Tech

Microsoft Outlook Warning: Critical New Email Exploit Triggers Automatically—Update Now

Published

2 years ago

March 16, 2023

March 16 Update below. This post was originally published on March 15

Microsoft has confirmed that a critical Outlook vulnerability, rated at 9.8 out of a maximum 10, is known to have already been exploited in the wild. If you think that sounds bad, it get’s worse: the exploit is triggered upon receipt of a malicious email, and so is executed before that email is read in the preview pane. That’s right; this is a no-user-interaction required exploit. Here’s what we know about the new Microsoft Outlook zero-day.

What is CVE-2023-23397, the critical Microsoft Outlook zero-day vulnerability?

CVE-2023-23397 is a Microsoft Outlook elevation of privilege vulnerability that, according to the Microsoft Security Resource Center (MSRC), has already been used by a “Russia-based threat actor” in targeted attacks against government, transport, energy, and military sectors in Europe. Indeed, the Ukrainian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) is credited as reporting the zero-day to Microsoft.

Full technical details are, as yet, fairly thin on the ground. However, an MSRC posting says that the critical Microsoft Outlook vulnerability is “triggered when an attacker sends a message with an extended MAPI property with a UNC path to an SMB (TCP 445) share on a threat actor-controlled server. No interaction is required.” The posting continues to explain that the connection to a remote SMB (server message block) server sends the user new technology LAN manager (NTLM) negotiation message which is then relayed for authentication against supporting systems. “Online services such as Microsoft 365 do not support NTLM authentication,” the MSRC posting confirms, so are not vulnerable to this exploit.

All currently supported versions of Outlook for Windows are impacted, but not Outlook for the web or those running on Android, iOS, or Mac.

March 16 Update:

Google-owned threat intelligence company, Mandiant, says that it believes the CVE-2023-23397 Microsoft Outlook zero-day vulnerability has been exploited for nearly a year in order to target both organizations and critical infrastructure.

Russian ‘Fancy Bear’ state-sponsored threat actors have been exploiting CVE-2023-23397

In an email statement, Mandiant says it created ‘UNC4697’ to track the early exploitation of CVE-2023-23397, publicly attributed to the Russian military intelligence (GRU) connected threat actor, APT28, which is better known as Fancy Bear. It claims that the vulnerability has been exploited since April 2022 against government, defense, logistics, transportation, and energy targets based in Poland, Romania, Turkey, and Ukraine. These targets could, Mandiant says, facilitate strategic intelligence collection and disruptive or destructive attacks aimed both win=thin and outside of Ukraine.

“This is more evidence that aggressive, disruptive, and destructive cyberattacks may not remain constrained to Ukraine and a reminder that we cannot see everything,” John Hultquist, head of Mandiant Intelligence Analysis at Google Cloud, said. “These are spies, and they have a long track record of successfully evading our notice. This will be a propagation event. This is an excellent tool for nation-state actors and criminals alike who will be on a bonanza in the short term. The race has already begun.”

Multiple proofs-of-concept now widely available

Furthermore, Mandiant says that multiple proofs-of-concept are now widely available. Given that this is a no-user-interaction exploit, the potential for harm is high. Indeed, Mandiant says that it “anticipates broad, rapid adoption of the CVE-2023-23397 exploit by multiple nation-state and financially motivated actors, including both criminal and cyber espionage actors.”

Pass the Hash attack

In order to exploit CVE-2023-23397, which Mandiant says is ‘trivial’ to execute, an attacker needs to send a malicious email with an “extended MAPI property that contains a UNC path to SMB (TCP 445) share on an attacker-controlled server.” This kicks off what is known as a ‘Pass the Hash’ attack, but in this case, is triggered upon receipt of the email by an unpatched Outlook client, without the target even viewing it.

What do you need to do now?

The good news is that the warning concerning CVE-2023-23397 coincides with the release of the latest Patch Tuesday round of security updates for Microsoft users. Applying the relevant patch is therefore recommended. That said, if your organization is unable to apply these security updates immediately, then Microsoft has published some workaround mitigations. Adding users to the Protected Users Security Group will prevent the use of NTLM for authentication, but Microsoft warns that this could “cause impact to applications that require NTLM.” Alternatively, you can block outbound TCP 445/SMB using a firewall or through VPN settings.

What is the security industry saying about the Microsoft Outlook zero-day?

“Administrators should patch within the day if possible since the vulnerability is relatively simple to exploit, doesn’t require user interaction, and is already being exploited in the wild,” Peter Pflaster, a technical product manager at Automox, said. “Microsoft has shared two temporary mitigations if you’re unable to patch immediately, both of which will impact NTLM and applications that use it, so proceed with caution.”

“Given the network attack vector, the ubiquity of SMB shares, and the lack of user interaction required, an attacker with a suitable existing foothold on a network may well consider this vulnerability a prime candidate for lateral movement,” Adam Barnett, lead software engineer at Rapid7, said.

“A threat actor is currently exploiting this vulnerability to deliver malicious MSI (Microsoft Installer) files,” Bharat Jogi, director of vulnerability and threat research at Qualys, said.

“The attack can be executed without any user interaction by sending a specially crafted email which triggers automatically when retrieved by the email server,” Mike Walters, VP of Vulnerability and Threat Research at Action1, said. “This can lead to exploitation before the email is even viewed in the Preview Pane. If exploited successfully, an attacker can access a user’s Net-NTLMv2 hash, which can be used to execute a pass-the-hash attack on another service and authenticate as the user. The best course of action is to install the Microsoft update on all systems after testing it in a controlled environment.”

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Tech

Ottawa orders TikTok’s Canadian arm to be dissolved

Published

3 days ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

The federal government is ordering the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform, but stopped short of ordering people to stay off the app.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government’s “wind up” demand Wednesday, saying it is meant to address “risks” related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.

“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,” he said in a statement.

The announcement added that the government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content.

However, it urged people to “adopt good cybersecurity practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications, including how their information is likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors, as well as to be aware of which country’s laws apply.”

Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking details about what evidence led to the government’s dissolution demand, how long ByteDance has to comply and why the app is not being banned.

A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of well-paying local jobs.

“We will challenge this order in court,” the spokesperson said.

“The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.”

The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok in September 2023, but it was not public knowledge until The Canadian Press reported in March that it was investigating the company.

At the time, it said the review was based on the expansion of a business, which it said constituted the establishment of a new Canadian entity. It declined to provide any further details about what expansion it was reviewing.

A government database showed a notification of new business from TikTok in June 2023. It said Network Sense Ventures Ltd. in Toronto and Vancouver would engage in “marketing, advertising, and content/creator development activities in relation to the use of the TikTok app in Canada.”

Even before the review, ByteDance and TikTok were lightning rod for privacy and safety concerns because Chinese national security laws compel organizations in the country to assist with intelligence gathering.

Such concerns led the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill in March designed to ban TikTok unless its China-based owner sells its stake in the business.

Champagne’s office has maintained Canada’s review was not related to the U.S. bill, which has yet to pass.

Canada’s review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to might harm national security.

While cabinet can make investors sell parts of the business or shares, Champagne has said the act doesn’t allow him to disclose details of the review.

Wednesday’s dissolution order was made in accordance with the act.

The federal government banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023 following the launch of an investigation into the company by federal and provincial privacy commissioners.

— With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

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Health

Here is how to prepare your online accounts for when you die

Published

2 weeks ago

October 24, 2024

Anne Joseph

LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?

It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.

Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:

Apple

The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.

For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.

You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.

Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.

Google

Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.

When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.

You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.

There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.

Facebook and Instagram

Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.

When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.

The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.

You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.

TikTok

The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.

Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.

It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.

Passwords

Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?

Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.

But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.

___

Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.

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Tech

Google’s partnership with AI startup Anthropic faces a UK competition investigation

Published

2 weeks ago

October 24, 2024

Anne Joseph

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.

The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.

“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”

San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.

Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”

“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.

The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.

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