Interesting social-engineering attack vector:
McAfee released a report on a new LUA malware loader distributed through what appeared to be a legitimate Microsoft GitHub repository for the “C++ Library Manager for Windows, Linux, and MacOS,” known as vcpkg.
The attacker is exploiting a property of GitHub: comments to a particular repo can contain files, and those files will be associated with the project in the URL.
What this means is that someone can upload malware and “attach” it to a legitimate and trusted project.
As the file’s URL contains the name of the repository the comment was created in, and as almost every software company uses GitHub, this flaw can allow threat actors to develop extraordinarily crafty and trustworthy lures.
For example, a threat actor could upload a malware executable in NVIDIA’s driver installer repo that pretends to be a new driver fixing issues in a popular game. Or a threat actor could upload a file in a comment to the Google Chromium source code and pretend it’s a new test version of the web browser.
These URLs would also appear to belong to the company’s repositories, making them far more trustworthy.
More Stories
The AI Fix #30: ChatGPT reveals the devastating truth about Santa (Merry Christmas!)
In episode 30 of The AI Fix, AIs are caught lying to avoid being turned off, Apple’s AI flubs a...
US and Japan Blame North Korea for $308m Crypto Heist
A joint US-Japan alert attributed North Korean hackers with a May 2024 crypto heist worth $308m from Japan-based company DMM...
Spyware Maker NSO Group Found Liable for Hacking WhatsApp
A judge has found that NSO Group, maker of the Pegasus spyware, has violated the US Computer Fraud and Abuse...
Spyware Maker NSO Group Liable for WhatsApp User Hacks
A US judge has ruled in favor of WhatsApp in a long-running case against commercial spyware-maker NSO Group Read More
Major Biometric Data Farming Operation Uncovered
Researchers at iProov have discovered a dark web group compiling identity documents and biometric data to bypass KYC checks Read...
Ransomware Attack Exposes Data of 5.6 Million Ascension Patients
US healthcare giant Ascension revealed that 5.6 million individuals have had their personal, medical and financial information breached in a...