{"id":5563,"date":"2024-05-22T04:41:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-22T07:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blog.lineasdns.com\/ms-exchange-server-flaws-exploited-to-deploy-keylogger-in-targeted-attacks\/"},"modified":"2024-05-22T04:41:00","modified_gmt":"2024-05-22T07:41:00","slug":"ms-exchange-server-flaws-exploited-to-deploy-keylogger-in-targeted-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blog.lineasdns.com\/en\/ms-exchange-server-flaws-exploited-to-deploy-keylogger-in-targeted-attacks\/","title":{"rendered":"MS Exchange Server Flaws Exploited to Deploy Keylogger in Targeted Attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"articlebody\">\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both;\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.lineasdns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1737236104_432_ms.jpg\" style=\"clear: left; display: block; float: left;  text-align: center;\"><\/a><\/div>\n<p>An unknown threat actor is exploiting known security flaws in Microsoft Exchange Server to deploy a keylogger malware in attacks targeting entities in Africa and the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>Russian cybersecurity firm Positive Technologies said it identified over 30 victims spanning government agencies, banks, IT companies, and educational institutions. The first-ever compromise dates back to 2021.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This keylogger was collecting account credentials into a file accessible via a special path from the internet,&#8221; the company <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ptsecurity.com\/ww-en\/analytics\/pt-esc-threat-intelligence\/positive-technologies-detects-a-series-of-attacks-via-microsoft-exchange-server\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> in a report published last week.<\/p>\n<p>Countries targeted by the intrusion set include Russia, the U.A.E., Kuwait, Oman, Niger, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Jordan, and Lebanon.<\/p>\n<div class=\"dog_two clear\"><center class=\"cf\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/thehackernews.uk\/gartner-endpoint-protection-d-v1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener sponsored\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Cybersecurity\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload\" alt=\"Cybersecurity\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.lineasdns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/GartnerMQ-d-v1.jpg\" width=\"727\" height=\"90\"\/><\/a><\/center><\/div>\n<p>The attack chains commence with the exploitation of <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/thehackernews.com\/2021\/08\/microsoft-exchange-under-attack-with.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ProxyShell flaws<\/a> (CVE-2021-34473, CVE-2021-34523, and CVE-2021-31207) that were originally patched by Microsoft in May 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Successful <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cloud.google.com\/blog\/topics\/threat-intelligence\/pst-want-shell-proxyshell-exploiting-microsoft-exchange-servers\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">exploitation of the vulnerabilities<\/a> could allow an attacker to bypass authentication, elevate their privileges, and carry out unauthenticated, remote code execution. The exploitation chain was <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zerodayinitiative.com\/blog\/2021\/8\/17\/from-pwn2own-2021-a-new-attack-surface-on-microsoft-exchange-proxyshell\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">discovered and published<\/a> by Orange Tsai from the DEVCORE Research Team.<\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both;\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.lineasdns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1737236105_21_attack.png\" style=\"clear: left; display: block; float: left;  text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.lineasdns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1737236105_21_attack.png\" alt=\"MS Exchange Server Flaws\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"672\" data-original-width=\"1430\" title=\"MS Exchange Server Flaws\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>The ProxyShell exploitation is followed by the threat actors adding the keylogger to the server main page (&#8220;logon.aspx&#8221;), in addition to injecting code responsible for capturing the credentials to a file accessible from the internet upon clicking the sign in button.<\/p>\n<p>Positive Technologies said it cannot attribute the attacks to a known threat actor or group at this stage without additional information.<\/p>\n<div class=\"dog_two clear\"><center class=\"cf\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/thehackernews.uk\/itdr-guide-d\" rel=\"nofollow noopener sponsored\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Cybersecurity\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload\" alt=\"Cybersecurity\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.lineasdns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1735742824_221_per-d.png\" width=\"727\" height=\"90\"\/><\/a><\/center><\/div>\n<p>Besides updating their Microsoft Exchange Server instances to the latest version, organizations are urged to look for potential signs of compromise in the Exchange Server&#8217;s main page, including the clkLgn() function where the keylogger is inserted.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If your server has been compromised, identify the account data that has been stolen and delete the file where this data is stored by hackers,&#8221; the company said. &#8220;You can find the path to this file in the logon.aspx file.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/>\n<center><\/p>\n<p>________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Here, we deliver the latest insights from the world of cybersecurity, featuring updates from industry leaders and our trusted partners. Stay ahead of emerging threats, cutting-edge solutions, and the opportunities defining the future of digital security. \ud83d\udee1\ufe0f\ud83c\udf10<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for trusting us as your guide. \ud83d\udd12 Together, we\u2019re building a safer digital world!<\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/thehackernews.com\/2024\/05\/ms-exchange-server-flaws-exploited-to.html?rand=1734\">Source Link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An unknown threat actor is exploiting known security flaws in Microsoft Exchange Server to deploy a keylogger malware&hellip;","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[84,77,70,69,71,72,73,78,74,75,80,82,81,79,76,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-5563","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hacker-news","8":"tag-computer-security","9":"tag-cyber-attacks","10":"tag-cyber-news","11":"tag-cyber-security-news","12":"tag-cyber-security-news-today","13":"tag-cyber-security-updates","14":"tag-cyber-updates","15":"tag-data-breach","16":"tag-hacker-news","17":"tag-hacking-news","18":"tag-how-to-hack","19":"tag-information-security","20":"tag-network-security","21":"tag-ransomware-malware","22":"tag-software-vulnerability","23":"tag-the-hacker-news","24":"cs-entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.lineasdns.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.lineasdns.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.lineasdns.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.lineasdns.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.lineasdns.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.lineasdns.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.lineasdns.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.lineasdns.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.lineasdns.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.lineasdns.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}