Malvertising Campaign Leads to Execution of Oyster Backdoor

The following analysts contributed to this blog: Thomas Elkins, Daniel Thiede, Josh Lockwood, Tyler McGraw, and Sasha Kovalev. Executive Summary Rapid7 has observed a recent malvertising campaign that lures users into downloading malicious installers for popular software such as Google Chrome and...

China-Linked Hackers Infiltrate East Asian Firm for 3 Years Using F5 Devices

A suspected China-nexus cyber espionage actor has been attributed as behind a prolonged attack against an unnamed organization located in East Asia for a period of about three years, with the adversary establishing persistence using legacy F5 BIG-IP appliances and using it as an internal...

NiceRAT Malware Targets South Korean Users via Cracked Software

Threat actors have been observed deploying a malware called NiceRAT to co-opt infected devices into a botnet. The attacks, which target South Korean users, are designed to propagate the malware under the guise of cracked software, such as Microsoft Windows, or tools that purport to offer license...

Pakistani Hackers Use DISGOMOJI Malware in Indian Government Cyber Attacks

A suspected Pakistan-based threat actor has been linked to a cyber espionage campaign targeting Indian government entities in 2024. Cybersecurity company Volexity is tracking the activity under the moniker UTA0137, noting the adversary's exclusive use of a malware called DISGOMOJI that's written ...

Cybercriminals Employ PhantomLoader to Distribute SSLoad Malware

The nascent malware known as SSLoad is being delivered by means of a previously undocumented loader called PhantomLoader, according to findings from cybersecurity firm Intezer. "The loader is added to a legitimate DLL, usually EDR or AV products, by binary patching the file and employing...

Update: CVE-2024-4577 quickly weaponized to distribute “TellYouThePass” Ransomware

Introduction Recently, Imperva Threat Research reported on attacker activity leveraging the new PHP vulnerability, CVE-2024-4577. From as early as June 8th, we have detected attacker activity leveraging this vulnerability to deliver malware, which we have now identified to be a part of the...

Hackers Use MS Excel Macro to Launch Multi-Stage Malware Attack in Ukraine

A new sophisticated cyber attack has been observed targeting endpoints geolocated to Ukraine with an aim to deploy Cobalt Strike and seize control of the compromised hosts. The attack chain, per Fortinet FortiGuard Labs, involves a Microsoft Excel file that carries an embedded VBA macro to initia...

DarkGate Malware Replaces AutoIt with AutoHotkey in Latest Cyber Attacks

Cyber attacks involving the DarkGate malware-as-a-service MaaS operation have shifted away from AutoIt scripts to an AutoHotkey mechanism to deliver the last stages, underscoring continued efforts on the part of the threat actors to continuously stay ahead of the detection curve. The updates have...

JAVS Courtroom Recording Software Backdoored - Deploys RustDoor Malware

Malicious actors have backdoored the installer associated with courtroom video recording software developed by Justice AV Solutions JAVS to deliver malware that's associated with a known implant called RustDoor. The software supply chain attack, tracked as CVE-2024-4978 CVSS score: 8.7, impacts...

New Frontiers, Old Tactics: Chinese Espionage Group Targets Africa & Caribbean Govts

The China-linked threat actor known as Sharp Panda has expanded their targeting to include governmental organizations in Africa and the Caribbean as part of an ongoing cyber espionage campaign. "The campaign adopts Cobalt Strike Beacon as the payload, enabling backdoor functionalities like C2...

Malware Delivery via Cloud Services Exploits Unicode Trick to Deceive Users

A new attack campaign dubbed CLOUDREVERSER has been observed leveraging legitimate cloud storage services like Google Drive and Dropbox to stage malicious payloads. "The VBScript and PowerShell scripts in the CLOUDREVERSER inherently involves command-and-control-like activities by using Google...

Foxit PDF Reader Flaw Exploited by Hackers to Deliver Diverse Malware Arsenal

Multiple threat actors are weaponizing a design flaw in Foxit PDF Reader to deliver a variety of malware such as Agent Tesla, AsyncRAT, DCRat, NanoCore RAT, NjRAT, Pony, Remcos RAT, and XWorm. "This exploit triggers security warnings that could deceive unsuspecting users into executing harmful...

Latrodectus Malware Loader Emerges as IcedID's Successor in Phishing Campaigns

Cybersecurity researchers have observed a spike in email phishing campaigns starting early March 2024 that delivers Latrodectus, a nascent malware loader believed to be the successor to the IcedID malware. "These campaigns typically involve a recognizable infection chain involving oversized...

Grandoreiro Banking Trojan Resurfaces, Targeting Over 1,500 Banks Worldwide

The threat actors behind the Windows-based Grandoreiro banking trojan have returned in a global campaign since March 2024 following a law enforcement takedown in January. The large-scale phishing attacks, likely facilitated by other cybercriminals via a malware-as-a-service MaaS model, target ove...

Kimsuky APT Deploying Linux Backdoor Gomir in South Korean Cyber Attacks

The Kimsuky aka Springtail advanced persistent threat APT group, which is linked to North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau RGB, has been observed deploying a Linux version of its GoBear backdoor as part of a campaign targeting South Korean organizations. The backdoor, codenamed Gomir, is...

North Korean Hackers Exploit Facebook Messenger in Targeted Malware Campaign

The North Korea-linked Kimsuky hacking group has been attributed to a new social engineering attack that employs fictitious Facebook accounts to targets via Messenger and ultimately delivers malware. "The threat actor created a Facebook account with a fake identity disguised as a public official...

Ongoing Campaign Bombards Enterprises with Spam Emails and Phone Calls

Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered an ongoing social engineering campaign that bombards enterprises with spam emails with the goal of obtaining initial access to their environments for follow-on exploitation. "The incident involves a threat actor overwhelming a user's email with junk and...

PingRAT - Secretly Passes C2 Traffic Through Firewalls Using ICMP Payloads

PingRAT secretly passes C2 traffic through firewalls using ICMP payloads. Features: Uses ICMP for Command and Control Undetectable by most AV/EDR solutions Written in Go Installation: Download the binaries or build the binaries and you are ready to go: $ git clone...

Hackers Increasingly Abusing Microsoft Graph API for Stealthy Malware Communications

Threat actors have been increasingly weaponizing Microsoft Graph API for malicious purposes with the aim of evading detection. This is done to "facilitate communications with command-and-control C&C infrastructure hosted on Microsoft cloud services," the Symantec Threat Hunter Team, part of...

Researchers Detail Multistage Attack Hijacking Systems with SSLoad, Cobalt Strike

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered an ongoing attack campaign that's leveraging phishing emails to deliver a malware called SSLoad. The campaign, codenamed FROZENSHADOW by Securonix, also involves the deployment of Cobalt Strike and the ConnectWise ScreenConnect remote desktop software...