Security vulnerabilities are a common occurrence in managing any business’s organizational security. The prompt patching and remediation of any new vulnerabilities are critical to reducing the outside attack surface. Netizen’s Security Operations Center (SOC) has compiled five vulnerabilities from March that should be immediately patched or addressed if present in your environment. Detailed writeups below:
CVE-2024-21407
CVE-2024-21407 highlights a critical remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability within Microsoft Windows Hyper-V, which has been assessed with a high severity CVSS score of 8.1. This particular flaw opens the door for attackers to execute arbitrary code on the host server from a guest virtual machine in Hyper-V, presenting a significant security risk. Specifically, the vulnerability can be exploited by an authenticated attacker on a guest VM who sends specially crafted operation requests to the host, pointing towards a high complexity in attack execution. Despite this complexity, the potential impact of such an exploit is substantial, allowing unauthorized remote code execution. The CVSS vector for this vulnerability, CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, indicates that the vulnerability can be exploited remotely (AV:N), albeit with high attack complexity (AC:H), does not require privileges (PR:N) or user interaction (UI:N), and impacts the system’s confidentiality, integrity, and availability to a high degree (C:H/I:H/A:H). While the underlying technical cause is not explicitly detailed due to insufficient information (NVD-CWE-noinfo), its classification underscores the necessity for immediate attention. Affected software versions span across various releases of Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server editions, indicating a wide range of potential impact. Microsoft has issued a patch and advisory for this vulnerability, emphasizing the importance of prompt application of the available fixes to mitigate risks. Given its criticality and the scope of affected systems, it is imperative for administrators and users to consult the official Microsoft advisory and apply the necessary updates or mitigation steps without delay to protect against potential exploitation.
CVE-2024-21334
CVE-2024-21334 represents a critical vulnerability in the Open Management Infrastructure (OMI), an open-source management server, with a CVSSv3 score of 9.8, indicating its severity. This vulnerability allows for remote code execution (RCE) and stands out as a significant issue due to its ability to be exploited by remote, unauthenticated attackers via specially crafted requests. This exploit involves a use-after-free vulnerability, a type of issue that can lead to arbitrary code execution by manipulating memory after it has been freed, potentially allowing attackers to take control of the affected system. Despite its high severity rating, Microsoft assesses the likelihood of exploitation as “Less Likely,” based on their Exploitability Index. This assessment is particularly noteworthy as it marks the first RCE flaw reported for OMI, contrasted against earlier patches for elevation of privilege (EoP) and information disclosure vulnerabilities in the software. Microsoft’s advisory recommends updating affected versions of SCOM (System Center Operations Manager) to OMI version 1.8.1-0 as a mitigation measure. For environments where updating is not feasible, it suggests disabling incoming ports for OMI on Linux machines that do not require network listening, providing a workaround to mitigate the risk. The CVSS vector, CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, outlines the vulnerability’s characteristics: it can be exploited remotely with low complexity, without requiring user interaction or privileges, and poses a high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
CVE-2024-21400
CVE-2024-21400 is identified as a critical Elevation of Privilege (EoP) vulnerability within Microsoft’s Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Confidential Containers, receiving a high CVSS score of 9.0. This vulnerability exposes a significant security risk as it allows an attacker, upon successfully preparing the target environment, to steal credentials and gain unauthorized access to an untrusted AKS node and AKS Confidential Container. The exploitability of this vulnerability underscores the ability to take over confidential guests and containers, extending beyond the network stack to which they are bound. Microsoft’s advisement for mitigation involves ensuring customers are updated to the latest version of az confcom and the Kata Image, aiming to safeguard against potential exploit attempts. The CVSS vector, CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H, elucidates the nature of this vulnerability, emphasizing that it can be exploited remotely (AV:N) despite high attack complexity (AC:H), does not necessitate user interaction (UI:N) or existing privileges (PR:N), and has a scope change (S:C), with high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H). This critical rating and the outlined countermeasures reflect the imperative for Azure Kubernetes Service users to promptly apply the recommended updates, thereby minimizing the risk of unauthorized access and potential compromise of sensitive containerized applications and data.
CVE-2024-23225
CVE-2024-23225 addresses a memory corruption issue in multiple Apple products, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and visionOS, with the problem being fixed in the latest versions of these operating systems as specified by Apple. The vulnerability, which allowed an attacker with arbitrary kernel read and write capabilities to bypass kernel memory protections, has been classified with a high severity CVSS score of 7.8 by NIST. This score indicates that the vulnerability is of considerable concern due to its potential impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, each rated highly in the CVSS metrics (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H). The attack vector is local (AV:L), suggesting that an attacker needs local access to exploit the vulnerability, with low complexity (AC:L) and low privileges (PR:L) required, but no user interaction (UI:N) necessary. Apple’s response to this issue involves improved validation mechanisms to mitigate the risk, with updates available in iOS 16.7.6 and iPadOS 16.7.6, as well as iOS 17.4 and iPadOS 17.4, among others. Given the potential exploitation of this vulnerability, as acknowledged by Apple, users are strongly encouraged to update their devices to these versions to protect against potential security breaches.
CVE-2024-29944
CVE-2024-29944 reveals a significant security vulnerability in desktop versions of Firefox, specifically affecting versions prior to Firefox 124.0.1 and Firefox ESR (Extended Support Release) prior to 115.9.1. This flaw enables an attacker to inject an event handler into a privileged object, subsequently allowing the execution of arbitrary JavaScript in the parent process. This type of vulnerability is particularly alarming because it grants attackers the capability to execute code with potentially the same privileges as the user running the Firefox browser, leading to a wide range of malicious activities, including but not limited to data theft, system compromise, and further exploitation of the system on which the browser is running. Despite the critical nature of this vulnerability, as indicated by its impact and the specific mechanism of exploitation, the NVD (National Vulnerability Database) has yet to provide a CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) score at the time of reporting. This absence of a score does not diminish the seriousness of the vulnerability but rather highlights that a thorough analysis is pending. Mozilla, acknowledging the severity of this vulnerability, has responded by releasing updates to mitigate the risk posed by CVE-2024-29944. Users of the affected Firefox versions are strongly advised to update their browsers to the latest versions as recommended by Mozilla to protect against this exploit. Given that this vulnerability is specific to desktop versions of Firefox and does not affect mobile versions, desktop users must be particularly vigilant in ensuring their software is up-to-date. Mozilla’s advisories, alongside contributions from Manfred Paul via Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative, underline the collaborative effort in identifying and addressing such vulnerabilities.
How Can Netizen Help?
Netizen ensures that security gets built-in and not bolted-on. Providing advanced solutions to protect critical IT infrastructure such as the popular “CISO-as-a-Service” wherein companies can leverage the expertise of executive-level cybersecurity professionals without having to bear the cost of employing them full time.
We also offer compliance support, vulnerability assessments, penetration testing, and more security-related services for businesses of any size and type.
Additionally, Netizen offers an automated and affordable assessment tool that continuously scans systems, websites, applications, and networks to uncover issues. Vulnerability data is then securely analyzed and presented through an easy-to-interpret dashboard to yield actionable risk and compliance information for audiences ranging from IT professionals to executive managers.
Netizen is an ISO 27001:2013 (Information Security Management), ISO 9001:2015, and CMMI V 2.0 Level 3 certified company. We are a proud Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business that is recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor for hiring and retention of military veterans.
Questions or concerns? Feel free to reach out to us any time –
https://www.netizen.net/contact
