GitLab Critical Security Release

Recently Gitlab issued a patch for a critical remote code execution vulnerability which impacts GitLab Community Edition (CE) and Enterprise Edition (EE). The vulnerability was tracked as CVE-2022-2884 and a CVSS score of 9.9 was assigned. The issue allows an authenticated user to achieve remote code execution via the Import from GitHub API endpoint.

According to Gitlab, the vulnerability affects all GitLab CE/EE versions:

Starting from 11.3.4 before 15.1.5
Starting from 15.2 before 15.2.3
Starting from 15.3 before 15.3.1

Gitlab has requested all users to upgrade to the latest version as soon as possible. GitLab Community Edition and Enterprise Edition versions 15.3.1, 15.2.3, and 15.1.5 comes with the patch for this vulnerability. For users which are not able to upgrade immediately, it has been suggested to disable the GitHub import function from the ‘Visibility and access controls’ menu in the settings. Gitlab makes no announcement about the vulnerability being exploited in the public yet.

Accorian assures to assist all its clients. Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions.

Source: https://about.gitlab.com/releases/2022/08/22/critical-security-release-gitlab-15-3-1-released/#Remote%20Command%20Execution%20via%20Github%20import

Threat Advisory Team

Accorian

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Outdated WordPress plugin abused to deploy backdoors.

WordPress is a popular open-sourced content management system (CMS). An outdated WordPress plugin known, Eval PHP enables site administrators to insert PHP code into posts and pages of WordPress websites, which is then executed when the page is loaded in the browser. The "eval" function was originally used to execute arbitrary PHP code, which can be useful in certain contexts, such as when creating dynamic templates or customizing functionality. The plugin is still available on the WordPress plugins repository despite not receiving any updates in the last ten years. However, attackers are injecting backdoors into websites using the legitimate but outdated WordPress plugin known as Eval PHP. A sudden spike in the number of installations for the plugin was observed in April 2023. The attackers sneakily install the vulnerable plugin, which is available on the official WordPress plugin repository, on an already compromised website. All WordPress administrators are advised by Accorian to check for the presence of Eval PHP, particularly if they did not install the plugin themselves. The presence of this plugin on a website indicates that it is compromised and may contain backdoors. To prevent any exploitation, admins should remove the plugin if found and protect the account by implementing robust WAF and 2FA. It is also recommended to keep the site up to date with the latest updates. Source: https://blog.sucuri.net/2023/04/massive-abuse-of-abandoned-evalphp-wordpress-plugin.html Threat Advisory Team Accorian

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Exploit Publicly available for MS Word Remote Code Execution flaw

CVE-2023-21716, a heap corruption vulnerability that was patched by Microsoft as part of its February 2023 Patch Tuesday cycle, now has it's exploit publicly accessible. The vulnerability holds a CVSS score of 9.8 and can allow attackers to execute code remotely without needing any authentication. The flaw impacts several MS Office and SharePoint versions, as well as Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise. The vulnerability exists in Microsoft Word's RTF parser and is a heap corruption issue. Attackers can remotely execute code with the same level of privileges as the victim if successfully exploited. The flaw does not require prior authentication, attackers can simply send a decoy RTF file to the victim(s) via email. ‘Protected View’, a feature of Microsoft Office 2010 and later, helps to reduce the impact that a malicious document provided from untrusted sources might cause. As the vulnerability exists when ‘Protected View’ is in use, exploiting it would require an additional sandbox escape vulnerability to gain full privileges. Although Microsoft has released fixes for CVE-2023-21716, it is strongly advised that organizations patch right away because the Proof of Concept is now widely available. Microsoft has also issued temporary solutions for CVE-2023-21716. Source: https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2023-21716 Threat Advisory Team Accorian

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