Agencies alert organizations to Iranian-sponsored cyber threat

The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency and FBI today advised organizations to protect VMware Horizon servers from a Log4Shell vulnerability recently exploited by Iranian-sponsored actors. 

“This important advisory highlights how our cyber adversaries, in this case Iran, are exploiting third- and fourth-party software supply chain vulnerabilities to penetrate targeted organizations,” said John Riggi, AHA’s national advisor for cybersecurity and risk. “This particular attack against a federal executive branch agency highlights that no organization is immune from cyberattacks, not even federal agencies protected by advanced federal network protection resources. These Iranian cyberthreat actors exploited a known Log4Shell vulnerability in an unpatched VMware Horizon server to gain access to the federal network, install other legitimate computer tools to steal credentials, move across the network and maintain persistence. This appears to be a ‘hybrid’ attack designed to generate illegal cryptocurrency proceeds while conducting cyber espionage operations. If updates or workarounds were not promptly applied after VMware released updates for Log4Shell in December 2021, treat those VMware Horizon systems as compromised and follow proactive incident response procedures.”