Original release date: January 11, 2022

CISA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the National Security Agency (NSA) have released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) that provides an overview of Russian state-sponsored cyber operations, including commonly observed tactics, techniques, and procedures. The CSA also provides detection actions, incident response guidance, and mitigations. CISA, the FBI, and NSA are releasing the joint CSA to help the cybersecurity community reduce the risk presented by Russian state-sponsored cyber threats.  

CISA, the FBI, and NSA encourage the cybersecurity community—especially critical infrastructure network defenders—to adopt a heightened state of awareness, conduct proactive threat hunting, and implement the mitigations identified in the joint CSA. CISA recommends network defenders review CISA’s Russia Cyber Threat Overview and Advisories page for more information on Russian state-sponsored malicious cyber activity. CISA recommends critical infrastructure leaders review CISA Insights: Preparing For and Mitigating Potential Cyber Threats for steps to proactively strengthen their organization’s operational resiliency against sophisticated threat actors, including nation-states and their proxies. 

Original release date: January 7, 2022

WordPress versions between 3.7 and 5.8 are affected by multiple vulnerabilities. Exploitation of some of these vulnerabilities could cause a denial of service condition.  

CISA encourages users and administrators to review the WordPress Security Release and upgrade to WordPress 5.8.3.

Original release date: January 5, 2022

VMware has released a security advisory to address a vulnerability in Workstation, Fusion, and ESXi. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to take control of an affected system.

CISA encourages users and administrators to review VMware Security Advisory VMSA-2022-0001 and apply the necessary updates and workarounds.

Original release date: December 22, 2021

CISA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the cybersecurity authorities of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom have released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory in response to multiple vulnerabilities in Apache’s Log4j software library. Malicious cyber actors are actively scanning networks to potentially exploit CVE-2021-44228 (known as “Log4Shell”), CVE-2021-45046, and CVE-2021-45105 in vulnerable systems. According to public reporting, Log4Shell and CVE-2021-45046 are being actively exploited.

This advisory expands on CISA’s previously published guidance, drafted in collaboration with industry members of CISA’s Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC), by detailing recommended steps that vendors and organizations with information technology, operational technology/industrial control systems, and cloud assets should take to respond to these vulnerabilities. 

CISA, FBI, NSA, the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASCS), the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS), the Computer Emergency Response Team New Zealand (CERT NZ), the New Zealand National Cyber Security Centre (NZ NCSC), and the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-UK) assess that exploitation of these vulnerabilities, especially Log4Shell, is likely to increase and continue over an extended period. CISA and its partners strongly urge all organizations to review AA21-356A: Mitigating Log4Shell and Other Log4j-Related Vulnerabilities for detailed mitigations.