Zero-day vulnerability in Microsoft XML Core Services
Memory corruption
CVE-2012-1889
One of the vulnerabilities used by Aurora group.
The attackers used the CVE-2010-2884 and CVE-2012-1889 0-day exploits to specifically target visitors to Amnesty International Hong Kong site
20.06.2012 SophosLabs determined that the website of a European aeronautical parts supplier had been hacked and delivered exploit for CVE-2012-1889.
TrendMicro observed the vulnerability targeting Chinese high school webpage.
Vulnerability details
Advisory: SB2012061201 - Remote code execution in Microsoft XML Core Services
Vulnerable component: Microsoft XML Core Services
CVE-ID: CVE-2012-1889
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-119 - Memory corruption
Description:
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the target system.
The weakness exists due to boundary error in XML Core Services (MSXML) when attempting to access an object in memory that has not been initialized. A remote attacker can create a specially crafted Web site, trick the victim into viewing 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:
Amnesty International Hong Kong site breach
The hackers compromised the website and were delivering Trojan Gh0st RAT.
Public Exploits:
- Microsoft XML Core Services - MSXML Uninitialized Memory Corruption (MS12-043) (Metasploit) [Exploit-DB]
External links:
https://technet.microsoft.com/library/security/2719615
https://technet.microsoft.com/library/security/ms12-043
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/06/20/aeronautical-state-sponsored-exploit/
https://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/cve-2012-1889-action
http://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/technical-analysis-of-cve-2012-1889-explo...
http://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/technical-analysis-of-cve-2012-1889-explo...
http://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/technical-analysis-of-cve-2012-1889-explo...
http://www.welivesecurity.com/2012/06/20/cve2012-1889-msxml-use-after-free-vulnerability/
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/27793137/After-Friday's-Rounds-of-Patches-from-Microsoft-...
http://contagiodump.blogspot.com/2012/07/brian-mariani-high-tech-bridge-htbridge.html
http://www.darknet.org.uk/2012/06/windows-xml-core-services-exploit-attacked-in-the-wild-cve-2012-18...
http://www.infoworld.com/article/2617287/malware/widely-used-web-attack-toolkit-exploits-unpatched-m...
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/06/29/zero-day-xml-core-services-vulnerability-included-in-bla...
https://www.sophos.com/en-us/threat-center/threat-analyses/vulnerabilities/VET-000352.aspx
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/06/29/zero-day-xml-core-services-vulnerability-included-in-bla...
http://thehackernews.com/2012/09/operation-aurora-other-zero-day-attacks.html