VMware Workspace ONE Assist Updates Fix Critical Flaws

Updated on 2022-11-11: VMware Workspace ONE Assist Updates Fix Critical Flaws

VMware has released updates to address three critical vulnerabilities in its Workplace ONE Assist remote access tool. The flaws, an authentication bypass issue, a broken authentication method, and broken authentication control, have received CVSSv3 scores of 9.8. The updates also address two moderate severity vulnerabilities. Users are urged to update to Workspace ONE Assist 22.10.

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Older VMware flaws are already heavily targeted by attackers. This will provide them with yet another avenue. And remember: This isn’t just a “Patch Now” issue. Because there will likely be more issues like that. This is a “Figure out how to build a moat” issue.
There are no workarounds here, this is a patch it to fix it scenario. An attacker can exploit the flaws if they can reach your network with Workspace One Assist without authentication to obtain administrative access. The update addresses five CVEs in total – including XSS and an authentication token exploit, seems like a good idea to just apply the update.

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Updated on 2022-10-24: Widespread VMWare abuse

Fortinet reported widespread abuse of CVE-2022-22954, a VMWare vulnerability patched earlier this year in April. Threat actors abusing this vulnerability include groups deploying the Mirai DDoS malware, the RAR1ransom ransomware strain, and the GuardMiner crypto-mining gang. Read more: VMSA-2022-0011.1

Updated on 2022-10-21: VMware Vulnerability is Being Exploited in Malware Campaigns

Researchers from Fortinet have detected malware campaigns that are exploiting a known remote code execution vulnerability in VMware Workspace ONE Access. The flaw, for which VMware issued a patch in April, is being exploited to spread ransomware and install cryptominers. Fortinet researchers noted a sudden spike in attempts to exploit the vulnerability in August.

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Just as many enterprises have been slow to patch routers and switches because of the need to bring the network down to do so, VMware patching is often too slow. In the April patch release VMware said these vulnerabilities enabled remote code injection and attacks had been seen in the wild back in April. Should have been a high priority patch.
We all hate patching servers because of the mission impact. The good news is that you can typically update VMware Tools without a reboot, and with proper configuration, move services to other servers so you can patch the running hypervisor. That leaves the VMware services themselves, often appliances just humming along. Guess what – you need to fix them too. Make sure that you have a policy which sets limits on applying patches, with supporting scans and consequences. Question excuses that there is no way a particular vulnerable component can be exploited carefully.

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Updated on 2022-10-20

Fortinet discovered multiple campaigns delivering Mirai, GuardMiner, and RAR1Ransom abusing a critical vulnerability, CVE-2022-22954, in VMware Workspace ONE Access and Identity Manager. Read more: Mirai, RAR1Ransom, and GuardMiner – Multiple Malware Campaigns Target VMware Vulnerability

CISA Adds More Flaws to Known Exploited Vulnerability Database

On Friday, April 15, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added nine more security flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. All nine have mitigation due dates of May 6, 2022.

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On Thursday, the CISA also added the VMware exploit (CVE-2022-22954) is being used to deploy cryptominer payloads, which is good to know if you’re a VMware shop. While this may feel like painting a bridge, if you filter out the products you don’t have, and products you’ve already patched, this should give you a manageable list of things to make sure you’ve not overlooked.