05-September-2023
Welcome to the weekly threat detection update report from Stamus Networks. Each week, you will receive this email with a summary of the updates.
Current Stamus Threat Intelligence (STI) release version: 836
This week, in addition to daily ruleset and IOC updates, we provided Stamus Security Platform customers with the following improved defense(s):
Note: a "method" as referenced below, is a discrete detection vector for a given threat.
The following detections were added to your Stamus Security Platform (SSP) this past week:
Loaders, for the most part, have one job: grab malicious executables or payloads from an attacker-controlled server. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t more happening under the hood of some, such as a user-friendly UI, self-healing capabilities, or the equivalent of a retail shop where a botmaster can sell his bots to potential clients.
Loaders are essentially basic remote access Trojans that give an attacker the ability to remotely interact with and control a compromised computer, or bot. While traditionally lightweight (smaller than 50 KB in size) in order to bypass detection by antivirus and other security monitoring technology, loaders evolve, and their viability to cybercriminals remains.
RootTeam is malicious software specifically designed to steal sensitive information from targeted systems. Its primary objective is to gather various data. Typically, malware of this type operates covertly, often evading detection by security systems and remaining undetected for extended periods, posing a significant risk to individuals and organizations alike. PCrisk
RootTeam - MalwareBazaar |
XLoader is a long-running malware-as-a-service infostealer and botnet that has been around in some form or another since 2015. Its first macOS variant was spotted in 2021 and was notable for being distributed as a Java program. As we noted at the time, the Java Runtime Environment hasn’t shipped by default on macOS since the days of Snow Leopard, meaning the malware was limited in its targeting to environments where Java had been optionally installed.
Now, however, XLoader has returned in a new form and without the dependencies. Written natively in the C and Objective C programming languages and signed with an Apple developer signature, XLoader is now masquerading as an office productivity app called ‘OfficeNote’. Senntinelone
XLOADER - Microsoft | XLOADER - Malpedia |
In the course of this attack, the attackers used malware signed with a legitimate Microsoft certificate. Most of the victims in this campaign are based in Hong Kong, with some victims based in other regions of Asia. Symantec
Remote Access Trojan (RAT) is a type of malware that allows covert surveillance, a backdoor for administrative control and unfettered and unauthorized remote access to a victim's machine. The RAT is very dangerous because it enables intruders to get remote control of the compromised computer.
There are several malicious fake updates campaigns being run across thousands of compromised websites. This campaign appears to have started around July 19th, 2023. Based on a search on PublicWWW of the injection base64 there are at least 434 infected sites. The name is a reference to the majority of the Javascript being used without obfuscation. One noticeable difference from SocGholish is that there appears to be no tracking of visits by IP or cookies. As an analyst you can you go back to the compromised site over and over coming from the same IP and not clearing your browser cache. This also means the site owner is more likely to see the infection as well. When a user visits a compromised website with ClearFake, the page initially loads as normal before the whole page is taken over by a call to action to update Chrome.
On the index page of the compromised site there is a Javascript injection. The Javascript is base64 encoded. Presumably this is a dynamic injection and will change over time to reflect the new host for the initial payload. On the index page of the compromised site there is a Javascript injection. The Javascript is base64 encoded. Presumably this is a dynamic injection and will change over time to reflect the new host for the initial payload. The second web call returns a Javascript that creates an iframe to house the fake update UI. The iframe src is set to a Keitaro endpoint. The response from the Keitaro endpoint is the foundation for the HTML to be rendered within the iframe.
The following detections were updated this past week with changes to kill chain phase(s) or MITRE ATT&CK tactic(s)/technique(s):
APT28 (also known as - Fancy Bear/Sofacy/Strontum) is a threat group that has been attributed to Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff by a July 2018 U.S. Department of Justice indictment.
This group reportedly compromised the Hillary Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2016 in an attempt to interfere with the U.S. presidential election. APT28 has been active since at least 2004.
Agent Tesla is a spyware Trojan written for the .NET framework that has been observed since at least 2014. MITRE
Phishing is a type of online scam that targets consumers by sending them an e-mail that appears to be from a well-known source – an internet service provider, a bank, or a mortgage company, for example. It asks the consumer to provide personal identifying information. Then a scammer uses the information to open new accounts, or invade the consumer’s existing accounts. There are several tips that consumers can follow to avoid phishing scams, such as not responding to e-mails or pop-up messages that ask for personal or financial information.
Glupteba is a trojan-type program, malicious software that installs other programs of this type. Cyber criminals distribute Glupteba through malicious advertisements that can be injected into legitimate websites or advertising networks. Research shows that Glubteba can be used to distribute a browser stealer or router exploiter. In any case, this malware should be uninstalled immediately. Pcrisk
GuLoader is a file downloader that has been used since at least December 2019 to distribute a variety of remote administration tool (RAT) malware, including NETWIRE, Agent Tesla, NanoCore, FormBook, and Parallax RAT. MITRE
The IcedID banking Trojan was discovered by IBM X-Force researchers in 2017. At that time, it targeted banks, payment card providers, mobile services providers, payroll, webmail and e-commerce sites, mainly in the U.S. IcedID has since continued to evolve, and while one of its more recent versions became active in late-2019, X-Force researchers have identified a new major version release that emerged in 2020 with some substantial changes. securityintelligence.com
Unit 42 has observed active exploits related to an open-source service called Interactsh. This tool can generate specific domain names to help its users test whether an exploit is successful. It can be used by researchers – but also by attackers – to validate vulnerabilities via real-time monitoring on the trace path for the domain. Researchers creating a proof of concept (PoC) for an exploit can insert Interactsh to check whether the PoC is working, but the service could also be used by attackers who want to be sure an exploit is working. Unit42
KONNI is a Windows remote administration too that has been seen in use since 2014 and evolved in its capabilities through at least 2017. KONNI has been linked to several campaigns involving North Korean themes.[1] KONNI has significant code overlap with the NOKKI malware family. There is some evidence potentially linking KONNI to APT37. MITRE
Cyber criminals violated the law TDS (Traffic Direction System) platform Keitaro and used it to redirect them users in exploit kits RIG and Fallout in order to infect them with malicious software.
TDS platforms are designed for redirection of users in particular sites. Legitimate TDS platforms, such as Keitaro, are mainly used by individuals and companies that want to advertise services or their products. Platforms drive users to the pages that companies want, targeting specific customers and promoting an ad campaign. techbizweb
Koadic is a Windows post-exploitation framework and penetration testing tool. Koadic is publicly available on GitHub and the tool is executed via the command-line. Koadic has several options for staging payloads and creating implants. Koadic performs most of its operations using Windows Script Host. MITRE
An adversary may rely upon a user opening a malicious file in order to gain execution. Users may be subjected to social engineering to get them to open a file that will lead to code execution. This user action will typically be observed as follow-on behavior from Spearphishing Attachment. Adversaries may use several types of files that require a user to execute them, including .doc, .pdf, .xls, .rtf, .scr, .exe, .lnk, .pif, and .cpl.
Adversaries may employ various forms of Masquerading on the file to increase the likelihood that a user will open it.
While Malicious File frequently occurs shortly after Initial Access it may occur at other phases of an intrusion, such as when an adversary places a file in a shared directory or on a user's desktop hoping that a user will click on it. This activity may also be seen shortly after Internal Spearphishing. MITRE
Pupy is an open-source, cross-platform RAT and post-exploitation framework mainly written in python. Pupy can be loaded from various loaders, including PE EXE, reflective DLL, Linux ELF, pure python, powershell and APK. Most of the loaders bundle an embedded python runtime, python library modules in source/compiled/native forms as well as a flexible configuration. They bootstrap a python runtime environment mostly in-memory for the later stages of pupy to run in. Pupy can communicate using various transports, migrate into processes, load remote python code, python packages and python C-extensions from memory. Malpedia
Remote Access Trojans are programs that provide the capability to allow covert surveillance or the ability to gain unauthorized access to a victim PC. Remote Access Trojans often mimic similar behaviors of keylogger applications by allowing the automated collection of keystrokes, usernames, passwords, screenshots, browser history, emails, chat lots, etc. Remote Access Trojans differ from keyloggers in that they provide the capability for an attacker to gain unauthorized remote access to the victim machine via specially configured communication protocols which are set up upon initial infection of the victim computer. This backdoor into the victim machine can allow an attacker unfettered access, including the ability to monitor user behavior, change computer settings, browse and copy files, utilize the bandwidth (Internet connection) for possible criminal activity, access connected systems, and more. Malwarebytes
We found samples of the Raspberry Robin malware spreading in telecommunications and government office systems beginning September. The main payload itself is packed with more than 10 layers for obfuscation and is capable of delivering a fake payload once it detects sandboxing and security analytics tools. TrendMicro
It leverages compromised websites and performs some of the most creative fingerprinting checks we’ve seen, before delivering its payload (NetSupport RAT). Malwarebytes
The term info stealer is self-explanatory. This type of malware resides in an infected computer and gathers data in order to send it to the attacker. Typical targets are credentials used in online banking services, social media sites, emails, or FTP accounts.
Info stealers may use many methods of data acquisition. The most common are:
hooking browsers (and sometimes other applications) and stealing credentials that are typed by the user using web injection scripts that are adding extra fields to web forms and submitting information from them to a server owned by the attacker form grabbing (finding specific opened windows and stealing their content) keylogging stealing passwords saved in the system and cookies Modern info stealers are usually parts of botnets. Sometimes the target of attack and related events are configured remotely by the command sent from the Command and Control server (C&C). Malwarebytes
Again, the generic nature of this detection means that the Payloads performed by this group of trojans may be highly variable, and therefore difficult to describe specifically. This group of trojans has been observed to perform any, or all, of the following actions:
redirect Web traffic
- manipulate certain Windows or third-party applications including settings or configurations
- drop or install additional malicious programs
- download and run additional malicious programs
Please note that this list is not exhaustive.
Microsoft
A Trojan downloader is a type of Trojan horse that downloads and installs files, often malicious programs. A Trojan horse is a type of software that looks legitimate but can be malicious in nature. Sometimes these programs can be downloaded onto a device without the user’s knowledge or consent. A Trojan’s purpose is to damage, disrupt, steal, or generally inflict some other harm on your computer and devices. Norton
During a routine threat-hunting exercise, Cyble research labs discovered a dark web post where a malware developer was advertising a powerful Windows RAT. Cyble
The following threat detection(s) were improved this past week with new or updated threat methods.
| Name of threat | New coverage | Total coverage | Last updated | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Detection methods | Kill chain phases | Protocols involved | Detection methods | Kill chain phases | Protocols involved | ||
| APT28 | 1 | actions on objectives | http | 783 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery | dns, http, tcp, tcp-pkt, tls | 2023-09-02 |
| AgentTesla | 2 | delivery | tcp-pkt | 49 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery | dns, ftp, http, smtp, tcp, tcp-pkt, tls | 2023-08-31 |
| Carderbee APT | 1 | command and control | tcp | 1 | command and control | tcp | 2023-08-31 |
| ClearFake | 31 | command and control, exploitation | dns, tls, http | 31 | command and control, exploitation | dns, tls, http | 2023-09-02 |
| Fake Service | 1 | delivery | http | 48 | command and control, delivery | dns, http, tcp, tls | 2023-08-31 |
| Generic Loader | 1 | delivery | http | 1 | delivery | http | 2023-08-31 |
| Glupteba | 3 | command and control | dns, tls, http | 106 | command and control | dns, http, tcp, tls | 2023-08-30 |
| GuLoader | 1 | delivery | http | 7 | command and control, delivery | dns, http, tls | 2023-09-01 |
| IcedID | 9 | command and control | dns, tls, http | 770 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery | dns, http, tcp, tls | 2023-09-02 |
| Interactsh | 18 | command and control | dns, tls, http | 26 | command and control | dns, http, tls | 2023-08-29 |
| KONNI | 1 | command and control | http | 40 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery | dns, ftp, http, tls | 2023-09-02 |
| Keitaro | 4 | exploitation | http, dns, tls | 199 | command and control, delivery, exploitation | dns, http, tls | 2023-08-30 |
| Koadic | 3 | command and control | dns, tls, http | 10 | command and control, delivery | dns, http, tls | 2023-08-31 |
| MalDoc | 1 | delivery | http | 534 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery | dns, http, tcp, tcp-pkt, tls | 2023-08-31 |
| Pupy | 1 | command and control | tls | 11 | command and control | dns, tcp, tls | 2023-08-31 |
| RAT Generic | 2 | command and control | tcp | 73 | command and control, installation | dns, http, tcp, tcp-pkt, tls | 2023-09-02 |
| Raspberry Robin | 3 | command and control | dns, tls, http | 832 | command and control | dns, http, tls | 2023-09-02 |
| SocGholish | 6 | command and control | dns, tls, http | 821 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery, exploitation, reconnaissance | dns, http, tcp, tcp-pkt, tls | 2023-09-02 |
| Stealer and Exfiltration | 1 | actions on objectives | http | 367 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery, exploitation, installation | dns, ftp, http, smtp, tcp, tcp-pkt, tls | 2023-08-30 |
| Trojan Agent | 1 | command and control | tls | 406 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery, installation | dns, http, ip, smtp, tcp, tcp-pkt, tcp-stream, tls, udp | 2023-08-31 |
| Trojan Downloader | 2 | command and control | http | 262 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery, installation | dns, http, tcp, tls, udp | 2023-09-01 |
| XLOADER | 48 | command and control | dns, http, tls | 48 | command and control | dns, http, tls | 2023-08-31 |
| XWorm | 26 | command and control | tcp-pkt | 835 | command and control, delivery | dns, http, tcp, tcp-pkt, tls | 2023-09-02 |
| ZenRAT | 12 | command and control, actions on objectives | tcp | 12 | command and control, actions on objectives | tcp | 2023-08-31 |
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