• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

Qilin ransomware claimed responsibility for the attack on the beer giant Asahi

 | 

DragonForce, LockBit, and Qilin, a new triad aims to dominate the ransomware landscape

 | 

DraftKings thwarts credential stuffing attack, but urges password reset and MFA

 | 

Redis patches 13-Year-Old Lua flaw enabling Remote Code Execution

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Synacor Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

GoAnywhere MFT zero-day used by Storm-1175 in Medusa ransomware campaigns

 | 

CrowdStrike ties Oracle EBS RCE (CVE-2025-61882) to Cl0p attacks began Aug 9, 2025

 | 

Discord discloses third-party breach affecting customer support data

 | 

Oracle patches critical E-Business Suite flaw exploited by Cl0p hackers

 | 

LinkedIn sues ProAPIs for $15K/Month LinkedIn data scraping scheme

 | 

Zimbra users targeted in zero-day exploit using iCalendar attachments

 | 

Reading the ENISA Threat Landscape 2025 report

 | 

Ghost in the Cloud: Weaponizing AWS X-Ray for Command & Control

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 65

 | 

Security Affairs newsletter Round 544 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

 | 

GreyNoise detects 500% surge in scans targeting Palo Alto Networks portals

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Smartbedded Meteobridge, Samsung, Juniper ScreenOS, Jenkins, and GNU Bash flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

ShinyHunters Launches Data Leak Site: Trinity of Chaos Announces New Ransomware Victims

 | 

ProSpy, ToSpy malware pose as Signal and ToTok to steal data in UAE

 | 

Google warns of Cl0p extortion campaign against Oracle E-Business users

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • APT
  • Breaking News
  • Hacking
  • Intelligence
  • Reports
  • Security
  • 2022 Zero-Day exploitation continues at a worrisome pace

2022 Zero-Day exploitation continues at a worrisome pace

Pierluigi Paganini March 21, 2023

Experts warn that 55 zero-day vulnerabilities were exploited in attacks carried out by ransomware and cyberespionage groups in 2022.

Cybersecurity firm Mandiant reported that ransomware and cyberespionage groups exploited 55 zero-day flaws in attacks in the wild.

Most of the zero-day vulnerabilities were in software from Microsoft, Google, and Apple.

The figures show a decrease from 2021, but experts pointed out that they represent almost triple the number from 2020.

zero-day flaws Mandiant report.

The majority of the zero-day vulnerabilities were exploited by China-linked threat actors as part of their cyberespionage campaigns.

The researchers reported that only four zero-day vulnerabilities were exploited by financially motivated threat actors, with 75% of these instances linked to ransomware attacks.

“Products from Microsoft, Google, and Apple made up the majority of zero-day vulnerabilities in 2022, consistent with previous years. The most exploited product types were operating systems (OS) (19), followed by browsers (11), security, IT, and network management products (10), and mobile OS (6). ” reads the report published by Mandiant.

According to the report, 13 zero-days in 2022 were exploited by cyber espionage groups, a figure that is consistent with 2021. Seven zero-days (CVE-2022-24682, CVE-2022-1040, CVE-2022-30190, CVE-2022-26134, CVE-2022-42475, CVE-2022-27518, and CVE-2022-41328) were exploited in attacks in the wild by China-linked cyberespionage groups, while two zero-day vulnerabilities were exploited by suspected North Korea-linked APT groups.

“We identified four zero-day vulnerabilities for which we could attribute exploitation by financially motivated threat actors, a quarter of the total 16 zero-days for which we could determine a motivation for exploitation. 75% of these instances appear to be linked to ransomware operations, consistent with 2021 and 2019 data in which ransomware groups exploited the highest volume of zero-day vulnerabilities compared to other financially motivated actors.” continues the report. “However, the overall count and proportion of the total of financially motivated zero-day exploitation declined in 2022 compared to recent years.”

zero-day flaws Mandiant report.

Multiple China-linked APT groups exploited the vulnerability CVE-2022-30190, aka Follina, while the exploitation of FortiOS vulnerabilities CVE-2022-42475 and CVE-2022-41328 was observed in particularly notable campaigns in 2022.

Mandiant believe that there is a shared development and logistics infrastructure behind the attacks.

Mandiant also observed two instances of Russian state zero-day exploitation. A first campaign carried out by the Russia-linked APT28 group exploited the CVE-2022-30190 flaw (aka Follina) in early June 2022. A second activity is related to a months-long campaign exploiting Microsoft Exchange vulnerability CVE-2023-23397 conducted by a threat actor tracked as UNC4697 (likely linked to the APT28 group).

The experts explained that increased focus on disrupting Russian cyber operations since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may have discouraged Russia-linked groups from widely using zero-day exploits for access they expected to lose quickly. This implies that the exploitation of the CVE-2022-30190 flaw was likely opportunistic.

“Almost all 2022 zero-day vulnerabilities (53) were exploited for the purpose of achieving either (primarily remote) code execution or gaining elevated privileges, both of which are consistent with most threat actor objectives. While information disclosure vulnerabilities can often gain attention due to customer and user data being at risk of disclosure and misuse, the extent of attacker actions from these vulnerabilities is often limited.” concludes the report. “Alternatively, elevated privileges and code execution can lead to  lateral movement across networks, causing effects beyond the initial access vector.”

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, zero-day)


facebook linkedin twitter

Hacking hacking news information security news IT Information Security Pierluigi Paganini Security Affairs Security News zero-Day

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini October 08, 2025
Qilin ransomware claimed responsibility for the attack on the beer giant Asahi
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini October 08, 2025
DragonForce, LockBit, and Qilin, a new triad aims to dominate the ransomware landscape
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    Qilin ransomware claimed responsibility for the attack on the beer giant Asahi

    Cyber Crime / October 08, 2025

    DragonForce, LockBit, and Qilin, a new triad aims to dominate the ransomware landscape

    Cyber Crime / October 08, 2025

    DraftKings thwarts credential stuffing attack, but urges password reset and MFA

    Security / October 08, 2025

    Redis patches 13-Year-Old Lua flaw enabling Remote Code Execution

    Security / October 08, 2025

    U.S. CISA adds Synacor Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

    Hacking / October 07, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT