Kaseya Virtual System/Server Administrator (VSA): information disclosure flaw under attack

What is affected

Kaseya Virtual System/Server Administrator (VSA) is mostly run by companies, schools and public bodies, not on home computers. You are unlikely to have it yourself, but organisations that hold your data may. Breaches that start with flaws like this one are how personal data ends up leaked.

Kaseya Virtual System/Server Administrator (VSA) contains an information disclosure vulnerability allowing an attacker to obtain the sessionId that can be used to execute further attacks against the system.

What an attacker can do

This is a information disclosure flaw. It lets an attacker read data they are not supposed to see, such as memory contents, credentials or internal files. It is often the first step of a larger attack.

How it is reached

Over the internet or network

Access the attacker needs

No account needed

Does the victim have to do something?

No, works without the victim doing anything

CISA records this vulnerability as known to be used in ransomware campaigns: attackers use it to get in, then encrypt files and demand payment.

What to do

1. At home: nothing to install. Keep your own devices updated and use a different password for every service, so that a breach at one organisation does not open your other accounts.
2. If you administer Kaseya Virtual System/Server Administrator (VSA) at work: apply the vendor's fix or mitigation now and review logs for signs of compromise, because the flaw was being exploited before it was listed.
3. If the product is past its support date and no fix exists, take it off the internet or retire it.

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

How urgent is it

CISA added this vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on November 3, 2021, which means there is reliable evidence of attacks in the wild. US federal agencies must fix it by November 17, 2021, a deadline that has already passed. That deadline does not bind anyone else, but it shows how seriously the agency rates it.

The EPSS model estimates a 86% probability that this flaw will be exploited somewhere in the next 30 days. That is higher than 99.7% of all scored vulnerabilities.

Its CVSS severity score is 9.8 out of 10 (critical), as recorded in the US National Vulnerability Database.

Technical description

Kaseya VSA before 9.5.7 allows credential disclosure, as exploited in the wild in July 2021. By default Kaseya VSA on premise offers a download page where the clients for the installation can be downloaded. The default URL for this page is https://x.x.x.x/dl.asp When an attacker download a client for Windows and installs it, the file KaseyaD.ini is generated (C:\Program Files (x86)\Kaseya\XXXXXXXXXX\KaseyaD.ini) which contains an Agent_Guid and AgentPassword This Agent_Guid and AgentPassword can be used to log in on dl.asp (https://x.x.x.x/dl.asp?un=840997037507813&pw=113cc622839a4077a84837485ced6b93e440bf66d44057713cb2f95e503a06d9) This request authenticates the client and returns a sessionId cookie that can be used in subsequent attacks to bypass authentication. Security issues discovered --- * Unauthenticated download page leaks credentials * Credentials of agent software can be used to obtain a sessionId (cookie) that can be used for services not intended for use by agents * dl.asp accepts credentials via a GET request * Access to KaseyaD.ini gives an attacker access to sufficient information to penetrate the Kaseya installation and its clients. Impact --- Via the page /dl.asp enough information can be obtained to give an attacker a sessionId that can be used to execute further (semi-authenticated) attacks against the system.