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info@thehackernews.com (The@The Hacker News
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A new account takeover (ATO) campaign, dubbed UNK_SneakyStrike, is actively targeting Microsoft Entra ID user accounts. Cybersecurity researchers at Proofpoint have identified that the campaign is leveraging the TeamFiltration pentesting framework to breach accounts. The activity has been ongoing since December 2024, with a surge in login attempts impacting over 80,000 user accounts across hundreds of organizations' cloud tenants. This poses a significant threat to cloud security, as successful account takeovers can lead to data exfiltration and further malicious activities.
The attackers are leveraging the TeamFiltration framework to identify valid user accounts and use password-spraying techniques to gain access. They have been observed utilizing Microsoft Teams API and Amazon Web Services (AWS) servers from various geographic locations to carry out user enumeration and password-spraying attacks. Once an account is compromised, the attackers are able to access sensitive data and potentially upload malicious files to the target user's OneDrive. This campaign demonstrates how legitimate pentesting tools can be exploited for malicious purposes, highlighting the need for robust security measures. Organizations are advised to monitor for indicators of compromise related to the UNK_SneakyStrike campaign. According to researchers, unauthorized access attempts tend to occur in concentrated bursts targeting a wide range of users within a single cloud environment. This is followed by quiet periods. The attackers appear to be attempting to access all user accounts within smaller cloud tenants while focusing on a subset of users in larger ones. Defenders are urged to check if any of their organization's accounts have been compromised and implement stronger authentication measures to prevent future account takeovers.
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@cyberpress.org
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A new method has emerged for stealing Microsoft Entra refresh tokens using Beacon Command & Control (C2) frameworks. This novel technique leverages browser-based authorization flows and Windows API functions to bypass traditional detection mechanisms, allowing attackers to maintain persistent access to cloud resources, even on devices not joined to a domain. The exploit utilizes Beacon Object Files (BOFs) to extract Entra tokens from compromised endpoints, posing a significant risk to enterprise cloud environments. By exploiting the OAuth 2.0 authorization code flow with modifications for offensive operations, attackers can initiate a hidden browser session and scrape the authorization code from the browser window title using the GetWindowTextA Win32 API.
The attack method capitalizes on First-Party Client IDs (FOCI) such as Microsoft Teams, allowing access to multiple Microsoft services through "family refresh tokens." This provides operational advantages by blending token requests with legitimate user activity as they originate from the compromised host's IP address. Furthermore, it is compatible with Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) scenarios, where traditional Primary Refresh Token (PRT) extraction methods fail. After acquiring refresh tokens, attackers can conduct AzureAD reconnaissance via tools like ROADrecon. A separate but related flaw in Microsoft Entra ID's legacy login process has also been exploited to bypass MFA and Conditional Access, targeting admin accounts across various sectors including finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and technology. This vulnerability resides in the Basic Authentication Version 2 – Resource Owner Password Credential (BAV2ROPC), a legacy login method that allows authentication using simple usernames and passwords. The attacks, which occurred between March 18 and April 7, 2025, demonstrate the dangers of outdated authentication protocols in cloud environments, highlighting how attackers can circumvent modern protections by exploiting compatibility features within Entra ID.
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Lawrence Abrams@BleepingComputer
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A recent Microsoft Entra ID security update caused widespread account lockouts across numerous organizations, highlighting the potential risks associated with new security feature deployments. The issue stemmed from the rollout of a new "leaked credentials" detection app called MACE (Microsoft Account Credential Evaluation). This new feature inadvertently flagged legitimate user accounts, triggering automatic lockouts despite strong, unique passwords and multi-factor authentication (MFA) being in place.
Microsoft confirmed that the Entra account lockouts over the weekend were due to the invalidation of short-lived user refresh tokens mistakenly logged into internal systems. The problem was traced back to an internal logging mishap involving these tokens, where a subset of them were being logged internally, which deviates from the standard practice of logging only metadata. This logging error was identified on April 18, 2025, and promptly corrected. The incident caused significant disruption as Windows administrators from numerous organizations reported receiving alerts that user credentials had been found leaked on the dark web. However, users noticed discrepancies, such as passwordless accounts being affected and no matches on Have I Been Pwned (HIBP), raising suspicions of false positives. Microsoft has advised affected customers to use the “Confirm User Safe” feature in response to the erroneous alerts and is working to prevent future occurrences.
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