Daily Archives: April 8, 2024

Advisories

nodejs20-20.12.1-3.fc40

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FEDORA-2024-25b66392e2

Packages in this update:

nodejs20-20.12.1-3.fc40

Update description:

2024-04-03, Version 20.12.1 ‘Iron’ (LTS), @RafaelGSS

This is a security release

Notable Changes

CVE-2024-27983 – Assertion failed in node::http2::Http2Session::~Http2Session() leads to HTTP/2 server crash- (High)
CVE-2024-27982 – HTTP Request Smuggling via Content Length Obfuscation – (Medium)
llhttp version 9.2.1
undici version 5.28.4

2024-03-26, Version 20.12.0 ‘Iron’ (LTS), @richardlau

Notable Changes

crypto: implement crypto.hash()

This patch introduces a helper crypto.hash() that computes
a digest from the input at one shot. This can be 1.2-2x faster
than the object-based createHash() for smaller inputs (<= 5MB)
that are readily available (not streamed) and incur less memory
overhead since no intermediate objects will be created.

const crypto = require(‘node:crypto’);

// Hashing a string and return the result as a hex-encoded string.
const string = ‘Node.js’;
// 10b3493287f831e81a438811a1ffba01f8cec4b7
console.log(crypto.hash(‘sha1’, string));

Contributed by Joyee Cheung in #51044.

Loading and parsing environment variables

process.loadEnvFile(path):
Use this function to load the .env file. If no path is specified, it automatically loads the .env file in the current directory. Example: process.loadEnvFile().

Load a specific .env file by specifying its path. Example: process.loadEnvFile(‘./development.env’).

util.parseEnv(content):

Use this function to parse an existing string containing environment variable assignments.
Example usage: require(‘node:util’).parseEnv(‘HELLO=world’).

Contributed by Yagiz Nizipli in #51476.

New connection attempt events

Three new events were added in the net.createConnection flow:

connectionAttempt: Emitted when a new connection attempt is established. In case of Happy Eyeballs, this might emitted multiple times.
connectionAttemptFailed: Emitted when a connection attempt failed. In case of Happy Eyeballs, this might emitted multiple times.
connectionAttemptTimeout: Emitted when a connection attempt timed out. In case of Happy Eyeballs, this will not be emitted for the last attempt. This is not emitted at all if Happy Eyeballs is not used.

Additionally, a previous bug has been fixed where a new connection attempt could have been started after a previous one failed and after the connection was destroyed by the user.
This led to a failed assertion.

Contributed by Paolo Insogna in #51045.

Permission Model changes

Node.js 20.12.0 comes with several fixes for the experimental permission model and two new semver-minor commits.
We’re adding a new flag –allow-addons to enable addon usage when using the Permission Model.

$ node –experimental-permission –allow-addons

Contributed by Rafael Gonzaga in #51183

And relative paths are now supported through the –allow-fs-* flags.
Therefore, with this release one can use:

$ node –experimental-permission –allow-fs-read=./index.js

To give only read access to the entrypoint of the application.

Contributed by Rafael Gonzaga and Carlos Espa in #50758.

sea: support embedding assets

Users can now include assets by adding a key-path dictionary
to the configuration as the assets field. At build time, Node.js
would read the assets from the specified paths and bundle them into
the preparation blob. In the generated executable, users can retrieve
the assets using the sea.getAsset() and sea.getAssetAsBlob() API.

{
“main”: “/path/to/bundled/script.js”,
“output”: “/path/to/write/the/generated/blob.blob”,
“assets”: {
“a.jpg”: “/path/to/a.jpg”,
“b.txt”: “/path/to/b.txt”
}
}

The single-executable application can access the assets as follows:

const { getAsset } = require(‘node:sea’);
// Returns a copy of the data in an ArrayBuffer
const image = getAsset(‘a.jpg’);
// Returns a string decoded from the asset as UTF8.
const text = getAsset(‘b.txt’, ‘utf8’);
// Returns a Blob containing the asset without copying.
const blob = getAssetAsBlob(‘a.jpg’);

Contributed by Joyee Cheung in #50960.

Support configurable snapshot through –build-snapshot-config flag

We are adding a new flag –build-snapshot-config to configure snapshots through a custom JSON configuration file.

$ node –build-snapshot-config=/path/to/myconfig.json

When using this flag, additional script files provided on the command line will
not be executed and instead be interpreted as regular command line arguments.

These changes were contributed by Joyee Cheung and Anna Henningsen in #50453

Text Styling

util.styleText(format, text): This function returns a formatted text considering the format passed.

A new API has been created to format text based on util.inspect.colors, enabling you to style text in different colors (such as red, blue, …) and emphasis (italic, bold, …).

const { styleText } = require(‘node:util’);
const errorMessage = styleText(‘red’, ‘Error! Error!’);
console.log(errorMessage);

Contributed by Rafael Gonzaga in #51850.

vm: support using the default loader to handle dynamic import()

This patch adds support for using vm.constants.USE_MAIN_CONTEXT_DEFAULT_LOADER as the
importModuleDynamically option in all vm APIs that take this option except vm.SourceTextModule. This allows users to have a shortcut to support dynamic import() in the compiled code without missing the compilation cache if they don’t need customization of the loading process. We emit an experimental warning when the import() is actually handled by the default loader through this option instead of requiring –experimental-vm-modules.

const { Script, constants } = require(‘node:vm’);
const { resolve } = require(‘node:path’);
const { writeFileSync } = require(‘node:fs’);

// Write test.js and test.txt to the directory where the current script
// being run is located.
writeFileSync(resolve(__dirname, ‘test.mjs’),
‘export const filename = “./test.json”;’);
writeFileSync(resolve(__dirname, ‘test.json’),
‘{“hello”: “world”}’);

// Compile a script that loads test.mjs and then test.json
// as if the script is placed in the same directory.
const script = new Script(
`(async function() {
const { filename } = await import(‘./test.mjs’);
return import(filename, { with: { type: ‘json’ } })
})();`,
{
filename: resolve(__dirname, ‘test-with-default.js’),
importModuleDynamically: constants.USE_MAIN_CONTEXT_DEFAULT_LOADER,
});

// { default: { hello: ‘world’ } }
script.runInThisContext().then(console.log);

Contributed by Joyee Cheung in #51244.

Root certificates updated to NSS 3.98

Certificates added:

Telekom Security TLS ECC Root 2020
Telekom Security TLS RSA Root 2023

Certificates removed:

Security Communication Root CA

Updated dependencies

acorn updated to 8.11.3.
ada updated to 2.7.6.
base64 updated to 0.5.2.
brotli updated to 1.1.0.
c-ares updated to 1.27.0.
corepack updated to 0.25.2.
ICU updated to 74.2. Includes CLDR 44.1 and Unicode 15.1.
nghttp2 updated to 1.60.0.
npm updated to 10.5.0. Fixes a regression in signals not being passed onto child processes.
simdutf8 updated to 4.0.8.
Timezone updated to 2024a.
zlib updated to 1.3.0.1-motley-40e35a7.

Include Provides: nodejs20-* for non-versioned packages.

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Advisories

nodejs20-20.12.1-3.fc39

Read Time:21 Second

FEDORA-2024-91bb4ed803

Packages in this update:

nodejs20-20.12.1-3.fc39

Update description:

2024-04-03, Version 20.12.1 ‘Iron’ (LTS), @RafaelGSS

This is a security release

Notable Changes

CVE-2024-27983 – Assertion failed in node::http2::Http2Session::~Http2Session() leads to HTTP/2 server crash- (High)
CVE-2024-27982 – HTTP Request Smuggling via Content Length Obfuscation – (Medium)
llhttp version 9.2.1
undici version 5.28.4

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News

How to Steer Clear of Tax Season Scams

Read Time:5 Minute, 54 Second

It’s that time of year again – tax season! Whether you’ve already filed in the hopes of an early refund or have yet to start the process, one thing is for sure: cybercriminals will certainly use tax season as a means to get victims to give up their personal and financial information. This time of year is advantageous for malicious actors since the IRS and tax preparers are some of the few people who actually need your personal data. As a result, consumers are targeted with various scams impersonating trusted sources like the IRS or DIY tax software companies. Fortunately, every year the IRS outlines the most prevalent tax scams, such as voice phishing, email phishing, and fake tax software scams. Let’s explore the details of these threats.

So, how do cybercriminals use voice phishing to impersonate the IRS? Voice phishing, a form of criminal phone fraud, uses social engineering tactics to gain access to victims’ personal and financial information. For tax scams, criminals will make unsolicited calls posing as the IRS and leave voicemails requesting an immediate callback. The crooks will then demand that the victim pay a phony tax bill in the form of a wire transfer, prepaid debit card or gift card. In one case outlined by Forbes, victims received emails in their inbox that allegedly contained voicemails from the IRS. The emails didn’t actually contain any voicemails but instead directed victims to a suspicious SharePoint URL. Last year, a number of SharePoint phishing scams occurred as an attempt to steal Office 365 credentials, so it’s not surprising that cybercriminals are using this technique to access taxpayers’ personal data now as well.

In addition to voice phishing schemes, malicious actors are also using email to try and get consumers to give up their personal and financial information. This year alone, almost 400 IRS phishing URLs have been reported. In a typical email phishing scheme, scammers try to obtain personal tax information like usernames and passwords by using spoofed email addresses and stolen logos. In many cases, the emails contain suspicious hyperlinks that redirect users to a fake site or PDF attachments that may download malware or viruses. If a victim clicks on these malicious links or attachments, they can seriously endanger their tax data by giving identity thieves the opportunity to steal their refund. What’s more, cybercriminals are also using subject lines like “IRS Important Notice” and “IRS Taxpayer Notice” and demanding payment or threatening to seize the victim’s tax refund.

Cybercriminals are even going so far as to impersonate trusted brands like TurboTax for their scams. In this case, DIY tax preparers who search for TurboTax software on Google are shown ads for pirated versions of TurboTax. The victims will pay a fee for the software via PayPal, only to have their computer infected with malware after downloading the software. You may be wondering, how do victims happen upon this malicious software through a simple Google search? Unfortunately, scammers have been paying to have their spoofed sites show up in search results, increasing the chances that an innocent taxpayer will fall victim to their scheme.

Money is a prime motivator for many consumers, and malicious actors are fully prepared to exploit this. Many people are concerned about how much they might owe or are predicting how much they’ll get back on their tax refund, and scammers play to both of these emotions. So, as hundreds of taxpayers are waiting for a potential tax return, it’s important that they navigate tax season wisely. Check out the following tips to avoid being spoofed by cybercriminals and identity thieves:

File before cybercriminals do it for you. The easiest defense you can take against tax season schemes is to get your hands on your W-2 and file as soon as possible. The more prompt you are to file, the less likely your data will be raked in by a cybercriminal.

Keep an eye on your credit and your identity. Keeping tabs on your credit report and knowing if your personal information has been compromised in some way can help prevent tax fraud. Together, they can let you know if someone has stolen your identity or if you have personal info on the dark web that could lead to identity theft.

Our credit monitoring service can keep an eye on changes to your credit score, report, and accounts with timely notifications and guidance so you can take action to tackle identity theft.
Our identity monitoring service checks the dark web for your personal info, including email, government IDs, credit card and bank account info, and more—then provides alerts if your data is found on the dark web, an average of 10 months ahead of similar services.​
Beware of phishing attempts. It’s clear that phishing is the primary tactic crooks are leveraging this tax season, so it’s crucial you stay vigilant around your inbox. This means if any unfamiliar or remotely suspicious emails come through requesting tax data, double-check their legitimacy with a manager or the security department before you respond. Remember: the IRS will not initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text messages, or social media channels to request personal or financial info. So someone contacts you that way, ignore the message.

Watch out for spoofed websites. Scammers have extremely sophisticated tools that help disguise phony web addresses for DIY tax software, such as stolen company logos and site designs. To avoid falling for this, go directly to the source. Type the address of a website directly into the address bar of your browser instead of following a link from an email or internet search. If you receive any suspicious links in your email, investigating the domain is usually a good way to tell if the source is legitimate or not.

Protect yourself from scam messages. Scammers also send links to scam sites via texts, social media messages, and email. McAfee Scam Protection can help you spot if the message you got is a fake. It uses AI technology that automatically detects links to scam URLs. If you accidentally click, don’t worry, it can block risky sites if you do.

Clean up your personal info online. Crooks and scammers have to find you before they can contact you. After all, they need to get your phone number or email from somewhere. Sometimes, that’s from “people finder” and online data brokers that gather and sell personal info to any buyer. Including crooks. McAfee Personal Data Cleanup can remove your personal info from the data broker sites scammers use to contact their victims.

Consider an identity theft protection solution. If for some reason your personal data does become compromised, be sure to use an identity theft solution such as McAfee Identity Theft Protection, which allows users to take a proactive approach to protect their identities with personal and financial monitoring and recovery tools to help keep their identities personal and secured.

The post How to Steer Clear of Tax Season Scams appeared first on McAfee Blog.

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