications have only the necessary permissions.
• Establish a robust patch management process to ensure that security patches are evaluated, tested, and applied promptly.
• Conduct security audits and assessments to evaluate the overall security posture of your systems and networks.
• Implement network segmentation to contain and isolate potential threats to limit their impact on critical systems.