19-December-2023
Welcome to the weekly threat detection update report from Stamus Networks. Each week, you will receive this email with a summary of the updates.
Current Stamus Threat Intelligence (STI) release version: 924
This week, in addition to daily ruleset and IOC updates, we provided Stamus Security Platform customers with the following improved defense(s):
Note: a "method" as referenced below, is a discrete detection vector for a given threat.
The following detections were added to your Stamus Security Platform (SSP) this past week:
Ap0calypse is a Remote Administration Tool (RAT). Cyber criminals commonly attempt to trick users into installing this software so that they can remotely control computers and perform tasks to generate revenue. Pcrisk
Talos assesses with high confidence that SugarGh0st is a customized variant of the Gh0st RAT. Gh0st RAT was developed by a Chinese group called 红狼小组 (C.Rufus Security Team), and its source code was publicly released in 2008. The public release of the source code has made it easy for threat actors to get access to it and tailor it to fulfill their malicious intentions. There are several variants of Gh0st RAT in the threat landscape, and it remains a preferred tool for many Chinese-speaking actors, allowing them to conduct surveillance and espionage attacks. Talos
RogueRaticate/FakeSG, a newer threat, injects obfuscated JavaScript code into stage 1 websites and uses Keitaro TDS for payload delivery. ZPHP/SmartApeSG leverages asynchronous requests, while ClearFake employs base64 encoded scripts and displays lures in different languages. Infosecurity
RogueRaticate - MalwareBazaar | RogueRaticate - Center for Internet Security |
The following detections were updated this past week with changes to kill chain phase(s) or MITRE ATT&CK tactic(s)/technique(s):
APT38 is a financially-motivated threat group that is backed by the North Korean regime. The group mainly targets banks and financial institutions and has targeted more than 16 organizations in at least 13 countries since at least 2014.
North Korean group definitions are known to have significant overlap, and the name Lazarus Group is known to encompass a broad range of activity. Some organizations use the name Lazarus Group to refer to any activity attributed to North Korea. Some organizations track North Korean clusters or groups such as Bluenoroff, APT37, and APT38 separately, while other organizations may track some activity associated with those group names by the name Lazarus Group. MITRE
BrushaLoader is one of a growing group of downloaders frequently employed by threat actors to profile infected PCs and then load more robust payloads on devices of interest. Malware like BrushaLoader contributes to the ongoing trend of “quality over quantity” infections and enables threat actors to better stay under the radar than they can with highly disruptive infections like ransomware or when distributing massive malicious spam campaigns with high-profile malware as their primary payload. At the same time, these loaders can also deliver those same disruptive infections if threat actors choose to load ransomware as secondary payloads, a scenario we have observed on multiple occasions recently. Proofpoint
There are several malicious fake updates campaigns being run across thousands of compromised websites. This campaign appears to have started around July 19th, 2023. Based on a search on PublicWWW of the injection base64 there are at least 434 infected sites. The name is a reference to the majority of the Javascript being used without obfuscation. One noticeable difference from SocGholish is that there appears to be no tracking of visits by IP or cookies. As an analyst you can you go back to the compromised site over and over coming from the same IP and not clearing your browser cache. This also means the site owner is more likely to see the infection as well. When a user visits a compromised website with ClearFake, the page initially loads as normal before the whole page is taken over by a call to action to update Chrome.
On the index page of the compromised site there is a Javascript injection. The Javascript is base64 encoded. Presumably this is a dynamic injection and will change over time to reflect the new host for the initial payload. On the index page of the compromised site there is a Javascript injection. The Javascript is base64 encoded. Presumably this is a dynamic injection and will change over time to reflect the new host for the initial payload. The second web call returns a Javascript that creates an iframe to house the fake update UI. The iframe src is set to a Keitaro endpoint. The response from the Keitaro endpoint is the foundation for the HTML to be rendered within the iframe.
Cobalt Strike is a commercial, full-featured, penetration testing tool which bills itself as “adversary simulation software designed to execute targeted attacks and emulate the post-exploitation actions of advanced threat actors”. Cobalt Strike’s interactive post-exploit capabilities cover the full range of ATT&CK tactics, all executed within a single, integrated system.
In addition to its own capabilities, Cobalt Strike leverages the capabilities of other well-known tools such as Metasploit and Mimikatz. MITRE
Attackers are utilizing hacked web sites that promote fake browser updates to infect targets with banking trojans. In some cases, post exploitation toolkits are later executed to encrypt the compromised network with ransomware.
Between May and September 2019, FireEye has conducted multiple incident response cases where enterprise customers were infected with malware through fake browser updates.
Hacked sites would display these "fakeupdates" through JavaScript alerts that state the user is using an old version of a web browser and that they should download an offered "update" to keep the browser running "smoothly and securely".
The IcedID banking Trojan was discovered by IBM X-Force researchers in 2017. At that time, it targeted banks, payment card providers, mobile services providers, payroll, webmail and e-commerce sites, mainly in the U.S. IcedID has since continued to evolve, and while one of its more recent versions became active in late-2019, X-Force researchers have identified a new major version release that emerged in 2020 with some substantial changes. securityintelligence.com
Cyber criminals violated the law TDS (Traffic Direction System) platform Keitaro and used it to redirect them users in exploit kits RIG and Fallout in order to infect them with malicious software.
TDS platforms are designed for redirection of users in particular sites. Legitimate TDS platforms, such as Keitaro, are mainly used by individuals and companies that want to advertise services or their products. Platforms drive users to the pages that companies want, targeting specific customers and promoting an ad campaign. techbizweb
An actor mainly targeting Pakistan military targets, active since at least 2012. We have low confidence that this malware might be authored by an Indian company. To spread the malware, they use unique implementations to leverage the exploits of known vulnerabilities (such as CVE-2017-11882) and later deploy a Powershell payload in the final stages. Malpedia
It leverages compromised websites and performs some of the most creative fingerprinting checks we’ve seen, before delivering its payload (NetSupport RAT). Malwarebytes
An advanced persistent threat (APT) is a stealthy computer network threat actor, typically a nation state or state-sponsored group, which gains unauthorized access to a computer network and remains undetected for an extended period. In recent times, the term may also refer to non-state sponsored groups conducting large-scale targeted intrusions for specific goals.
Such threat actors' motivations are typically political or economic. To date, every major business sector has recorded instances of attacks by advanced actors with specific goals seeking to steal, spy or disrupt. These include government, defense, financial services, legal services, industrial, telecoms, consumer goods, and many more. Some groups utilize traditional espionage vectors, including social engineering, human intelligence and infiltration to gain access to a physical location to enable network attacks. The purpose of these attacks is to place custom malicious code on one or multiple computers for specific tasks.
Source: Wikipedia
TA577 is a prolific cybercrime threat actor tracked by Proofpoint since mid-2020. This actor conducts broad targeting across various industries and geographies, and Proofpoint has observed TA577 deliver payloads including Qbot, IcedID, SystemBC, SmokeLoader, Ursnif, and Cobalt Strike. Malpedia
An advanced persistent threat (APT) is a stealthy computer network threat actor, typically a nation state or state-sponsored group, which gains unauthorized access to a computer network and remains undetected for an extended period. In recent times, the term may also refer to non-state sponsored groups conducting large-scale targeted intrusions for specific goals.
Such threat actors' motivations are typically political or economic. To date, every major business sector has recorded instances of attacks by advanced actors with specific goals seeking to steal, spy or disrupt. These include government, defense, financial services, legal services, industrial, telecoms, consumer goods, and many more. Some groups utilize traditional espionage vectors, including social engineering, human intelligence and infiltration to gain access to a physical location to enable network attacks. The purpose of these attacks is to place custom malicious code on one or multiple computers for specific tasks.
Source: Wikipedia
During a routine threat-hunting exercise, Cyble research labs discovered a dark web post where a malware developer was advertising a powerful Windows RAT. Cyble
The following threat detection(s) were improved this past week with new or updated threat methods.
| Name of threat | New coverage | Total coverage | Last updated | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Detection methods | Kill chain phases | Protocols involved | Detection methods | Kill chain phases | Protocols involved | ||
| APT38 | 10 | command and control | dns, tls, http | 246 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery | dns, http, tcp, tls | 2023-12-15 |
| Apocalypse RAT | 3 | command and control, actions on objectives | tcp, http | 3 | command and control, actions on objectives | tcp, http | 2023-12-14 |
| BrushaLoader | 1 | command and control | tls | 124 | command and control, delivery | dns, http, tls | 2023-12-12 |
| ClearFake | 6 | command and control | dns, tls, http | 68 | command and control, exploitation | dns, http, tls | 2023-12-15 |
| Cobalt Strike | 3 | command and control | dns, tls, http | 567 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery, exploitation | dns, http, smb, tcp, tls, udp | 2023-12-12 |
| Fake Browser | 6 | exploitation | dns, tls, http | 186 | delivery, exploitation | dns, http, tls | 2023-12-13 |
| IcedID | 6 | command and control | dns, tls, http | 842 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery | dns, http, tcp, tls | 2023-12-16 |
| Keitaro | 4 | exploitation | http, dns, tls | 256 | command and control, delivery, exploitation | dns, http, tls | 2023-12-16 |
| RogueRaticate | 27 | command and control | dns, tls, http | 27 | command and control | dns, tls, http | 2023-12-14 |
| SideWinder | 1 | delivery | http | 221 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery | dns, http, tls | 2023-12-15 |
| SocGholish | 3 | command and control | dns, tls, http | 866 | actions on objectives, command and control, delivery, exploitation, reconnaissance | dns, http, tcp, tcp-pkt, tls | 2023-12-12 |
| SugarGh0st | 7 | command and control | tcp-pkt, dns, http, tls | 7 | command and control | tcp-pkt, dns, http, tls | 2023-12-14 |
| TA4903 | 9 | delivery | dns, tls, http | 522 | delivery | dns, http, tls | 2023-12-16 |
| TA577 | 6 | command and control | tls | 9 | command and control | http, tls | 2023-12-16 |
| TA582 | 3 | command and control | dns, http, tls | 20 | command and control | dns, http, tls | 2023-12-12 |
| XWorm | 54 | command and control | tcp-pkt | 975 | command and control, delivery | dns, http, tcp, tcp-pkt, tls | 2023-12-16 |
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