In our latest episode of the ConversingLabs podcast, host Paul Roberts interviews ReversingLabs researcher Joseph Edwards about his analysis of Follina, a newly discovered exploit with a pretty name, but nasty intentions.
As Edwards explains in the interview, Follina — which takes its name from the town in Northern Italy (more on that in the podcast) — is evidence of the continued innovation of malicious actors as they look for ways around security measures designed to thwart common attacks and exploits, such as Microsoft’s decisions to disable the use of macros by default in Microsoft Office documents.
In the case of Follina, Edwards found that the exploit leveraged a flaw in a standard Windows component, the Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool, or MSDT, a program that streamlines troubleshooting for files on Windows. The vulnerability in MSDT allows attackers to trick the troubleshooting protocols and execute code, using a program of their choice.
In this conversation, Joseph describes how the Follina exploit, which targets the MSDT vulnerability, works and how it is circulating online. While attacks have relied on familiar techniques, such as phishing emails with Microsoft Word, XML or RTF attachments that trigger the exploit, Joseph explains that such common approaches aren’t needed to leverage Follina — something as simple as an HTML file with embedded Javascript or PowerShell commands is enough.
[ Explore the Follina exploit in our new ConversingLabs episode ]“From the attacker’s standpoint, you’re leveraging something that is a standard component of all Windows systems and that doesn’t require attackers to authenticate first."
—Joseph Edwards
Related content
Get up to speed on key trends and understand the landscape with The State of Software Supply Chain Security 2024. Plus: Learn about ReversingLabs Spectra Assure for software supply chain security.
Keep learning
- Update your understanding: Buyer's Guide for Software Supply Chain Security
- Join the Webinar: Why you need to upgrade your AppSec for the new era
- Get the report and take action: The State of Supply Chain Security 2024
- Join the discussion: State of Software Supply Chain Security Webinar
- See Gartner's guidance on managing software supply chain risk