{"id":15018,"date":"2023-02-17T10:47:16","date_gmt":"2023-02-17T17:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webdev.securin.xyz\/?p=15018"},"modified":"2023-07-11T14:30:53","modified_gmt":"2023-07-11T21:30:53","slug":"all-about-hive-ransomware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webdev.securin.xyz\/articles\/all-about-hive-ransomware\/","title":{"rendered":"All About Hive Ransomware"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
Since they burst into the limelight in June 2021 with an attack on\u00a0Europe\u2019s largest consumer electronics retailer, MediaMarkt<\/a>, HIVE ransomware has targeted a wide range of businesses \u2013 more than 1300 \u2013 including government facilities, critical manufacturing, information technology, telecommunications providers and healthcare and public health sectors.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p> The HIVE ransomware gang\u2019s aggressive activities bumped the group into the big league of the most dangerous ransomware groups, with a daily average of three companies being targeted since June 2021. Within the span of four months between August and November 2021, HIVE ransomware had infiltrated more than 350 organizations worldwide.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Securin cybersecurity analysts first observed HIVE ransomware, an affiliate-based ransomware variant used by cyber attackers, in June 2021. The Hive ransomware-as-a-service operation is built around a team of developers who create and manage the malware, and affiliates who carry out attacks on target networks by purchasing domains from initial access brokers.\u00a0<\/p> The HIVE operators carry out a standard double-extortion ransomware attack on its targets, where cybercriminals steal sensitive files, encrypt systems, and then threaten to publish the victim\u2019s data unless a ransom is paid.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Figure 1: Screenshot of HIVE ransomware\u2019s leak page for their latest attack on CHC in January 2023<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Securin experts observed that HIVE ransomware gains access to a network and then spreads laterally through it while continuing to steal unencrypted files. They deploy their ransomware to encrypt all devices when they eventually gain admin access on a Windows domain controller. The HIVE group then seeks out and deletes backups in order to prevent victims from recovering their data.\u00a0<\/p> Here is a detailed analysis of the vulnerabilities exploited by HIVE ransomware in their attacks. Our experts also used Securin\u2019s Vulnerability Intelligence platform for predictive analysis to identify the vulnerabilities and how likely they are to be exploited in future attacks. Securin\u2019s Vulnerability Risk Score (VRS) tries to fill the gaps created by CVSS v2 and v3 scores, by arriving at a consistent scoring methodology which analysts can use directly for faster prioritization.\u00a0<\/p> Let us take a deeper insight into the vulnerabilities associated with Hive:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t This CVE was initially published on May 11, 2021, soon after which, on October 2, 2021, Securin\u2019s Vulnerability Intelligence platform tagged it as extremely critical and assigned it the highest predictive score of 38.46. The DHS CISA added the vulnerability to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on November 3, 2021, after it was found to be exploited in the wild. The vulnerability remained in trend, and has been actively trending in the last week or two.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Figure 2: Securin\u2019s VI platform tagged CVE-2021-31207 as extremely critical and assigned it the highest predictive score of 38.46.<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t CVE-2021-31207 has an initial CVSS v2 score of just 6.50 and is tagged as a medium severity vulnerability, in spite of being in the CISA KEV catalog and having been exploited by 12 ransomware families and eight APT groups. Considering the exploitation impact of this vulnerability, Securin VRS scores it at 9.06, marking it as a critical-severity vulnerability to watch out for.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t This CVE was initially published on July 13, 2021, after which, on October 2, 2021, Securin\u2019s Vulnerability Intelligence platform tagged it as extremely critical and assigned it the highest predictive score of 38.46. The DHS CISA added the vulnerability to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on November 3, 2021, a month after it was found to be exploited in the wild. The vulnerability remained in trend, and has been actively trending in the last week or two.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Figure 3: Securin\u2019s VI platform tagged CVE-2021-34473 as extremely critical and assigned it the highest predictive score of 38.46<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t CVE-2021-34473 has an initial CVSS v2 score of 10.0 but its criticality is brought down slightly to 9.80 in the CVSS v3 score. The vulnerability has been exploited by 12 ransomware families and eight APT groups, as a result of which, the exploitation impact of the vulnerability garners it a VRS score of 9.96.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t This CVE was initially published on July 13, 2021, after which Securin\u2019s Vulnerability Intelligence platform tagged it as extremely critical and assigned it the highest predictive score of 38.46 on July 19, 2021. The DHS CISA added the vulnerability to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on November 3, 2021, a little under a month after it was found to be exploited in the wild. The vulnerability has been trending actively ever since.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Fig 4: Securin\u2019s VI platform tagged CVE-2021-34523 as extremely critical and assigned it the highest predictive score of 38.46<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t CVE-2021-34523 has an initial CVSS v2 score of just 7.50, tagging it as a medium-severity vulnerability, and subsequently the CVSS v3 score was increased to 9.80 post exploitation. This vulnerability too has been exploited by 12 ransomware families and eight APT groups, thereby garnering a VRS score of 9.96, emphasizing the criticality of the vulnerability.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t This CVE was initially published on November 9, 2021. The first exploits were found on November 17, following which, the DHS CISA added the vulnerability to the KEV catalog. Securin\u2019s Vulnerability Intelligence platform tagged it as extremely critical and assigned it the highest predictive score of 38.46 on November 30, 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Fig 5: Securin\u2019s VI platform tagged CVE-2021-42321 as extremely critical and assigned it the highest predictive score of 38.46<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t CVE-2021-42321 had an initial CVSS v2 score of a meager 6.50, marking it as a medium-severity vulnerability. Since the vulnerability has been chained with the ProxyShell vulnerabilities, the vulnerability has a high exploitation impact, resulting in the Securin VRS score of 9.58.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t This CVE was initially published on July 24, 2020. In early August 2021, the first active exploits were observed by our experts, soon after which Securin\u2019s Vulnerability Intelligence platform tagged it as critical and assigned it the highest predictive score of 38.46 on August 04, 2020. The DHS CISA added the vulnerability to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog only on November 3, 2021, approximately fifteen months after our VI platform had recognized the likelihood of future exploits using this vulnerability.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Fig 5: Securin\u2019s VI platform tagged CVE-2020-12812 as extremely critical and assigned it the highest predictive score of 38.46<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t CVE-2020-12812 has an initial CVSS v2 score of 7.50 and was upgraded to a CVSS v3 score of 9.8 later after active exploits were found. Securin\u2019s VI platform however assigned it a lower score of 8.80 because in spite of being exploited in the wild, we do not have sufficient information to suggest if this improper authentication vulnerability can be accessed remotely by a threat actor, or can lead to privilege escalation.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t This CVE was initially published in May 2021. It was not until November 23, 2021, that Hive ransomware exploited the Boa server vulnerability to target energy grids in India.\u00a0<\/p> Securin experts feel this vulnerability should be added to the DHS CISA\u2019s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Fig 6: Securin\u2019s VI platform assigned CVE-2021-33558 a score of 8.56<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t CVE-2021-33558 had an initial CVSS v2 score of just 5.00 and was upgraded to a CVSS v3 score of 7.50 after it was exploited. Although sufficient information is not available for the vulnerability, Securin\u2019s VI platform assigned it a score of 8.56, since it was actively exploited by Hive ransomware and RedEcho APT.\u00a0<\/p> This vulnerability, though trending since 2021, is not detectable by any of the popular cybersecurity scanners \u2013 Nessus, Nexpose and Qualys \u2013 that organizations depend on so greatly to keep their attack surface secure.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t This CVE was first exploited in June 2017, following which, it was published on June 24, 2017. According to Securin\u2019s Vulnerability Intelligence platform, the VRS scores reached the maximum score of 38.46 in May 2020. However, in spite of its likelihood of being used in attacks by threat actors, DHS CISA still has not added the vulnerability to its catalog.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Fig 7: Securin\u2019s VI platform tagged CVE-2017-9833 as extremely critical and assigned the highest predictive score of 38.46<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t CVE-2017-9833 had an initial CVSS v2 score of 7.80 but was demoted to a CVSS v3 score of 7.50. However, since the vulnerability has been exploited actively by Hive ransomware and RedEcho APT, many years after it was discovered, our Securin VI platform has assigned it a VRS score of 9.23.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t The end of 2022 saw an influx of ransomware attacks reported targeting the education sector. Approximately five of the 24 ransomware attacks that were disclosed and confirmed in November and December 2022, were against K-12 schools and universities.<\/p> The Hive ransomware group, invariably, claimed responsibility for a couple of attacks, by leaking the date on their public leak site.\u00a0<\/p> Note: The list of attacks carried out by HIVE can be found at the end of the article.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\tIn This Article:<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
Deconstructing HIVE Ransomware\u2019s Honeycomb<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
HIVE Ransomware Cheat Sheet<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
CVE-2021-31207 - <\/strong>Microsoft Exchange Server Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability - 13 Ransomware \/ 7 APT - CISA\u00a0KEV, Trending<\/h5>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
CVE-2021-34473 -<\/strong> Microsoft Exchange Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability - 12 Ransomware \/ 8 APT - CISA KEV, Trending<\/h5>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
CVE-2021-34523 - <\/strong>Microsoft Exchange Server Privilege Escalation Vulnerability - 12 Ransomware \/ 8 APT - CISA KEV, Trending<\/h5>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
CVE-2021-42321 - <\/strong>Microsoft Exchange Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability - 1 Ransomware \/ 1 APT - CISA KEV, Trending<\/h5>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
CVE-2020-12812 -<\/strong> An improper authentication vulnerability in SSL VPN in FortiOS 6.4.0, 6.2.0 to 6.2.3, 6.0.9 and below. o- 2 Ransomware \/ 0 APT - KEV, Trending <\/h5>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
CVE-2021-33558 - <\/strong>Boa Web Server version 0.94.13 - 1 Ransomware \/ 1 APT - Trending <\/h5>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
CVE-2017-9833 - <\/strong> Boa Web Server version 0.94.14rc21 - 1 Ransomware \/ 1 APT - Trending <\/h5>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
History of HIVE Ransomware Attacks<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t