All news with #hardcoded secrets tag

CloudEdge Online Cameras/App—MQTT Wildcard Credential Risk

🔒 The CloudEdge mobile app (v4.4.2) and associated online cameras contain a credential exposure flaw assigned CVE-2025-11757 that stems from improper MQTT topic handling (CWE-155). Unsanitized topic input allows an attacker to use MQTT wildcards to subscribe to other users' messages and extract credentials and key material, enabling remote access to live feeds and camera controls. CISA calculated a CVSS v4 base score of 8.7 and highlights low attack complexity and remote exploitability. Users are advised to minimize network exposure, isolate devices behind firewalls, employ secure remote access methods such as VPNs with caution, and contact Meari Technologies support at support@mearitek.com.

Developers leaking secrets via VSCode and OpenVSX extensions

🔒 Researchers at Wiz found that careless developers published Visual Studio extensions to the VSCode Marketplace and OpenVSX containing more than 550 validated secrets across over 500 extensions, including API keys and personal access tokens for providers such as OpenAI, AWS, GitHub, Azure DevOps, and multiple databases. The primary cause was bundled dotfiles (notably .env) and hardcoded credentials in source and config files, with AI-related configs and build manifests also contributing. Microsoft and OpenVSX collaborated with Wiz on coordinated remediation: notifying publishers, adding pre-publication secrets scanning, blocking verified secrets, and prefixing OVSX tokens to reduce abuse.

Critical Infrastructure Hack, Burnout, and Music Discussion

🔐 In episode 439 of Smashing Security, Graham Cluley and guest Annabel Berry examine a reported critical infrastructure hack that allegedly exploited default passwords and featured perpetrators boasting on Telegram. They probe how basic misconfigurations can cascade into major incidents and spotlight the human cost of defending organisations — stress, burnout, and leadership failures. The show pairs this sober analysis with lighter cultural asides, including music and media reflections.

Flax Typhoon Abused ArcGIS SOE to Maintain Long-Term Access

🔒 Researchers at ReliaQuest found China-linked APT Flax Typhoon modified an ArcGIS Server Object Extension (SOE) into a persistent web shell that executed base64-encoded commands via standard ArcGIS operations. The actor used a hardcoded key, staged tools in a hidden C:\Windows\System32\Bridge directory, and renamed a SoftEther VPN binary to bridge.exe to maintain covert connectivity. The malicious SOE was replicated into backups and golden images, allowing access to survive system recovery while attackers performed discovery, credential harvesting, lateral movement, and covert VPN-based persistence.

Malicious VSCode Extensions Resurface on OpenVSX Registry

⚠️ Researchers at Koi Security warn that a threat actor known as TigerJack is distributing malicious Visual Studio Code extensions on both the official marketplace and the community-maintained OpenVSX registry. Two extensions, C++ Playground and HTTP Format, were removed from the VSCode marketplace after roughly 17,000 downloads but remain available on OpenVSX, and the actor repeatedly republishes variants under new accounts. The malicious code exfiltrates source code, deploys a CoinIMP cryptominer with no resource limits, or fetches remote JavaScript to enable arbitrary code execution, creating significant risks to developer machines and corporate networks.

Active Exploitation: Gladinet CentreStack LFI → RCE Bug

⚠️ Huntress reports active exploitation of an unauthenticated LFI zero-day, CVE-2025-11371, affecting Gladinet CentreStack and TrioFox up to version 16.7.10368.56560. The flaw permits disclosure of server files, including Web.config, enabling attackers to extract a hard-coded machine key that can enable a prior ViewState deserialization RCE (CVE-2025-30406). As an interim mitigation, Huntress recommends disabling the UploadDownloadProxy 'temp' handler in Web.config until a vendor patch is available.

Russia-Aligned Hacktivist Fooled by Water Honeypot

💧Forescout disclosed that a Russia-aligned hacktivist group, TwoNet, was tricked into attacking a honeypot designed to look like a water treatment utility. The actor accessed the HMI with default credentials and created an account named BARLATI to carry out defacement, PLC manipulation, log suppression and process disruption. Forescout said this incident reflects a broader shift from DDoS and defacement toward OT/ICS targeting and provided mitigation guidance.

AutomationDirect CLICK PLUS Firmware Vulnerabilities Identified

🔒 AutomationDirect has disclosed multiple vulnerabilities in the CLICK PLUS series affecting firmware releases prior to v3.71. Issues include cleartext credential storage, a hard-coded AES key, an insecure RSA implementation, a predictable PRNG seed, authorization bypasses, and resource exhaustion flaws. CVSS v4 severity reaches 8.7 for the most critical cryptographic and key-generation weaknesses. AutomationDirect and CISA recommend updating to v3.80 and applying network isolation, access restrictions, logging, and endpoint protections until patches are deployed.

Lean Security Teams Elevate Risk from Hardcoded Secrets

🔒 As organizations shrink and security teams tighten, hardcoded secrets have become a critical, costly blind spot that manual processes can no longer manage. The article cites rising credential-driven breaches, a 292‑day average containment window, and steep financial impacts when secrets are exposed. It contends that precision remediation — contextual ownership, integrated workflows, and automated rotation — is essential to reduce remediation from weeks to hours and to curb analyst overhead. GitGuardian is presented as an example of this targeted remediation approach.

Dover ProGauge MagLink LX Vulnerabilities and Fixes

⚠️ Dover Fueling Solutions disclosed critical vulnerabilities in its ProGauge MagLink LX4, LX4 Plus, and LX4 Ultimate tank monitors that may be exploited remotely. Identified issues include an integer overflow (CVE-2025-55068), a hard-coded cryptographic signing key (CVE-2025-54807), and non‑changeable weak default root credentials (CVE-2025-30519), with ratings up to CVSS v4 9.3. Affected firmware must be updated to 4.20.3 for LX4/LX4 Plus or 5.20.3 for LX4 Ultimate; operators are urged to minimize network exposure and place devices behind firewalls.

GitHub Actions workflows abused in 'GhostAction' campaign

🔒 GitGuardian disclosed a campaign called "GhostAction" that tampers with GitHub Actions workflows to harvest and exfiltrate secrets to attacker-controlled domains. Attackers modified workflow files to enumerate repository secrets, hard-code them into malicious workflows, and forward credentials such as container registry and cloud provider keys. The researchers say 3,325 secrets from 327 users across 817 repositories were stolen, and they published IoCs while urging maintainers to review workflows, rotate exposed credentials, and tighten Actions controls.

Legacy Sitecore ViewState Zero-Day Allows WeepSteel Backdoors

🔐 Mandiant observed attackers exploiting a zero‑day ViewState deserialization flaw (CVE-2025-53690) in legacy Sitecore deployments that reused a sample ASP.NET machineKey. Adversaries delivered a WeepSteel reconnaissance backdoor to collect system and network data and disguised exfiltration as normal ViewState traffic. Sitecore advises replacing and encrypting static machineKey values and instituting regular key rotation to mitigate further risk.

Copeland OT Controller Flaws Risk Remote Control and Damage

⚠️ Security firm Armis disclosed 10 vulnerabilities, dubbed Frostbyte10, in Copeland LP E2 and E3 controllers used in heating, cooling, and refrigeration that could let attackers disable or remotely control equipment. Copeland issued firmware 2.31F01; organizations should deploy the update promptly to mitigate exposure. Combined flaws can enable unauthenticated remote code execution with root privileges; specific issues include a predictable default admin account (CVE-2025-6519), API endpoints that expose credential hashes, and unauthenticated file operations. Copeland says engineers acted quickly and that there are no known exploits to date.

Azure AD Client Credentials Exposed in Public appsettings

🔒 Resecurity’s HUNTER Team discovered that ClientId and ClientSecret values were inadvertently left in a publicly accessible appsettings.json file, exposing Azure AD credentials. These secrets permit direct authentication against Microsoft’s OAuth 2.0 endpoints and could allow attackers to impersonate trusted applications and access Microsoft 365 data. The exposed credentials could be harvested by automated bots or targeted adversaries. Organizations are advised to remove hardcoded secrets, rotate compromised credentials immediately, restrict public access to configuration files and adopt centralized secrets management such as Azure Key Vault.

SunPower PVS6 Hard-Coded Credentials Vulnerability

🔒 CISA warns of a high-severity vulnerability in SunPower PVS6 inverters (CVE-2025-9696) caused by hard-coded credentials in the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) interface. An attacker within Bluetooth range can exploit published protocol details and fixed encryption parameters to gain full device access, and CISA reports a CVSS v4 base score of 9.4. Successful exploitation could allow firmware replacement, disabling power production, modifying grid or firewall settings, creating SSH tunnels, and manipulating attached devices. SunPower did not respond to coordination; CISA advises minimizing network exposure, isolating control systems, using secure remote access methods such as up-to-date VPNs, and applying targeted intrusion detection and ICS best practices.

Widespread Data Theft via Salesloft Drift Targets Salesforce

🔒 GTIG warns of a widespread data-theft campaign by UNC6395 that abused compromised OAuth tokens for the Salesloft Drift connected app to export data from multiple Salesforce customer instances between Aug. 8 and Aug. 18, 2025. The actor executed SOQL queries against objects including Accounts, Cases, Users, and Opportunities to harvest credentials and secrets—observed items include AWS access keys, Snowflake tokens, and passwords. Salesloft and Salesforce revoked tokens and removed the Drift app from the AppExchange; impacted organizations should search for exposed secrets, rotate credentials, review Event Monitoring logs, and tighten connected-app scopes and IP restrictions.

Dissecting PipeMagic: Architecture of a Modular Backdoor

🔍 Microsoft Threat Intelligence details PipeMagic, a modular backdoor used by Storm-2460 that masquerades as an open-source ChatGPT Desktop Application. The malware is deployed via an in-memory MSBuild dropper and leverages named pipes and doubly linked lists to stage, self-update, and execute encrypted payload modules delivered from a TCP C2. Analysts observed exploitation of CVE-2025-29824 for privilege escalation followed by ransomware deployment, with victims across IT, finance, and real estate in multiple regions. The report includes selected IoCs, Defender detections, and mitigation guidance to help defenders detect and respond.

Langflow Misconfiguration Exposes Data of Pakistani Insurers

🔓 UpGuard secured a misconfigured Langflow instance that exposed data for roughly 97,000 insurance customers in Pakistan, including 945 individuals marked as politically exposed persons. The instance was used by Pakistan-based Workcycle Technologies to build AI chatbots for clients such as TPL Insurance and the Federal Board of Revenue. Exposed materials included PII, confidential business documents and credentials; access was removed after notification and UpGuard found no evidence of exploitation.

Amazon Engineer Exposed Credentials via Public GitHub Repo

🔒 UpGuard discovered a public GitHub repository on 13 January 2020 containing an Amazon Web Services engineer’s personal identity documents and numerous system credentials. The repository included AWS key pairs (including a file named rootkey.csv), API tokens, private keys, passwords, logs, and customer-related templates. UpGuard reported the exposure to AWS Security within hours and the repository was secured the same day. The incident highlights how rapid leak detection can prevent accidental disclosures from escalating.

Marketing PR Platform Exposed Data of Hundreds of Thousands

🔓 UpGuard identified an Amazon S3 bucket tied to iPR Software that publicly exposed over a terabyte of files, including a 17 GB MongoDB backup. The collection contained 477,000 media contacts, approximately 35,000 hashed passwords, client marketing assets, internal PR strategy documents, and credentials for Google, Twitter, and a MongoDB host. UpGuard notified iPR in October 2019; public access was removed in late November after follow-up and media engagement.