Security News

PyPI module 'ctx' that gets downloaded over 20,000 times a week has been compromised in a software supply chain attack with malicious versions stealing the developer's environment variables. The threat actor even replaced the older, safe versions of 'ctx' with code that exfiltrates the developer's environment variables, to collect secrets like Amazon AWS keys and credentials.

A 15-year-old security vulnerability has been disclosed in the PEAR PHP repository that could permit an attacker to carry out a supply chain attack, including obtaining unauthorized access to publish rogue packages and execute arbitrary code. "An attacker exploiting the first one could take over any developer account and publish malicious releases, while the second bug would allow the attacker to gain persistent access to the central PEAR server," SonarSource vulnerability researcher Thomas Chauchefoin said in a write-up published this week.

Released yesterday [2022-02-17], this version fixes various memory mismanagement bugs, including CVE-2021-21708, which is a use-after-free blunder in a function called php filter float(). A proof-of-concept exploit based on using PHP to query a database shows that the bug can be used to crash the PHP process, so a working Denial of Service attack is already known to be possible.

Tens of thousands of WordPress sites are at risk from critical vulnerabilities in a widely used plug-in that facilitates the use of PHP code on a site. The plug-in does precisely what its name suggests, allowing WordPress site developers to put PHP code in various components of a site, including pages, posts and sidebars.

Critical security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in a WordPress plugin known as PHP Everywhere that's used by more than 30,000 websites worldwide and could be abused by an attacker to execute arbitrary code on affected systems. PHP Everywhere is used to flip the switch on PHP code across WordPress installations, enabling users to insert and execute PHP-based code in the content management system's Pages, Posts, and Sidebar.

PHP Everywhere is a plugin that allows WordPress admins to insert PHP code in pages, posts, the sidebar, or any Gutenberg block, and use it to display dynamic content based on evaluated PHP expressions. CVE-2022-24663 - Remote code execution flaw exploitable by any subscriber by allowing them to send a request with the 'shortcode' parameter set to PHP Everywhere, and execute arbitrary PHP code on the site.

Cybercrime groups are distributing malicious PHP web shells disguised as a favicon to maintain remote access to the compromised servers and inject JavaScript skimmers into online shopping platforms with an aim to steal financial information from their users. Injecting web skimmers on e-commerce websites to steal credit card details is a tried-and-tested modus operandi of Magecart, a consortium of different hacker groups who target online shopping cart systems.

We look into Apple's recent emergency updates that closed off four in-the-wild browser bugs. We explain how the infamous "Flubot" home delivery scam works and how to stop it.

Supply chain researcher Max Justicz noticed that he could upload new PHP packages that would trick the Packagist system into running commands of his choice, rather than simply dowloading and publishing his submission. The 2018 exploit involved simply swapping out a URL for a system command, and instead of Composer downloading data from a URL, it would inadvertently run the command inserted where the URL was supposed to be.

The maintainers of Composer, a package manager for PHP, have shipped an update to address a critical vulnerability that could have allowed an attacker to execute arbitrary commands and "Backdoor every PHP package," resulting in a supply-chain attack. "Fixed command injection vulnerability in HgDriver/HgDownloader and hardened other VCS drivers and downloaders," Composer said its release notes for versions 2.0.13 and 1.10.22 published on Wednesday.