• 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

U.S. CISA urges FCEB agencies to fix two Microsoft SharePoint flaws immediately and added them to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Sophos fixed two critical Sophos Firewall vulnerabilities

 | 

French Authorities confirm XSS.is admin arrested in Ukraine

 | 

Microsoft linked attacks on SharePoint flaws to China-nexus actors

 | 

Cisco confirms active exploitation of ISE and ISE-PIC flaws

 | 

SharePoint under fire: new ToolShell attacks target enterprises

 | 

CrushFTP zero-day actively exploited at least since July 18

 | 

Hardcoded credentials found in HPE Aruba Instant On Wi-Fi devices

 | 

MuddyWater deploys new DCHSpy variants amid Iran-Israel conflict

 | 

U.S. CISA urges to immediately patch Microsoft SharePoint flaw adding it to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Microsoft issues emergency patches for SharePoint zero-days exploited in "ToolShell" attacks

 | 

SharePoint zero-day CVE-2025-53770 actively exploited in the wild

 | 

Singapore warns China-linked group UNC3886 targets its critical infrastructure

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Fortinet FortiWeb flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 54

 | 

Security Affairs newsletter Round 533 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

 | 

Radiology Associates of Richmond data breach impacts 1.4 million people

 | 

Fortinet FortiWeb flaw CVE-2025-25257 exploited hours after PoC release

 | 

Authorities released free decryptor for Phobos and 8base ransomware

 | 

Anne Arundel Dermatology data breach impacts 1.9 million people

 | 
  • 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
  • Breaking News
  • Hacking
  • NSA BENIGNCERTAIN tool can obtain VPN Passwords from CISCO PIX

NSA BENIGNCERTAIN tool can obtain VPN Passwords from CISCO PIX

Pierluigi Paganini August 20, 2016

Researchers tested the BENIGNCERTAIN tool included in the NSA data dump that allows attackers to extract VPN passwords from certain Cisco devices.

Following the disclosure of the NSA dump, IT vendors Cisco and Fortinet issued security patches to fix the flaws exploited by the Equation Group in their products.

BENIGNCERTAIN, Equation Group

Now, security researchers have uncovered another exploit included in the leaked dump, dubbed BENIGNCERTAIN that allows the extraction of VPN passwords from certain Cisco devices.

The expert Mustafa Al-Bassam who analyzed the data dump has called the attack “PixPocket” after the name of the Cisco products hacked by the tool, the Cisco PIX.

The CISCO PIX product family was declared phase out back in 2009, but it is widely adopted by government entities and enterprises.

According to the expert, the tool works against the CISCO PIX versions 5.2(9) up to 6.3(4).

Al-Bassam discovered that the tool could be used to send a packet to the target machine that makes it dump a portion of the memory that includes the VPN’s authentication password.

The security expert Brian Waters also tested the BENIGNCERTAIN exploits confirming that it works.

I can confirm that BENIGNCERTAIN works against real hardware @XORcat @GossiTheDog @musalbas @marcan42 @msuiche pic.twitter.com/81gAmeHNlL

— Brian H₂O’s (@int10h) 19 agosto 2016

“it’s a PIX 501 running 6.3(5)145; and I used v1110 of the exploit” added 501 running 6.3(5)145; and I used v1110 of the exploit” added Waters in a second Tweet, this means that the BENIGNCERTAIN could work also against other versions of the PIX.

This means that NSA could have remotely sent a packet to a target VPN to obtain its preshared key and decrypt the traffic.

Cisco published the blog post titled “The Shadow Brokers EPICBANANAS and EXTRABACON Exploits” to provide further details about its investigation of the tools included in the arsenal of the Equation Group leaked online.

The Cisco security team is still investigating the content of the leaked data dump to verify the if other hacking tools could be exploited against its products.

“On August 19th, articles were release regarding the BENIGNCERTAIN exploit potentially being used to exploit legacy Cisco PIX firewalls. Our investigation so far has not identified any new vulnerabilities in current products related to the exploit. Even though the Cisco PIX is not supported and has not been supported since 2009 (see EOL / EOS notices), out of concern for customers who are still using PIX we have investigated this issue and found PIX versions 6.x and prior are affected.  PIX versions 7.0 and later are confirmed to be unaffected by BENIGNCERTAIN.  The Cisco ASA is not vulnerable.”  wrote CISCO.

[adrotate banner=”9″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – BENIGNCERTAIN, Equation Group)


facebook linkedin twitter

BENIGNCERTAIN CISCO Equation group hacking tools Intelligence NSA PIX VPN

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 23, 2025
U.S. CISA urges FCEB agencies to fix two Microsoft SharePoint flaws immediately and added them to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 23, 2025
Sophos fixed two critical Sophos Firewall vulnerabilities
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

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

    recent articles

    U.S. CISA urges FCEB agencies to fix two Microsoft SharePoint flaws immediately and added them to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

    Hacking / July 23, 2025

    Sophos fixed two critical Sophos Firewall vulnerabilities

    Security / July 23, 2025

    French Authorities confirm XSS.is admin arrested in Ukraine

    Cyber Crime / July 23, 2025

    Microsoft linked attacks on SharePoint flaws to China-nexus actors

    APT / July 23, 2025

    Cisco confirms active exploitation of ISE and ISE-PIC flaws

    Hacking / July 22, 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