Security News > 2020 > December > NSA: Russian state hackers exploit new VMware vulnerability to steal data

The National Security Agency warns that Russian state-sponsored threat actors are exploiting a recently patched VMware vulnerability to steal sensitive information after deploying web shells on vulnerable servers.

VMware released security updates to address the security bug on December 3rd after publicly disclosing the vulnerability two weeks ago and providing a temporary workaround that fully removes the attack vector and prevents exploitation.

In attacks exploiting CVE-2020-4006, the NSA observed the threat actors connecting to the exposed web-based management interface of devices running vulnerable VMware products and infiltrating organizations' networks to install web shells using command injection.

After deploying the web shells, the attackers steal sensitive data using SAML credentials to gain access to Microsoft Active Directory Federation Services servers.

The NSA did not name the Russian-backed APT group exploiting the VMware command injection vulnerability in ongoing attacks.

News URL

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/nsa-russian-state-hackers-exploit-new-vmware-vulnerability-to-steal-data/