HYFLOCK lists Turkish pharma maker Merkez İlaç
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Ransomware group HYFLOCK claims Turkish pharmaceutical manufacturer Merkez İlaç as a victim, with exposed FortiOS SSL-VPN credentials tied to CVE-2022-40684.
Ransomware.live has indexed a leak-site posting from a group identifying itself as HYFLOCK, naming Merkez İlaç — a nearly century-old Turkish pharmaceutical and disinfection-product manufacturer — as a victim. The company supplies disinfectants, OTC ointments, first-aid kits, and contract-manufactured pharmaceutical products to thousands of pharmacies, hospitals, and clinics in Turkey, as well as humanitarian organizations, making it a sector-relevant target within healthcare and manufacturing supply chains.
The posting notes that FortiOS SSL-VPN credentials associated with the victim's domain were previously exposed via the 'FortiBleed' vulnerability (CVE-2022-40684), an authentication-bypass flaw in Fortinet FortiOS/FortiProxy that allowed unauthenticated attackers to retrieve admin credentials and modify configurations. This suggests the initial access vector or a contributing exposure may be linked to unpatched or previously-exploited Fortinet SSL-VPN infrastructure, though the article does not confirm this as the definitive intrusion path for the ransomware event itself.
No file hashes, C2 infrastructure, or specific domains/IPs are disclosed in this listing. Defenders in the pharmaceutical/healthcare manufacturing space, and any organization still running vulnerable FortiOS/FortiProxy SSL-VPN appliances, should verify patch status against CVE-2022-40684, rotate any credentials potentially exposed via FortiBleed, and review VPN authentication logs for anomalous admin-level access.
Mentioned in this report
Detection guidance
FortiOS Admin API Access With Report Runner User-Agent (CVE-2022-40684)
Detects requests to the FortiOS/FortiProxy REST management API (/api/v2/cmdb/) using the 'Report Runner' User-Agent, the authentication-bypass pattern of CVE-2022-40684. Auto-generated starting point — validate and tune in your environment before deploying. IOC matches can false-positive on shared infrastructure and decay as adversary infrastructure rotates.
title: FortiOS Admin API Access With Report Runner User-Agent (CVE-2022-40684)
description: Detects requests to the FortiOS/FortiProxy REST management API (/api/v2/cmdb/)
carrying the 'Report Runner' User-Agent, which is the internal-client spoofing pattern
used to bypass authentication in CVE-2022-40684.
tags:
- attack.initial-access
- attack.t1190
- cve.2022-40684
logsource:
category: webserver
detection:
selection:
cs-uri-stem|contains: /api/v2/cmdb/
cs-user-agent|contains: Report Runner
condition: selection
falsepositives:
- Legitimate Fortinet internal report or management components that use this User-Agent
against the local API (rare)
level: high
id: ade91275-7cc5-590e-92fc-239c56c4d63b
status: experimental
author: Vorant
references:
- https://www.ransomware.live/id/bWVya2V6aWxhY19hcmNoaXZlc0BIWUZMT0NL
FortiOS Admin Account Modification Via API PUT Request
Detects HTTP PUT requests to the FortiOS system/admin configuration endpoint, as used after CVE-2022-40684 exploitation to add SSH keys or alter admin accounts. Auto-generated starting point — validate and tune in your environment before deploying. IOC matches can false-positive on shared infrastructure and decay as adversary infrastructure rotates.
title: FortiOS Admin Account Modification Via API PUT Request
description: Detects HTTP PUT requests to the FortiOS /api/v2/cmdb/system/admin endpoint.
After exploiting CVE-2022-40684, attackers modify admin users, for example to add
an SSH public key for persistent access. Review the source IP and authentication
state of any hit.
tags:
- attack.initial-access
- attack.t1190
- cve.2022-40684
logsource:
category: webserver
detection:
selection:
cs-method: PUT
cs-uri-stem|contains: /api/v2/cmdb/system/admin
condition: selection
falsepositives:
- Administrators or automation (Ansible, Terraform, FortiManager) legitimately updating
admin accounts through the REST API
level: medium
id: 463b15c1-3b07-5572-acbe-e73af1bc3dc8
status: experimental
author: Vorant
references:
- https://www.ransomware.live/id/bWVya2V6aWxhY19hcmNoaXZlc0BIWUZMT0NL
1 more detection for this report is in the app — the rules that match its indicators, plus the Sigma rules already converted to Splunk SPL, to Elastic where their fields map onto Elastic's integrations and to Microsoft Defender XDR KQL wherever Defender records the activity, and the YARA and Suricata. Three days of it free, no card.
Behavioural rules are generated from public reporting — validate in your environment before deploying.
Source reporting: https://www.ransomware.live/id/bWVya2V6aWxhY19hcmNoaXZlc0BIWUZMT0NL
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