The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) warned hospitals this week to patch the critical 'Citrix Bleed' Netscaler vulnerability actively exploited in attacks. Ransomware gangs are already using Citrix Bleed (tracked as CVE-2023-4966) to breach their targets' networks by circumventing login requirements and multifactor authentication protections. HHS' security team, the Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3), issued a sector alert on Thursday urging all U.S. healthcare organizations to secure vulnerable NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway devices against ransomware gangs' attacks. "The Citrix Bleed vulnerability is being actively exploited, and HC3 strongly urges organizations to upgrade to prevent further damage against the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) sector. This alert contains information on attack detection and mitigation of the vulnerability," HC3 warned. "HC3 strongly encourages users and administrators to review these recommended actions and upgrade their devices to prevent serious damage to the HPH sector." Before this, Citrix issued two warnings asking admins to immediately patch their appliances. It also reminded admins to kill all active and persistent sessions to prevent attackers from stealing authentication tokens even after installing the security updates. Recently, CISA and the FBI also cautioned about the LockBit ransomware gang joining the attacks. One of their victims, aerospace giant Boeing, shared details on how a Lock...
US Health Dept urges hospitals to patch critical Citrix Bleed bug
BleepingComputer
·Sergiu Gatlan
·Published Dec 2, 2023
·Updated
Affected Software
2 affected components
Citrix NetScaler ADC=unknown
Citrix NetScaler Gateway=unknown
Frequently Asked Questions
1
What is the main topic of this article?
The article discusses the urgent warning from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for hospitals to patch the critical Citrix Bleed vulnerability.
2
What security implications are discussed in the article?
The article highlights the risk of active exploitation of the Citrix Bleed vulnerability by ransomware gangs targeting hospitals.
3
What products or software are affected by the Citrix Bleed vulnerability?
The affected software includes Citrix NetScaler ADC and Citrix NetScaler Gateway.
4
Why is it critical for hospitals to address the Citrix Bleed bug?
It is critical for hospitals to address the Citrix Bleed bug to prevent potential ransomware attacks that could compromise sensitive health data.
5
What actions are being recommended for hospitals in response to the Citrix Bleed vulnerability?
Hospitals are urged to promptly apply patches to their Citrix software to mitigate the risk of exploitation.