All news with #backdoor found tag

Phishing Campaign Uses UpCrypter to Deploy Multiple RATs

🔒 FortiGuard Labs has detailed a global phishing campaign that uses personalized HTML attachments and spoofed websites to deliver a custom loader, UpCrypter, which installs multiple remote access tools. The operation uses tailored lures—voicemail notices and purchase orders—embedding recipient emails and company logos to appear legitimate. The delivered ZIPs contain obfuscated JavaScript that runs PowerShell, fetches further payloads (sometimes hidden via steganography) and ultimately loads RATs such as PureHVNC, DCRat and Babylon, while UpCrypter checks for sandboxes, enforces persistence and can force reboots to hinder analysis.

DSLRoot Proxies: Origins, Abuse Risks and 'Legal Botnets'

🔌The article profiles DSLRoot, a long-running residential proxy operator that pays U.S. residents to host laptops and mobile devices and then leases those IPs as dedicated proxies. It traces the service's origins on underground forums and links multiple aliases, domains and registration records to a small network operator. The piece highlights technical risks, including vendor-targeted exploits, remote device control and WiFi enumeration, and warns of potential misuse by nation-state actors and criminal groups.

MixShell Malware Targets U.S. Supply Chain via Contact Forms

⚠️ Cybersecurity researchers warn of a targeted social‑engineering campaign delivering an in‑memory implant called MixShell to supply‑chain manufacturers through corporate 'Contact Us' forms. The activity, tracked as ZipLine by Check Point, uses weeks of credible exchanges, fake NDAs and weaponized ZIPs containing LNK files that trigger PowerShell loaders. MixShell runs primarily in memory, uses DNS tunneling for C2 with HTTP fallback, and enables remote commands, file access, reverse proxying, persistence and lateral movement. Malicious archives are staged on abused Heroku subdomains, illustrating use of legitimate PaaS for tailored delivery.

Backdoor Weakness Found in TETRA Radio Encryption Standard

🔒 Security researchers from Midnight Blue have disclosed a critical weakness in an ETSI-endorsed TETRA end-to-end encryption implementation used in professional radios. After extracting and reverse-engineering a Sepura device, they found the E2EE algorithm compresses a 128-bit key to an effective 56 bits before encryption, drastically weakening confidentiality. The behavior looks like an intentional backdoor, and it is unclear which organizations use the vulnerable implementation or whether operators are aware of the risk.

UNC6384 Uses Captive Portal Hijacks to Deploy PlugX

🔐 Google’s Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) detected a March 2025 campaign attributed to UNC6384 that uses captive-portal hijacks to deliver a digitally signed downloader called STATICPLUGIN. The downloader (observed as AdobePlugins.exe) retrieves an MSI and, via DLL sideloading through Canon’s IJ Printer Assistant Tool, stages a PlugX variant tracked as SOGU.SEC entirely in memory. Operators used valid TLS and GlobalSign-signed certificates issued to Chengdu Nuoxin Times Technology Co., Ltd, aiding evasion while targeting diplomats and other entities.

Code Insight Expands to Cover Software Supply Chain Risks

🛡️ VirusTotal’s Code Insight now analyzes a broader set of software supply chain formats — including CRX, XPI, VSIX, Python WHL, NPM packages, and MCP protocol integrations. The tool inspects code logic to detect obfuscation, dynamic code fetching, credential theft, and remote command execution in extensions and packages. Recent findings include malicious Chrome and Firefox extensions, a deceptive VS Code extension, and compromised Python and NPM packages. This capability complements traditional signature- and ML-based classification by surfacing behavior-based risks.

Phishing Campaign Uses UpCrypter to Deploy RATs Globally

📧 Fortinet FortiGuard Labs has observed a phishing campaign using fake voicemail and purchase-order lures to direct victims to convincing landing pages that prompt downloads of JavaScript droppers. The droppers retrieve the UpCrypter loader, which conducts anti-analysis and sandbox checks before fetching final payloads, including various RATs such as PureHVNC, DCRat and Babylon. Attacks since August 2025 have targeted manufacturing, technology, healthcare, construction and retail/hospitality across multiple countries; defenders are urged to block malicious URLs, strengthen email authentication, and monitor anomalous M365 activity.

Deception in Depth: UNC6384 Hijacks Web Traffic Globally

🛡️ In March 2025, Google Threat Intelligence Group identified a complex espionage campaign attributed to the PRC‑nexus actor UNC6384 that targeted diplomats in Southeast Asia and other global entities. The attackers hijacked web traffic via a captive‑portal and AitM redirect to deliver a digitally signed downloader tracked as STATICPLUGIN, which retrieved a disguised MSI and staged an in‑memory deployment of the SOGU.SEC backdoor (PlugX). The operation abused valid code‑signing certificates, DLL side‑loading via a novel launcher CANONSTAGER, and indirect execution techniques to evade detection. Google issued alerts, added IOCs to Safe Browsing, and recommends enabling Enhanced Safe Browsing, applying updates, and enforcing 2‑Step Verification.

Chinese Developer Jailed for Deploying Malicious Code

⚖️ A software developer was sentenced to four years in prison after deploying malicious code inside his US employer's network, the Department of Justice said. The defendant, identified as Davis Lu, introduced infinite-loop logic, deleted coworker profile files and implemented a credential-dependent kill-switch that locked out thousands of users in September 2019. The sabotage followed a corporate realignment that reduced his access; investigators found deleted encrypted data and internet searches showing intent to escalate privileges and rapidly delete files while obstructing remediation.

Transparent Tribe Targets Indian Govt with Shortcut Malware

🔒 Transparent Tribe (APT36) has been observed delivering weaponized desktop shortcut files to compromise both Windows and BOSS Linux systems at Indian government organizations. Reports from CYFIRMA, CloudSEK, Hunt.io, and Nextron Systems describe Go-based droppers, hex-encoded ELF payloads, and cron-based persistence. The campaign uses spear-phishing lures and typo-squatted domains with decoy PDFs to harvest credentials and target Kavach two-factor authentication, while deploying backdoors such as Poseidon and MeshAgent to maintain long-term access.

GeoServer Exploits, PolarEdge, Gayfemboy Expand Cybercrime

🛡️ Cybersecurity teams report coordinated campaigns exploiting exposed infrastructure and known flaws to monetize or weaponize compromised devices. Attackers have abused CVE-2024-36401 in GeoServer to drop lightweight Dart binaries that monetize bandwidth via legitimate passive-income services, while the PolarEdge botnet and Mirai-derived gayfemboy expand relay and DDoS capabilities across consumer and enterprise devices. Separately, TA-NATALSTATUS targets unauthenticated Redis instances to install stealthy cryptominers and persistence tooling.

Linux Backdoor Delivered via Malicious RAR Filenames

🛡️ Trellix researchers describe a Linux-focused infection chain that uses a malicious RAR filename to trigger command execution. The filename embeds a Base64-encoded Bash payload that leverages shell command injection when untrusted filenames are parsed, allowing an ELF downloader to fetch and run an architecture-specific binary. The chain ultimately delivers the VShell backdoor, which runs in memory to evade disk-based detection.

Resurgence of Mirai-Based IoT Malware: Gayfemboy Campaign

🛡️ FortiGuard Labs reports the resurgence of a Mirai-derived IoT malware family, publicly known as “Gayfemboy,” which reappeared in July 2025 targeting vulnerabilities in DrayTek, TP-Link, Raisecom, and Cisco devices. The campaign delivers UPX-packed payloads via predictable downloader scripts named for product families and uses a modified UPX header and architecture-specific filenames to evade detection. At runtime the malware enumerates processes, kills competitors, implements DDoS and backdoor modules, and resolves C2 domains through public DNS resolvers to bypass local filtering. FortiGuard provides AV detections, IPS signatures, and web-filtering blocks; organizations should patch and apply network defenses immediately.

Chinese Groups Escalate Cloud and Telecom Espionage

🛡️ CrowdStrike warns that China-linked groups Murky Panda, Genesis Panda, and Glacial Panda have intensified cloud and telecommunications espionage, abusing trusted cloud relationships and internet-facing appliances to gain access. The actors exploit N-day and zero-day flaws, deploy web shells, and steal cloud credentials to establish persistence with tools such as CloudedHope. Targets include government, technology, financial, and telecom sectors, with operations tailored to covert intelligence collection and long-term access.

ClickFix Campaign Delivers CORNFLAKE.V3 Backdoor via Web

🛡️ Mandiant observed a campaign using the ClickFix social‑engineering lure to trick victims into copying and running PowerShell commands via the Windows Run dialog, yielding initial access tracked as UNC5518. That access is monetized and used by other groups to deploy a versatile backdoor, CORNFLAKE.V3, in PHP and JavaScript forms. CORNFLAKE.V3 supports HTTP-based payload execution, Cloudflare-tunneled proxying and registry persistence; researchers recommend disabling Run where possible, tightening PowerShell policies and increasing logging and user training to mitigate the risk.

MURKY PANDA: Trusted-Relationship Cloud Threats and TTPs

🔒 Since late 2024 CrowdStrike's Counter Adversary Operations has tracked MURKY PANDA, a China‑nexus actor targeting government, technology, academic, legal and professional services in North America. The group exploits internet‑facing appliances, rapidly weaponizes n‑day and zero‑day flaws, and deploys web shells (including Neo‑reGeorg) and the Golang RAT CloudedHope. CrowdStrike recommends auditing Entra ID service principals and activity, enabling Microsoft Graph logging, hunting for anomalous service principal sign‑ins, prioritizing patching of cloud and edge devices, and leveraging Falcon detection and SIEM capabilities.

Static Tundra: Russian State Actor Targets Cisco Devices

🔒 Cisco Talos identifies the threat cluster Static Tundra as a long-running, Russian state-sponsored actor that compromises unpatched and end-of-life Cisco networking devices to support espionage operations. The group aggressively exploits CVE-2018-0171 and leverages weak SNMP community strings to enable local TFTP retrieval of startup and running configurations, often exposing credentials and monitoring data. Talos also observed persistent firmware implants, notably SYNful Knock, and recommends immediate patching or disabling Smart Install, strengthening authentication, and implementing configuration auditing and network monitoring to detect exfiltration and implanted code.

Dissecting PipeMagic: Architecture of a Modular Backdoor

🔍 Microsoft Threat Intelligence details PipeMagic, a modular backdoor used by Storm-2460 that masquerades as an open-source ChatGPT Desktop Application. The malware is deployed via an in-memory MSBuild dropper and leverages named pipes and doubly linked lists to stage, self-update, and execute encrypted payload modules delivered from a TCP C2. Analysts observed exploitation of CVE-2025-29824 for privilege escalation followed by ransomware deployment, with victims across IT, finance, and real estate in multiple regions. The report includes selected IoCs, Defender detections, and mitigation guidance to help defenders detect and respond.

UAT-7237 Targets Taiwanese Web Hosting Infrastructure

🔍 Cisco Talos describes UAT-7237, a Chinese‑speaking APT active since 2022 that compromised a Taiwanese web hosting provider to establish long‑term persistence. The actor relies largely on open‑source tooling, customized utilities and a tailored shellcode loader tracked as SoundBill, which can decode and execute Cobalt Strike beacons. UAT-7237 favors SoftEther VPN and RDP for access rather than mass web‑shell deployment. Talos provides IOCs and mitigation guidance for detection and blocking.

Malvertising Campaign Delivers PS1Bot Multi-Stage Malware

🔍 Cisco Talos reports an active malvertising campaign delivering a multi-stage PowerShell/C# malware framework dubbed PS1Bot. The modular framework executes modules in-memory to minimize artifacts and supports information theft, keylogging, screenshot capture and cryptocurrency wallet exfiltration. Delivery begins with SEO-poisoning archives containing a downloader that writes a polling PowerShell script to C:\ProgramData and executes received code with Invoke-Expression.