All news with #dll hijacking tag

Google Details BadAudio Malware Used by China APT24

🔐 Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) disclosed a previously undocumented loader, BadAudio, used by China-linked APT24 in a multi-year espionage campaign that employed spearphishing, watering-hole infections, and supply-chain compromises. The loader is heavily obfuscated, leverages DLL search-order hijacking and control-flow flattening, and exfiltrates encrypted system data to hard-coded C2 servers. In at least one observed case it delivered an Cobalt Strike Beacon, and many samples remained undetected by most antivirus engines.

Analysis of UNC1549 TTPs Targeting Aerospace & Defense

🔍 This joint analysis from Google Threat Intelligence and Mandiant describes UNC1549 activity observed from late 2023 through 2025 against aerospace, aviation, and defense organizations. The group commonly exploited trusted third‑party relationships, VDI breakouts, and highly targeted spear phishing to gain access, then deployed custom backdoors and tunneling tools to maintain stealth. The report provides IOCs, YARA rules, and detection guidance for Azure and enterprise environments.

Siemens DLL Hijacking in Software Center and Solid Edge

⚠ Siemens disclosed a DLL hijacking vulnerability (CVE-2025-40827) affecting Siemens Software Center and Solid Edge SE2025. The issue is an uncontrolled search path element (CWE-427) that could permit arbitrary code execution if a crafted DLL is placed on a system. Siemens has published fixes (Software Center v3.5+, Solid Edge V225.0 Update 10+) and recommends network isolation, access controls, and following its industrial security guidance to reduce risk.

China-Linked UNC6384 Exploits Windows LNK Vulnerability

🔒 A China-affiliated group tracked as UNC6384 exploited an unpatched Windows shortcut flaw (ZDI-CAN-25373, CVE-2025-9491) to target diplomatic and government entities in Europe between September and October 2025. According to Arctic Wolf, the campaign used spear-phishing links to deliver malicious LNK files that launch a PowerShell stager, sideload a CanonStager DLL, and deploy the PlugX remote access trojan. Microsoft says Defender detections and Smart App Control can help block this activity.

Snappybee, Citrix Flaw Used to Breach European Telecom

🔒 A European telecommunications organization was targeted in the first week of July 2025, according to Darktrace, with a threat actor linked to the China-associated group Salt Typhoon gaining initial access via a vulnerable Citrix NetScaler Gateway. The intruders pivoted to Citrix VDA hosts in an MCS subnet and used SoftEther VPN to mask their origin. They deployed Snappybee (aka Deed RAT) via DLL side-loading alongside legitimate antivirus executables; the backdoor called home to aar.gandhibludtric[.]com. Darktrace says the activity was detected and remediated before significant escalation.

ML-Based DLL Hijacking Detection Integrated into SIEM

🛡️ Kaspersky developed a machine-learning model to detect DLL hijacking, a technique where attackers replace or sideload dynamic-link libraries so legitimate processes execute malicious code. The model inspects metadata such as file paths, renaming, size, structure and digital signatures, trained on internal analysis and anonymized KSN telemetry. Implemented in the Kaspersky Unified Monitoring and Analysis Platform, it flags suspicious loads and cross-checks cloud reputation to reduce false positives and support retrospective hunting.

Talos: New PlugX Variant Targets Telecom and Manufacturing

🔍 Cisco Talos revealed a new PlugX malware variant active since 2022 that targets telecommunications and manufacturing organizations across Central and South Asia. The campaign leverages abuse of legitimate software, DLL-hijacking techniques and stealthy persistence to evade detection, and it shares technical fingerprints with the RainyDay and Turian backdoors. Talos describes the activity as sophisticated and ongoing. Organizations should update endpoint, email and network protections, review DLL-hijack mitigations and proactively hunt for related indicators.

RainyDay, Turian and PlugX Variant Abuse DLL Hijacking

🛡️ Cisco Talos describes an ongoing campaign in which Naikon-linked actors abused DLL search order hijacking to load multiple backdoors, including RainyDay, a customized PlugX variant and Turian. The report highlights shared loaders that use XOR and RC4 decryption with identical keys and an XOR-RC4-RtlDecompressBuffer unpacking chain. Talos notes the PlugX variant adopts a RainyDay-style configuration and includes embedded keylogging and persistence, with activity observed since 2022 targeting telecom and manufacturing organizations in Central and South Asia. Talos published IOCs and recommended mitigations for detection and prevention.

Mustang Panda Uses SnakeDisk USB Worm to Deliver Yokai

🐍 IBM X-Force reports that China-aligned Mustang Panda is deploying a new USB worm, SnakeDisk, to propagate the Yokai backdoor against machines geolocated to Thailand. The actor also introduced updated TONESHELL variants (TONESHELL8/9) with proxy-aware C2 and parallel reverse shells. SnakeDisk abuses DLL side-loading and USB volume masquerading—moving user files into a subfolder and presenting a deceptive 'USB.exe' lure before restoring originals—to spread selectively on Thailand-based public IPs.

APT28 Deploys NotDoor: Outlook VBA Backdoor in NATO

🔒 NotDoor is a newly reported Outlook VBA backdoor attributed to the Russian state-sponsored actor APT28 that monitors incoming mail for a trigger phrase and enables data exfiltration, file drops, and remote command execution. S2 Grupo's LAB52 describes deployment via DLL side-loading of onedrive.exe, which loads a malicious SSPICLI.dll, disables macro protections, and runs Base64-encoded PowerShell to establish persistence. The implant watches for a trigger such as "Daily Report" and supports four commands — cmd, cmdno, dwn and upl — sending stolen files via Proton Mail.

GE Vernova CIMPLICITY: Uncontrolled Search Path Element Risk

⚠️ GE Vernova's CIMPLICITY HMI/SCADA software is affected by an Uncontrolled Search Path Element vulnerability (CVE-2025-7719) in versions 2024, 2023, 2022, and 11.0. CISA reports this flaw could enable a low-privileged local attacker to escalate privileges; a CVSS v4 score of 7.0 and a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.8 were calculated. The issue is not remotely exploitable and no public exploitation has been reported; GE Vernova recommends upgrading to CIMPLICITY 2024 SIM 4 and following the Secure Deployment Guide while CISA advises network isolation and secure remote access.

Docker fixes critical container escape CVE-2025-9074

🚨Docker has released an urgent patch for CVE-2025-9074, a critical container escape flaw in Docker Desktop for Windows and macOS that carries a CVSS score of 9.3. A malicious container could reach the Docker Engine API at 192.168.65.7:2375 without authentication, create and start new containers that bind the host C:\ drive and thereby access or modify host files. The issue is fixed in version 4.44.3; Enhanced Container Isolation (ECI) does not mitigate the vulnerability. Linux desktop installations are not affected because they use a host named pipe instead of a TCP socket.