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Chinese Hackers Target VMware Horizon Servers with Log4Shell to Deploy Rootkit

Chinese Hackers Target VMware Horizon Servers with Log4Shell to Deploy Rootkit

Apr 01, 2022
A Chinese advanced persistent threat tracked as Deep Panda has been observed exploiting the  Log4Shell vulnerability  in VMware Horizon servers to deploy a backdoor and a novel rootkit on infected machines with the goal of stealing sensitive data. "The nature of targeting was opportunistic insofar that multiple infections in several countries and various sectors occurred on the same dates,"  said  Rotem Sde-Or and Eliran Voronovitch, researchers with Fortinet's FortiGuard Labs, in a report released this week. "The victims belong to the financial, academic, cosmetics, and travel industries." Deep Panda , also known by the monikers Shell Crew, KungFu Kittens, and Bronze Firestone, is said to have been active since at least 2010, with recent attacks "targeting legal firms for data exfiltration and technology providers for command-and-control infrastructure building,"  according  to Secureworks. Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which assigned the panda
The Real Story about rootkit.com ,HBGary E-mail !

The Real Story about rootkit.com ,HBGary E-mail !

Feb 11, 2011
The Real Story about rootkit.com , HBGary E-mail ! HBGary E-mail Viewer greg@hbgary.com Go back Original file: 27606 click here to show this e-mail with HTML markup From: jussi jaakonaho <jussij@gmail.com> To: Greg Hoglund <greg@hbgary.com> Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2011 22:15:54 +0200 Subject: Re: need to ssh into rootkit click here to show full headers Attachments: This e-mail does not have any attachments. did you open something running on high port? On Feb 6, 2011, at 9:43 PM, Greg Hoglund wrote: > ok let me know if you need me >  > On 2/6/11, jussi jaakonaho <jussij@gmail.com> wrote: >> tnx. >> i am also connected to the box, seems some people have download problems - >> have figured earlier that some chinese used chinese chars on names of files, >> which then our filtering stripped off when putting db etc. so some db >> editing >>  >>  >> _jussi >>  >&
Code Keepers: Mastering Non-Human Identity Management

Code Keepers: Mastering Non-Human Identity Management

Apr 12, 2024DevSecOps / Identity Management
Identities now transcend human boundaries. Within each line of code and every API call lies a non-human identity. These entities act as programmatic access keys, enabling authentication and facilitating interactions among systems and services, which are essential for every API call, database query, or storage account access. As we depend on multi-factor authentication and passwords to safeguard human identities, a pressing question arises: How do we guarantee the security and integrity of these non-human counterparts? How do we authenticate, authorize, and regulate access for entities devoid of life but crucial for the functioning of critical systems? Let's break it down. The challenge Imagine a cloud-native application as a bustling metropolis of tiny neighborhoods known as microservices, all neatly packed into containers. These microservices function akin to diligent worker bees, each diligently performing its designated task, be it processing data, verifying credentials, or
RootRepeal – Rootkit Detector v1.3.5 Download Now

RootRepeal – Rootkit Detector v1.3.5 Download Now

Jul 13, 2011
RootRepeal – Rootkit Detector v1.3.5 Download Now RootRepeal is a new rootkit detector currently in public beta.  It is designed with the following goals in mind: Easy to use – a user with little to no computer experience should be able to use it. Powerful – it should be able to detect all publicly available rootkits. Stable – it should work on as many different system configurations as possible, and, in the event of an incompatibility, not crash the host computer. Safe – it will not use any rootkit-like techniques (hooking, etc.) to protect itself. Currently, RootRepeal includes the following features: Driver Scan – scans the system for kernel-mode drivers.  Displays all drivers currently loaded, and shows if a driver has been hidden, and whether the driver's file is visible on-disk. Files Scan – scans any fixed drive on the system for hidden, locked or falsified* files. Processes Scan – scans the system for processes.  Displays all processes currently running, and sh
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New Chinese MBR Rootkit Identified

New Chinese MBR Rootkit Identified

Apr 06, 2011
A new rootkit that uses the master boot record (MBR) to hide itself has been discovered in China and is being used to install an online game password stealer. The bootkit is installed on the computer by a trojan downloader distributed from a Chinese adult site and is detected by Kaspersky as Rookit.Win32.Fisp.a. Once executed, the rootkit makes a copy of the old MBR and replaces the sectors with its own code which includes an encrypted driver. When the computer boots, the malicious code executes and restores the original MBR so that Windows can load normally. It then uses hooks to replace the fips.sys system driver with a malicious one. "It should be noted that the driver fips.sys is not required for the operating system to run correctly, so the system won't crash when it is replaced," says Kaspersky Lab expert Vyacheslav Zakorzhevsky. The driver scans loaded processes to determine if they belong to one of over a dozen antivirus programs and prevent them from running
Hackers Exploiting Dell Driver Vulnerability to Deploy Rootkit on Targeted Computers

Hackers Exploiting Dell Driver Vulnerability to Deploy Rootkit on Targeted Computers

Oct 03, 2022
The North Korea-backed Lazarus Group has been observed deploying a Windows rootkit by taking advantage of an exploit in a Dell firmware driver, highlighting new tactics adopted by the state-sponsored adversary. The Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver ( BYOVD ) attack, which took place in the autumn of 2021, is another variant of the threat actor's espionage-oriented activity called Operation In(ter)ception  that's directed against aerospace and defense industries. "The campaign started with spear-phishing emails containing malicious Amazon-themed documents and targeted an employee of an aerospace company in the Netherlands, and a political journalist in Belgium," ESET researcher Peter Kálnai  said . Attack chains unfolded upon the opening of the lure documents, leading to the distribution of malicious droppers that were trojanized versions of open source projects, corroborating recent reports from Google's  Mandiant  and  Microsoft . ESET said it uncovered evid
Lenovo Caught Using Rootkit to Secretly Install Unremovable Software

Lenovo Caught Using Rootkit to Secretly Install Unremovable Software

Aug 13, 2015
Two years ago Chinese firm Lenovo got banned from supplying equipment for networks of the intelligence and defense services various countries due to hacking and spying concerns. Earlier this year, Lenovo was caught red-handed for selling laptops pre-installed with Superfish malware . One of the most popular Chinese computer manufacturers 'Lenovo' has been caught once again using a hidden Windows feature to preinstall unwanted and unremovable rootkit software on certain Lenovo laptop and desktop systems it sells. The feature is known as " Lenovo Service Engine " (LSE) – a piece of code presents into the firmware on the computer's motherboard.  If Windows is installed, the LSE automatically downloads and installs Lenovo's own software during boot time before the Microsoft operating system is launched, overwriting Windows operating system files. More worrisome part of the feature is that it injects software that updates drivers, firmware, and oth
AvosLocker Ransomware Variant Using New Trick to Disable Antivirus Protection

AvosLocker Ransomware Variant Using New Trick to Disable Antivirus Protection

May 03, 2022
Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed a new variant of the AvosLocker ransomware that disables antivirus solutions to evade detection after breaching target networks by taking advantage of unpatched security flaws.  "This is the first sample we observed from the U.S. with the capability to disable a defense solution using a legitimate Avast Anti-Rootkit Driver file (asWarPot.sys)," Trend Micro researchers, Christoper Ordonez and Alvin Nieto,  said  in a Monday analysis. "In addition, the ransomware is also capable of scanning multiple endpoints for the Log4j vulnerability (Log4shell) using Nmap  NSE script ." AvosLocker , one of the newer ransomware families to fill the vacuum left by  REvil , has been linked to a number of attacks that targeted critical infrastructure in the U.S., including financial services and government facilities. A ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) affiliate-based group first spotted in July 2021, AvosLocker goes beyond double extortion
Abcbot — A New Evolving Wormable Botnet Malware Targeting Linux

Abcbot — A New Evolving Wormable Botnet Malware Targeting Linux

Nov 12, 2021
Researchers from Qihoo 360's Netlab security team have released details of a new evolving botnet called " Abcbot " that has been observed in the wild with worm-like propagation features to infect Linux systems and launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against targets. While the earliest version of the botnet dates back to July 2021, new variants observed as recently as October 30 have been equipped with additional updates to strike Linux web servers with weak passwords and are susceptible to N-day vulnerabilities, including a custom implementation of DDoS functionality, indicating that the malware is under continuous development. Netlab's findings also build on a report from Trend Micro early last month, which  publicized  attacks targeting Huawei Cloud with cryptocurrency-mining and cryptojacking malware. The intrusions were also notable for the fact that the malicious shell scripts specifically disabled a process designed to monitor and scan the ser
New Stealthy 'Krasue' Linux Trojan Targeting Telecom Firms in Thailand

New Stealthy 'Krasue' Linux Trojan Targeting Telecom Firms in Thailand

Dec 07, 2023 Malware / Security Breach
A previously unknown Linux remote access trojan called Krasue has been observed targeting telecom companies in Thailand by threat actors to main covert access to victim networks at lease since 2021. Named after a  nocturnal female spirit  of Southeast Asian folklore, the malware is "able to conceal its own presence during the initialization phase," Group-IB  said  in a report shared with The Hacker News. The exact initial access vector used to deploy Krasue is currently not known, although it's suspected that it could be via vulnerability exploitation, credential brute-force attacks, or downloaded as part of a bogus software package or binary. The malware's core functionalities are realized through a rootkit that masquerades as an unsigned VMware driver and allows it to maintain persistence on the host without attracting any attention. The rootkit is derived from open-source projects such as Diamorphine, Suterusu, and Rooty. This has raised the possibility that
More Hacking Groups Found Exploiting SMB Flaw Weeks Before WannaCry

More Hacking Groups Found Exploiting SMB Flaw Weeks Before WannaCry

May 19, 2017
Since the Shadow Brokers released the zero-day software vulnerabilities and hacking tools – allegedly belonged to the NSA's elite hacking team Equation Group – several hacking groups and individual hackers have started using them in their own way. The April's data dump was believed to be the most damaging release by the Shadow Brokers till the date, as it publicly leaked lots of Windows hacking tools , including dangerous Windows SMB exploit. After the outbreak of WannaCry last week, security researchers have identified multiple different campaigns exploiting Windows SMB vulnerability (CVE-2017-0143), called Eternalblue , which has already compromised hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide. I have been even confirmed by multiple sources in hacking and intelligence community that there are lots of groups and individuals who are actively exploiting Eternalblue for different motives. Moreover, the Eternalblue SMB exploit ( MS17-010 ) has now been ported to  Met
SpyDLLRemover v4.0 - New Version Realeased

SpyDLLRemover v4.0 - New Version Realeased

Nov 21, 2010
" SpyDllRemover is the specialized tool for detecting spyware & hidden Rootkit Dlls in the System. It can also detect & remove user-land Rootkit processes as well as other spyware processes using multiple [user-land] Rootkit detection algorithms coupled with in-house Process heuristics. This makes it a generic tool for detecting & removing any known as well as unknown threats compared to traditional Antivirus Softwares which can detect only known threats. " Next big version of SpyDllRemover with following features: Enhanced Threat verification with VirusTotal, ThreatExpert, ProcessLibrary & GoogleSearch. Improved Auto Analysis, Addition of process based heuristics for detecting Spywares. Advanced report generation. Right click menu integration for quick actions. Resizable Window for easier analysis. Direct interface with createfile/terminate process functions to bypass all userland hooks. Integration of feature to check for new updates automat
Hackers Infect 50,000 MS-SQL and PHPMyAdmin Servers with Rootkit Malware

Hackers Infect 50,000 MS-SQL and PHPMyAdmin Servers with Rootkit Malware

May 29, 2019
Cyber Security researchers at Guardicore Labs today published a detailed report on a widespread cryptojacking campaign attacking Windows MS-SQL and PHPMyAdmin servers worldwide. Dubbed Nansh0u , the malicious campaign is reportedly being carried out by an APT-style Chinese hacking group who has already infected nearly 50,000 servers and are installing a sophisticated kernel-mode rootkit on compromised systems to prevent the malware from being terminated. The campaign, which dates back to February 26 but was first detected in early-April, has been found delivering 20 different payload versions hosted on various hosting providers. The attack relies on the brute-forcing technique after finding publicly accessible Windows MS-SQL and PHPMyAdmin servers using a simple port scanner. Upon successful login authentication with administrative privileges, attackers execute a sequence of MS-SQL commands on the compromised system to download malicious payload from a remote file server and
Jynx Kit (LD_PRELOAD) Userland Rootkit Released

Jynx Kit (LD_PRELOAD) Userland Rootkit Released

Oct 17, 2011
Jynx Kit (LD_PRELOAD) Userland Rootkit Released Jynx Kit is a LD_PRELOAD userland rootkit. Fully undetectable from chkrootkit and rootkithunter. Includes magic packet SSL reverse back connect shell based on SEQ/ACK numbers in a single packet. Solid building block for further LD_PRELOAD rootkits. DOWNLOAD HERE Submitted by ErrProne (www.blackhatacademy.org)
Microsoft Launches Free Linux Forensics and Rootkit Malware Detection Service

Microsoft Launches Free Linux Forensics and Rootkit Malware Detection Service

Jul 07, 2020
Microsoft has announced a new free-to-use initiative aimed at uncovering forensic evidence of sabotage on Linux systems, including rootkits and intrusive malware that may otherwise go undetected. The cloud offering, dubbed Project Freta , is a snapshot-based memory forensic mechanism that aims to provide automated full-system volatile memory inspection of virtual machine (VM) snapshots, with capabilities to spot malicious software, kernel rootkits , and other stealthy malware techniques such as process hiding . The project is named after Warsaw's Freta Street , the birthplace of Marie Curie, the famous French-Polish physicist who brought X-ray medical imaging to the battlefield during World War I. "Modern malware is complex, sophisticated, and designed with non-discoverability as a core tenet," said Mike Walker, Microsoft's senior director of New Security Ventures. "Project Freta intends to automate and democratize VM forensics to a point where every us
Purple Fox Rootkit Can Now Spread Itself to Other Windows Computers

Purple Fox Rootkit Can Now Spread Itself to Other Windows Computers

Mar 24, 2021
Purple Fox , a Windows malware previously known for infecting machines by using exploit kits and phishing emails, has now added a new technique to its arsenal that gives it worm-like propagation capabilities. The ongoing campaign makes use of a "novel spreading technique via indiscriminate port scanning and exploitation of exposed SMB services with weak passwords and hashes," according to  Guardicore researchers , who say the attacks have spiked by about 600% since May 2020. A total of 90,000 incidents have been spotted through the rest of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. First discovered in March 2018, Purple Fox is distributed in the form of malicious ".msi" payloads hosted on nearly 2,000 compromised Windows servers that, in turn, download and execute a component with  rootkit capabilities , which enables the threat actors to hide the malware on the machine and make it easy to evade detection. Guardicore says Purple Fox hasn't changed much post-exploitat
Beware: 1,000+ Fake Cryptocurrency Sites Trap Users in Bogus Rewards Scheme

Beware: 1,000+ Fake Cryptocurrency Sites Trap Users in Bogus Rewards Scheme

Jun 12, 2023 Cryptocurrency /
A previously undetected cryptocurrency scam has leveraged a constellation of over 1,000 fraudulent websites to ensnare users into a bogus rewards scheme since at least January 2021. "This massive campaign has likely resulted in thousands of people being scammed worldwide," Trend Micro researchers  said  in a report published last week, linking it to a Russian-speaking threat actor named "Impulse Team." "The scam works via an advanced fee fraud that involves tricking victims into believing that they've won a certain amount of cryptocurrency. However, to get their rewards, the victims would need to pay a small amount to open an account on their website." The compromise chain starts with a direct message propagated via Twitter to lure potential targets into visiting the decoy site. The account responsible for sending the messages has since been closed. The message urges recipients to sign up for an account on the website and apply a promo code specif
Necurs Rootkit infect 83,427 machines in November

Necurs Rootkit infect 83,427 machines in November

Dec 08, 2012
Rootkit named as "Necurs" infect 83,427 unique machines during the month of November 2012. It is a multi-purpose rootkits capable of posing a threat to both 32 and 64-bit Windows systems. Distributed via drive-by download on the websites that host the BlackHole exploit kit. Like other rootkits it is able to hide itself from detection and also capable of downloading additional malware from outside. Attackers can maintain remote access to a machine this way in order to monitor activity, send spam or install scareware. Rootkit also stop security applications from functioning and hence no detection. Microsoft list this as  Trojan:Win32/Necurs . Trojan:Win32/Necurs is a family of malware that work together to download additional malware and enable backdoor access and control of your computer. The malware can be installed on its own or alongside rogue security software, such as Rogue:Win32/Winwebsec. The malware downloads itself into the folder " %windi
Researchers Warn of FontOnLake Rootkit Malware Targeting Linux Systems

Researchers Warn of FontOnLake Rootkit Malware Targeting Linux Systems

Oct 08, 2021
Cybersecurity researchers have detailed a new campaign that likely targets entities in Southeast Asia with a previously unrecognized Linux malware that's engineered to enable remote access to its operators, in addition to amassing credentials and function as a proxy server. The malware family, dubbed " FontOnLake " by Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET, is said to feature "well-designed modules" that are continuously being upgraded with a broad range of abilities, indicating an active development phase. Samples uploaded to VirusTotal point to the possibility that the very first intrusions utilizing this threat have been happening as early as May 2020. Avast  and  Lacework Labs  are tracking the same malware under the moniker HCRootkit. "The sneaky nature of FontOnLake's tools in combination with advanced design and low prevalence suggest that they are used in targeted attacks," ESET researcher Vladislav Hrčka  said . "To collect data or condu
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