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IronNetInjector is made of an IronPython script that contains a .NET injector and one or more payloads. The payloads can be also .NET assemblies (x86/64) or native PEs (x86/64). When an IronPython script is run, the .NET injector gets loaded, which in turn injects the payload(s) into its own or a remote process | ['T1055'] |
Prior to executing fully, Karagany uses a robust anti-VM detection function that can detect most commonly used virtualization platforms such as VMWare, VirtualBox, VPC, and generic virtualization techniques. Only the VMWare and VirtualBox checks retained, mainly based on loaded drivers and file paths. This change dramatically reduced the file size of the malware | ['T1497.001'] |
Next, the dropper checks its own parent process for indications that it is running in a sandbox setup. It calculates the MD5 hash of the lower-case process image name and terminates if one of the following conditions are met | ['T1057'] |
As with other versions of Winnti, the core component of the malware doesn’t natively provide the operators with distinct functionality⁸. This component is primarily designed to handle communications and the deployment of modules directly from the command-and-control servers. However, prior reporting⁹ suggests that the operators commonly deploy plugins for remote command execution, file exfiltration, and socks5 proxying on the infected host. We expect similar functionality to be leveraged via additional modules for Linux | ['T1105'] |
In the third phase of the operation, the attackers harvested credentials stored on the compromised machines and performed lateral movement and infected new machines. The attackers also introduced a very rare and stealthy technique to communicate with their servers and exfiltrate data using Microsoft Outlook | ['T1027'] |
The crypter mainly contains junk code to increase entropy of the sample and hide the actual code. We have found 2 crypter variants with some code differences, but mostly with the same logic applied | ['T1027.001'] |
In this section, we describe how the various payloads are delivered based on what we have seen in our customer networks, as well as what we have established through open-source research. Unit 42 has yet to see any evidence of weaponized documents used to deliver BackConfig being attached on phishing emails and that phishing URL links in emails appear to be the Hangover group’s modus operandi | ['T1566.002'] |
The updated module is called tvncDLL and allows the threat actor to monitor the victim and collect information that would enable pivoting to valuable systems on the network | ['T1021.005'] |
The operators used the HyperBro Trojan as their last-stage in-memory remote administration tool (RAT). The timestamps for these modules are from December 2017 until January 2018. The anti-detection launcher and decompressor make extensive use of Metasploit’s shikata_ga_nai encoder as well as LZNT1 compression | ['T1027'] |
For readers unaware of ngrok, this site is a simple reverse proxy used to let Internet-based users connect to servers located behind firewalls or on local machines that don't have a public IP address | ['T1090'] |
At this stage the malware disables the Windows screen saver, then changes both the desktop wallpaper and the lock screen images to a custom image. These are the pair of identical JPEG and BMP images presenting the logo of Iran’s Railways and the message similar to the one displayed on the platform boards of different railway stations in Iran | ['T1491.001'] |
Actors have downloaded POWERTRICK, Metasploit Meterpreter, and Cobalt Strike BEACON payloads following the initial compromise. BEACON payloads have commonly been executed after moving laterally to new hosts within the victim network. The attackers have employed Cobalt Strike payloads crafted to maintain persistence through reboot via a scheduled task on critical systems in victim environments. We have observed actors executing encoded PowerShell commands that ultimately executed instances of the PowerShell EMPIRE backdoor. In at least once case, attackers have maintained access to a victim environment using stolen credentials to access corporate VPN infrastructure configured to require only single-factor authentication | ['T1059.001'] |
Initially the Cobalt group focused on jackpotting ATMs: they launched a program that sent commands directly to the dispenser to issue cash. Network penetration In all cases investigated by Group-IB, the Cobalt group used a set of spear phishing emails to gain initial access to the corporate infrastructure. However, some of the email addresses belong to employees that no longer work at the organization, which means that the Cobalt group likely uses out-of-date mailing lists. Each message contains an attachment that loads the payload – part of Cobalt Strike software – to the computer's operating memory. In order to make this download possible, attackers have tried several different formats of attachments and emails, as their primary task is to bypass mail filters, protection measures, and the company's security policy. 3 Example of a message with an executable attachment (.exe) The archive is password-protected in order to bypass anti-virus scans, security systems, and mail filters. However, when there is use of a security policy that prohibits the transfer of encrypted archives, such an email message may be blocked, so the attackers would send .doc files that contain exploits for Microsoft Office (fig. For organizations that perform timely updates of their systems and adhere to strict security policies, the Cobalt group employs another method to deliver malicious code through emails with Word documents containing a malicious macro. 6 Example of a message sent by attackers from a domain whose name is similar to the name of a real domain . As soon as the attachment is launched and the malicious code is executed, the Cobalt Strike payload is loaded in the memory. Provision of the malware survivability The Cobalt group uses different methods to ensure malware survivability on corporate networks | ['T1566.001'] |
Both masscan and pnscan have been used before by TeamTNT actors. However, the addition of zgrab, a GoLang network scanner, marks the first time that a GoLang tool has been witnessed incorporated into TeamTNT’s TTPs. There was also an update to the masscan network scanner operation to include searching for TCP port 5555. This could indicate a new unknown target set for expanding TeamTNT cryptojacking operations. However, there is little evidence to support TeamTNT targeting Android devices | ['T1046'] |
The attackers execute several Base64-encoded PowerShell commands in order to determine if the infected machine’s user is in the admin or domain admin group | ['T1087.002'] |
The “pc” binary checks whether the infected system’s OS is Debian or RHEL/CentOS. Its routine, which involves dropping the cryptocurrency miner and other components, depends on OS. For Debian-based systems, it drops the cryptocurrency miner payload to /tmp/miner2. For CentOS/RHEL systems, it will download a tar (tape archive) file from the URL, hxxp://pm[.]ipfswallet[.]tk/cos7[.]tar[.]gz, containing the cryptocurrency miner and its multiple components, which is unpacked and then installed | ['T1082'] |
The injected payload is known as Cobalt Strike Beacon and can be used to execute commands, inject other processes, elevate current processes or impersonate other processes, and upload and download files. The Get-NetComputer command from PowerView is renamed by the attackers to a random name | ['T1018'] |
Once unpacked, the malware creates a copy of its own process with a suspended thread and injects the unpacked code into the new process before calling the ResumeThread API. Breaking on this function call in a debugger allows an analyst to dump the process and extract the unpacked Karagany binary for further analysis | ['T1055.003'] |
After that, stage 2 payloads are still retrieved as Bitmap (BMP) images that use Least Significant Bit (LSB) Steganography to hide the real payloads. These images appear normal in image viewers | ['T1001.002'] |
It also uses “ActiveXObject” utility to help in its execution through Microsoft products and internet browsers. The ActiveXObject object is used to create instances of OLE Automation objects in Internet Explorer on Windows operating systems. Several applications (Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft Office Excel, Windows Media Player, etc) provide OLE Automation objects to allow communication with them | ['T1559.002'] |
h) It also uses “ActiveXObject” utility to help in its execution through Microsoft products and internet browsers. The ActiveXObject object is used to create instances of OLE Automation objects in Internet Explorer on Windows operating systems. Several applications (Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft Office Excel, Windows Media Player, etc) provide OLE Automation objects to allow communication with them | ['T1559.002'] |
With the above done, the malware logs off all users and executes a small program — a “locker” — in a new thread. The path to the locker file named mssetup.exe is retrieved from the configuration. Finally, before moving to its main cause — wiping the system — the malware creates a scheduled task that assures its own persistence in the system. The scheduled task will be executed every time the system starts | ['T1053.005'] |
Malware uses xor key [0x09, 0xff, 0x20] to decrypt content in .data section and get string “aHR0cDovLzUxLjE1LjE5Ni4zMC8xL2luZGV4LnBocA”. Then malware does base64 decoding to get the C2 address | ['T1140'] |
Activation of these hooks is done by Ebury injecting its dynamic library into every descendant processes of sshd. To inject itself into subprocesses, Ebury hooks execve and use the dynamic linker LD_PRELOAD variable. Every time a new process is created, Ebury adds LD_PRELOAD=<Ebury_filename> to its environment. Once the new process is executed, Ebury’s dynamic library is loaded and its constructor is called, executing the hooking routines | ['T1574.006'] |
One of the credential theft techniques identified by CrowdStrike was the use of a PowerShell script to execute Mimikatz in-memory. While in-memory Mimikatz is not particularly unique, the script executed by the threat actor was heavily obfuscated and encrypted the output using AES256. CrowdStrike was able to reconstruct the PowerShell script from the PowerShell Operational event log as the script’s execution was logged automatically due to the use of specific keywords. CrowdStrike recommends that organizations upgrade PowerShell on their systems, as this functionality is only available with PowerShell version 5 and above | ['T1059.001'] |
Once the user enters the targeted website, the attacker is notified and can take over the device remotely. As the victim accesses their online banking account, the attacker can display full-screen overlay images (hence the name “remote overlay”) designed to appear like they are part of the bank’s website. These pages can either block the victim’s access to the site, allowing the attacker to move money after initial authentication, or include additional data fields that the user is prompted to fill out | ['T1185'] |
Each of these weaponized documents used the same tactic for their attacks. Upon opening the document, it leveraged the ability of Microsoft Word to retrieve a remote template to then load a malicious macro document as seen in Figure 4 | ['T1221'] |
Daserf also uses file and folder names related to legitimate programs often found in Windows environments in order to blend in. Observed folder names include HP, Intel, Adobe, and perflogs and folders are generally created in either the root drive or the Application Data or Program Files folders. File names used in recent attacks include adobe.exe, adobe_sl.exe, intel.exe, and intellog.exe | ['T1036.005'] |
Microsoft has been monitoring these attacks and notifying targeted customers for several months, but only recently reached a point in our investigation where we can attribute the activity to Strontium with high confidence. MSTIC’s investigation revealed that Strontium has evolved its tactics since the 2016 election to include new reconnaissance tools and new techniques to obfuscate their operations. In recent months, it has engaged in brute force attacks and password spray, two tactics that have likely allowed them to automate aspects of their operations. Strontium also disguised these credential harvesting attacks in new ways, running them through more than 1,000 constantly rotating IP addresses, many associated with the Tor anonymizing service. Strontium even evolved its infrastructure over time, adding and removing about 20 IPs per day to further mask its activity | ['T1110.003'] |
Apart from targeting Gmail users, Pawn Storm has also abused OAuth in credential phishing attacks against high profile Yahoo users. Here is an example from 2015 where “McAfee Email Protection” is offered | ['T1528'] |
Daserf — This backdoor has the functionality of a remote shell and can be used to execute commands, upload and download data, capture screenshots, and log keystrokes. As of this publication, BRONZE BUTLER demonstrates a preference for concurrently using Datper and xxmm in its operations. T-SMB Scan — This SMB scanning tool was originally published on a Chinese program-sharing website (pudn.com). BRONZE BUTLER removed its help message functionality. Use malware to upload the large list of enumerated files to the C2 server. Select specific files to steal, creating a new list. Use downloaders or other malware to send the new list to a compromised host. Use archiving software to collect files in a password-protected archive. Use an uploader or other malware to send the archived files to an attacker-controlled server. The uploader software is proprietary to this group, but Datper and xxmm also contain an uploading feature. Search proxy log files for evidence of web server scanning using the URL patterns associated with BRONZE BUTLER activity | ['T1083'] |
an extra executable; - process hollowing shellcode; - a list of predefined executable names, which the malware uses as a future process name | ['T1055.012'] |
ISMAgent prioritizes HTTP as its mechanism to communicate with the C2 server, but if it is unable to reach the C2 server it will switch to the DNS tunneling mechanism. To carry out its HTTP C2 communications, the Trojan prepends "www. to the configured C2 domain and issues a DNS query to resolve this domain | ['T1008'] |
Last week, Unit 42 released a blog on a newly named threat group called DarkHydrus that we observed targeting government entities in the Middle East. The attack that we discussed in our previous publication involved spear-phishing to deliver a PowerShell payload we call RogueRobin; however, we are aware of DarkHydrus carrying out a credential harvesting attack in June 2018. It also appears that this an ongoing campaign, as we have evidence of previous credential harvesting attempts using the same infrastructure dating back to the Fall of 2017. The credential harvesting attacks used spear-phishing emails that contained malicious Microsoft Office documents that leveraged the “attachedTemplate” technique to load a template from a remote server. When attempting to load this remote template, Microsoft Office will display an authentication dialog box to ask the user to provide login credentials. When entered, these credentials are then sent to the C2 server, which allows DarkHydrus to collect the user account credentials. Based on Unit 42’s analysis, DarkHydrus used the open-source Phishery tool to create two of the known Word documents used in these credential harvesting attacks. As discussed in our previous blog, this further strengthens DarkHydrus’ use of the open source for their attack tools. A phishing attack to steal credentials like this is not new: US-CERT warned of the same technique by a different threat group in 2017. Based on this, we can reasonably presume this group will continue to carry out attacks against these kinds of targets in the Middle East in the near-future | ['T1566.001'] |
The instance of Warzone we trapped has the ability to bypass UAC on the latest version of Windows 10. In this blog we’re going to talk about the XLS used as the attack vector and the UAC bypass technique used | ['T1548.002'] |
Aside from security programs and other programs used daily that can be used to profile its targets, the DUBNIUM malware also checks for various program analysis tools including Pin and DynamoRIO. It also checks for a virtual machine environment. If some of these are detected, it quits its execution. Overall, the malware is very cautious and deterministic in running its main code | ['T1497.001'] |
SMOKEDHAM communicates with its C2 server using HTTPS. The backdoor uses domain fronting to obfuscate its true C2 server. The fronted domain is configured by an earlier stage of execution and the actual domain is hard-coded in the backdoor. Mandiant observed the fronted domain lumiahelptipsmscdnqa.microsoft[.]com and hard-coded domain max-ghoster1.azureedge[.]net used for C2 server communication | ['T1090.004'] |
The Leeson, Neoichor, and NumbIdea malware families typically use the Internet Explorer (IE) COM interface to connect and receive commands from hardcoded C2 servers | ['T1559.001'] |
To deliver the malware to the victim machines, the Rocke group exploits vulnerabilities in Apache Struts 2, Oracle WebLogic, and Adobe ColdFusion. For example, by exploiting Oracle WebLogic vulnerability CVE-2017-10271 in Linux shown in Figure 1, a compromised Linux victim machine downloads backdoor 0720.bin and opens a shell | ['T1190'] |
This version includes the stealer features mentioned in the previous version and additionally Remote Administration Tool features such as file uploading/download and arbitrary command execution. An interesting element is that the malware looks for filenames created with the previous version of KONNI. This implies that the malware targeted the same people as the previous version and they are designed to work together | ['T1083'] |
In the period between January and March 2017 the TeleBots attackers compromised a software company in Ukraine (not related to M.E. Doc), and, using VPN tunnels from there, gained access to the internal networks of several financial institutions | ['T1133'] |
The malware displays fake forms on top of the banking sites and intercepts credentials from the victims. It can also display a fake Windows Update whenever there is nefarious activity in the background, as seen in Figure 23 | ['T1056.002'] |
Zlh.exe is a legitimate, signed Norman Safeground AS application, which is used to sideload a malicious nflogger.dll DLL.The encrypted ZeroT payload is usually named NO.2.mui. The sideloaded DLL does not always use the same vulnerable executable, but it is always similar in functionality. Usually the DLL is not packed, but we have observed instances compressed by UPX. This malicious DLL is usually obfuscated with the same junk code: dummy API calls inserted in between real instructions (Fig. 7). The same obfuscation can be found in multiple functions in ZeroT itself | ['T1027.001'] |
TA505 has also recently used LOLbins and legitimate Windows OS processes to perform malicious activities and deliver a payload without being detected. As the entry point of an attack, it delivers a sophisticated email containing a malicious Excel or Word file. The group notably abuses Excel 4.0 macro — a particularly old macro likely used to evade typical macro detection | ['T1204.002'] |
During one investigation, APT32 was observed using a privilege escalation exploit (CVE-2016-7255) masquerading as a Windows hotfix. In another investigation, APT32 compromised the McAfee ePO infrastructure to distribute their malware as a software deployment task in which all systems pulled the payload from the ePO server using the proprietary SPIPE protocol. APT32 also used hidden or non-printing characters to help visually camouflage their malware on a system. For example, APT32 installed one backdoor as a persistent service with a legitimate service name that had a Unicode no-break space character appended to it. Another backdoor used an otherwise legitimate DLL filename padded with a non-printing OS command control code | ['T1027', 'T1036.004'] |
The attackers also ran the nmap utility on the router VM and scanned ports on systems within the restricted segment of the enterprise network. On September 27, the attackers started removing all traces of their activity from the router, using the logrotate utility to set up automatic deletion of log files | ['T1070.003', 'T1046'] |
PipeMon is a modular backdoor where each module is a single DLL exporting a function called IntelLoader and is loaded using a reflective loading technique. Each module exhibits different functionalities that are shown in Table 2 | ['T1129'] |
The next step after installing the malicious service would be to set up tunnels to access to the infected machine from remote hosts, for example using the following command | ['T1090'] |
Turla, also known as Snake, is an infamous espionage group recognized for its complex malware. To confound detection, its operators recently started using PowerShell scripts that provide direct, in-memory loading and execution of malware executables and libraries. This allows them to bypass detection that can trigger when a malicious executable is dropped on disk | ['T1059.001'] |
Four files tested in 2014 are based on the open-source project, cryptcat. Analysis of these cryptcat binaries indicates that the actor continually modified them to decrease AV detection rates. One of these files was deployed in a TEMP.Veles target’s network. The compiled version with the least detections was later re-tested in 2017 and deployed less than a week later during TEMP.Veles activities in the target environment. TEMP.Veles’ lateral movement activities used a publicly-available PowerShell-based tool, WMImplant. On multiple dates in 2017, TEMP.Veles struggled to execute this utility on multiple victim systems, potentially due to AV detection. Four files tested in 2014 are based on the open-source project, cryptcat. Analysis of these cryptcat binaries indicates that the actor continually modified them to decrease AV detection rates. One of these files was deployed in a TEMP.Veles target’s network. On multiple dates in 2017, TEMP.Veles struggled to execute this utility on multiple victim systems, potentially due to AV detection | ['T1027.005'] |
The stage’s 0x102 resource is parsed and the files are dropped in either %ProgramFiles% or %AppData% in the randomly chosen folder. The creation times are changed to have the same values as kernel32.dll | ['T1070.006'] |
Central Command network, including computers both in the headquarters and in the combat zones.The threat involved into this incident is referred as Agent.btz. There is even a clash with another threat that is also detected as Agent.btz by another vendor – but that's a totally different threat with different functionality. When loaded, its exported function DllEntryPoint() will be called automatically. Once a removable disk is connected to a computer infected with Agent.btz, the active malware will detect a newly recognized drive. It will drop its copy on it and it will create autorun.inf file with an instruction to run that file. Agent.btz file is not packed. Thus, it’s not known what kind of code could have been injected into the browser process. Agent.btz locates this resource by looking for a marker 0xAA45F6F9 in its memory map.File wmcache.nldThe second spawned thread will wait for 10 seconds. The collected network details are also saved into the log file.File winview.ocxThe second spawned thread will log threat activity into the file %system32%\winview.ocx.This file is also encrypted with the same XOR mask. Note: an attempt to run a valid thumb.db file, which is an OLE-type container has no effect.Files thumb.dd and mssysmgr.ocxAgent.btz is capable to create a binary file thumb.dd on a newly connected drive | ['T1091'] |
The last retrieved module is a persistence module. If the victim appears valuable to the attackers, a GRIFFON implant installer is pushed to the victim’s workstation. This module stores another instance of the GRIFFON implant inside the registry to achieve persistence. Here is a PowerLinks-style method used by the attackers to achieve persistence and execute the GRIFFON implant at each user logon. The new GRIFFON implant is written to the hard drive before each execution, limiting the “file-less” aspect of this method | ['T1547.001'] |
Another interesting discovery was a tool that was used during attacks to make queries to Active Directory using LDAP. This tool is able to dump detailed information about computers and usernames listed in Active Directory, and is tailored for a specific victim’s domain | ['T1018', 'T1087.002'] |
The attackers then created scheduled tasks that would launch the ransomware with names based on variants of Windows Update Security or Windows Update Security Patches | ['T1053.005'] |
Mouse position: Darkhotel repeatedly checks for the position of the mouse cursor on the screen. If the cursor remains at the center of the desktop, it is unlikely that a real user is using the system. Because of this, most sandboxes periodically move the mouse cursor or perform some other type of interaction with the desktop | ['T1497.002'] |
In what appears to be a first on the cyber-espionage scene, a nation-state-backed hacking group has used a Google Chrome extension to infect victims and steal passwords and cookies from their browsers | ['T1176', 'T1555.003'] |
The Python/TeleBot malware uses exactly the same approach; the Python backdoor code is obfuscated and packed into a standalone executable using PyInstaller. In addition, the Python code is ROT13 encoded, AES encrypted, compressed using zlib library and then Base64 encoded | ['T1027'] |
But what really makes this backdoor interesting is the way in which it communicates with attackers in order to receive commands. Python/TeleBot abuses the Telegram Bot API from Telegram Messenger to communicate with the attackers. We have informed Telegram of this abuse of their communication platform | ['T1102.002'] |
The shellcode loaded by the macro contains an encrypted DLL which is decrypted at runtime and then manually mapped into memory by the shellcode. After mapping the DLL, the shellcode jumps to the entry point of that DLL. The shellcode uses some kind of custom hashing method to resolve the APIs. We used hollows_hunter to dump the DLL and reconstruct the IAT once it is fully mapped into memory | ['T1140', 'T1620'] |
It imports the specified Active Directory database NTDS.dit and registry file SYSTEM and exports the found password hashes into RecordedTV_pdump.txt and user details in RecordedTV_users.csv | ['T1003.003'] |
The malware accomplishes this through querying the netsvc group value data located in the svchost group registry key which is HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SvcHost | ['T1012'] |
In most of the samples collected by the CTU research team, Sakula maintains persistence by setting the registry Run key (SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\) in either the HKLM or HKCU hive. Through 2013, registry persistence was set using standard Windows APIs. In the samples compiled in 2014, the adversary switched to adding the Run key by invoking cmd.exe | ['T1547.001'] |
Delete the shadow volumes with vssadmin (“vssadmin Delete Shadows /all /quiet”). - Resize the shadow storage for all units starting from C to H units’ letters (hardcoded letters) to avoid the shadow volumes being made again. Using bcedit program to disable the recovery options in the boot of the machine and set to ignore any failure in the boot warning the user | ['T1490'] |
The plugin is a Mimikatz version compiled in the Second_Release_PowerShell configuration. This version can be loaded into the address space of a PowerShell process via reflective DLL loading as implemented in the Exfiltration module of PowerSploit | ['T1055.001'] |
It also has some basic anti-sandbox detection that tries to detect Virtual PC, Sandboxie, and VMware (example in Figure 6 | ['T1497.001'] |
When Xbash finds a destination has Hadoop, Redis or ActiveMQ running, it will also attempt to exploit the service for self-propagation. Three known vulnerabilities are targeted | ['T1203'] |
RunningRat is a remote access Trojan (RAT) that operates with two DLLs. This DLL serves three main functions: killing antimalware, unpacking and executing the main RAT DLL, and obtaining persistence. The malware drops the Windows batch file dx.bat, which attempts to kill the task daumcleaner.exe; a Korean security program. The batch file then attempts to remove itself | ['T1059.003'] |
A tool used by the adversary which wasn’t installed on the servers by default, was DSInternals. DSInternals is a PowerShell module that makes use of internal Active Directory features. The files and directories found on various systems of a victim match with DSInternals version 2.16.1. We have found traces that indicate DSInternals was executed and at which time, which match with the rest of the traces of the intrusion. We haven’t recovered traces of how the adversary used DSInternals, but considering the phase of the intrusion the adversary used the tool, it is likely they used it for either account discovery or privilege escalation, or both | ['T1059.001'] |
From the attacks observed by Volexity, what is most notable is that Patchwork has pivoted its targeting and has launched attacks directly against US-based think tanks. Volexity has also found that, in addition to sending malware lures, the Patchwork threat actors are leveraging unique tracking links in their e-mails for the purpose of identifying which recipients opened their e-mail messages. This domain was not only used to send the phishing e-mails, but also to track which targets opened the e-mail. Within each of the HTML-formatted messages, an embedded image tag is used to beacon home to the attacker's domain, containing an unique identifier specific to the recipient. While the use of e-mail recipient tracking, a linked RTF document, and a final payload (QuasarRAT variant) remained the same, certain elements differed across campaigns observed. Exploitation and Malware Execution . Upon opening the above attachments, the recipient will be presented with a document that is a direct copy of a blog post or report released by the think tank organization being impersonated. Its called the "packager trick" because any file embedded in an RTF file using packager will be automatically dropped to the %tmp% folder (c:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Temp) when the RTF document is opened. Second, the threat actors exploit CVE-2017-8570 to achieve code execution via a malicious "scriptlet" file, or .sct file, which is also embedded in the malicious RTF document. The Patchwork threat actors also appear to have adopted a technique seen from other APT groups where they are now tracking the effectiveness of their campaigns by recording which recipients have opened the phishing message. Contact . Connect . This Website uses cookies, which are necessary to its functioning and required to achieve the purposes illustrated in our Cookie Policy | ['T1566.002'] |
The malware launches another thread that scans for new drives attached to the system every three seconds. If a new drive is attached to the system and is not identified as a type CDROM drive, the malware begins the encryption process on the new drive. On new drives attached to the system, the malware may create the directory <Drive_letter>:\$RECYCLE and execute the following command | ['T1120'] |
Shamoon enables the service RemoteRegistry, which allows a program to remotely modify the registry. It also disables remote user account control by enabling the registry key LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy | ['T1112'] |
SUNSPOT appends an entry in the log file with the date and time of the backdoor attempt and waits for the MsBuild.exe process to exit before restoring the original source code and deleting the temporary InventoryManager.bk file. If the Orion solution build is successful, it is backdoored with SUNBURST | ['T1070.004'] |
TA505 uses fast flux, a DNS technique used to mask botnets by quickly shifting among compromised hosts, which allows cybercriminals to delay or evade detection. The domains the group has been using to distribute payloads were usually resolved across a lot of IPs | ['T1568.001'] |
In at least one instance of EnvyScout delivery, we observed further enumeration of the executing browser’s environment, wherein the user-agent was used to determine whether a Windows machine received an ISO payload. If the visitor arrived via iOS, they were redirected to external infrastructure | ['T1082'] |
Based on our technical analysis, telemetry, and data from submissions, we can assert with high confidence that this is the work of the Hidden Cobra group. These initial findings appear to be the first stage of Operation GhostSecret. For more on the global aspect of this threat, see “Global Malware Campaign Pilfers Data from Critical Infrastructure of Entertainment, Finance, Health Care, and Other Industries | ['T1573.001'] |
Enumerate all CLRs loaded in the AD FS process Microsoft.IdentityServer.ServiceHost.exe - For each CLR, enumerate all running application domains and perform the following actions for each domain: Read the contents of the following encrypted FoggyWeb backdoor file into memory: C:\Windows\SystemResources\Windows.Data.TimeZones\pris\Windows.Data.TimeZones.zh-PH.pri Decrypt the encrypted FoggyWeb backdoor file using the Lightweight Encryption Algorithm (LEA). The LEA-128 key schedule uses the following hardcoded master key to generate the round keys: - Read the contents of the following encrypted FoggyWeb backdoor file into memory: C:\Windows\SystemResources\Windows.Data.TimeZones\pris\Windows.Data.TimeZones.zh-PH.pri - Decrypt the encrypted FoggyWeb backdoor file using the Lightweight Encryption Algorithm (LEA). The LEA-128 key schedule uses the following hardcoded master key to generate the round keys | ['T1140'] |
Interestingly, the ChChes samples we observed were digitally signed using a certificate originally used by HackingTeam and later part of the data leaked when they were themselves hacked. Wapack labs also observed a similar sample targeting Japan in November. It’s not clear why the attackers chose to use this certificate, as it was old, had been leaked online, and had already been revoked by the time they used it. Digital certificates are typically used because they afford an air of legitimacy, which this one definitely does not | ['T1553.002'] |
That persistence is achieved by adding a new task in the task scheduler – it deploys the malicious sample after every minute, to ensure that it keeps running | ['T1053.005'] |
To further confuse anti-malware solutions, the loader contains the entire unobfuscated code of a legitimate open source application called Blink (https://github.com/crosire/blink), which never gets executed | ['T1027.001'] |
The Calisto installation file is an unsigned DMG image under the guise of Intego’s security solution for Mac | ['T1036.005'] |
The software installed on the compromised computer is of particular interest. Which programs are installed on the system. Which of them are executed automatically at each system start or user logon. Which programs are used by a particular user. If the attackers are interested, they are only one command away from these valuable data | ['T1518'] |
The service-based DLL implant traverses to the /htdocs/ directory on the FTP server and looks for any files with the keywords | ['T1083'] |
Finally, Grandoreiro detects two virtual environments – VMWare via its special I/O port and Virtual PC via the vpcext instruction | ['T1497.001'] |
The attacker’s choice of IP addresses was also optimized to evade detection. The attacker primarily used only IP addresses originating from the same country as the victim, leveraging Virtual Private Servers | ['T1036'] |
SUNSPOT is StellarParticle’s malware used to insert the SUNBURST backdoor into software builds of the SolarWinds Orion IT management product. SUNSPOT monitors running processes for those involved in compilation of the Orion product and replaces one of the source files to include the SUNBURST backdoor code. Several safeguards were added to SUNSPOT to avoid the Orion builds from failing, potentially alerting developers to the adversary’s presence | ['T1195.002'] |
When the newer service variant of BitPaymer is run, it first determines if it is being executed from an alternate data stream. If it is not executed from an alternate data stream, the malware creates a file in the %APPDATA% folder with a random file name between three and eight characters long, containing uppercase and lowercase letters as well as numbers. It then copies itself to the alternate data stream :bin of the newly created file and creates a new process from the stream | ['T1564.004'] |
Flame appears to have two modules designed for infecting USB sticks, called “Autorun Infector” and “Euphoria”. We haven’t seen them in action yet, maybe due to the fact that Flame appears to be disabled in the configuration data. Nevertheless, the ability to infect USB sticks exists in the code, and it’s using two methods | ['T1091'] |
The modules are signed by an invalid digital certificates listed as “Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Company Limited” with serial numbers, copied from real Tencent certificates | ['T1036.001'] |
Capable of stealing documents sent to the printer queue. Steals written CD images. Capable of stealing files previously seen on removable drives once they are available again. Steals Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, FireFox and RealNetworks cookies. If deleted from Frontend file or related registry values, it will reappear after reboot with a new name and startup type | ['T1025'] |
Recall that when the malicious code is executed, it invokes the extract_ei function on its own binary image, to check if the file is infected. If so, it opens itself, and reads the trailer to get the offset of where the file’s original bytes are located. It then writes these bytes out to a new file named: .<orginalfilename>1. This file is then set executable (via chmod) and executed (via execl | ['T1554'] |
Next, the shellcode iterates through the PEB’s loader module list looking for the base address of Kernel32.dll. This is typical of shellcode, as the Kernel32.dll base address is necessary to resolve any dependency files required by the shellcode to run. With this address, the shellcode loads its dependency modules and resolves any necessary Windows Application Programming Interface (API) calls using standard shellcode API hashing. The following modules are loaded | ['T1106'] |
Receive a file path from the C2 for a file to read. The target file is read and then split into smaller files named "<target_filename>.part_<part_number>" and stored on disk. This capability can be used to break large files of interest into smaller chunks to prepare them for exfiltration | ['T1030'] |
This introduction of string obfuscation also suggests a development change aimed at evading detection. The header codes, filename references, and all of the operator commands were obfuscated and only decoded during execution of the KeyBoy DLL. Figure 6 shows a sampling of these strings, after decoding | ['T1027'] |
The developer implemented a total of seven techniques to identify if the compromised system is a virtual machine. Additionally, the malware checks the SerialNumber and the version of the BIOS. The third technique uses the Win32_Computer entry in WMI. It checks if the manufacturer contains "VIRTUAL", "VMWARE" or "VirtualBox". The fourth technique checks the Processor ID of the system. The WMI request simply replies "not supported". This behaviour can be used to detect if the targeted system is a real machine. The last technique uses the MAC Address of the infected system. If the MAC Address starts by a well-known hexadecimal number, the system is identified as a virtual machine. The variant version of GX is used in the URI | ['T1497.001'] |
COBALT DICKENS uses publicly available tools, including the SingleFile plugin available on GitHub and the free HTTrack Website Copier standalone application, to copy the login pages of targeted university resources. Metadata in a spoofed login page created on August 1 suggests that COBALT DICKENS sometimes uses older copied versions of target websites. A comment left in the source code indicates it was originally copied on May 1, 2017 (see Figure 3). However, the university was targeted by numerous COBALT DICKENS operations, including the August 2018 and August 2019 campaigns | ['T1588.002'] |
NOBELIUM, with existing administrative permissions, was observed to drop a malicious loader named version.dll in the %WinDir%\ADFS\ folder where the AD FS service executable Microsoft.IdentityServer.ServiceHost.exe is located. Once the system or the AD FS service is restarted, Microsoft.IdentityServer.ServiceHost.exe loads mscoree.dll, which in turn loads mscoreei.dll. As mentioned above, mscoreei.dll has a delay load import named version.dll | ['T1574.001'] |
In recent BitPaymer IR engagements, Falcon Intelligence linked the initial infection vector to fake updates for a FlashPlayer plugin and the Chrome web browser. These fake updates are served via legitimate websites that have been compromised, and use social engineering to trick users into downloading and running a malicious executable. These fake update campaigns appear to be a pay-per-install service that is simply used by INDRIK SPIDER to deliver its malware, as other malware has also been delivered via the same campaigns | ['T1036.005', 'T1584.004'] |
One of the reconnaissance commands was to run a modified nbtscan tool ("NetBIOS nameserver scanner") to identify available NetBIOS name servers locally or over the network. Nbtscan has been used by APT10 in Operation Cloud Hopper to search for services of interest across the IT estate and footprint endpoints of interest. It is also capable of identifying system information | ['T1016', 'T1018'] |
The attacker used a temporary file replacement technique to remotely execute utilities: they replaced a legitimate utility with theirs, executed their payload, and then restored the legitimate original file. They similarly manipulated scheduled tasks by updating an existing legitimate task to execute their tools and then returning the scheduled task to its original configuration. They routinely removed their tools, including removing backdoors once legitimate remote access was achieved | ['T1070.004', 'T1070', 'T1053.005'] |
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