Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

According to reporting by several cybersecurity publications the 3CX Desktop Application has been exploited in a supply chain attack. The 3CX client is a popular VOIP and messaging application used by over 600,000 companies. From the article on Bleeping computer This supply chain attack, dubbed ‘SmoothOperator’ by SentinelOne, starts when the MSI installer is downloaded from 3CX’s website or an update is pushed to an already installed desktop application.

Another supply chain attack requires an urgent response from security teams.

Supply chain attacks are one of the top concerns for any organization as they exploit (no pun intended) the inherited trust between organizations. Recent examples of similar attacks include SolarWinds and Kaseya. On March 29th, a new supply chain attack was identified targeting 3CX, a VoIP IPXS developer, with North Korean nation-state actors as the likely perpetrators.

On March 29, a massive supply chain compromise in 3CX software resulted in malware being installed globally across multiple industries. It is similar to the other high-profile supply chain attacks (like SolarWinds and Kaseya) in that rather than targeting a single organization, the criminals target a popular service or software provided to many large organizations. With one single compromise of the supplier, dozens and potentially hundreds of organizations may fall in turn.

CrowdStrike announced on 3/29/2023 that an active intrusion campaign was targeting 3CX customers utilizing a legitimate, signed binary, 3CXDesktopApp (CISA link). As the investigations and public information came out publicly from vendors all across the spectrum, C3X customers of all sizes began investigating their fleet for signs of compromise. These campaigns are often referred to as supply chain compromises, or MITRE ATT&CK T1195.

By Dallas Young Sr. Technical Marketing Manager, Torq According to researchers, the 3CX Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) desktop program for Windows and MacOS, which boasts over 600,000 customers and 12m daily users, has been compromised by a DLL sideloading attack and used in several supply chain attacks. 3CX is a private branch exchange (PBX) system, a private telephone network used within a company or organization.

A supply chain attack that targets customers of the 3CX Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) desktop client has been discovered. Threat actors have created a digitally signed and malicious version of the software, which is being used to target both Windows and macOS users of the app. The threat actors are deploying second-stage payloads and are believed to be linked to a North Korean state-backed hacking group, , although this attribution has not been confirmed.

On Wednesday, March 29, 2023, details of unexpected malicious activity observed from the legitimate and cryptographically signed 3CX SoftPhone Desktop App application were shared in a blog post by security researchers at Crowdstrike.

We have grown to expect a reasonable level of privacy and security when we use services on the web and web-based applications. That’s because these services deal with every aspect of our daily lives — from money and finances, to how we interact with government services, to our education or the education of our children, to communicating with friends and family, to healthcare, to simply buying food to eat.

The not-so-distant memories of security events like Log4Shell and the SolarWinds attack keep software supply chain attacks front of mind for developers. There are things organizations can do to detect and deter malicious supply chain attacks, including the recently mandated (as per the U.S. federal government) software bill of materials (SBOM).