Carderbee Attacks: Hong Kong Organizations Targeted via Malicious Software Updates

A previously undocumented menace cluster has been connected to a application supply chain attack concentrating on businesses mainly found in Hong Kong and other regions in Asia.

The Symantec Danger Hunter Team, part of Broadcom, is monitoring the action underneath its insect-themed moniker Carderbee.

The attacks, for each the cybersecurity organization, leverage a trojanized edition of a authentic application referred to as EsafeNet Cobra DocGuard Consumer to provide a acknowledged backdoor termed PlugX (aka Korplug) on sufferer networks.

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“In the training course of this attack, the attackers applied malware signed with a genuine Microsoft certificate,” the corporation mentioned in a report shared with The Hacker Information.

The use of Cobra DocGuard Client to pull off a provide chain attack was beforehand highlighted by ESET in its quarterly Risk Report this year, detailing a September 2022 intrusion in which an unnamed gambling company in Hong Kong was compromised by means of a malicious update pushed by the software.

The same enterprise is stated to have been infected in advance of in September 2021 employing the exact system. The attack, connected to a Chinese menace actor named Fortunate Mouse (aka APT27, Budworm, or Emissary Panda), ultimately led to deployment of PlugX.

However, the newest campaign spotted by Symantec in April 2023 reveals minimal commonalities to conclusively tie it to the same actor. Moreover, the reality that PlugX is applied by a wide range of China-joined hacking groups can make attribution complicated.

As many as 100 desktops in the impacted companies are said to have been infected, although the Cobra DocGuard Consumer application was mounted on around 2,000 endpoints, suggesting a narrowed target.

“The malicious application was delivered to the pursuing locale on contaminated computer systems, which is what implies that a source chain attack or destructive configuration involving Cobra DocGuard is how the attackers compromised afflicted computers: ‘csidl_program_driveprogram filesesafenetcobra docguard clientupdate,'” Syamtec claimed.

In one instance, the breach functioned as a conduit to deploy a downloader with a digitally signed certificate from Microsoft, which subsequently was utilized to retrieve and put in PlugX from a distant server.

The modular implant presents attackers a mystery backdoor on infected platforms so they can go on to put in supplemental payloads, execute instructions, seize keystrokes, enumerate files, and track operating procedures, among other folks.

The results lose light-weight on the ongoing use of Microsoft-signed malware by menace actors to carry out article-exploitation functions and bypass security protections.

That having claimed, it really is unclear where Carderbee is centered or what its final aims are, and if it has any connections to Fortunate Mouse. Quite a few other details about the team keep on being undisclosed or unknown.

“It looks crystal clear that the attackers driving this exercise are affected individual and expert actors,” Symantec reported. “They leverage both of those a supply chain attack and signed malware to have out their action in an try to remain beneath the radar.”

“The actuality that they appear to only deploy their payload on a handful of the desktops they obtain accessibility to also points to a certain sum of scheduling and reconnaissance on behalf of the attackers driving this action.”

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