A brand new hacking group has leaked the configuration information, IP addresses, and VPN credentials for over 15,000 FortiGate units without cost on the darkish net, exposing a substantial amount of delicate technical data to different cybercriminals.
The info was leaked by the “Belsen Group,” a brand new hacking group first showing on social media and cybercrime boards this month. To advertise themselves, the Belsen Group has created a Tor web site the place they launched the FortiGate knowledge dump without cost for use by different menace actors.
“At first of the 12 months, and as a optimistic begin for us, and so as to solidify the title of our group in your reminiscence, we’re proud to announce our first official operation: Might be printed of delicate knowledge from over 15,000 targets worldwide (each governmental and personal sectors) which were hacked and their knowledge extracted,” reads a hacking discussion board submit.
Supply: BleepingComputer
The FortiGate leak consists of a 1.6 GB archive containing folders ordered by nation. Every folder comprises additional subfolders for every FortiGate’s IP deal with in that nation.
Supply: Beaumont
In keeping with cybersecurity knowledgeable Kevin Beaumont, every IP deal with has a configuration.conf (Fortigate config dump) and a vpn-passwords.txt file, with a few of the passwords in plain textual content. The configs additionally comprise delicate data, comparable to personal keys and firewall guidelines.
In a weblog submit in regards to the FortiGate leak, Beaumont says that the leak is believed to be linked to a 2022 zero-day tracked as CVE-2022–40684 that was exploited in assaults earlier than a repair was launched.
“I’ve finished incident response on one system at a sufferer org, and exploitation was certainly by way of CVE-2022–40684 primarily based on artefacts on the system. I’ve additionally been capable of confirm the usernames and password seen within the dump matches the small print on the system,” explains Beaumont.
“The info seems to have been assembled in October 2022, as a zero day vuln. For some cause, the information dump of config has been launched in the present day, simply over 2 years later.”
In 2022, Fortinet warned that menace actors have been exploiting a zero-day tracked as CVE-2022–40684 to obtain config information from focused FortiGate units after which add a malicious super_admin account referred to as ‘fortigate-tech-support’.
Supply: Fortinet
German information website Heise analyzed the information leak and likewise stated that it was gathered in 2022, with all units using FortiOS firmware 7.0.0-7.0.6 or 7.2.0-7.2.2.
“All units have been geared up with FortiOS 7.0.0-7.0.6 or 7.2.0-7.2.2, most with model 7.2.0. We didn’t discover any FortiOS model within the knowledge trove that was newer than model 7.2.2, launched on October 3, 2022,” Heise reported.
Nonetheless, FortiOS 7.2.2 mounted the CVE-2022–40684 flaw, so it could be unclear how units working that model might be exploited with this vulnerability.
Though these configuration information have been collected in 2022, Beaumont warns that they nonetheless expose plenty of delicate details about a community’s defenses.
This consists of firewall guidelines and credentials that, if not modified on the time, must be modified instantly now that the information has been launched to a broader pool of menace actors.
Beaumont says that he plans to launch an inventory of the IP addresses within the leak so FortiGate admins can know if the leak impacted them.
In 2021, a menace actor leaked nearly 500,000 Fortinet VPN credentials that have been collected utilizing the CVE-2018-13379 vulnerability.
BleepingComputer additionally reached out to each the menace actors and Fortinet with questions in regards to the leak and can replace the story if we obtain a response.