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X-Recon - A Utility For Detecting Webpage Inputs And Conducting XSS Scans

By: Zion3R

A utility for identifying web page inputs and conducting XSS scanning.


Features:

  • Subdomain Discovery:
  • Retrieves relevant subdomains for the target website and consolidates them into a whitelist. These subdomains can be utilized during the scraping process.

  • Site-wide Link Discovery:

  • Collects all links throughout the website based on the provided whitelist and the specified max_depth.

  • Form and Input Extraction:

  • Identifies all forms and inputs found within the extracted links, generating a JSON output. This JSON output serves as a foundation for leveraging the XSS scanning capability of the tool.

  • XSS Scanning:

  • Once the start recon option returns a custom JSON containing the extracted entries, the X-Recon tool can initiate the XSS vulnerability testing process and furnish you with the desired results!



Note:

The scanning functionality is currently inactive on SPA (Single Page Application) web applications, and we have only tested it on websites developed with PHP, yielding remarkable results. In the future, we plan to incorporate these features into the tool.




Note:

This tool maintains an up-to-date list of file extensions that it skips during the exploration process. The default list includes common file types such as images, stylesheets, and scripts (".css",".js",".mp4",".zip","png",".svg",".jpeg",".webp",".jpg",".gif"). You can customize this list to better suit your needs by editing the setting.json file..

Installation

$ git clone https://github.com/joshkar/X-Recon
$ cd X-Recon
$ python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt
$ python3 xr.py

Target For Test:

You can use this address in the Get URL section

  http://testphp.vulnweb.com


Strengthen Your Security Operations: MITRE ATT&CK Mapping in Cisco XDR

Discover how Cisco XDR's MITRE ATT&CK mapping strengthens your security operations. Learn to identify security gaps and improve your cybersecurity posture.

CensysGPT: AI-Powered Threat Hunting for Cybersecurity Pros (Webinar)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming cybersecurity, and those leading the charge are using it to outsmart increasingly advanced cyber threats. Join us for an exciting webinar, "The Future of Threat Hunting is Powered by Generative AI," where you'll explore how AI tools are shaping the future of cybersecurity defenses. During the session, Censys Security Researcher Aidan Holland will

C2-Tracker - Live Feed Of C2 Servers, Tools, And Botnets

By: Zion3R


Free to use IOC feed for various tools/malware. It started out for just C2 tools but has morphed into tracking infostealers and botnets as well. It uses shodan.io/">Shodan searches to collect the IPs. The most recent collection is always stored in data; the IPs are broken down by tool and there is an all.txt.

The feed should update daily. Actively working on making the backend more reliable


Honorable Mentions

Many of the Shodan queries have been sourced from other CTI researchers:

Huge shoutout to them!

Thanks to BertJanCyber for creating the KQL query for ingesting this feed

And finally, thanks to Y_nexro for creating C2Live in order to visualize the data

What do I track?

Running Locally

If you want to host a private version, put your Shodan API key in an environment variable called SHODAN_API_KEY

echo SHODAN_API_KEY=API_KEY >> ~/.bashrc
bash
python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt
python3 tracker.py

Contributing

I encourage opening an issue/PR if you know of any additional Shodan searches for identifying adversary infrastructure. I will not set any hard guidelines around what can be submitted, just know, fidelity is paramount (high true/false positive ratio is the focus).

References



Webinar: Learn Proactive Supply Chain Threat Hunting Techniques

In the high-stakes world of cybersecurity, the battleground has shifted. Supply chain attacks have emerged as a potent threat, exploiting the intricate web of interconnected systems and third-party dependencies to breach even the most formidable defenses. But what if you could turn the tables and proactively hunt these threats before they wreak havoc? We invite you to join us for an

BucketLoot - An Automated S3-compatible Bucket Inspector

By: Zion3R


BucketLoot is an automated S3-compatible Bucket inspector that can help users extract assets, flag secret exposures and even search for custom keywords as well as Regular Expressions from publicly-exposed storage buckets by scanning files that store data in plain-text.

The tool can scan for buckets deployed on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Storage (GCS), DigitalOcean Spaces and even custom domains/URLs which could be connected to these platforms. It returns the output in a JSON format, thus enabling users to parse it according to their liking or forward it to any other tool for further processing.

BucketLoot comes with a guest mode by default, which means a user doesn't needs to specify any API tokens / Access Keys initially in order to run the scan. The tool will scrape a maximum of 1000 files that are returned in the XML response and if the storage bucket contains more than 1000 entries which the user would like to run the scanner on, they can provide platform credentials to run a complete scan. If you'd like to know more about the tool, make sure to check out our blog.

Features

Secret Scanning

Scans for over 80+ unique RegEx signatures that can help in uncovering secret exposures tagged with their severity from the misconfigured storage bucket. Users have the ability to modify or add their own signatures in the regexes.json file. If you believe you have any cool signatures which might be helpful for others too and could be flagged at scale, go ahead and make a PR!

Sensitive File Checks

Accidental sensitive file leakages are a big problem that affects the security posture of individuals and organisations. BucketLoot comes with a 80+ unique regEx signatures list in vulnFiles.json which allows users to flag these sensitive files based on file names or extensions.

Dig Mode

Want to quickly check if any target website is using a misconfigured bucket that is leaking secrets or any other sensitive data? Dig Mode allows you to pass non-S3 targets and let the tool scrape URLs from response body for scanning.

Asset Extraction

Interested in stepping up your asset discovery game? BucketLoot extracts all the URLs/Subdomains and Domains that could be present in an exposed storage bucket, enabling you to have a chance of discovering hidden endpoints, thus giving you an edge over the other traditional recon tools.

Searching

The tool goes beyond just asset discovery and secret exposure scanning by letting users search for custom keywords and even Regular Expression queries which may help them find exactly what they are looking for.

To know more about our Attack Surface Management platform, check out NVADR.



Douglas-042 - Powershell Script To Help Speed ​​Up Threat Hunting Incident Response Processes

By: Zion3R


DOUGLAS-042 stands as an ingenious embodiment of a PowerShell script meticulously designed to expedite the triage process and facilitate the meticulous collection of crucial evidence derived from both forensic artifacts and the ephemeral landscape of volatile data. Its fundamental mission revolves around providing indispensable aid in the arduous task of pinpointing potential security breaches within Windows ecosystems. With an overarching focus on expediency, DOUGLAS-042 orchestrates the efficient prioritization and methodical aggregation of data, ensuring that no vital piece of information eludes scrutiny when investigating a possible compromise. As a testament to its organized approach, the amalgamated data finds its sanctuary within the confines of a meticulously named text file, bearing the nomenclature of the host system's very own hostname. This practice of meticulous data archival emerges not just as a systematic convention, but as a cornerstone that paves the way for seamless transitions into subsequent stages of the Forensic journey.


Content Queries

  • General information
  • Accountand group information
  • Network
  • Process Information
  • OS Build and HOTFIXE
  • Persistence
  • HARDWARE Information
  • Encryption information
  • FIREWALL INFORMATION
  • Services
  • History
  • SMB Queries
  • Remoting queries
  • REGISTRY Analysis
  • LOG queries
  • Instllation of Software
  • User activity

Advanced Queries

  • Prefetch file information
  • DLL List
  • WMI filters and consumers
  • Named pipes

Usage

Using administrative privileges, just run the script from a PowerShell console, then the results will be saved in the directory as a txt file.

$ PS >./douglas.ps1

Advance usage

$ PS >./douglas.ps1 -a


Video




Associated-Threat-Analyzer - Detects Malicious IPv4 Addresses And Domain Names Associated With Your Web Application Using Local Malicious Domain And IPv4 Lists

By: Zion3R


Associated-Threat-Analyzer detects malicious IPv4 addresses and domain names associated with your web application using local malicious domain and IPv4 lists.


Installation

From Git

git clone https://github.com/OsmanKandemir/associated-threat-analyzer.git
cd associated-threat-analyzer && pip3 install -r requirements.txt
python3 analyzer.py -d target-web.com

From Dockerfile

You can run this application on a container after build a Dockerfile.

Warning : If you want to run a Docker container, associated threat analyzer recommends to use your malicious IPs and domains lists, because maintainer may not be update a default malicious IP and domain lists on docker image.
docker build -t osmankandemir/threatanalyzer .
docker run osmankandemir/threatanalyzer -d target-web.com

From DockerHub

docker pull osmankandemir/threatanalyzer
docker run osmankandemir/threatanalyzer -d target-web.com

Usage

-d DOMAIN , --domain DOMAIN Input Target. --domain target-web1.com
-t DOMAINSFILE, --DomainsFile Malicious Domains List to Compare. -t SampleMaliciousDomains.txt
-i IPSFILE, --IPsFile Malicious IPs List to Compare. -i SampleMaliciousIPs.txt
-o JSON, --json JSON JSON output. --json

DONE

  • First-level depth scan your domain address.

TODO list

  • Third-level or the more depth static files scanning for target web application.
Other linked github project. You can take a look.
Finds related domains and IPv4 addresses to do threat intelligence after Indicator-Intelligence v1.1.1 collects static files

https://github.com/OsmanKandemir/indicator-intelligence

Default Malicious IPs and Domains Sources

https://github.com/stamparm/blackbook

https://github.com/stamparm/ipsum

Development and Contribution

See; CONTRIBUTING.md



HEDnsExtractor - Raw Html Extractor From Hurricane Electric Portal

By: Zion3R

HEDnsExtractor

Raw html extractor from Hurricane Electric portal

Features

  • Automatically identify IPAddr ou Networks through command line parameter or stdin
  • Extract networks based on IPAddr.
  • Extract domains from networks.

Installation

go install -v github.com/HuntDownProject/hednsextractor/cmd/hednsextractor@latest

Usage

usage -h
Running

Getting the IP Addresses used for hackerone.com, and enumerating only the networks.

nslookup hackerone.com | awk '/Address: / {print $2}' | hednsextractor -silent -only-networks

[INF] [104.16.99.52] 104.16.0.0/12
[INF] [104.16.99.52] 104.16.96.0/20

Getting the IP Addresses used for hackerone.com, and enumerating only the domains (using tail to show the first 10 results).

nslookup hackerone.com | awk '/Address: / {print $2}' | hednsextractor -silent -only-domains | tail -n 10

herllus.com
hezzy.store
hilariostore.com
hiperdrop.com
hippratas.online
hitsstory.com
hobbyshop.site
holyangelstore.com
holzfallerstore.fun
homedescontoo.com

Running with Virustotal

Edit the config file and add the Virustotal API Key

cat $HOME/.config/hednsextractor/config.yaml 
virustotal score #vt: false # minimum virustotal score to show #vt-score: 0 # ip address or network to query #target: # show silent output #silent: false # show verbose output #verbose: false # virustotal api key vt-api-key: Your API Key goes here" dir="auto">
# hednsextractor config file
# generated by https://github.com/projectdiscovery/goflags

# show only domains
#only-domains: false

# show only networks
#only-networks: false

# show virustotal score
#vt: false

# minimum virustotal score to show
#vt-score: 0

# ip address or network to query
#target:

# show silent output
#silent: false

# show verbose output
#verbose: false

# virustotal api key
vt-api-key: Your API Key goes here

So, run the hednsextractor with -vt parameter.

nslookup hackerone.com | awk '/Address: / {print $2}' | hednsextractor -only-domains -vt             

And the output will be as below

          _______  ______   _        _______  _______          _________ _______  _______  _______ _________ _______  _______ 
|\ /|( ____ \( __ \ ( ( /|( ____ \( ____ \|\ /|\__ __/( ____ )( ___ )( ____ \\__ __/( ___ )( ____ )
| ) ( || ( \/| ( \ )| \ ( || ( \/| ( \/( \ / ) ) ( | ( )|| ( ) || ( \/ ) ( | ( ) || ( )|
| (___) || (__ | | ) || \ | || (_____ | (__ \ (_) / | | | (____)|| (___) || | | | | | | || (____)|
| ___ || __) | | | || (\ \) |(_____ )| __) ) _ ( | | | __)| ___ || | | | | | | || __)
| ( ) || ( | | ) || | \ | ) || ( / ( ) \ | | | (\ ( | ( ) || | | | | | | || (\ (
| ) ( || (____/\| (__/ )| ) \ |/\____) || (____/\( / \ ) | | | ) \ \__| ) ( || (____/\ | | | (___) || ) \ \__
|/ \|(_______/(______/ |/ )_)\_______)(_______/|/ \| )_( |/ \__/|/ \|(_______/ )_( (_______)|/ \__/

[INF] Current hednsextractor version v1.0.0
[INF] [104.16.0.0/12] domain: ohst.ltd VT Score: 0
[INF] [104.16.0.0/12] domain: jxcraft.net VT Score: 0
[INF] [104.16.0.0/12] domain: teatimegm.com VT Score: 2
[INF] [104.16.0.0/12] domain: debugcheat.com VT Score: 0


SOC-Multitool - A Powerful And User-Friendly Browser Extension That Streamlines Investigations For Security Professionals

By: Zion3R


Introducing SOC Multi-tool, a free and open-source browser extension that makes investigations faster and more efficient. Now available on the Chrome Web Store and compatible with all Chromium-based browsers such as Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Brave, and Opera.
Now available on Chrome Web Store!


Streamline your investigations

SOC Multi-tool eliminates the need for constant copying and pasting during investigations. Simply highlight the text you want to investigate, right-click, and navigate to the type of data highlighted. The extension will then open new tabs with the results of your investigation.

Modern and feature-rich

The SOC Multi-tool is a modernized multi-tool built from the ground up, with a range of features and capabilities. Some of the key features include:

  • IP Reputation Lookup using VirusTotal & AbuseIPDB
  • IP Info Lookup using Tor relay checker & WHOIS
  • Hash Reputation Lookup using VirusTotal
  • Domain Reputation Lookup using VirusTotal & AbuseIPDB
  • Domain Info Lookup using Alienvault
  • Living off the land binaries Lookup using the LOLBas project
  • Decoding of Base64 & HEX using CyberChef
  • File Extension & Filename Lookup using fileinfo.com & File.net
  • MAC Address manufacturer Lookup using maclookup.com
  • Parsing of UserAgent using user-agents.net
  • Microsoft Error code Lookup using Microsoft's DB
  • Event ID Lookup (Windows, Sharepoint, SQL Server, Exchange, and Sysmon) using ultimatewindowssecurity.com
  • Blockchain Address Lookup using blockchain.com
  • CVE Info using cve.mitre.org

Easy to install

You can easily install the extension by downloading the release from the Chrome Web Store!
If you wish to make edits you can download from the releases page, extract the folder and make your changes.
To load your edited extension turn on developer mode in your browser's extensions settings, click "Load unpacked" and select the extracted folder!


SOC Multi-tool is a community-driven project and the developer encourages users to contribute and share better resources.



6 Steps to Effectively Threat Hunting: Safeguard Critical Assets and Fight Cybercrime

Finding threat actors before they find you is key to beefing up your cyber defenses. How to do that efficiently and effectively is no small task – but with a small investment of time, you can master threat hunting and save your organization millions of dollars. Consider this staggering statistic. Cybersecurity Ventures estimates that cybercrime will take a $10.5 trillion toll on the global

Wafaray - Enhance Your Malware Detection With WAF + YARA (WAFARAY)

By: Zion3R

WAFARAY is a LAB deployment based on Debian 11.3.0 (stable) x64 made and cooked between two main ingredients WAF + YARA to detect malicious files (e.g. webshells, virus, malware, binaries) typically through web functions (upload files).


Purpose

In essence, the main idea came to use WAF + YARA (YARA right-to-left = ARAY) to detect malicious files at the WAF level before WAF can forward them to the backend e.g. files uploaded through web functions see: https://owasp.org/www-community/vulnerabilities/Unrestricted_File_Upload

When a web page allows uploading files, most of the WAFs are not inspecting files before sending them to the backend. Implementing WAF + YARA could provide malware detection before WAF forwards the files to the backend.

Do malware detection through WAF?

Yes, one solution is to use ModSecurity + Clamav, most of the pages call ClamAV as a process and not as a daemon, in this case, analysing a file could take more than 50 seconds per file. See this resource: https://kifarunix.com/intercept-malicious-file-upload-with-modsecurity-and-clamav/

Do malware detection through WAF + YARA?

:-( A few clues here Black Hat Asia 2019 please continue reading and see below our quick LAB deployment.

WAFARAY: how does it work ?

Basically, It is a quick deployment (1) with pre-compiled and ready-to-use YARA rules via ModSecurity (WAF) using a custom rule; (2) this custom rule will perform an inspection and detection of the files that might contain malicious code, (3) typically web functions (upload files) if the file is suspicious will reject them receiving a 403 code Forbidden by ModSecurity.

βœ”οΈThe YaraCompile.py compiles all the yara rules. (Python3 code)
βœ”οΈThe test.conf is a virtual host that contains the mod security rules. (ModSecurity Code)
βœ”οΈModSecurity rules calls the modsec_yara.py in order to inspect the file that is trying to upload. (Python3 code)
βœ”οΈYara returns two options 1 (200 OK) or 0 (403 Forbidden)

Main Paths:

  • Yara Compiled rules: /YaraRules/Compiled
  • Yara Default rules: /YaraRules/rules
  • Yara Scripts: /YaraRules/YaraScripts
  • Apache vhosts: /etc/apache2/sites-enabled
  • Temporal Files: /temporal

Approach

  • Blueteamers: Rule enforcement, best alerting, malware detection on files uploaded through web functions.
  • Redteamers/pentesters: GreyBox scope , upload and bypass with a malicious file, rule enforcement.
  • Security Officers: Keep alerting, threat hunting.
  • SOC: Best monitoring about malicious files.
  • CERT: Malware Analysis, Determine new IOC.

Building Detection Lab

The Proof of Concept is based on Debian 11.3.0 (stable) x64 OS system, OWASP CRC v3.3.2 and Yara 4.0.5, you will find the automatic installation script here wafaray_install.sh and an optional manual installation guide can be found here: manual_instructions.txt also a PHP page has been created as a "mock" to observe the interaction and detection of malicious files using WAF + YARA.

Installation (recommended) with shell scripts

βœ”οΈStep 2: Deploy using VMware or VirtualBox
βœ”οΈStep 3: Once installed, please follow the instructions below:
alex@waf-labs:~$ su root 
root@waf-labs:/home/alex#

# Remember to change YOUR_USER by your username (e.g waf)
root@waf-labs:/home/alex# sed -i 's/^\(# User privi.*\)/\1\nalex ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL/g' /etc/sudoers
root@waf-labs:/home/alex# exit
alex@waf-labs:~$ sudo sed -i 's/^\(deb cdrom.*\)/#\1/g' /etc/apt/sources.list
alex@waf-labs:~$ sudo sed -i 's/^# \(deb\-src http.*\)/ \1/g' /etc/apt/sources.list
alex@waf-labs:~$ sudo sed -i 's/^# \(deb http.*\)/ \1/g' /etc/apt/sources.list
alex@waf-labs:~$ echo -ne "\n\ndeb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye main\ndeb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian/ bullseye main\n" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
alex@waf-labs:~$ sudo apt-get update
alex@waf-labs:~$ sudo apt-get install sudo -y
alex@waf-labs:~$ sudo apt-get install git vim dos2unix net-tools -y
alex@waf-labs:~$ git clone https://github.com/alt3kx/wafarayalex@waf-labs:~$ cd wafaray
alex@waf-labs:~$ dos2unix wafaray_install.sh
alex@waf-labs:~$ chmod +x wafaray_install.sh
alex@waf-labs:~$ sudo ./wafaray_install.sh >> log_install.log

# Test your LAB environment
alex@waf-labs:~$ firefox localhost:8080/upload.php

Yara Rules

Once the Yara Rules were downloaded and compiled.

It is similar to when you deploy ModSecurity, you need to customize what kind of rule you need to apply. The following log is an example of when the Web Application Firewall + Yara detected a malicious file, in this case, eicar was detected.

Message: Access denied with code 403 (phase 2). File "/temporal/20220812-184146-YvbXKilOKdNkDfySME10ywAAAAA-file-Wx1hQA" rejected by 
the approver script "/YaraRules/YaraScripts/modsec_yara.py": 0 SUSPECTED [YaraSignature: eicar]
[file "/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/test.conf"] [line "56"] [id "500002"]
[msg "Suspected File Upload:eicar.com.txt -> /temporal/20220812-184146-YvbXKilOKdNkDfySME10ywAAAAA-file-Wx1hQA - URI: /upload.php"]

Testing WAFARAY... voilΓ ...

Stop / Start ModSecurity

$ sudo service apache2 stop
$ sudo service apache2 start

Apache Logs

$ cd /var/log
$ sudo tail -f apache2/test_access.log apache2/test_audit.log apache2/test_error.log

Demos

Be careful about your test. The following demos were tested on isolated virtual machines.

Demo 1 - EICAR

A malicious file is uploaded, and the ModSecurity rules plus Yara denied uploading file to the backend if the file matched with at least one Yara Rule. (Example of Malware: https://secure.eicar.org/eicar.com.txt) NOT EXECUTE THE FILE.

Demo 2 - WebShell.php

For this demo, we disable the rule 933110 - PHP Inject Attack to validate Yara Rules. A malicious file is uploaded, and the ModSecurity rules plus Yara denied uploading file to the backend if the file matched with at least one Yara Rule. (Example of WebShell PHP: https://github.com/drag0s/php-webshell) NOT EXECUTE THE FILE.

Demo 3 - Malware Bazaar (RecordBreaker) Published: 2022-08-13

A malicious file is uploaded, and the ModSecurity rules plus Yara denied uploading file to the backend if the file matched with at least one Yara Rule. (Example of Malware Bazaar (RecordBreaker): https://bazaar.abuse.ch/sample/94ffc1624939c5eaa4ed32d19f82c369333b45afbbd9d053fa82fe8f05d91ac2/) NOT EXECUTE THE FILE.

YARA Rules sources

In case that you want to download more yara rules, you can see the following repositories:

References

Roadmap until next release

  • Malware Hash Database (MLDBM). The Database stores the MD5 or SHA1 that files were detected as suspicious.
  • To be tested CRS Modsecurity v.3.3.3 new rules
  • ModSecurity rules improvement to malware detection with Database.
  • To be created blacklist and whitelist related to MD5 or SHA1.
  • To be tested, run in background if the Yara analysis takes more than 3 seconds.
  • To be tested, new payloads, example: Powershell Obfuscasted (WebShells)
  • Remarks for live enviroments. (WAF AWS, WAF GCP, ...)

Authors

Alex Hernandez aka (@_alt3kx_)
Jesus Huerta aka @mindhack03d

Contributors

Israel Zeron Medina aka @spk085



How to Set Up a Threat Hunting and Threat Intelligence Program

Threat hunting is an essential component of your cybersecurity strategy. Whether you're getting started or in an advanced state, this article will help you ramp up your threat intelligence program. What is Threat Hunting? The cybersecurity industry is shifting from a reactive to a proactive approach. Instead of waiting for cybersecurity alerts and then addressing them, security organizations are

Many Public Salesforce Sites are Leaking Private Data

A shocking number of organizations β€” including banks and healthcare providers β€” are leaking private and sensitive information from their public Salesforce Community websites, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. The data exposures all stem from a misconfiguration in Salesforce Community that allows an unauthenticated user to access records that should only be available after logging in.

A researcher found DC Health had five Salesforce Community sites exposing data.

Salesforce Community is a widely-used cloud-based software product that makes it easy for organizations to quickly create websites. Customers can access a Salesforce Community website in two ways: Authenticated access (requiring login), and guest user access (no login required). The guest access feature allows unauthenticated users to view specific content and resources without needing to log in.

However, sometimes Salesforce administrators mistakenly grant guest users access to internal resources, which can cause unauthorized users to access an organization’s private information and lead to potential data leaks.

Until being contacted by this reporter on Monday, the state of Vermont had at least five separate Salesforce Community sites that allowed guest access to sensitive data, including a Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program that exposed the applicant’s full name, Social Security number, address, phone number, email, and bank account number.

This misconfigured Salesforce Community site from the state of Vermont was leaking pandemic assistance loan application data, including names, SSNs, email address and bank account information.

Vermont’s Chief Information Security Officer Scott Carbee said his security teams have been conducting a full review of their Salesforce Community sites, and already found one additional Salesforce site operated by the state that was also misconfigured to allow guest access to sensitive information.

β€œMy team is frustrated by the permissive nature of the platform,” Carbee said.

Carbee said the vulnerable sites were all created rapidly in response to the Coronavirus pandemic, and were not subjected to their normal security review process.

β€œDuring the pandemic, we were largely standing up tons of applications, and let’s just say a lot of them didn’t have the full benefit of our dev/ops process,” Carbee said. β€œIn our case, we didn’t have any native Salesforce developers when we had to suddenly stand up all these sites.”

Earlier this week, KrebsOnSecurity notified Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington Bank that its recently acquired TCF Bank had a Salesforce Community website that was leaking documents related to commercial loans. The data fields in those loan applications included name, address, full Social Security number, title, federal ID, IP address, average monthly payroll, and loan amount.

Huntington Bank has disabled the leaky TCF Bank Salesforce website. Matthew Jennings, deputy chief information security officer at Huntington, said the company was still investigating how the misconfiguration occurred, how long it lasted, and how many records may have been exposed.

KrebsOnSecurity learned of the leaks from security researcher Charan Akiri, who said he wrote a program that identified hundreds of other organizations running misconfigured Salesforce pages. But Akiri said he’s been wary of probing too far, and has had difficulty getting responses from most of the organizations he has notified to date.

β€œIn January and February 2023, I contacted government organizations and several companies, but I did not receive any response from these organizations,” Akiri said. β€œTo address the issue further, I reached out to several CISOs on LinkedIn and Twitter. As a result, five companies eventually fixed the problem. Unfortunately, I did not receive any responses from government organizations.”

The problem Akiri has been trying to raise awareness about came to the fore in August 2021, when security researcher Aaron Costello published a blog post explaining how misconfigurations in Salesforce Community sites could be exploited to reveal sensitive data (Costello subsequently published a follow-up post detailing how to lock down Salesforce Community sites).

On Monday, KrebsOnSecurity used Akiri’s findings to notify Washington D.C. city administrators that at least five different public DC Health websites were leaking sensitive information. One DC Health Salesforce Community website designed for health professionals seeking to renew licenses with the city leaked documents that included the applicant’s full name, address, Social Security number, date of birth, license number and expiration, and more.

Akiri said he notified the Washington D.C. government in February about his findings, but received no response. Reached by KrebsOnSecurity, interim Chief Information Security Officer Mike Rupert initially said the District had hired a third party to investigate, and that the third party confirmed the District’s IT systems were not vulnerable to data loss from the reported Salesforce configuration issue.

But after being presented with a document including the Social Security number of a health professional in D.C. that was downloaded in real-time from the DC Health public Salesforce website, Rupert acknowledged his team had overlooked some configuration settings.

Washington, D.C. health administrators are still smarting from a data breach earlier this year at the health insurance exchange DC Health Link, which exposed personal information for more than 56,000 users, including many members of Congress.

That data later wound up for sale on a top cybercrime forum. The Associated Press reports that the DC Health Link breach was likewise the result of human error, and said an investigation revealed the cause was a DC Health Link server that was β€œmisconfigured to allow access to the reports on the server without proper authentication.”

Salesforce says the data exposures are not the result of a vulnerability inherent to the Salesforce platform, but they can occur when customers’ access control permissions are misconfigured.

β€œAs previously communicated to all Experience Site and Sites customers, we recommend utilizing the Guest User Access Report Package to assist in reviewing access control permissions for unauthenticated users,” reads a Salesforce advisory from Sept. 2022. β€œAdditionally, we suggest reviewing the following Help article, Best Practices and Considerations When Configuring the Guest User Profile.”

In a written statement, Salesforce said it is actively focused on data security for organizations with guest users, and that it continues to release β€œrobust tools and guidance for our customers,” including:

Guest User Access ReportΒ 

Control Which Users Experience Cloud Site Users Can See

Best Practices and Considerations When Configuring the Guest User Profile

β€œWe’ve also continued to update our Guest User security policies, beginning with our Spring β€˜21 release with more to come in Summer β€˜23,” the statement reads. β€œLastly, we continue to proactively communicate with customers to help them understand the capabilities available to them, and how they can best secure their instance of Salesforce to meet their security, contractual, and regulatory obligations.”

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