New Chinese Malware Attack Framework Targets Windows, macOS, and Linux Systems

A beforehand undocumented command-and-management (C2) framework dubbed Alchimist is very likely getting applied in the wild to target Windows, macOS, and Linux systems.

“Alchimist C2 has a web interface prepared in Simplified Chinese and can crank out a configured payload, create remote sessions, deploy payload to the remote machines, capture screenshots, perform remote shellcode execution, and run arbitrary commands,” Cisco Talos stated in a report shared with The Hacker News.

Prepared in GoLang, Alchimist is complemented by a beacon implant referred to as Insekt, which comes with distant access attributes that can be instrumented by the C2 server.

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The discovery of Alchimist and its assorted spouse and children of malware implants arrives 3 months soon after Talos also in depth a further self-contained framework known as Manjusaka, which has been touted as the “Chinese sibling of Sliver and Cobalt Strike.”

Even far more curiously, both of those Manjusaka and Alchimist pack in identical functionalities, regardless of the differences in the implementation when it comes to the web interfaces.

Alchimist C2 panel even further characteristics the skill to generate PowerShell and wget code snippets for Windows and Linux, perhaps making it possible for an attacker to flesh out their an infection chains to distribute the Insekt RAT payload.

The recommendations could then be embedded in a maldoc hooked up to a phishing email that, when opened, downloads and launches the backdoor on the compromised device.

The trojan, for its element, is geared up with functions usually present in backdoors of this type, enabling the malware to get program info, seize screenshots, run arbitrary instructions, and down load remote data files, among many others.

What is far more, the Linux version of Insekt is capable of listing the contents of the “.ssh” directory and even including new SSH keys to the “~/.ssh/authorized_keys” file to facilitate distant obtain over SSH.

But in a indication that the menace actor driving the operation also has macOS in their sights, Talos explained it uncovered a Mach-O dropper that exploits the PwnKit vulnerability (CVE-2021-4034) to accomplish privilege escalation.

“Nonetheless, this [pkexec] utility is not set up on MacOSX by default, this means the elevation of privileges is not guaranteed,” Talos pointed out.

The overlapping functions Manjusaka and Alchimist factors to an uptick in the use of “all-inclusive C2 frameworks” that can be utilized for remote administration and command-and-manage.

“A threat actor getting privileged shell obtain on a victim’s device is like having a Swiss Army knife, enabling the execution of arbitrary instructions or shellcodes in the victim’s natural environment, resulting in substantial consequences on the concentrate on group,” the researchers mentioned.

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