Threat actors actively exploit recently fixed Sophos firewall bug

Pierluigi Paganini March 30, 2022

Cybersecurity firm Sophos warned that the recently addressed CVE-2022-1040 flaw in Sophos Firewall is actively exploited in attacks.

Sophos has recently fixed an authentication bypass vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2022-1040, that resides in the User Portal and Webadmin areas of Sophos Firewall.

The CVE-2022-1040 flaw received a CVSS score of 9.8 and impacts Sophos Firewall versions 18.5 MR3 (18.5.3) and earlier. The vulnerability was reported to the security firm by an unnamed security researcher via its bug bounty program.

“An authentication bypass vulnerability allowing remote code execution was discovered in the User Portal and Webadmin of Sophos Firewall and responsibly disclosed to Sophos. It was reported via the Sophos bug bounty program by an external security researcher. The vulnerability has been fixed.” reads the advisory published by the company.

A remote attacker with access to the Firewall’s User Portal or Webadmin interface can exploit the flaw to bypass authentication and execute arbitrary code.

Sophos Firewall User Portal interface
Source Sophos community

The security vendor pointed out that the hotfixes will be automatically installed on its devices by default.

The company also recommends customers avoid exposing their User Portal and Webadmin to WAN.

Sophos is now warning that the CVE-2022-1040 flaw in Sophos Firewall is actively exploited in attacks aimed at a small set of Asian organizations.

“Sophos has observed this vulnerability being used to target a small set of specific organizations primarily in the South Asia region. We have informed each of these organizations directly. Sophos will provide further details as we continue to investigate.” reads the advisory published by the vendor.

Sophos added that users of older versions of its Firewall are required to upgrade to receive the latest protections and this fix.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, RCE)

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