“Cyber Conflict” Decoy Document Used In Real Cyber Conflict

This post was authored by Warren Mercer, Paul Rascagneres and Vitor VenturaUpdate 10/23: CCDCOE released a statement today on their websiteIntroductionCisco Talos discovered a new malicious campaign from the well known actor Group 74 aka Tsar Team, Sofacy, APT28, Fancy Bear…. Ironically the decoy...

CloudZ RAT potentially steals OTP messages using Pheno plugin

Cisco Talos discovered an intrusion, active since at least January 2026, where an unknown attacker implanted a CloudZ remote access tool RAT and a previously undocumented plugin called "Pheno." According to the functionalities of the CloudZ RAT and Pheno plugin, this was with the intention of...

Dynamic binary instrumentation (DBI) with DynamoRio

This blog introduces dynamic binary instrumentation DBI and guides you through building your own DBI tool with the open-source DynamoRIO framework on Windows 11. DBI enables powerful runtime analysis and modification of binaries critical for malware analysis, security auditing, reverse engineerin...

Using LLMs as a reverse engineering sidekick

This research explores how large language models LLMs can complement, rather than replace, the efforts of malware analysts in the complex field of reverse engineering. LLMs may serve as powerful assistants to streamline workflows, enhance efficiency, and provide actionable insights during malware...

Weathering the storm: In the midst of a Typhoon

Summary Cisco Talos has been closely monitoring reports of widespread intrusion activity against several major U.S. telecommunications companies. The activity, initially reported in late 2024 and later confirmed by the U.S. government, is being carried out by a highly sophisticated threat actor...

Whatsup Gold, Observium and Offis vulnerabilities

Cisco Talos' Vulnerability Research team recently disclosed three vulnerabilities in Observium, three vulnerabilities in Offis, and four vulnerabilities in Whatsup Gold. These vulnerabilities exist in Observium, a network observation and monitoring system; Offis DCMTK, a collection of libraries a...

November Patch Tuesday release contains three critical remote code execution vulnerabilities

The Patch Tuesday for November of 2024 includes 89 vulnerabilities, including four that Microsoft marked as "critical." The remaining vulnerabilities listed are classified as "important." Microsoft assessed that exploitation of the four "critical" vulnerabilities is "less likely." CVE-2024-43639 ...

Talos discovers denial-of-service vulnerability in Microsoft Audio Bus; Potential remote code execution in popular open-source PLC

Cisco Talos' Vulnerability Research team recently disclosed two vulnerabilities in Microsoft products that have been patched by the company over the past two Patch Tuesdays. One is a vulnerability in the High-Definition Audio Bus Driver in Windows systems that could lead to a denial of service,...

AI, election security headline discussions at Black Hat and DEF CON

As promised, Im back this week to recap some of the top stories coming out of Black Hat and DEF CON. Also as promised, AI was the talk of Vegas during Hacker Summer Camp or at least from what Ive been reading and hearing, I wasnt there in person. Several exhibitions and talks at both conferences...

Starry Addax targets human rights defenders in North Africa with new malware

Cisco Talos is disclosing a new threat actor we deemed "Starry Addax" targeting mostly human rights activists associated with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic SADR cause with a novel mobile malware. Starry Addax conducts phishing attacks tricking their targets into installing malicious Androi...

Why the toothbrush DDoS story fooled us all

Ill be the first to admit that, like many people on the internet last week, I got caught up in the toothbrush distributed denial-of-service attack that wasnt. I had a whole section on it written up in last weeks newsletter, and then I came across Graham Cluleys blog post debunking the whole thing...

A personal Year in Review to round out 2023

As youve probably seen by now, Talos released our 2023 Year in Review report last week. Its an extremely comprehensive look at the top threats, attacker trends and malware families from the past year with never-before-seen Cisco Talos telemetry. We have podcasts, long-form videos and even Reddit...

Kazakhstan-associated YoroTrooper disguises origin of attacks as Azerbaijan

Cisco Talos assesses with high confidence that YoroTrooper, an espionage-focused threat actor first active in June 2022, likely consists of individuals from Kazakhstan based on their use of Kazakh currency and fluency in Kazakh and Russian. The actor also appears to have a defensive interest in t...

Attacks on web applications spike in third quarter, new Talos IR data shows

Quarterly threat report: Telecommunications and education are most-targeted verticals There was a notable increase in threats to web applications, accounting for 30 percent of the engagements Cisco Talos Incident Response Talos IR responded to in the third quarter of 2023, compared to 8 percent t...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Vulnerabilities in popular Japanese word processing software could lead to arbitrary code execution, other issues

A Cisco Talos researcher discovered these vulnerabilities. Cisco Talos recently discovered four vulnerabilities in Ichitaro, a popular word processing software in Japan produced by JustSystems that could lead to arbitrary code execution. Ichitaro uses the ATOK input method IME and uses the...

Following the Money: Comparing cryptocurrency value to illicit mining activity

By Nick Biasini In the age of meme stocks, Robinhood and Elon Musk's tweets influencing the global economy, cryptocurrency mining has not seemed as fringe as it once did. Mining has been around as long as these crytocurrencies have, but only really started to gather the attention of criminals in...

Talos Takes Ep. #51: COVID and Tax Day have perfectly aligned for spammers

By Jon Munshaw. The latest episode of Talos Takes is available now. Download this episode and subscribe to Talos Takes using the buttons below, or visit the Talos Takes page. We see tax scams every year — people offering to do your taxes for you, finding a larger return, etc. But this... This is...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Multiple vulnerabilities in Synology DiskStation Manager

Claudio Bozzato of Cisco Talos discovered these vulnerabilities. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Cisco Talos recently discovered multiple vulnerabilities in Synology DiskStation Manager. DSM is the Linux-based operating system for every Synology network-attached storage device NAS. The... This is only the...

Sowing Discord: Reaping the benefits of collaboration app abuse

By Nick Biasini, Edmund Brumaghin, and Chris Neal with contributions from Paul Eubanks. As telework has become the norm throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, attackers are modifying their tactics to take advantage of the changes to employee workflows.Attackers are leveraging collaboration platforms,...

Beers with Talos Ep. #97: Getting to better security outcomes (feat. Wendy Nather)

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast episode No. 97 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos:Apple Podcasts Google PodcastsSpotify StitcherIf iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing, click here. By Mitch Neff. Recorded Nov. 24, 2020 – On this episode, Mitch and Matt are...

Threat Roundup for November 27 to December 4

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between Nov. 27 and Dec. 4. As with previous roundups, this post isn't meant to be an in-depth analysis. Instead, this post will summarize the threats we've observed by highlighting key behavioral characteristics,...

Vulnerability Spotlight: VMware Workstation 15 denial-of-service vulnerability

Piotr Bania of Cisco Talos discovered this vulnerability. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Cisco Talos recently discovered a denial-of-service vulnerability in VMware Workstation 15. VMware allows users to set up virtual machines and operate various operating systems outside of the ones designed for their...

Threat Source newsletter for May 14, 2020

Newsletter compiled by Jon Munshaw. Welcome to this week’s Threat Source newsletter — the perfect place to get caught up on all things Talos from the past week. Our main focus this week is on Astaroth. This is a malware family that has been targeting Brazil with a variety of lures, including...

Threat Source newsletter for April 9, 2020

Newsletter compiled by Jon Munshaw. Welcome to this week’s Threat Source newsletter — the perfect place to get caught up on all things Talos from the past week. Nearly all devices have some sort of fingerprint scanner now, used to log users in. But these scanners prevent their own unique attack...

Beers with Talos Ep. #70: Semper Vigilantes - Strategic Defense in a Cyber Conflict

By Mitch Neff. Beers with Talos BWT Podcast episode No. 70 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos: If iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing, click here. Recorded Jan. 6, 2020 There is a looming cyber conflict on the horizon between the U.S. and Iran. We use a...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Two vulnerabilities in EmbedThis GoAhead

A Cisco Talos researcher discovered these vulnerabilities. Blog by Jon Munshaw. EmbedThis’ GoAhead Web Server contains two vulnerabilities that both arise when the software attempts to process a multi-part/form-data HTTP request. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities to remotely execute...

Exploitable or Not Exploitable? Using REVEN to Examine a NULL Pointer Dereference.

Authored by Aleksandar Nikolic. Executive summary It can be very time-consuming to determine if a bug is exploitable or not. In this post, we’ll show how to decide if a vulnerability is exploitable by tracing back along the path of execution that led to a crash. In this case, we are using the...

Beers with Talos EP29 - This is a PSA: Stop Clicking. There is No Prince.

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast Episode 29 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos: If iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing: www.talosintelligence.com/podcast EP29 Show Notes: Recorded May 11, 2018 - First and foremost, we recorded this episode one day before ou...

Who Wasn’t Responsible for Olympic Destroyer?

This blog post is authored by Paul Rascagneres and Martin Lee. Summary Absent contributions from traditional intelligence capacities, the available evidence linking the Olympic Destroyer malware to a specific threat actor group is contradictory, and does not allow for unambiguous attribution. The...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Kakadu SDK Vulnerabilities

Vulnerabilities discovered by Aleksandar Nikolic and Tyler Bohan of Cisco Talos.Today, Talos is disclosing multiple vulnerabilities that have been identified in the Kakadu JPEG 2000 SDK. The vulnerabilities manifest in a way that could be exploited if a user opens a specifically crafted JPEG 2000...

New decryptor for Babuk Tortilla ransomware variant released

Cisco Talos obtained executable code capable of decrypting files affected by the Babuk Tortilla ransomware variant, allowing Talos to extract and share the private decryption key used by the threat actor. Cisco Talos shared the key with our peers at Avast for inclusion in the Avast Babuk decrypto...

Arid Viper disguising mobile spyware as updates for non-malicious Android applications

Since April 2022, Cisco Talos has been tracking a malicious campaign operated by the espionage-motivated Arid Viper advanced persistent threat APT group targeting Arabic-speaking Android users. In this campaign, the actors leverage custom mobile malware, also known as Android Package files APKs, ...

Threat Roundup for October 13 to October 20

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats weve observed between Oct. 13 and Oct. 20. As with previous roundups, this post isnt meant to be an in-depth analysis. Instead, this post will summarize the threats weve observed by highlighting key behavioral characteristics,...

Researcher Spotlight: How David Liebenberg went from never having opened Terminal to hunting international APTs

When Dave Liebenberg started his first day at Talos, he had never even opened Terminal on a Mac before -- let alone written a Snort rule or infiltrated a dark web forum. He jokes that he was a trendsetter at Talos, becoming the first of many to break into security without having any prior...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Microsoft Office class attribute double-free vulnerability

Marcin Icewall Noga of Cisco Talos discovered these vulnerabilities. Cisco Talos recently discovered a class attribute double-free vulnerability in Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office is a suite of tools used for productivity in both a corporate environment as well as by end-users. It offers a ran...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Use-after-free condition in Google Chrome WebGPU

Piotr Bania of Cisco Talos discovered this vulnerability. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Cisco Talos recently discovered an exploitable use-after-free vulnerability in Google Chrome’s WebGPU standard. Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser — and Chromium is the open-source version of the browser tha...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Multiple vulnerabilities in ZTE MF971R LTE router

Marcin “Icewall” Noga of Cisco Talos discovered this vulnerability. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Cisco Talos recently discovered multiple vulnerabilities in the ZTE MF971R LTE portable router. The MF971R is a portable router with Wi-Fi support and works as an LTE/GSM modem. An attacker could... This is...

Threat Source newsletter (June 10, 2021)

Newsletter compiled by Jon Munshaw.Good afternoon, Talos readers. We seriously can't escape from ransomware. It's in the headlines constantly and has now drawn the full attention of the federal government. But we at Talos recognize that is going to take far more than just words to... This is only...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Password reset vulnerability in Epignosis eFront

Richard Dean, CX security advisory, EMEAR, discovered this vulnerability. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Epignosis eFront contains a vulnerability that could allow an adversary to reset the password of any account of their choosing. eFront is a learning management system platform that allows users to creat...

Threat Roundup for December 4 to December 11

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between Dec. 4 and Dec. 11. As with previous roundups, this post isn't meant to be an in-depth analysis. Instead, this post will summarize the threats we've observed by highlighting key behavioral characteristics,...

Quarterly Report: Incident Response trends from Fall 2020

By David Liebenberg and Caitlin Huey. For the sixth quarter in a row, Cisco Talos Incident Response CTIR observed ransomware dominating the threat landscape. However, for the first quarter since we began compiling these reports, no engagements that were closed out involved the ransomware Ryuk...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Code execution vulnerability in Microsoft Excel

Marcin “Icewall” Noga of Cisco Talos discovered this vulnerability. Blog by Jon Munshaw.Cisco Talos recently discovered a code execution vulnerability in some versions of Microsoft Excel. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by tricking the victim into opening a specially crafted XLS file...

What to expect when you're electing: Information hygiene and the human levers of disinformation

Editor's note: Related reading on Talos election security research: https://blog.talosintelligence.com/2020/07/what-to-expect-when-youre-electing.html https://blog.talosintelligence.com/2020/09/election-roundtable-video.html...

Threat Source newsletter for May 21, 2020

Newsletter compiled by Jon Munshaw. Welcome to this week’s Threat Source newsletter — the perfect place to get caught up on all things Talos from the past week. Beers with Talos chugs on during quarantine with the latest episode of “The In-Between.” Once again, the hosts talk about everything but...

Threat Spotlight: MedusaLocker

By Edmund Brumaghin, with contributions from Amit Raut. Overview MedusaLocker is a ransomware family that has been observed being deployed since its discovery in 2019. Since its introduction to the threat landscape, there have been several variants observed. However, most of the functionality...

Threat Source newsletter (Feb. 27, 2020)

Newsletter compiled by Jon Munshaw. Welcome to this week’s Threat Source newsletter — the perfect place to get caught up on all things Talos from the past week. We know we’ve kept you waiting for a while, but the new Snort Resources page is finally here. We’ve got new and improved documentation,...

Beers with Talos Ep. #73: Feature ownership, vuln advisories and fancy audio FX

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast episode No. 73 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos: If iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing, click here. Recorded Feb. 19, 2020 Craig made an oopsie. Pardon his echo-chamber reverb. We had no idea until he sent in his audio fo...

Threat Roundup for Nov. 30 to Dec. 7

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between Nov. 30 and Dec. 07. As with previous roundups, this post isn't meant to be an in-depth analysis. Instead, this post will summarize the threats we've observed by highlighting key behavioral characteristics...

Beers with Talos EP26: Talos is Holding a Conference, and the Evolving Battle at the Edge

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast Episode 26 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos: If iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing: www.talosintelligence.com/podcast EP26 Show Notes: Recorded 3/29/18 - Joel is sitting out this week, and Bill Largent from the Outreach...

Disassembler and Runtime Analysis

This post was authored by Paul Rascagneres.IntroductionIn the CCleaner 64bit stage 2 previously described in our blog, we explained that the attacker modified a legitimate executable that is part of "Symantec Endpoint". This file is named EFACli64.dll. The modification is performed in the runtime...