Huntress has identified a series of brute-force password attacks targeting highly privileged accounts on exposed Foundation accounting servers, commonly used in the construction industry. First detected on September 14, 2024, these attacks have already led to breaches in plumbing, HVAC, concrete, and other sub-industries. The attackers exploit a combination of exposed services and the failure of users to change default credentials on privileged accounts. The Foundation software includes a Microsoft SQL Server that can be configured for public access via TCP port 4243 to support a mobile app. Unfortunately, this configuration leaves the server vulnerable to external attacks. Default admin accounts sa and dba are particularly at risk if users do not change their passwords. Huntress observed up to 35,000 brute-force attempts on a single host per hour. Once compromised attackers can enable the MSSQL xp_cmdshell feature allowing them to execute operating system commands via SQL queries. Commands such as ipconfig and wmic have been used to gather sensitive network and system information. In a review of three million endpoints, Huntress found 500 hosts running the targeted software, with 33 exposing MSSQL databases using default credentials. After informing Foundation the vendor confirmed that the issue affects only their on-premises application and not their cloud product. They noted that not all servers have port 4243 open and default credentials may vary. To mitigate risks huntress recommends that administrators rotate all account credentials and avoid publicly exposing the MSSQL server unless necessary.
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