Nov 20 2023

RUSSIA-LINKED APT29 GROUP EXPLOITED WINRAR 0DAY IN ATTACKS AGAINST EMBASSIES

Category: APTdisc7 @ 8:54 am

Russia-linked cyberespionage group APT29 has been observed leveraging the CVE-2023-38831 vulnerability in WinRAR in recent attacks.

The Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (NDSC) reported that APT29 (aka SVR groupCozy BearNobeliumMidnight Blizzard, and The Dukes) has been exploiting the CVE-2023-38831 vulnerability in WinRAR in recent attacks.

APT29 along with APT28 cyber espionage group was involved in the Democratic National Committee hack and the wave of attacks aimed at the 2016 US Presidential Elections.

The Russia-linked APT group was observed using a specially crafted ZIP archive that runs a script in the background to show a PDF lure while downloading PowerShell code to fetch and execute a payload.

The APT group targeted multiple European nations, including Azerbaijan, Greece, Romania, and Italy, with the primary goal of infiltrating embassy entities.

The threat actors used a lure document (“DIPLOMATIC-CAR-FOR-SALE-BMW.pdf”) containing images of a BMW car available for sale to diplomatic entities. The weaponized documents embedded malicious content that exploited the WinRAR vulnerability.

APT29 WinRAR

“In the context of this particular attack, a script is executed, generating a PDF file featuring the lure theme of a BMW car for sale. Simultaneously, in the background, a PowerShell script is downloaded and executed from the next-stage payload server.” reads the report published by NDSC. “Notably, the attackers introduced a novel technique for communicating with the malicious server, employing a Ngrok free static domain to access their server hosted on their Ngrok instance.”

In this attack scheme, Ngrok has been used to host their next-stage PowerShell payloads and establish covert communication channels.

Threat actors use the tool to obfuscate their communications with compromised systems and evade detection.

“What makes this campaign particularly noteworthy is the synthesis of old and new techniques. APT29 continues to employ the BMW car for sale lure theme, a tactic that’s been seen in the past. However, the deployment of the CVE-2023-38831 WinRAR vulnerability, a novel approach, reveals their adaptability to the evolving threat landscape. Additionally, their use of Ngrok services to establish covert communications emphasizes their determination to remain concealed.” concludes the NDSC that also published indicators of compromise (IoCs) for these attacks.

In April, Google observed Russia-linked FROZENBARENTS APT (aka SANDWORM) impersonates Ukrainian drone training school to deliver the Rhadamanthys infostealer.

The threat actors used a lure themed as an invitation to join the school, the email included a link to an anonymous file-sharing service, fex[.]net. The file-sharing service was used to deliver a benign decoy PDF document with a drone operator training curriculum and specially crafted ZIP archive (“Навчальна-програма-Оператори.zip” (Training program operators)) that exploits the flaw CVE-2023-38831.

In September, CERT-UA observed the FROZENLAKE group exploitingthe WinRAR flaw to deploy malware in attacks aimed at energy infrastructure.

Google TAG experts also observed the Russia-linked ATP28 group exploiting the flaw in attacks against Ukraine users. The state-sponsored hackers employed a malicious PowerShell script (IRONJAW) to steal browser login data and local state directories.

The China-linked APT40 group was observed exploiting the CVE-2023-38831 vulnerability in attacks against targets in Papua New Guinea.

Last week, researchers at cybersecurity firm NSFOCUS analyzed DarkCasino attack pattern exploiting the WinRAR zero-day vulnerability tracked as CVE-2023-38831. The economically motivated APT group used specially crafted archives in phishing attacks against forum users through online trading forum posts.

In the Lair of the Cozy Bear: Cyberwarfare with APT 29 Up Close and Personal

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Tags: APT29


Jul 19 2022

Russia-linked APT29 relies on Google Drive, Dropbox to evade detection

Category: APT,Threat detectionDISC @ 8:43 am

Russia-linked threat actors APT29 are using the Google Drive cloud storage service to evade detection.

Palo Alto Networks researchers reported that the Russia-linked APT29 group, tracked by the researchers as Cloaked Ursa, started using the Google Drive cloud storage service to evade detection.

The Russia-linked APT29 group (aka SVRCozy Bear, and The Dukes) has been active since at least 2014, along with APT28 cyber espionage group was involved in the Democratic National Committee hack and the wave of attacks aimed at the 2016 US Presidential Elections.

The attackers used online storage services to exfiltrate data and drops their malicious payloads.

The use of legitimate cloud services is not a novelty to this nation-state actor, but experts pointed out that in the two most recent campaigns the hackers leveraged Google Drive cloud storage services for the first time.

“The ubiquitous nature of Google Drive cloud storage services – combined with the trust that millions of customers worldwide have in them – make their inclusion in this APT’s malware delivery process exceptionally concerning.” reads the analysis published by Palo Alto Network. “The most recent campaigns by this actor provided a lure of an agenda for an upcoming meeting with an ambassador.”

The recent campaigns observed by the experts targeted multiple Western diplomatic missions between May and June 2022. The lures included in these campaigns revealed that the nation-state actors targeted a foreign embassy in Portugal as well as a foreign embassy in Brazil. The phishing messages included a link to a malicious HTML file (EnvyScout) that acted as a dropper for additional malicious payloads, including a Cobalt Strike beacon.

APT29

EnvyScout is a tool that is used to further infect the target with the other implants. Threat actors used it to deobfuscate the contents of a second state malware, which is in the form of a malicious ISO file. This technique is known as HTML Smuggling.

A threat hunting activity based on the analysis of the creation time of the phishing message, producer and PDF version metadata in the sample analyzed by Palo Alto Networks, allowed the experts to identify other suspicious documents that were uploaded to VirusTotal in early April 2022.

“Many of these documents appear to be phishing documents associated with common cybercrime techniques. This suggests that there is likely a common phishing builder being leveraged by cybercrime and APT actors alike to generate these documents.” continues the report.

The file Agenda.html employed in the attack was used to deobfuscate a payload, and also for writing a malicious ISO file to the victim’s hard drive. The payload file is an ISO file named Agenda.iso.

Once the ISO has been downloaded, the user has to click it to start the infection chain and execute the malicious code on the target system. The user must double-click the ISO file and subsequently double-click the shortcut file, Information.lnk, to launch the infection process.

“Their two most recent campaigns demonstrate their sophistication and their ability to obfuscate the deployment of their malware through the use of DropBox and Google Drive services. This is a new tactic for this actor and one that proves challenging to detect due to the ubiquitous nature of these services and the fact that they are trusted by millions of customers worldwide.” concludes the report

Attribution of Advanced Persistent Threats: How to Identify the Actors Behind Cyber-Espionage

Tags: APT29, dropbox, Google drive


Dec 13 2020

Suspected Russian hackers spied on U.S. Treasury emails

Hackers believed to be working for Russia have been monitoring internal email traffic at the U.S. Treasury Department and an agency that decides internet and telecommunications policy, according to people familiar with the matter.

Three of the people familiar with the investigation said Russia is currently believed to be behind the attack.

Two of the people said that the breaches are connected to a broad campaign that also involved the recently disclosed hack on FireEye, a major U.S. cybersecurity company with government and commercial contracts.

“The United States government is aware of these reports and we are taking all necessary steps to identify and remedy any possible issues related to this situation,” said National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot.

The hack is so serious it led to a National Security Council meeting at the White House on Saturday, said one of the people familiar with the matter.

Source: Suspected Russian hackers spied on U.S. Treasury emails – sources


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RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT HACKING GROUP ‘APT29’ BEHIND CYBER HACK ON US GOVERNMENT
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Tags: APT29, cyber hacking, FireEye, Greenburg, Russian cyber attack, Russian espionage, Russian hackers, Sandworm, U.S. Treasury