Russian Agents Have Been Hacking Major Email Program: NSA

The Exim exploit allows an attacker to gain access using specially crafted email and install programs, modify data and create new accounts — gaining a foothold on a compromised network.

By Associated Press | Updated: 29 May 2020 12:12 IST

Russian Agents Have Been Hacking Major Email Program: NSA

Photo Credit: Reuters

The Exim exploit allows an attacker to gain access using specially crafted email

Highlights

Exim email server is widely used
The exploit was identified 11 months ago, when a patch was issued
The NSA did not say who the Russian military hackers have targeted

The US National Security Agency says the same Russian military hacking group that interfered in the 2016 presidential election and unleashed a devastating malware attack the following year has been exploiting a major email server program since last August or earlier. The timing of the agency's advisory Thursday was unusual considering that the critical vulnerability in the Exim Mail Transfer Agent — which mostly runs on Unix-type operating systems — was identified 11 months ago, when a patch was issued.

Exim is so widely used — though far less known than such commercial alternatives as Microsoft's proprietary Exchange — that some companies and government agencies that run it may still not have patched the vulnerability, said Jake Williams, president of Rendition Infosec and a former US government hacker.

It took Williams about a minute of online probing on Thursday to find a potentially vulnerable government server in the UK.

He speculated that the NSA might have issued an advisory to publicise the IP addresses and a domain name used by the Russian military group, known as Sandworm, in its hacking campaign — in hopes of thwarting their use for other means.

The Exim exploit allows an attacker to gain access using specially crafted email and install programs, modify data and create new accounts — gaining a foothold on a compromised network.

The NSA did not say who the Russian military hackers have targeted. But senior US intelligence officials have warned in recent months that Kremlin agents are engaged in activities that could threaten the integrity of the November presidential election.

An NSA official reached by The Associated Press would only say that the agency is publicising the vulnerability because, despite an October warning by British officials, it “has continued to be exploited and needs to be patched.” The hope, in now publicising Sandworm's role, is to further motivate patching, said the official, who spoke on condition they not be further identified.

Sandworm agents, tied to Russia's GRU military intelligence arm, caused great damage to the 2016 US presidential election, stealing and exposing Democratic National Committee emails and breaking into voter registration databases.

They also have been blamed by the US and UK governments for the June 2017 NotPetya cyber attack, which targeted businesses that operate in Ukraine. It caused at least $10 billion (roughly Rs. 75,612 crores) in damage globally, most notably to the Danish shipping multinational Maersk.

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