All news with #microsoft tag

August Windows updates trigger UAC prompts, block installs

⚠️ Microsoft says the August 2025 security updates are causing unexpected User Account Control (UAC) credential prompts and preventing application installations and MSI repair operations for non‑admin users across supported Windows client and server releases. The behavior stems from a patch addressing CVE-2025-50173, a Windows Installer privilege escalation vulnerability that now enforces elevated UAC prompts during MSI repair and related operations. Affected scenarios include MSI repair commands, ConfigMgr deployments relying on per‑user advertising, Secure Desktop enablement, and launching certain Autodesk applications. Microsoft plans a fix allowing admins to exempt specific apps and recommends running affected apps as administrator or applying a Known Issue Rollback via support as a temporary mitigation.

Why XSS Still Matters: MSRC on a 25-Year Threat Landscape

🛡️ MSRC reports that Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) remains a persistent threat across legacy portals and modern single-page applications, with hundreds of cases triaged in the past year. Between July 2024 and July 2025, MSRC mitigated over 970 XSS cases and awarded more than $900,000 in bounties, spanning low-impact self-XSS to zero-click critical exploits. The post describes MSRC’s severity matrix that combines data classification and exploit conditions, outlines servicing scope and exclusion criteria, and publishes a practical submission checklist. Developers and researchers are encouraged to adopt context-aware encoding, Content Security Policy (CSP), and secure-by-default frameworks to reduce exposure.

Agent Factory: From Prototype to Production with Foundry

🔧 Azure AI Foundry aims to accelerate the path from IDE prototypes to enterprise-grade AI agents. It emphasizes local-first prototyping, a single, consistent Model Inference API, and one-click deployment from VS Code and GitHub so developer code runs unchanged in production. Foundry supports popular frameworks like Semantic Kernel and AutoGen, embraces open protocols (MCP, A2A), and supplies prebuilt connectors, observability, and enterprise guardrails to scale agents securely.

Russia-backed APT28 Deploys 'NotDoor' Outlook Backdoor

🛡️ Researchers at S2 Grupo’s LAB52 disclosed NotDoor, a VBA-based Outlook backdoor attributed to Russia-backed APT28 that monitors incoming mail for trigger phrases to exfiltrate data, upload files and execute arbitrary commands. The malware abuses Outlook event-driven macros, employs DLL side-loading via a signed OneDrive.exe to load a malicious SSPICLI.dll, and persists by disabling security prompts and enabling macros. Organizations are advised to disable macros by default, monitor Outlook activity and inspect email-based triggers.

Model Namespace Reuse: Supply-Chain RCE in Cloud AI

🔒 Unit 42 describes a widespread flaw called Model Namespace Reuse that lets attackers reclaim abandoned Hugging Face Author/ModelName namespaces and distribute malicious model code. The technique can lead to remote code execution and was demonstrated against major platforms including Google Vertex AI and Azure AI Foundry, as well as thousands of open-source projects. Recommended mitigations include version pinning, cloning models to trusted storage, and scanning repositories for reusable references.

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.

Silver Fox Abuses Signed WatchDog Driver to Disable AV

🚨 Check Point attributes a BYOVD campaign to the Silver Fox actor that leverages a Microsoft-signed WatchDog kernel driver (amsdk.sys v1.0.600) to neutralize endpoint defenses. The operation uses a dual-driver approach—an older Zemana-based driver on Windows 7 and the WatchDog driver on Windows 10/11—to terminate processes and escalate privileges. An all-in-one loader bundles anti-analysis checks, embedded drivers, AV-killer logic, and a ValleyRAT downloader to establish persistent remote access.

Silver Fox Abuses Microsoft-Signed Drivers to Deploy RAT

⚠️ A newly discovered campaign attributed to the Silver Fox APT abuses trusted Microsoft-signed drivers to bypass security protections and install a remote access tool. Check Point Research found attackers used the WatchDog driver (amsdk.sys) and an older Zemana-based driver to terminate antivirus and EDR processes, enabling deployment of ValleyRAT. Researchers observed loaders with anti-analysis, persistence, embedded drivers and hardcoded lists of security processes, and warn that timestamp edits can preserve valid signatures while evading hash-based detection.

Amazon Disrupts APT29 Campaign Targeting Microsoft 365

🔒 Amazon disrupted an operation attributed to the Russian state-sponsored group APT29 that used watering-hole compromises to target Microsoft 365 accounts. The attackers injected obfuscated JavaScript into legitimate sites to redirect roughly 10% of visitors to fake Cloudflare verification pages and then into a malicious Microsoft device code authentication flow. Amazon isolated attacker EC2 instances and worked with Cloudflare and Microsoft to take down identified domains; the campaign did not affect Amazon's infrastructure.

Amazon Thwarts APT29 Watering Hole Targeting Microsoft

🔒 Amazon’s threat intelligence team disrupted a watering hole attack attributed to the Russian state‑linked group APT29 that attempted to abuse Microsoft device code authentication flows. Compromised websites injected JavaScript that redirected about 10% of visitors to attacker-controlled domains mimicking Cloudflare verification pages. Amazon reported no AWS service compromise; attackers used evasion techniques and quickly rotated infrastructure.

BSI Urges Users to Assess Outage Risks in Digital Products

🔒 The German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) recommends that consumers consider potential outage risks when selecting digital products and services. Users should evaluate how manufacturers handle security incidents, what happens to personal or family data, and whether vendors have a solid security reputation or trustworthy seals. The BSI also advises checking published information about incidents, remediation measures and contact options. Given the end of free Windows 10 updates from October 14, the agency urges timely upgrades or migration to alternatives such as macOS or Linux to help preserve confidentiality, integrity and availability.

Attackers Abuse Velociraptor to Tunnel C2 via VS Code

🔍 In a recent Sophos report, unknown actors abused the open-source forensic tool Velociraptor to download and execute Visual Studio Code, enabling an encrypted tunnel to an attacker-controlled command-and-control server. The intruders used the Windows msiexec utility to fetch MSI installers hosted on Cloudflare Workers, staged additional tooling including a tunneling proxy and Radmin, and invoked an encoded PowerShell command to enable VS Code's tunnel option. Sophos warns that misuse of incident response tools can precede ransomware and recommends deploying EDR, monitoring for unauthorized Velociraptor activity, and hardening backup and monitoring processes.

Windows 11 KB5064081 Clarifies Task Manager CPU Metrics

🔧 Microsoft published the optional KB5064081 preview cumulative update for Windows 11 24H2, moving affected systems to build 26100.5074 and rolling out thirty-six new features and fixes. The update standardizes CPU reporting in Task Manager so the Processes tab now uses the same calculation as Performance and Users: (Δ Process CPU Time) ÷ (Δ Elapsed Time × Logical Processors), making metrics consistent and aligning them with third‑party monitors. Users who want the legacy view can enable an optional CPU Utility column in the Details tab. The release also bundles UI, File Explorer, Taskbar, Windows Hello, backup, and numerous bug fixes, while Microsoft lists two known issues (CertEnroll errors and NDI streaming lag).

Microsoft Fixes Bug Causing Certificate Enrollment Errors

🔧 Microsoft has addressed a known issue that produced false CertificateServicesClient (CertEnroll) error events after the July 2025 non-security preview (KB5062660) and subsequent Windows 11 24H2 updates. The events referenced the Microsoft Pluton Cryptographic Provider not being loaded but were benign and caused by a partially integrated feature still under development. The fix is rolling out automatically and requires no user action.

Microsoft to Enforce MFA for Azure Resource Management

🔐 Starting October 1, 2025, Microsoft will enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all Azure resource management actions to protect tenants from unauthorized access. The change, part of its Secure Future Initiative, will be rolled out gradually across public cloud tenants and covers Azure CLI, PowerShell, SDKs, REST APIs, IaC tools, the Azure mobile app, and automation that uses user identities. To prevent disruptions Microsoft recommends updating Azure CLI to 2.76+ and Azure PowerShell to 14.3+; global administrators may postpone enforcement until July 2026.

Microsoft: August KB5063878 not tied to SSD failures

🔍 Microsoft says its August 2025 security update, KB5063878, is not connected to recent reports of SSD and HDD failures. After internal testing and telemetry analysis, Redmond said it could not reproduce the corruption or drive losses and found no increase in disk failures following the Windows 11 24H2 update. Microsoft is working with storage partners and controller vendors and will continue to monitor customer feedback while investigating any new reports.

Amazon Disrupts APT29 Watering-Hole Device Code Scam

🛡️ Amazon says its security team detected and disrupted an opportunistic watering-hole campaign attributed to APT29 that redirected visitors from compromised sites to attacker-controlled domains mimicking Cloudflare verification pages. The threat used the Microsoft device code authentication flow to trick users into authorizing attacker-controlled devices. Amazon observed multiple evasion techniques and continued tracking as the actor migrated infrastructure.

Amazon Disrupts APT29 Watering Hole Campaign Targeting Users

🔒 Amazon's threat intelligence team identified and disrupted a watering hole campaign conducted by APT29, a group linked to Russia’s SVR. The actor compromised legitimate websites and injected obfuscated JavaScript to redirect a subset of visitors to attacker-controlled pages that mimicked Cloudflare verification. The campaign aimed to abuse Microsoft's device code authentication flow to trick users into authorizing attacker-controlled devices; Amazon isolated affected EC2 instances and coordinated with partners to disrupt infrastructure and share intelligence.

State-Sponsored Hackers Behind Majority of Exploits

🔐 Recorded Future’s Insikt Group reports that 53% of attributed vulnerability exploits in H1 2025 were carried out by state-sponsored actors, driven largely by geopolitical aims such as espionage and surveillance. Chinese-linked groups accounted for the largest share, with UNC5221 exploiting numerous flaws—often in Ivanti products. The study found 161 exploited CVEs, 69% of which required no authentication and 48% were remotely exploitable. It also highlights the rise of social-engineering techniques like ClickFix and increasing EDR-evasion methods used by ransomware actors.

VS Code Marketplace Flaw Lets Deleted Extensions Be Reused

🔍 Researchers at ReversingLabs found a loophole in the Visual Studio Code Marketplace that permits threat actors to republish removed extensions under the same visible names. The new malicious package, ahbanC.shiba, mirrors earlier flagged extensions and acts as a downloader for a PowerShell payload that encrypts files in a folder named "testShiba" and demands a Shiba Inu token ransom. Investigation revealed that extension uniqueness is enforced by the combination of publisher and name, not the visible name alone, enabling attackers to reuse names once an extension is removed. Organizations should audit extension IDs, enforce whitelists, and run automated supply-chain scanning to reduce exposure.