Security News > 2024 > June > Chinese hackers breached 20,000 FortiGate systems worldwide

As the MIVD disclosed in February in a joint report with the General Intelligence and Security Service, Chinese hackers exploited a critical FortiOS/FortiProxy remote code execution vulnerability over a few months between 2022 and 2023 to deploy malware on vulnerable Fortigate network security appliances.

The MIVD found that this previously unknown malware strain, which could survive system reboots and firmware upgrades, was deployed by a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group in a political espionage campaign targeting the Netherlands and its allies.

Since February, the Dutch military intelligence service has discovered that the Chinese threat group obtained access to at least 20,000 FortiGate systems worldwide in 2022 and 2023 over a span of a few months, at least two months before Fortinet disclosed the CVE-2022-42475 vulnerability.

The MIVD believes the Chinese hackers still have access to many victims because the Coathanger malware is difficult to detect as it intercepts system calls to avoid revealing its presence and is also challenging to remove since it survives firmware upgrades.

These attacks bear many similarities to another Chinese hacking campaign that targeted unpatched SonicWall Secure Mobile Access appliances with cyber-espionage malware designed to withstand firmware upgrades.

Chinese hackers hide on military and govt networks for 6 years.

News URL

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/chinese-hackers-breached-20-000-fortigate-systems-worldwide/