Powerful Spyware Exploits Enable a New String of ‘Watering Hole’ Attacks

August 29, 2024:

In recent years, elite commercial spyware vendors like Intellexa and NSO Group have developed an array of powerful hacking tools that exploit rare and unpatched “zero-day” software vulnerabilities to compromise victim devices. And increasingly, governments around the world have emerged as the prime customers for these tools, compromising the smartphones of opposition leaders, journalists, activists, lawyers, and others. On Thursday, though, Google’s Threat Analysis Group is publishing findings about a series of recent hacking campaigns—seemingly carried out by Russia’s notorious APT29 Cozy Bear gang—that incorporate exploits very similar to ones developed by Intellexa and NSO Group into ongoing espionage activity.

Between November 2023 and July 2024, the attackers compromised Mongolian government websites and used the access to conduct “watering hole” attacks, in which anyone with a vulnerable device who loads a compromised website gets hacked. The attackers set up the malicious infrastructure to use exploits that “were identical or strikingly similar to exploits previously used by commercial surveillance vendors Intellexa and NSO Group,” Google’s TAG wrote on Thursday. The researchers say they “assess with moderate confidence” that the campaigns were carried out by APT29.

These spyware-esque hacking tools exploited vulnerabilities in Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android that had largely already been patched. Originally, they were deployed by the spyware vendors as unpatched, zero-day exploits, but in this iteration, the suspected Russian hackers were using them to target devices that hadn’t been updated with these fixes.

“While we are uncertain how suspected APT29 actors acquired these exploits, our research underscores the extent to which exploits first developed by the commercial surveillance industry are proliferated to dangerous threat actors,” the TAG researchers wrote. “Moreover, watering hole attacks remain a threat where sophisticated exploits can be utilized to target those that visit sites regularly, including on mobile devices. Watering holes can still be an effective avenue for … mass targeting a population that might still run unpatched browsers.”

It is possible that the hackers purchased and adapted the spyware exploits or that they stole them or acquired them through a leak. It is also possible that the hackers were inspired by commercial exploits and reverse engineered them by examining infected victim devices.

Between November 2023 and February 2024, the hackers used an iOS and Safari exploit that was technically identical to an offering that Intellexa had first debuted a couple of months earlier as an unpatched zero-day in September 2023. In July 2024, the hackers also used a Chrome exploit adapted from an NSO Group tool that first appeared in May 2024. This latter hacking tool was used in combination with an exploit that had strong similarities to one Intellexa debuted back in September 2021.

When attackers exploit vulnerabilities that have already been patched, the activity is known as “n-day exploitation,” because the vulnerability still exists and can be abused in unpatched devices as time passes. The suspected Russian hackers incorporated the commercial spyware adjacent tools, but constructed their overall campaigns—including malware delivery and activity on compromised devices—differently than the typical commercial spyware customer would. This indicates a level of fluency and technical proficiency characteristic of an established and well-resourced state-backed hacking group.

“In each iteration of the watering hole campaigns, the attackers used exploits that were identical or strikingly similar to exploits from [commercial surveillance vendors], Intellexa and NSO Group,” TAG wrote. “We do not know how the attackers acquired these exploits. What is clear is that APT actors are using n-day exploits that were originally used as 0-days by CSVs.”

Source link

tags

Abkhazia Afghanistan Africa Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curacao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Fiji Finland France French Polynesia Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guam Guatemala Guinea Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Northern Cyprus Norway Oman Pakistan Palestine Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Lucia Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Uganda UK Ukraine United Arab Emirates Uruguay USA Uzbekistan Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe