Ethical Hacking News
A recent surge in scans for Juniper and Palo Alto Networks products has sparked concerns among security experts, with some speculating that it could be evidence of espionage attempts, botnet construction, or zero-day vulnerability exploitation. The scanning activity was first reported by Johannes Ullrich, the dean of research at SANS Institute, who noticed a surge in scans for the username "t128," which is a well-known default account for Juniper's Session Smart Networking products. This incident raises concerns about the potential exploitation of zero-day vulnerabilities or the construction of botnets and highlights the importance of ensuring that default usernames and passwords are not being used.
The recent surge in scans for Juniper and Palo Alto Networks products has sparked concerns among security experts. The scanning activity was likely evidence of espionage attempts, botnet construction, or zero-day vulnerability exploitation. About 3,000 source IPs were involved in the scans, with many belonging to known "Mirai Type" botnets. Palo Alto Networks reported a spike in logon attempts from almost 20,000 unique IPs per day before tapering off on March 26. The incident bears similarities to a recent espionage campaign targeting perimeter network devices attributed to Chinese state-sponsored snoops.
The recent surge in scans for Juniper and Palo Alto Networks products has sparked concerns among security experts, with some speculating that it could be evidence of espionage attempts, botnet construction, or zero-day vulnerability exploitation. The scanning activity was first reported by Johannes Ullrich, the dean of research at SANS Institute, who noticed a surge in scans for the username "t128," which is a well-known default account for Juniper's Session Smart Networking products.
According to Ullrich, approximately 3,000 source IPs took part in these scans, with many of the sources being well-known for scanning the Secure Shell protocol (SSH) and likely belonging to some "Mirai Type" botnet. The uptick in scans occurred between March 23 and 28, which coincides with a pattern of deliberate targeting of older vulnerabilities or well-worn attack and reconnaissance attempts against specific technologies.
GreyNoise, an internet scanning security firm, has also spotted mass probing directed at the login portals of Palo Alto Networks' PAN-OS GlobalProtect remote access products. The company's data indicates that almost 24,000 unique IP addresses attempted to login over the past 30 days, with most of the activity classified as suspicious. However, GreyNoise has identified 154 of the IP addresses from which probes were launched as malicious.
The spike in scans began on March 17 and saw logon attempts from almost 20,000 unique IPs per day before tapering off on March 26. Palo Alto Networks has confirmed that customer security is always their top priority and has stated that they are actively monitoring the situation and analyzing the reported activity to determine its potential impact and identify if mitigations are necessary.
Palo Alto Networks' teams have encouraged customers to run the latest versions of PAN-OS, as best practice, in light of this recent surge in scans. The incident bears some resemblance to a 2024 espionage campaign that targeted perimeter network devices, which was attributed to Chinese state-sponsored snoops by Cisco's Talos infosec team.
The recent surge in scans for Juniper and Palo Alto Networks products raises concerns about the potential exploitation of zero-day vulnerabilities or the construction of botnets. It also highlights the importance of ensuring that default usernames and passwords are not being used, as well as implementing robust security measures to prevent unauthorized access to network devices.
Furthermore, this incident serves as a reminder that nation-state hacking has become more "in your face," with supply chains facing increased scrutiny in recent times. Companies must take proactive steps to ensure the security of their infrastructure and adopt best practices to mitigate such risks.
In conclusion, the mass scanning of Juniper and Palo Alto Networks products is a cause for concern, particularly given the potential implications of espionage or zero-day vulnerability exploitation. It is essential that organizations prioritize their security posture and take immediate action to address this incident and prevent similar incidents in the future.
Related Information:
https://www.ethicalhackingnews.com/articles/Mass-Scanning-of-Juniper-and-Palo-Alto-Networks-Products-A-Potential-Indication-of-Espionage-or-Zero-Day-Vulnerability-Exploitation-ehn.shtml
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2025/04/03/unknown_scanners_probing_juniper_paloalto/
Published: Thu Apr 3 09:11:46 2025 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
