Zero-day vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer

Use-after-free error
CVE-2014-0322

A zero-day exploit hosted on a breached website based in the U.S Military. The vulnerability was used in the wild as part of "Operation SnowMan".

Known malware:

Trojan.Malscript
Trojan.Swifi.
Backdoor.Moudoor
Elderwood exploit kit.

Vulnerability details

Advisory: SB2014021301 - Remote code execution in Microsoft Internet Explorer

Vulnerable component: Microsoft Internet Explorer

CVE-ID: CVE-2014-0322

CVSSv3 score: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:H/RL:O/RC:C

CWE-ID: CWE-416 - Use After Free

Description:

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the target system.

The weakness exists due to use-after-free error related to GIFAS. A remote attacker can create a specially crafted Web site, trick the victim into visiting it, trigger memory corruption and execute arbitrary code with privileges of the current user.

Successful exploitation of the vulnerability results in arbitrary code execution on the vulnerable system.

Note: the vulnerability was being actively exploited.

Known APT campaigns:

Operation Aurora

Operation Aurora is a series of cyber attacks conducted since mid-2009. Such name was given by Dmitri Alperovitch of McAfee.

The operation was discovered by Google in January, 2010 and is considered to have Chinese origin.

The hackers targeted not only Google but also Yahoo, Symantec, Juniper Networks, Adobe, Northrop Grumman ╨╕ Dow Chemical.

Symantec identified the group behind the operation "Elderwood", Dell Secureworks - "Beijing Group".

Operation SnowMan

Operation targeting US veterans of foreign wars website. Is considered to be connected with Operation DeputyDog and Operation Ephemeral Hydra.

Public Exploits:

- Microsoft Internet Explorer - CMarkup Use-After-Free (MS14-012) (Metasploit) [Exploit-DB]

- Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 - CMarkup Use-After-Free (MS14-012) [Exploit-DB]

External links:

https://technet.microsoft.com/library/security/2934088
https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2014/02/new-ie-zero-day-found-in-watering-hole-attack-2...
http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/25002/hacking/elderwood-platform-still-active.html
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/ms14-012.aspx
https://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/emerging-threat-ms-ie-10-zero-day-cve-2014-0322-use-after-fre...
https://labs.bromium.com/2014/02/25/dissecting-the-newest-ie10-0-day-exploit-cve-2014-0322/
http://thehackernews.com/2014/02/cve-2014-0322-internet-explorer-zero.html
https://blogs.forcepoint.com/security-labs/cyber-criminals-expand-use-cve-2014-0322-patch-tuesday
http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/22224/cyber-crime/fireeye-watering-hole-attack.html
http://www.zdnet.com/article/new-internet-explorer-10-zero-day-exploit-targets-u-s-military/
http://www.eweek.com/blogs/security-watch/microsoft-ie-zero-day-exploited-in-the-wild.html
http://54.204.81.18/news/stories/269204-cyber-criminals-expand-use-of-cve-2014-0322-before-patch-tue...

About zero-day vulnerabilities

Zero-day vulnerability is an undisclosed vulnerability in software that hackers can exploit to compromise computer programs, gain unauthorized access to sensitive data, penetrate networks, etc. We consider vulnerability a zero-day when there is no solution provided from software vendor and the vulnerability is being actively exploited by malicious actors.

Zero-day candidate is a potential zero-day vulnerability in software which might have been used in targeted attacks, however there is no evidence to support this suggestion.