Cybersecurity researchers are warning of a brand new phishing marketing campaign that is focusing on customers in Taiwan with malware households corresponding to HoldingHands RAT and Gh0stCringe.
The exercise is a part of a broader marketing campaign that delivered the Winos 4.0 malware framework earlier this January by sending phishing messages impersonating Taiwan’s Nationwide Taxation Bureau, Fortinet FortiGuard Labs mentioned in a report shared with The Hacker Information.
The cybersecurity firm mentioned it recognized further malware samples by steady monitoring and that it noticed the identical risk actor, known as Silver Fox APT, utilizing malware-laced PDF paperwork or ZIP recordsdata distributed through phishing emails to ship Gh0stCringe and a malware pressure primarily based on HoldingHands RAT.
It is value noting that each HoldingHands RAT (aka Gh0stBins) and Gh0stCringe are variants of a identified distant entry trojan referred to as Gh0st RAT, which is extensively utilized by Chinese language hacking teams.
The start line of the assault is a phishing e-mail that masquerades as messages from the federal government or enterprise companions, using lures associated to taxes, invoices, and pensions to steer recipients into opening the attachment. Alternate assault chains have been discovered to leverage an embedded picture that, when clicked, downloads the malware.
The PDF recordsdata, in flip, include a hyperlink that redirects potential targets to a obtain web page internet hosting a ZIP archive. Current inside the file are a number of official executables, shellcode loaders, and encrypted shellcode.
The multi-stage an infection sequence entails using the shellcode loader to decrypt and execute the shellcode, which is nothing however DLL recordsdata sideloaded by the official binaries utilizing DLL side-loading methods. Intermediate payloads deployed as a part of the assault incorporate anti-VM and privilege escalation in order to make sure that the malware runs unimpeded on the compromised host.
The assault culminates with the execution of “msgDb.dat,” which implements command-and-control (C2) capabilities to gather person info and obtain further modules to facilitate file administration and distant desktop capabilities.
Fortinet mentioned it additionally found the risk actor propagating Gh0stCringe through PDF attachments in phishing emails that take customers to doc obtain HTM pages.
“The assault chain contains quite a few snippets of shellcode and loaders, making the assault movement complicated,” the corporate mentioned. “Throughout winos, HoldingHands, and Gh0stCringe, this risk group constantly evolves its malware and distribution methods.”
