Google exposes malicious exploits targeting Windows and Android users

Google’s Venture Zero is an initiative geared toward uncovering zero-day vulnerabilities and different bugs that may very well be exploited to contaminate programs and units with malware. Now the group has revealed a string of vulnerabilities which may have affected a lot of customers had they not been patched.

SEE: Meet the hackers who earn millions for saving the web, one bug at a time (cover story PDF) (TechRepublic) 

In a series of blog posts printed Tuesday, Google revealed that it found two malicious servers set to ship completely different exploit campaigns by watering hole attacks. In such an assault, cybercriminals decide which web sites are visited by completely different organizations or teams after which compromise these websites with malware hoping to contaminate the guests.

One server caught by Google focused Windows customers, whereas the opposite server was geared toward Android customers. Each servers used Google Chrome vulnerabilities to attempt to remotely execute code on affected units. The exploits for Chrome and Home windows included zero-day vulnerabilities, whereas the one for Android took benefit of n-day vulnerabilities.

A zero-day vulnerability is one that’s newly found however is unknown to the seller, and subsequently no patch is but obtainable. An n-day vulnerability is one that’s publicly recognized and presumably patched by the seller however nonetheless exploitable.

N-day vulnerabilities will be extra problematic as they shortly turn into widespread information amongst hackers and cybercriminals. In some circumstances, the patch issued by the seller additionally must be utilized on the shopper facet with the intention to mitigate the risk on a widespread foundation.

Analyzing the hacker’s habits, Google mentioned it believes that they had entry to zero-day vulnerabilities in Android though the Venture Zero group did not discover any. However the specialists have been in a position to extract the next particulars from the exploit servers:

• Renderer exploits for 4 bugs in Chrome, one in every of which was nonetheless a zero-day on the time of the invention.
• Two sandbox escape exploits abusing three zero-day vulnerabilities in Home windows.
• A “privilege escalation equipment” composed of publicly recognized n-day exploits for older variations of Android.

In some cases, the hackers used an exploit to seize the fingerprints of customers contained in the sandbox. In these circumstances, the attackers gathered a whole lot of information from the consumer’s personal machine earlier than deciding whether or not or to not pursue the exploit. In different circumstances, the attackers opted to completely exploit a system with out losing any time.

In 5 follow-up weblog posts, Google shows and describes the code utilized in these exploit assaults.

All of the found zero-day exploits have been patched final 12 months by the suitable distributors as detailed by the next CVEs (Frequent Vulnerabilities and Exposures).

• CVE-2020-6418—Chrome Vulnerability in TurboFan (fastened February 2020)
• CVE-2020-0938—Font Vulnerability on Home windows (fastened April 2020)
• CVE-2020-1020—Font Vulnerability on Home windows (fastened April 2020)
• CVE-2020-1027—Home windows CSRSS Vulnerability (fastened April 2020)

“These exploit chains are designed for effectivity and suppleness by their modularity,” Google mentioned in its weblog submit. “They’re well-engineered, advanced code with a wide range of novel exploitation strategies, mature logging, subtle and calculated post-exploitation methods, and excessive volumes of anti-analysis and concentrating on checks. We consider that groups of specialists have designed and developed these exploit chains.”

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