Thursday, March 28, 2024

New Phishing Attack Taking Advantages of Vulnerability in Office 365 to Bypass all of Microsoft’s Security

Researchers discovered a new type of advance phishing attack that taking advantages of office 365 vulnerability to bypass all the Microsoft security even though users implemented the Advanced Threat Protection (APT)

Phishing attacks one of the most frequently targeting millions of users nowadays and this attack left all the Office 365 users vulnerable since the attack is more sophisticated and persistent.

Z-WASP vulnerability , a type of Security bypass method which is used by most of the cybercriminals around the world to embedded the obfuscate links within the phishing emails.

It helps attackers to evade the phishing URL from Office 365 Security and Office 365 ATP, also it has the ability to bypass an Office 365’s URL reputation check and Safe Links URL protection.

Even though Z-WASP vulnerability effect is very simple structure, impact of its attack is highly destructive

Zero-Width Spaces  (Z-WASP)

Z-WASP is a method of hiding special characters in empty space which means that render to spaces of zero-width.

According to avanan, “Un-rendered (in their raw HTML form), ZWSPs appear like a mishmash of numbers and special characters randomly inserted between the letters a word or a URL; rendered in the browser, however, they are formatted to be invisible, resulting in what appears to be a standard URL”

 There are 5 ZWSP entities:

  • ​ (Zero-Width Space)
  • ‌ (Zero-Width Non-Joiner)
  • ‍ (Zero-Width Joiner)
  •  (Zero-Width No-Break Space)
  • 0 (Full-Width Digit Zero)

Working Method of Z-WASP Phishing Attacks

Further analysis conducted with the Z-WASP implemented Phishing emails reveal that middle of the malicious URL’s contain Zero-Width Non-Joiner (‌
 (‌ ‌) that considers as a legitimate URL by Office 365 ATP security check.

This Phishing URL delivered to targeted users via email but unfortunately users cannot see the ZWSPs in the URL.

once user click the URL it redirect to the credential harvesting phishing site. 

here you can see the how www.google.com viewed URL that containing ZWSPs to Microsoft Security .

How the URL looks to Microsoft Security:
http‌s://go‌ogle.co‌m/

Here you can see the complete demo video:


The Z-WASP attack is another chain in a list of exploits that are designed to obfuscate malicious content and confuse Office 365 security. Two similar exploits uncovered last year include the baseStriker and ZeroFont attacks, Avanan said.


You can follow us on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook for daily Cybersecurity updates also you can take the Best Cybersecurity courses online to keep your self-updated.

Also Read:

Beware !! These 22 Malware Apps in Playstore Drained Your Battery & Steal Personal Data – 2M Users Infected

Android Malware in QR Code apps that Downloaded More than 500,000 times from Play Store

Website

Latest articles

2 Chrome Zero-Days Exploited at Pwn2Own 2024: Patch Now

Google has announced a crucial update to its Chrome browser, addressing several vulnerabilities, including...

The Moon Malware Hacked 6,000 ASUS Routers in 72hours to Use for Proxy

Black Lotus Labs discovered a multi-year campaign by TheMoon malware targeting vulnerable routers and...

Hackers Actively Exploiting Ray AI Framework Flaw to Hack Thousands of Servers

A critical vulnerability in Ray, an open-source AI framework that is widely utilized across...

Chinese Hackers Attacking Southeast Asian Nations With Malware Packages

Cybersecurity researchers at Unit 42 have uncovered a sophisticated cyberespionage campaign orchestrated by two...

CISA Warns of Hackers Exploiting Microsoft SharePoint Server Vulnerability

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has warned about a critical vulnerability in Microsoft...

Microsoft Expands Edge Bounty Program to Include WebView2!

Microsoft announced that Microsoft Edge WebView2 eligibility and specific out-of-scope information are now included...

Beware of Free Android VPN Apps that Turn Your Device into Proxies

Cybersecurity experts have uncovered a cluster of Android VPN applications that covertly transform user...
Balaji
Balaji
BALAJI is an Ex-Security Researcher (Threat Research Labs) at Comodo Cybersecurity. Editor-in-Chief & Co-Founder - Cyber Security News & GBHackers On Security.

Mitigating Vulnerability Types & 0-day Threats

Mitigating Vulnerability & 0-day Threats

Alert Fatigue that helps no one as security teams need to triage 100s of vulnerabilities.

  • The problem of vulnerability fatigue today
  • Difference between CVSS-specific vulnerability vs risk-based vulnerability
  • Evaluating vulnerabilities based on the business impact/risk
  • Automation to reduce alert fatigue and enhance security posture significantly

Related Articles