Adversaries have started targeting a critical remote code execution vulnerability in Sitecore Experience Platform (Sitecore XP), the Australian Cyber Security Center (ACSC) warns.
Tracked as CVE-2021-42237, the security issue was initially detailed on October 8, when Sitecore provided mitigation steps for the organizations that use its enterprise content management system (CMS).
The flaw is described as a remote code execution bug that exists because of an insecure deserialization in the Report.ashx file, which was “used to drive the Executive Insight Dashboard (of Silverlight report) that was deprecated in 8.0 Initial Release,” Sitecore says.
Sitecore XP versions impacted by the vulnerability include releases 7.5 and 8.0 to 8.2.7. For Sitecore XP 8.0.0 to 8.2.7, removing Report.ashx should address the issue. Sitecore XP 7.5.0 to 7.5.2 installations should be upgraded to 8.0 or 9.0 releases (and the Report.ashx file removed where applicable).
“The vulnerability is applicable to all Sitecore systems running affected versions, including single-instance and multi-instance environments, Managed Cloud environments, and all Sitecore server roles (Content Delivery, Content Editing, Reporting, Processing, etc.), which are exposed to the Internet,” the company explains.
Last week, security researchers with Assetnote published detailed information on the vulnerability, as well as proof-of-concept (POC) code, essentially allowing adversaries to create exploits and start targeting vulnerable websites.
In an alert issued on Friday, ACSC warned of the existence of the POC code, and also revealed that adversaries are already attempting to exploit the security bug in attacks targeting organizations in Australia.
“Successful exploitation of this vulnerability results in remote code execution which could allow an internet-based actor to install malware/ or webshells and perform other actions. The ACSC is aware of active exploitation of this vulnerability in Australia,” ACSC says.
All organizations relying on Sitecore XP are advised to apply the available mitigations as soon as possible, or to upgrade to Sitecore XP version 9.0, which is not affected by the vulnerability.
Related: Zerodium Offering $300,000 for WordPress Exploits
Related: Mirai Botnet Starts Exploiting OMIGOD Flaw as Microsoft Issues More Guidance
Related: Potential RCE Flaw Patched in PyPI’s GitHub Repository
