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Daily Threat Briefing • October 11, 2022

Cybercriminals associated with the IcedID malware have come up with evolved delivery techniques and tactics. Researchers have observed several phishing campaigns in September wherein not only has its infection behavior changed but it also proficiently evades detection and establishes persistence on hosts. Meanwhile, the new Caffeine platform was released to stimulate the nerves of amateur hackers, experts at Mandiant uncovered. The Phishing-as-a-Service (PhaaS) platform aspires to help any beginner enter the phishing landscape via an entirely open registration process.

Flyers are expected to experience disruption in airport services as a Russian cybercrime group has overwhelmed the websites of several U.S. airports. Killnet has claimed to inundate the sites with garbage requests.

Top Breaches Reported in the Last 24 Hours

Killnet takes down U.S. airports

Russian threat actor group KillNet targeted the websites of several major airports in the U.S. Travelers appear to have faced challenges in connecting and receiving updates about their scheduled flights or using any other airport services. While the websites of ATL and LAX are nearly inaccessible, other airports returned database connection errors.

Top Malware Reported in the Last 24 Hours

New ‘Creep’ malware series

According to ESET, the POLONIUM espionage group has been using four new never-before-seen backdoors - TechnoCreep, FlipCreep, MegaCreep, and PapaCreep. While some of the ‘Creep’ malware backdoors abused cloud services, including Dropbox, OneDrive, and Mega for C2 servers, others utilized standard TCP connections to remote C2 servers or get commands to run from files hosted on FTP servers. PapaCreep is the most recent one spotted in September and the first one written in C++ by the hacker group.

New tactics by IcedID malware

IcedID malware has been observed progressing in its distribution and delivery methods. The behavior is likely to determine what works best against a variety of targets. In its latest development, the malware communicates to its C2 through a proxy over HTTPS and downloads additional payloads as directed by its operators. IcedID malware began as a modular banking trojan in 2017 but has since evolved into a malware dropper.

Mandiant discovers Caffeine service

Caffeine, a shared PhaaS platform, was observed being used by threat actors against customers of Mandiant Managed Defense, in an attempt to pilfer their Office 365 account credentials. The platform encourages a novice to launch their own phishing campaign. Caffeine also provides phishing templates targeting Russian and Chinese platforms, unlike other PhaaS platforms that look West.

Top Vulnerabilities Reported in the Last 24 Hours

Hidden DNS resolvers are risky

Application security firm SEC Consult highlighted that hidden DNS resolvers could be exploited to perform email redirection and account takeover attacks. An outsider can abuse the functionalities of web applications to readily attack closed resolvers. It is possible to manipulate the DNS name resolution closed DNS resolvers using a variant of cache poisoning attacks.

Seven high-severity RCE flaw

Horner Automation’s Cscape product was found laced with seven critical vulnerabilities that have been addressed by the vendor in two stages. These bugs are described as out-of-bounds read/write, heap-based buffer overflow, and uninitialized pointer issues related to improper validation of user-supplied data when the application parses fonts.

Android’s security update patches 50 bugs

Google released Android October 2022 security updates that addressed about 50 flaws. Among them is a high-severity vulnerability in the Framework component identified as CVE-2022-20419. It is an information disclosure bug that could allow an unauthenticated user for privilege escalation with no additional execution privileges needed.

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A stealthy browser extension called Rilide has resurfaced with improved evasion capabilities and support for Chrome’s latest extension framework. Disguised as a utility for Google Drive, it quietly collects data, particularly those tied to cryptocurrency wallets. Ongoing campaigns have used lures ranging from fake PowerPoint documents to spoofed Twitter notifications, all aimed at embedding the extension into Chromium-based browsers. On GitHub, a seemingly innocent coding challenge is being used as a delivery mechanism for malware. A malicious repository targets Polish-speaking developers and installs FogDoor, a backdoor capable of data theft, remote command execution, and persistence. The campaign uses clever techniques, while quietly harvesting sensitive information. Kubernetes environments are facing serious risk after the discovery of IngressNightmare - a collection of five critical flaws in the Ingress NGINX Controller. These bugs open the door to unauthenticated remote code execution and expose thousands of clusters to full compromise. In the wrong hands, this vulnerability could allow attackers to exfiltrate secrets across all namespaces, effectively granting full control over affected clusters.

Mar 24, 2025

Cyware Daily Threat Intelligence, March 24, 2025

A newly surfaced threat actor, UAT-5918, has been quietly embedding itself into Taiwan’s critical infrastructure since 2023. With a focus on information theft, the group has been targeting multiple sectors using a mix of off-the-shelf tools and stealthy web shells. The threat actor also boasts of an extensive toolkit. Meanwhile, the Medusa ransomware operation is refining its ability to bypass defenses using a malicious driver disguised as a legitimate security component. Dubbed ABYSSWORKER, the driver is signed with compromised certificates. Once deployed, it disables anti-malware tools and clears the path for ransomware delivery through a loader. On the plugin front, a critical vulnerability in WP Ghost has put thousands of WordPress sites at risk. If certain non-default settings are enabled, the bug can be used to load arbitrary files - opening the door to remote code execution. Though a patch has been issued in version 5.4.02, the exposure window combined with the plugin’s wide install base makes this a notable concern for site admins still lagging on updates.

Mar 21, 2025

Cyware Daily Threat Intelligence, March 21, 2025

A stealthy cyber campaign briefly surfaced before vanishing. Researchers uncovered a public web server tied to a campaign targeting South Korean entities, hosting a Rust-based payload delivering Cobalt Strike Cat alongside open-source hacking tools. The infrastructure disappeared within 24 hours but revealed a target list of over 1,000 Korean domains. A backup tool vulnerability is now a fast track for attackers. CISA issued a warning for a path traversal flaw in Nakivo Backup and Replication, which is being actively exploited to execute code remotely and access sensitive enterprise data. The vulnerability has also been added to the KEV catalog. Fake ads are turning Semrush into phishing bait. A malicious ad campaign is tricking users into visiting fraudulent Semrush login pages, stealing Google credentials by forcing victims to use the “Log in with Google” option on spoofed pages.

Mar 20, 2025

Cyware Daily Threat Intelligence, March 20, 2025

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Mar 19, 2025

Cyware Daily Threat Intelligence, March 19, 2025

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Cyware Daily Threat Intelligence, March 18, 2025

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Cyware Daily Threat Intelligence, March 17, 2025

The Black Basta gang has cooked up a relentless new tool. Its automated brute-forcing framework has been relentlessly probing edge networking devices since 2023, zeroing in on widely used edge networking devices. Something sinister was brewing in the PyPI repository. Multiple fraudulent packages racked up tens of thousands of downloads and hid a nasty secret: code designed to siphon cloud access tokens. However, the packages have been removed. Coinbase users are getting hit with a scam that’s all polish and bad intentions. Dressed up as an official notice about a court-ordered shift to self-custodial wallets, it nudges recipients to set up a new wallet with a recovery phrase - except it’s a trap, pre-controlled by the attackers.

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Cyware Daily Threat Intelligence, March 14, 2025

A new ransomware group is making waves with tactics reminiscent of LockBit. Mora_001 has been exploiting Fortinet vulnerabilities to gain access to networks. Subsequently, it deploys its SuperBlack ransomware, ensuring persistent control before encrypting critical systems. GitLab users should patch now as critical authentication flaws surface. Two newly discovered GitLab vulnerabilities could allow attackers to impersonate users, potentially leading to data breaches and privilege escalation. Security updates have been released to mitigate the risk. Cybercriminals are faking Clop ransomware attacks to scam businesses. Fraudsters are posing as the Clop ransomware gang, fabricating extortion claims to trick victims into paying ransoms for non-existent data breaches.

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Cyware Daily Threat Intelligence, March 13, 2025

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Cyware Daily Threat Intelligence, March 12, 2025

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Cyware Daily Threat Intelligence, March 11, 2025

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Cyware Daily Threat Intelligence, March 10, 2025

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