Publications

Greetings, This week, a major phishing campaign has led to a large supply chain compromise, targeting the npm (node package manager) ecosystem. Npm is a critical registry hosting over two million reusable code packages used worldwide by developers. The incident began when attackers registered a lookalike domain, npmjs.help, and sent out emails designed to mimic official npm security communications. These emails urged developers to update their two-factor authentication (2FA) credentials. At least one prominent developer fell victim to the phishing attempt, allowing attackers to take control of his account. With access secured, the attackers injected malicious code into at least 18 widely used npm packages, collectively downloaded 2.7 billion times per week. According to security vendor Aikido, the injected code was designed to run on client websites, silently intercepting cryptocurrency and web3 activity. The code manipulated wallet interactions and rewrote payment destinations so that funds and approvals were redirected to attacker-controlled accounts. The attack was particularly insidious because it operated without obvious signs, making detection difficult for end users. The compromise has since been identified and cleanup efforts are underway, though researchers warn that additional developers are being targeted by the same unknown threat actor. The scale of the incident has raised significant concerns across the development community, given how widely npm packages are integrated into both small projects and large-scale enterprise systems. Critical SAP S/4HANA vulnerability now exploited in attacks Date: 2025-09-05 Author: Bleeping Computer A critical SAP S/4HANA code injection vulnerability is being leveraged in attacks in the wild to breach exposed servers, researchers warn. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2025-42957, is an ABAP code injection problem in an RFC-exposed function module of SAP S/4HANA, allowing low-privileged authentication users to inject arbitrary code, bypass authorization, and fully take over SAP. Adobe Commerce Flaw CVE-2025-54236 Lets Hackers Take Over Customer Accounts Date: 2025-09-10 Author: The Hacker News [See AUSCERT bulletin: https://portal.auscert.org.au/bulletins/ESB-2025.6320/] Adobe has warned of a critical security flaw in its Commerce and Magento Open Source platforms that, if successfully exploited, could allow attackers to take control of customer accounts. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-54236 (aka SessionReaper), carries a CVSS score of 9.1 out of a maximum of 10.0. It has been described as an improper input validation flaw. Adobe said it's not aware of any exploits in the wild. More npm packages poisoned, but would-be thieves get little Date: 2025-09-09 Author: The Register During the two-hour window on Monday in which hijacked npm versions were available for download, malware-laced packages reached one in 10 cloud environments, according to Wiz researchers. But crypto-craving crims did little more than annoy defenders. Microsoft Patch Tuesday addresses 81 vulnerabilities, none actively exploited Date: 2025-09-09 Author: CyberScoop [AUSCERT has published security bulletins for these Microsoft updates] The most severe defect disclosed this month — CVE-2025-55232 — is a deserialization of untrusted data vulnerability affecting Microsoft High Performance Compute Pack with a CVSS rating of 9.8. Microsoft said exploitation is less likely, but researchers warned organizations to prioritize patching. Fortinet, Ivanti, Nvidia Release Security Updates Date: 2025-09-10 Author: Security Week [AUSCERT has published security bulletins for these Fortinet updates] Fortinet, Ivanti, and Nvidia on Tuesday announced security updates that address over a dozen high- and medium-severity vulnerabilities across their product portfolios. Ivanti resolved two high-severity insufficient filename validation issues in Endpoint Manager (EPM) that could be exploited remotely, without authentication, to execute arbitrary code. The exploitation of both defects, however, require user interaction. ASB-2025.0158 – Microsoft Azure: CVSS (Max): 9.8 Microsoft has released its monthly security patch update for the month of September 2025, which resolves 3 important vulnerabilities with Azure Connected Machine Agent and HPC Pack 2019. Microsoft recommends updating the software to the latest available version available on the Microsoft Update Catalog. ESB-2025.6253 – IBM MQ container software: CVSS (Max): 9.8 Multiple vulnerabilities were addressed in IBM MQ Operator and Queue manager container images, such as memory corruption issues, crashes and denial of service. IBM strongly recommends applying the latest container images. ESB-2025.6435 – kernel: CVSS (Max): 7.8 An update for kernel is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.0 Update Services for SAP Solutions, resolving various security issues and exploited vulnerability as identified on the CISA KEV list. ESB-2025.6441 – Daikin Security Gateway: CVSS (Max): 9.8 A weak password recovery mechanism for forgotten passwords has been identified in this product. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to gain unauthorized access to the system. Daikin has reported they will not fix this vulnerability and will respond directly to user inquiries. ESB-2025.6437 – imagemagick: CVSS (Max): 9.8 Multiple memory corruption vulnerbilities were discovered in imagemagick, a software suit used for editing and manipulating digital images, which could lead to information leak, denial of service, and potentially arbitrary code execution. It is recommended that you upgrade your imagemagick packages. Stay safe, stay patched and have a good weekend! The AUSCERT team

Greetings, We’re excited to release a brand-new episode of the Share Today, Save Tomorrow podcast, Episode 44: Security2Cure – Where Cyber Meets Health Planning. In this powerful episode, host Bek Cheb speaks with Zane Jarvis, founder of the charity Security2Cure, an initiative born from personal tragedy and driven by a mission to raise awareness around cancer, health planning, and digital preparedness. Zane shares his deeply personal story and explains how core cyber security principles have inspired a unique framework for personal wellbeing and future planning. With Security2Cure’s upcoming Brisbane conference on the 10th October, this episode offers the perfect opportunity to explore the charity’s mission and learn more about their work. This is an episode you won’t want to miss, and it’s available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube now. This week, a widespread supply chain attack linked to Salesloft Drift has impacted hundreds of organisations, including Cloudflare, Zscaler, Palo Alto Networks, PagerDuty, and SpyCloud. While Salesloft initially claimed exposure was limited to Salesforce-integrated customers, Google’s Threat Intelligence Group and Mandiant have warned that any platform integrated with Drift may be compromised. The attack, attributed to threat group UNC6395, led to the exposure of sensitive customer data such as business emails, phone numbers, support case details, and, in some cases, credentials. While no core products or infrastructure were directly breached, many companies are rotating tokens, tightening security, and investigating potential impacts. Salesloft announced that Drift will be taken offline to strengthen security and conduct a full review. The incident highlights the growing risks of third-party integrations, with more than 700 organizations potentially affected. Google warns Salesloft breach impacted some Workspace accounts Date: 2025-08-28 Author: Bleeping Computer Google now reports that the Salesloft Drift breach is larger than initially thought, warning that attackers also used stolen OAuth tokens to access a small number of Google Workspace email accounts in addition to stealing data from Salesforce instances. "Based on new information identified by GTIG, the scope of this compromise is not exclusive to the Salesforce integration with Salesloft Drift and impacts other integrations,' warns Google. "We now advise all Salesloft Drift customers to treat any and all authentication tokens stored in or connected to the Drift platform as potentially compromised." NIST Enhances Security Controls for Improved Patching Date: 2025-09-02 Author: Dark Reading Addressing the ongoing patch management problem requires more finessing, especially to protect the software supply chain. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) revised its Security and Privacy Control catalog to help vendors and organizations improve software update and patch release protocols. Originally published in 2020, the Security and Privacy Control catalog details security and privacy safeguards to help organizations mitigate cyber-risks. Federal information systems are required to implement the controls, but the catalog is intended for the private and public sectors. It covers access, authentication, incident response, and supply chain risk management. WhatsApp Patches Zero-Click Exploit Targeting iOS and macOS Devices Date: 2025-08-30 Author: The Hacker News WhatsApp has addressed a security vulnerability in its messaging apps for Apple iOS and macOS that it said may have been exploited in the wild in conjunction with a recently disclosed Apple flaw in targeted zero-day attacks. The vulnerability, CVE-2025-55177 (CVSS score: 8.0 [CISA-ADP]/5.4 [Facebook]), relates to a case of insufficient authorization of linked device synchronization messages. Internal researchers on the WhatsApp Security Team have been credited with discovering and rerating the bug. The Meta-owned company said the issue "could have allowed an unrelated user to trigger processing of content from an arbitrary URL on a target's device." Amazon Disrupts APT29 Watering Hole Campaign Abusing Microsoft Device Code Authentication Date: 2025-08-29 Author: The Hacker News Amazon on Friday said it flagged and disrupted what it described as an opportunistic watering hole campaign orchestrated by the Russia-linked APT29 actors as part of their intelligence gathering efforts. The campaign used "compromised websites to redirect visitors to malicious infrastructure designed to trick users into authorizing attacker-controlled devices through Microsoft's device code authentication flow," Amazon's Chief Information Security Officer CJ Moses said. Melbourne dev finds gift card PINs can be brute-forced Date: 2025-09-03 Author: itnews Gift cards sold in Australian supermarkets can have their PINs easily guessed, thanks to a vulnerability on the issuer's website, opening them up to redemption by thieves who only need to know the card number to access the stored funds. The vulnerability was discovered by Melbourne developer Simon Dean who bought two gift cards worth $500 each, which he intended to use to purchase a laptop at JB Hi-Fi with. After buying the cards, Dean ran into trouble redeeming them as the cards had had the last four digits scratched off them. ESB-2025.6241 – Ruby It was discovered that Ruby incorrectly handled certain IO stream methods. A remote attacker could use this issue to cause Ruby to crash, resulting in a denial of service, or possibly obtain sensitive information. ASB-2025.0156.2 – Salesloft Drift Several major firms, including ZScaler, Cloudflare, and Palo Alto Networks, confirmed breaches of their Salesforce databases. The incidents stem from a data theft campaign exploiting the third-party Salesloft Drift integration with Salesforce. ESB-2025.6176 – Google Android The Android Security Bulletin contains details of security vulnerabilities affecting Android devices. The most severe of these issues is a critical security vulnerability in the System component that could lead to remote (proximal/adjacent) code execution with no additional execution privileges needed. ESB-2025.6205 – Cisco Products A vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco Evolved Programmable Network Manager (EPNM) and Cisco Prime Infrastructure could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to obtain sensitive information from an affected system. Stay safe, stay patched and have a good weekend! The AUSCERT team

LISTEN HERE: AUSCERT “Share Today, Save Tomorrow” – ep 44: Security2Cure: Where Cyber Meets Health Planning In this powerful episode of the AUSCERT podcast, host Bek Cheb speaks with Zane, founder of Security2Cure, a charity born from personal tragedy and driven by a mission to raise awareness around cancer and health planning. Zane shares how cyber security principles like plan, prevent, detect, and respond have inspired a framework for personal wellbeing, and how the cyber security community has rallied behind his cause. From digital estate planning to emotional support, this episode explores the human side of tech and the importance of preparing for life’s unexpected challenges. This episode was hosted by Bek ChebThe AUSCERT podcast can also be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts Also now available to watch on our Youtube Channel! 

Greetings, The team are already hard at work planning another amazing AUSCERT conference, and we’re excited to share these key dates with you! AUSCERT2026 will run from 19–22 May at The Star, Gold Coast. Tutorials will take place on 19 and 20 May, followed by the main conference on 21 and 22 May. Don’t miss the Welcome Reception at 5:00 PM on 20 May, or the Gala Dinner on 21 May. Stay tuned for more details, including the Call for Tutorials in October and the Call for Presentations in November. We can’t wait to see you there! This week marked Scams Awareness Week, a nationwide campaign aimed at helping Australians stay safe online. This year’s theme, “Stop. Check. Protect.” encourages us all to pause before clicking, verify information, and take proactive steps to safeguard our personal and financial details. The Scamwatch “Scam Statistics” page is a standout resource, providing an interactive dashboard that allows you to explore real-time data on scam reports. Every report feeds into a national intelligence network that contributes to early detection and disruption efforts. You can see which scams are growing, which methods are being used most effectively, and where education and awareness are making an impact. Docker Fixes CVE-2025-9074, Critical Container Escape Vulnerability With CVSS Score 9.3 Date: 2025-08-25 Author: The Hacker News Docker has released fixes to address a critical security flaw affecting the Docker Desktop app for Windows and macOS that could potentially allow an attacker to break out of the confines of a container. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-9074, carries a CVSS score of 9.3 out of 10.0. It has been addressed in version 4.44.3. Over 28,000 Citrix instances remain exposed to critical RCE flaw CVE-2025-7775 Date: 2025-08-27 Author: Security Affairs [See AUSCERT bulletin: https://portal.auscert.org.au/bulletins/ESB-2025.5974] Experts at the Shadowserver Foundation warn that more than 28,200 Citrix instances are vulnerable to the vulnerability CVE-2025-7775, which is under active exploitation. CVE-2025-7775 (CVSS score: 9.2) is a memory overflow vulnerability leading to Remote Code Execution and/or Denial-of-Service. This week, Citrix addressed three security flaws (CVE-2025-7775, CVE-2025-7776, CVE-2025-8424) in NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway, including one (CVE-2025-7775) that it said has been actively exploited in the wild. CISA warns of actively exploited Git code execution flaw Date: 2025-08-26 Author: Bleeping Computer [See AUSCERT bulletin: https://portal.auscert.org.au/bulletins/ESB-2025.5077] The U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is warning of hackers exploiting an arbitrary code execution flaw in the Git distributed version control system. The agency has added the vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog and has set the patch deadline for federal agencies to September 15th. Git version control system allows software development teams to track codebase changes over time. The library is the backbone of modern software collaboration, serving as the basis for platforms such as GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket. High-severity vulnerability in Passwordstate credential manager. Patch now. Date: 2025-08-29 Author: Ars Technica The maker of Passwordstate, an enterprise-grade password manager for storing companies’ most privileged credentials, is urging them to promptly install an update fixing a high-severity vulnerability that hackers can exploit to gain administrative access to their vaults. The authentication bypass allows hackers to create a URL that accesses an emergency access page for Passwordstate. From there, an attacker could pivot to the administrative section of the password manager. A CVE identifier isn’t yet available. A hacker used AI to automate an 'unprecedented' cybercrime spree, Anthropic says Date: 2025-08-27 Author: NBC News A hacker has exploited a leading artificial intelligence chatbot to conduct the most comprehensive and lucrative AI cybercriminal operation known to date, using it to do everything from find targets to write ransom notes. In a report published Tuesday, Anthropic, the company behind the popular Claude chatbot, said that an unnamed hacker “used AI to what we believe is an unprecedented degree” to research, hack and extort at least 17 companies. ESB-2025.5938 – Atlassian Products: CVSS (Max): 9.4 Atlassian monthly bulletin addresses 14 high-severity and 1 critical-severity vulnerabilities. Users are advised to upgrade their Server/Data Center instances to the latest versions. ESB-2025.5966 – IBM Security QRadar SIEM: CVSS (Max): 9.8 IBM has addressed vulnerable open-source components such as Linux kernel and Python libraries in QRadar SIEM which may be exploitable via automated scanning tools. ESB-2025.5974 – Citrix Products: CVSS (Max): 9.2 Citrix has released urgent patches addressing three serious vulnerabilities in NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway—including a critical zero-day memory-overflow flaw actively exploited in the wild, and additional memory-overflow & management-interface access control issues. ESB-2025.6029 – GitLab Community Edition and Enterprise Edition: CVSS (Max): 6.5 GitLab delivered patch releases 18.3.1, 18.2.5, and 18.1.5 for both CE and EE, addressing multiple security and bug fixes, and strongly urges all self-managed users to upgrade immediately. Stay safe, stay patched and have a good weekend! The AUSCERT team

We’re excited to announce that AUSCERT training participants will now receive digital badges via Credly upon completing their course. These verified badges make demonstrating your achievements even easier, allowing you to share your accreditation across various platforms, including LinkedIn, resumes, and professional profiles. Upon completing your AUSCERT training course, you will receive an email directly from Credly with instructions on how to claim your digital badge. By sharing your Credly badge on LinkedIn and other professional platforms, you can highlight your cyber security skills and training achievements, demonstrate your commitment to ongoing professional development, and differentiate yourself among peers and potential employers in the industry. Additionally, your badge includes a direct link to course sign-ups, making it easier for others to explore and enrol in the same training. We encourage all participants to claim and share their Credly badges to inspire others in pursuing professional development in cyber security. For more details on accessing and using your badge, please refer to Credly’s help page.

Greetings, We are excited to announce the release of a new episode of Share Today, Save Tomorrow – Episode 43: Behind the Code: Josh Hopkins on Building, Leading, and Leveling Up AUSCERT. In this episode, host Bek Cheb sits down with Josh, our Team Leader of Development, for an open and insightful chat about life behind the screens in cyber defence. From his unexpected journey into cyber security to leading a dynamic development team, Josh reflects on the twists and turns of his career, describes the sometimes-unpredictable nature of a typical working day, and how experimentation, collaboration, and a passion for building innovation within the team makes working at AUSCERT so unique. This episode is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. This week, iiNet, owned by TPG Telecom, has confirmed that an unknown third party gained unauthorised access to iiNet’s order management system on Saturday, August 16, 2025. The breach led to the extraction of approximately 280,000 email addresses, along with 10,000 usernames, phone numbers, and nearly 1,700 modem setup passwords, though no financial or identity documents were compromised. TPG responded swiftly by isolating the breach, engaging external cyber security experts, and initiating its incident response plan immediately upon discovery. Customers are being contacted directly and urged to remain vigilant against phishing attempts. Apple fixes new zero-day flaw exploited in targeted attacks Date: 2025-08-20 Author: Bleeping Computer [AUSCERT has published security bulletins for these Apple updates] Apple has released emergency updates to patch another zero-day vulnerability that was exploited in an "extremely sophisticated attack." Tracked as CVE-2025-43300, this security flaw is caused by an out-of-bounds write weakness discovered by Apple security researchers in the Image I/O framework, which enables applications to read and write most image file formats. Cisco Patches Critical Vulnerability in Firewall Management Platform Date: 2025-08-15 Author: Security Week [AUSCERT has published security bulletins for these Cisco updates] Cisco has published more than 20 security advisories as part of its August 2025 bundled publication for Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC), Secure Firewall Threat Defense (FTD), and Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) products. The most serious vulnerability — based on its severity rating — is CVE-2025-20265, a critical flaw affecting the Secure FMC platform designed for managing and monitoring Cisco FTD appliances and other security solutions. TPG Telecom reveals iiNet order management system breached Date: 2025-08-19 Author: iTnews TPG Telecom has revealed that iiNet’s order management system was breached by an unknown attacker who abused legitimate credentials to gain access. The telco said that it “appears” that a list of email addresses and phone numbers was extracted from the system. The order management system is used to create and track orders for iiNet services. Microsoft: Recent Windows updates may fail to install via WUSA Date: 2025-08-18 Author: Bleeping Computer Microsoft has mitigated a known issue that caused Windows update failures when installing them from a network share using the Windows Update Standalone Installer (WUSA). WUSA is a built-in command-line tool that helps IT admins install and uninstall Microsoft Standalone Update (.msu) files through the Windows Update Agent API to deploy and remove patches, hotfixes, and updates. This known issue affects Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025 systems on enterprise networks, as WUSA isn't a common method for installing Windows updates on home devices. HR giant Workday discloses data breach after Salesforce attack Date: 2025-08-18 Author: Bleeping Computer Human resources giant Workday has disclosed a data breach after attackers gained access to a third-party customer relationship management (CRM) platform in a recent social engineering attack. As the company revealed in a Friday blog, the attackers gained access to some of the information stored on the compromised CRM systems, adding that no customer tenants were impacted. ESB-2025.5731 – Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center Software: CVSS (Max): 10.0 A vulnerability in the RADIUS subsystem implementation of Cisco Secure Firewall Management Center (FMC) Software could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to inject arbitrary shell commands that are executed by the device. Cisco has released software updates that address this vulnerability. ESB-2025.5888 – firefox-esr: CVSS (Max): 9.8 Multiple security issues have been found and patched in the Mozilla Firefox web browser, which could potentially result in the execution of arbitrary code, sandbox escape or bypass of the same-origin policy. ESB-2025.5881 – Linux kernel (IoT): CVSS (Max): 9.8* Several security issues were discovered and patched in the Linux kernel. An attacker could possibly use these to compromise the system. ESB-2025.5710 – IBM Security QRadar SIEM: CVSS (Max): 9.4 Vulnerable components in IBM Security QRadar SIEM (e.g., framework libraries) have been identified that may be exploited with automated tools. IBM QRadar Data Synchronization app for IBM QRadar SIEM has addressed the applicable CVEs. ESB-2025.5788 – Apache HTTP Server: CVSS (Max): 9.1 Several security issues were fixed in Apache HTTP Server that potentially allowed remote attackers to perform HTTP response splitting attacks, send outbound proxy requests to an arbitrary url, insert escape characters into log files, bypass access control, denial of service, or perform configuration changes in certain environments. Stay safe, stay patched and have a good weekend! The AUSCERT team

LISTEN HERE: AUSCERT “Share Today, Save Tomorrow” – ep 43: Behind the Code – Josh Hopkins on Building, Leading, and Leveling Up AUSCERT   In this episode Bek Cheb sits down with AUSCERT’s Team Leader of Development, Josh Hopkins, for a candid and insightful conversation. From his journey into cyber security to leading a dynamic dev team, Josh shares how experimentation, collaboration, and a passion for building drive innovation at AUSCERT. Discover the human side of tech leadership, the power of hybrid work, and why documenting everything might just be the secret to success. Whether you’re in cybersecurity or simply curious about what goes on behind the scenes, this episode is packed with inspiration and practical wisdom. This episode was hosted by Bek Cheb The AUSCERT podcast can also be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts

Greetings, Over the weekend of August 10–11, the University of Western Australia (UWA) was forced to lock thousands of staff and students out of its systems after detecting unauthorised access to password information. The breach prompted an immediate and large-scale security response, with all users required to reset their credentials before regaining access. The university’s critical incident management team worked through the weekend to contain the threat and has confirmed there is currently no evidence that any data beyond password details was compromised. UWA notified authorities immediately, and a full investigation is underway alongside a review of existing security measures to strengthen defences. UWA has issued an apology to those affected, stressing its commitment to swift action and transparency. This incident comes amid heightened scrutiny of data protection in Australia, following recent legal proceedings against Optus over its 2022 breach. Whilst this incident did not involve personal or sensitive information, it highlights the growing urgency for educational institutions to protect such data against evolving cyber threats. Zoom and Xerox Release Critical Security Updates Fixing Privilege Escalation and RCE Flaws Date: 2025-08-13 Author: The Hacker News [See AUSCERT bulletin: https://portal.auscert.org.au/bulletins/ESB-2025.5516/] Zoom and Xerox have addressed critical security flaws in Zoom Clients for Windows and FreeFlow Core that could allow privilege escalation and remote code execution. The vulnerability impacting Zoom Clients for Windows, tracked as CVE-2025-49457 (CVSS score: 9.6), relates to a case of an untrusted search path that could pave the way for privilege escalation. Fortinet Warns About FortiSIEM Vulnerability (CVE-2025-25256) With In-the-Wild Exploit Code Date: 2025-08-13 Author: The Hacker News [See AUSCERT bulletin: https://portal.auscert.org.au/bulletins/ESB-2025.5593.2/] Fortinet is alerting customers of a critical security flaw in FortiSIEM for which it said there exists an exploit in the wild. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-25256, carries a CVSS score of 9.8 out of a maximum of 10.0. “An improper neutralization of special elements used in an OS command (‘OS Command Injection’) vulnerability [CWE-78] in FortiSIEM may allow an unauthenticated attacker to execute unauthorized code or commands via crafted CLI requests,” the company said in a Tuesday advisory. Microsoft August 2025 Patch Tuesday fixes one zero-day, 107 flaws Date: 2025-08-12 Author: Bleeping Computer [AUSCERT has published security bulletins for these Microsoft updates] The monthly Microsoft Patch Tuesday for August contains 107 flaws, including 13 critical vulnerabilities and one publicly disclosed zero-day vulnerability in Window Kerberos. Of the 13 critical vulnerabilities, 9 are remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities, 3 are information disclosure, and 1 is elevation of privileges. The zero-day is a flaw in Microsoft SQL Server. Trend Micro reports two critical CVEs under active exploit Date: 2025-08-10 Author: The Register A critical vulnerability in the on-prem version of Trend Micro’s Apex One endpoint security platform is under active exploitation, the company admitted last week, and there’s no patch available. Trend Micro last week warned Apex One 2019 customers about CVE-2025-54948 and CVE-2025-54987, both with a CVSS score of 9.4 and both present in the platform’s web-based managed console. Australian Regulator Sues Optus Over 2022 Data Breach Date: 2025-08-08 Author: Infosecurity Magazine The Australian Information Commissioner (AIC) has launched civil action against Optus for a 2022 data breach that exposed the personal details of 9.5 million Australians. The lawsuit alleges that telecommunications firm Optus failed to take reasonable steps to protect victims’ personal information from unauthorized access and disclosure, in breach of Australia’s Privacy Act 1988. ESB-2025.5593.2 – Fortinet FortiSIEM An improper neutralization of special elements used in an OS command (‘OS Command Injection’) vulnerability [CWE-78] in FortiSIEM may allow an unauthenticated attacker to execute unauthorized code or commands via crafted CLI requests. ESB-2025.5622 – Cortex XDR Broker VM A credential management flaw in Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR Broker VM causes different Broker VM images to share identical default credentials for internal services. ASB-2025.0155 – Microsoft Windows Microsoft has released its monthly security patch update for the month of August 2025. This update resolves 67 vulnerabilities. ESB-2025.5516 – Zoom Untrusted search path in certain Zoom Clients for Windows may allow an unauthenticated user to conduct an escalation of privilege via network access. Stay safe, stay patched and have a good weekend! The AUSCERT team

Greetings, New insights suggests that the recent Qantas data breach impacting an estimated 5.7 million customers may be the work of the notorious ShinyHunters hacking collective, rather than Scattered Spider, as was initially suspected. Investigators are now drawing connections between ShinyHunters and a growing wave of cyber attacks targeting Salesforce CRM platforms. Recent victims of similar attacks include Allianz Life, LVMH, Adidas, Google and now, potentially, Qantas. Reports suggest that the threat actors employed vishing techniques (voice phishing) in conjunction with modified versions of Salesforce’s Data Loader tool to extract sensitive customer records. This method demonstrates the group’s ability to combine social engineering with technical exploitation to bypass conventional security measures. Recent reports also reveal that Google suffered a breach in this same wave of attacks, with ShinyHunters allegedly using identical techniques to access Salesforce data linked to customer support operations. This reinforces the theory that the group is systematically exploiting CRM platforms and supply chain connections across multiple sectors. The Qantas breach highlights the evolving nature of cyber criminal alliances and the growing risks associated with cloud-based platforms, particularly when combined with sophisticated social engineering campaigns. Organisations using Salesforce and similar CRM systems are being urged to review access controls, monitor for anomalous activity, and strengthen employee awareness programs to reduce the risk of compromise. Organizations Warned of Vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange Hybrid Deployment Date: 2025-08-07 Author: Security Week [Please also see AUSCERT bulletin: https://portal.auscert.org.au/bulletins/ASB-2025.0144/] Microsoft on Wednesday informed organizations about a high-severity vulnerability affecting hybrid deployments of Exchange Server. According to Microsoft, the vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-53786, can be exploited by an attacker to escalate privileges. “In an Exchange hybrid deployment, an attacker who first gains administrative access to an on-premises Exchange server could potentially escalate privileges within the organization’s connected cloud environment without leaving easily detectable and auditable trace,” Microsoft explained. Mozilla flags phishing wave aimed at hijacking trusted Firefox add-ons Date: 2025-08-04 Author: The Register Mozilla is warning of an ongoing phishing campaign targeting developers of Firefox add-ons. The browser maker urged devs to "exercise extreme caution and scrutiny" when reviewing seemingly legitimate emails from senders pretending to be Mozilla or AMO (addons.mozilla.org). Although phishing emails can take many forms, Moz said this campaign usually lures devs into clicking through a malicious link to update their account. Failure to do so, or so the crims claim, would result in the dev losing access to developer features. Cisco discloses data breach impacting Cisco.com user accounts Date: 2025-08-05 Author: Bleeping Computer [Please also see AUSCERT bulletin: https://portal.auscert.org.au/bulletins/ASB-2025.0143/] Cisco has disclosed that cybercriminals stole the basic profile information of users registered on Cisco.com following a voice phishing (vishing) attack that targeted a company representative. After becoming aware of the incident on July 24th, the networking equipment giant discovered that the attacker tricked an employee and gained access to a third-party cloud-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system used by Cisco. Perplexity vexed by Cloudflare's claims its bots are bad Date: 2025-08-05 Author: The Register AI search biz Perplexity claims that Cloudflare has mischaracterized its site crawlers as malicious bots and that the content delivery network made technical errors in its analysis of Perplexity's operations. Akira Ransomware Hits SonicWall VPNs, Deploys Drivers to Bypass Security Date: 2025-08-06 Author: Hack Read GuidePoint Security uncovers a new Akira ransomware tactic targeting SonicWall VPNs. The group’s use of drivers to disable defenses is a significant threat to businesses. A new report by cybersecurity firm GuidePoint Security reveals a clever new method used by the Akira ransomware group to attack computer networks. Researchers found that following initial access into systems, the hackers have been using two specific software drivers to secretly disable security tools, a key step before deploying their ransomware. ESB-2025.5345 – Google Android: CVSS (Max): 8.6* Google patches critical remote code execution vulnerability in the System component in Android 10, which can be exploited without user interaction or extra privileges. ESB-2025.5401 – Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Forms on JEE: CVSS (Max): 10.0 Adobe released a critical security update for Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Forms on JEE (versions 6.5.23.0 and earlier) to address two severe vulnerabilities: an XXE flaw allowing arbitrary file system reads, and a misconfiguration‑based flaw enabling arbitrary code execution. ASB-2025.0143 – Salesforce: CVSS (Max): None Threat actors are impersonating Salesforce IT support via vishing and phishing to trick users into installing malicious connected apps, enabling data exfiltration. Impacted organizations face delayed extortion attempts and potential lateral movement to cloud services like Microsoft 365 and Okta. ASB-2025.0144 – Microsoft Exchange Server: CVSS (Max): 8.0 Microsoft has issued a warning about a high-severity vulnerability (CVE‑2025‑53786) affecting hybrid Exchange deployments, where on-premises servers share a service principal with Exchange Online. Stay safe, stay patched and have a good weekend! The AUSCERT team

Greetings, This week, our team participated in the annual APCERT Cyber Drill 2025 alongside 24 Computer Incident Response Teams (CIRTs) from 18 economies This year’s theme “When Ransomware Meets Generative AI” tested the response capabilities of leading Asia-Pacific teams, emphasising the growing risks from the malicious use of this rapidly evolving technology. The simulated scenario, involving AI-generated malicious code and exploited open-source vulnerabilities, challenged participants to review and strengthen their incident response procedures. The drill highlighted the need for proactive preparedness as Generative AI reshapes the cyber threat landscape. AUSCERT is proud to support APCERT’s vision of fostering a safe and reliable cyberspace across the Asia–Pacific through global collaboration and shared expertise. The ACSC, alongside the FBI, CISA and NCSC UK, has released a new advisory on Scattered Spider — one of 2025’s most active and dangerous cybercrime groups. Linked to major breaches, the group targets large enterprises using identity-based attacks and sophisticated social engineering, including phishing, vishing, MFA fatigue, and SIM swaps. Once in, they hide behind legitimate remote access tools (AnyDesk, TeamViewer, Teleport), steal credentials, and deploy DragonForce ransomware with the intention of executing large-scale data theft. The advisory urges organisations to act now: adopt phishing-resistant MFA (like hardware keys), drop SMS or push-only authentication, tighten helpdesk verification, and monitor or restrict remote access tools. Offline, tested backups, detailed logging, and updated detection using IOCs and MITRE ATT&CK are also critical. Scattered Spider’s tactics are evolving fast. Strengthening MFA, access controls, helpdesk security and maintaining public awareness and education is essential to staying ahead. High-Severity SQL Injection (CVE-2025-52914) in Mitel MiCollab Allows Data Access, Command Execution Date: 2025-07-25 Author: Securityonline.info [AUSCERT has notified potentially affected members via email (where possible)] Mitel has released a security advisory addressing a high-severity SQL injection vulnerability in its MiCollab platform—an issue that could allow authenticated attackers to execute arbitrary database commands and compromise user provisioning data. Tracked as CVE-2025-52914, the vulnerability carries a CVSS score of 8.8. The vulnerability resides in the Suite Applications Services component of MiCollab, a key unified communications platform used by businesses worldwide. Fire Ant Exploits VMware Flaws to Compromise ESXi Hosts and vCenter Environments Date: 2025-08-24 Author: The Hacker News Virtualization and networking infrastructure have been targeted by a threat actor codenamed Fire Ant as part of a prolonged cyber espionage campaign. The activity, observed this year, is primarily designed Now to infiltrate organizations' VMware ESXi and vCenter environments as well as network appliances, Sygnia said in a new report published today. CISA Warns of Exploited Vulnerabilities in Cisco Products Date: 2025-08-29 Author: Infosecurity Magazine [See AUSCERT Bulletin https://portal.auscert.org.au/bulletins/ESB-2025.4160.4] The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added three new vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on July 28. These include two highly critical vulnerabilities in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) Software, a network security policy management platform that provides secure access control, authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) services for users and devices connecting to enterprise networks. Both vulnerabilities, tracked as CVE-2025-20281 and CVE-2025-20337, were discovered by security researchers working with the Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative and disclosed by Cisco on June 25. What if your passkey device is stolen? How to manage risk in our passwordless future Date: 2025-08-28 Author: ZDNET Part of the "passkeys are more secure than passwords" story is derived from the fact that passkeys are non-human-readable secrets — stored somewhere on your device — that even you have very limited access to. OK, so what happens to those passkeys if your device is stolen? ShinyHunters behind Salesforce data theft attacks at Qantas, Allianz Life, and LVMH Date: 2025-08-30 Author: Bleeping Computer A wave of data breaches impacting companies like Qantas, Allianz Life, LVMH, and Adidas has been linked to the ShinyHunters extortion group, which has been using voice phishing attacks to steal data from Salesforce CRM instances. In June, Google's Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) warned that threat actors tracked as UNC6040 were targeting Salesforce customers in social engineering attacks. In these attacks, the threat actors impersonated IT support staff in phone calls to targeted employees, attempting to persuade them into visiting Salesforce's connected app setup page. On this page, they were told to enter a "connection code", which linked a malicious version of Salesforce's Data Loader OAuth app to the target's Salesforce environment. ESB-2025.5186 – Tenable Patch Management An unauthenticated, remote attacker can exploit this to inject or manipulate SQL queries in the back-end database, resulting in the disclosure or manipulation of arbitrary data. ESB-2025.5182 – SQLite An attacker could use this issue to cause SQLite to crash, resulting in a denial of service, or possibly execute arbitrary code. ( CVE-2025-6965 ) ESB-2025.4160.4 – Cisco Products A vulnerability in an internal API of Cisco ISE and Cisco ISE-PIC could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to upload arbitrary files to an affected device and then execute those files on the underlying operating system as root. ESB-2025.5156 – chromium Security issues were discovered in Chromium which could result in the execution of arbitrary code, denial of service, or information disclosure. Stay safe, stay patched and have a good weekend! The AUSCERT team

Greetings, We’re excited to announce the release of another episode of Share Today, Save Tomorrow – Episode 42: Jess Modini on Curiosity, Cyber Security, and Cross-Disciplinary Thinking, brought to you by AUSCERT. And for the first time, you can now watch the full interview on our YouTube channel, giving you a front-row seat to this engaging and insightful discussion. In this episode, Jess Modini shares perspectives drawn from her extensive background in cyber security, including five master’s specialisations and her current doctoral research in cyber epidemiology. She explores how concepts from computational biology and health sciences such as the spread of pathogens can mirror the behaviours of malware and cyber threats. The conversation dives deep into the parallels between public health and cyber defence, emphasising the importance of cross-disciplinary thinking in improving threat modelling and incident response. Tune in now to discover how breaking down traditional silos can lead to smarter, more resilient cyber defence. Cisco Confirms Active Exploits Targeting ISE Flaws Enabling Unauthenticated Root Access Date: 2025-07-22 Author: The Hacker News [Please also see AUSCERT bulletin: https://portal.auscert.org.au/bulletins/ESB-2025.4160.2/] Cisco on Monday updated its advisory of a set of recently disclosed security flaws in Identity Services Engine (ISE) and ISE Passive Identity Connector (ISE-PIC) to acknowledge active exploitation. "In July 2025, the Cisco PSIRT [Product Security Incident Response Team], became aware of attempted exploitation of some of these vulnerabilities in the wild," the company said in an alert. HPE warns of hardcoded passwords in Aruba access points Date: 2025-07-20 Author: Bleeping Computer Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) is warning of hardcoded credentials in Aruba Instant On Access Points that allow attackers to bypass normal device authentication and access the web interface. Aruba Instant On Access Points are compact, plug-and-play wireless (Wi-Fi) devices, designed primarily for small to medium-sized businesses, offering enterprise-grade features (guest networks, traffic segmentation) with cloud/mobile app management. The security issue, tracked as CVE-2025-37103 and rated “critical” (CVSS v3.1 score: 9.8), impacts Instant On Access Points running firmware version 3.2.0.1 and below. Microsoft Confirms Hackers Exploiting SharePoint Flaws, Patch Now Date: 2025-07-21 Author: Hack Read [AUSCERT has published security bulletins for these Microsoft updates: https://portal.auscert.org.au/bulletins/ASB-2025.0142/] [AUSCERT has identified impacted members (where possible) and contacted them via email] Microsoft has released new security updates to fix two serious vulnerabilities affecting on-premises SharePoint servers, warning that attackers are already exploiting them in active campaigns. The vulnerabilities, identified as CVE-2025-53770 and CVE-2025-53771, are not present in SharePoint Online, but on-premises environments using SharePoint 2019 and the SharePoint Subscription Edition are directly at risk. Sophos fixed two critical Sophos Firewall vulnerabilities Date: 2025-07-23 Author: Security Affairs Sophos has fixed five vulnerabilities (CVE-2025-6704, CVE-2025-7624, CVE-2025-7382, CVE-2024-13974, CVE-2024-13973) in Sophos Firewall that could allow an attacker to remotely execute arbitrary code. “Sophos has resolved five independent security vulnerabilities in Sophos Firewall. Every Critical and High severity vulnerability was remediated through hotfixes.” reads the advisory. “No action is required for Sophos Firewall customers to receive these fixes with the “Allow automatic installation of hotfixes” feature enabled on remediated versions (see Remediation section below). Enabled is the default setting.” Microsoft: Windows Server KB5062557 causes cluster, VM issues Date: 2025-07-22 Author: Bleeping Computer Microsoft is asking businesses to reach out for support to mitigate a known issue causing Cluster service and VM restart issues after installing this month's Windows Server 2019 security updates. As the company explains in a private advisory seen by BleepingComputer, the Cluster service (a system component essential to cluster operation) might fail to function correctly after installing the KB5062557 update released on July 8th. The same bug is also causing some nodes to fail when attempting to rejoin their cluster and triggering errors on systems where administrators have enabled the BitLocker Windows security feature on Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) drives. ESB-2025.4160.2 – Cisco Products: CVSS (Max): 10.0 Multiple vulnerabilities in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Cisco ISE Passive Identity Connector (ISE-PIC) could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to issue commands on the underlying operating system as the root user. Cisco has released software updates that address these vulnerabilities. ESB-2025.5029 – firefox-esr: CVSS (Max): 9.8 Multiple security issues have been found in the Mozilla Firefox web browser, which could potentially result in the execution of arbitrary code. It is recommended to upgrade firefox-esr packages. ESB-2025.4953 – Schneider Electric EcoStruxture IT Data Center Expert: CVSS (Max): 10.0 Successful exploitation of discovered vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to disrupt operations and access system data. The problem is corrected by updating the system. ESB-2025.4930 – Apache HTTP Server: CVSS (Max): 9.1 Several security issues were fixed in Apache HTTP Server. It was discovered that the Apache HTTP Server mod_rewrite module incorrectly handled certain substitutions. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue to execute scripts in directories not directly reachable by any URL, or cause a denial of service. ASB-2025.0142 – Microsoft SharePoint Server: CVSS (Max): 9.8 Microsoft released the July Security Updates to address vulnerabilities in on-premises SharePoint Server, which allowed an authorized attacker to perform spoofing over a network. Deserialization of untrusted data in on-premises Microsoft SharePoint Server allowed an unauthorized attacker to execute code over a network. Stay safe, stay patched and have a good weekend! The AUSCERT team

LISTEN HERE: AUSCERT “Share Today, Save Tomorrow” – Podcast ep 42: Jess Modini on Curiosity, Cyber Security, and Cross-Disciplinary Thinking   In this engaging conversation, Jess Modini shares insights from her extensive background in cyber security, including her five master’s specialisations and current doctoral research in cyber epidemiology. She explains how principles from computational biology and health sciences like the spread of pathogens, mirror the behaviours of malware and cyber threats. The episode dives into the parallels between public health and cyber defence, advocating for cross-disciplinary thinking to improve incident response and threat modelling. This episode was hosted by Bek Cheb The AUSCERT podcast can also be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts Also now available to watch on our Youtube Channel!