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Researchers Uncover Windows Flaws Granting Hackers Rootkit-Like Powers

New research has found that the DOS-to-NT path conversion process could be exploited by threat actors to achieve rootkit-like capabilities to conceal and impersonate files, directories, and processes. "When a user executes a function that has a path argument in Windows, the DOS path at which the file or folder exists is converted to an NT path," SafeBreach security researcher Or Yair said&

VectorKernel - PoCs For Kernelmode Rootkit Techniques Research

By: Zion3R


PoCs for Kernelmode rootkit techniques research or education. Currently focusing on Windows OS. All modules support 64bit OS only.

NOTE

Some modules use ExAllocatePool2 API to allocate kernel pool memory. ExAllocatePool2 API is not supported in OSes older than Windows 10 Version 2004. If you want to test the modules in old OSes, replace ExAllocatePool2 API with ExAllocatePoolWithTag API.

 

Environment

All modules are tested in Windows 11 x64. To test drivers, following options can be used for the testing machine:

  1. Enable Loading of Test Signed Drivers

  2. debugging-in-windbg--cdb--or-ntsd">Setting Up Kernel-Mode Debugging

Each options require to disable secure boot.

Modules

Detailed information is given in README.md in each project's directories. All modules are tested in Windows 11.

Module Name Description
BlockImageLoad PoCs to block driver loading with Load Image Notify Callback method.
BlockNewProc PoCs to block new process with Process Notify Callback method.
CreateToken PoCs to get full privileged SYSTEM token with ZwCreateToken() API.
DropProcAccess PoCs to drop process handle access with Object Notify Callback.
GetFullPrivs PoCs to get full privileges with DKOM method.
GetProcHandle PoCs to get full access process handle from kernelmode.
InjectLibrary PoCs to perform DLL injection with Kernel APC Injection method.
ModHide PoCs to hide loaded kernel drivers with DKOM method.
ProcHide PoCs to hide process with DKOM method.
ProcProtect PoCs to manipulate Protected Process.
QueryModule PoCs to perform retrieving kernel driver loaded address information.
StealToken PoCs to perform token stealing from kernelmode.

TODO

More PoCs especially about following things will be added later:

  • Notify callback
  • Filesystem mini-filter
  • Network mini-filter

Recommended References



Five Eyes Agencies Warn of Active Exploitation of Ivanti Gateway Vulnerabilities

The Five Eyes (FVEY) intelligence alliance has issued a new cybersecurity advisory warning of cyber threat actors exploiting known security flaws in Ivanti Connect Secure and Ivanti Policy Secure gateways, noting that the Integrity Checker Tool (ICT) can be deceived to provide a false sense of security. "Ivanti ICT is not sufficient to detect compromise and that a cyber threat actor may be able

Lazarus Hackers Exploited Windows Kernel Flaw as Zero-Day in Recent Attacks

The notorious Lazarus Group actors exploited a recently patched privilege escalation flaw in the Windows Kernel as a zero-day to obtain kernel-level access and disable security software on compromised hosts. The vulnerability in question is CVE-2024-21338 (CVSS score: 7.8), which can permit an attacker to gain SYSTEM privileges. It was resolved by Microsoft earlier this month as part

Glupteba Botnet Evades Detection with Undocumented UEFI Bootkit

The Glupteba botnet has been found to incorporate a previously undocumented Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) bootkit feature, adding another layer of sophistication and stealth to the malware. "This bootkit can intervene and control the [operating system] boot process, enabling Glupteba to hide itself and create a stealthy persistence that can be extremely difficult to

DirtyMoe Malware Infects 2,000+ Ukrainian Computers for DDoS and Cryptojacking

The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) has warned that more than 2,000 computers in the country have been infected by a strain of malware called DirtyMoe. The agency attributed the campaign to a threat actor it calls UAC-0027. DirtyMoe, active since at least 2016, is capable of carrying out cryptojacking and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. In March

Cryptominers Targeting Misconfigured Apache Hadoop and Flink with Rootkit in New Attacks

Cybersecurity researchers have identified a new attack that exploits misconfigurations in Apache Hadoop and Flink to deploy cryptocurrency miners within targeted environments. "This attack is particularly intriguing due to the attacker's use of packers and rootkits to conceal the malware," Aqua security researchers Nitzan Yaakov and Assaf Morag said in an analysis published earlier

D3m0n1z3dShell - Demonized Shell Is An Advanced Tool For Persistence In Linux

By: Zion3R


Demonized Shell is an Advanced Tool for persistence in linux.


Install

git clone https://github.com/MatheuZSecurity/D3m0n1z3dShell.git
cd D3m0n1z3dShell
chmod +x demonizedshell.sh
sudo ./demonizedshell.sh

One-Liner Install

Download D3m0n1z3dShell with all files:

curl -L https://github.com/MatheuZSecurity/D3m0n1z3dShell/archive/main.tar.gz | tar xz && cd D3m0n1z3dShell-main && sudo ./demonizedshell.sh

Load D3m0n1z3dShell statically (without the static-binaries directory):

sudo curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MatheuZSecurity/D3m0n1z3dShell/main/static/demonizedshell_static.sh -o /tmp/demonizedshell_static.sh && sudo bash /tmp/demonizedshell_static.sh

Demonized Features

  • Auto Generate SSH keypair for all users
  • APT Persistence
  • Crontab Persistence
  • Systemd User level
  • Systemd Root Level
  • Bashrc Persistence
  • Privileged user & SUID bash
  • LKM Rootkit Modified, Bypassing rkhunter & chkrootkit
  • LKM Rootkit With file encoder. persistent icmp backdoor and others features.
  • ICMP Backdoor
  • LD_PRELOAD Setup PrivEsc
  • Static Binaries For Process Monitoring, Dump credentials, Enumeration, Trolling and Others Binaries.

Pending Features

  • LD_PRELOAD Rootkit
  • Process Injection
  • install for example: curl github.com/test/test/demonized.sh | bash
  • Static D3m0n1z3dShell
  • Intercept Syscall Write from a file
  • ELF/Rootkit Anti-Reversing Technique
  • PAM Backdoor
  • rc.local Persistence
  • init.d Persistence
  • motd Persistence
  • Persistence via php webshell and aspx webshell

And other types of features that will come in the future.

Contribution

If you want to contribute and help with the tool, please contact me on twitter: @MatheuzSecurity

Note

We are not responsible for any damage caused by this tool, use the tool intelligently and for educational purposes only.



VED-eBPF - Kernel Exploit And Rootkit Detection Using eBPF

By: Zion3R


VED (Vault Exploit Defense)-eBPF leverages eBPF (extended Berkeley Packet Filter) to implement runtime kernel security monitoring and exploit detection for Linux systems.

Introduction

eBPF is an in-kernel virtual machine that allows code execution in the kernel without modifying the kernel source itself. eBPF programs can be attached to tracepoints, kprobes, and other kernel events to efficiently analyze execution and collect data.

VED-eBPF uses eBPF to trace security-sensitive kernel behaviors and detect anomalies that could indicate an exploit or rootkit. It provides two main detections:

  • wCFI (Control Flow Integrity) traces the kernel call stack to detect control flow hijacking attacks. It works by generating a bitmap of valid call sites and validating each return address matches a known callsite.

  • PSD (Privilege Escalation Detection) traces changes to credential structures in the kernel to detect unauthorized privilege escalations.


How it Works

VED-eBPF attaches eBPF programs to kernel functions to trace execution flows and extract security events. The eBPF programs submit these events via perf buffers to userspace for analysis.

wCFI

wCFI traces the call stack by attaching to functions specified on the command line. On each call, it dumps the stack, assigns a stack ID, and validates the return addresses against a precomputed bitmap of valid call sites generated from objdump and /proc/kallsyms.

If an invalid return address is detected, indicating a corrupted stack, it generates a wcfi_stack_event containing:

* Stack trace
* Stack ID
* Invalid return address

This security event is submitted via perf buffers to userspace.

The wCFI eBPF program also tracks changes to the stack pointer and kernel text region to keep validation up-to-date.

PSD

PSD traces credential structure modifications by attaching to functions like commit_creds and prepare_kernel_cred. On each call, it extracts information like:

* Current process credentials
* Hashes of credentials and user namespace
* Call stack

It compares credentials before and after the call to detect unauthorized changes. If an illegal privilege escalation is detected, it generates a psd_event containing the credential fields and submits it via perf buffers.

Prerequsites

VED-eBPF requires:

  • Linux kernel v5.17+ (tested on v5.17)
  • eBPF support enabled
  • BCC toolkit

Current Status

VED-eBPF is currently a proof-of-concept demonstrating the potential for eBPF-based kernel exploit and rootkit detection. Ongoing work includes:

  • Expanding attack coverage
  • Performance optimization
  • Additional kernel versions
  • Integration with security analytics

Conclusion

VED-eBPF shows the promise of eBPF for building efficient, low-overhead kernel security monitoring without kernel modification. By leveraging eBPF tracing and perf buffers, critical security events can be extracted in real-time and analyzed to identify emerging kernel threats for cloud native envionrment.



New Stealthy 'Krasue' Linux Trojan Targeting Telecom Firms in Thailand

A previously unknown Linux remote access trojan called Krasue has been observed targeting telecom companies in Thailand by threat actors to main covert access to victim networks at lease since 2021. Named after a nocturnal female spirit of Southeast Asian folklore, the malware is "able to conceal its own presence during the initialization phase," Group-IB said in a report

DynastyPersist - A Linux Persistence Tool!

By: Zion3R


  • A Linux persistence tool!

  • A powerful and versatile Linux persistence script designed for various security assessment and testing scenarios. This script provides a collection of features that demonstrate different methods of achieving persistence on a Linux system.


Features

  1. SSH Key Generation: Automatically generates SSH keys for covert access.

  2. Cronjob Persistence: Sets up cronjobs for scheduled persistence.

  3. Custom User with Root: Creates a custom user with root privileges.

  4. RCE Persistence: Achieves persistence through remote code execution.

  5. LKM/Rootkit: Demonstrates Linux Kernel Module (LKM) based rootkit persistence.

  6. Bashrc Persistence: Modifies user-specific shell initialization files for persistence.

  7. Systemd Service for Root: Sets up a systemd service for achieving root persistence.

  8. LD_PRELOAD Privilege Escalation Config: Configures LD_PRELOAD for privilege escalation.

  9. Backdooring Message of the Day / Header: Backdoors system message display for covert access.

  10. Modify an Existing Systemd Service: Manipulates an existing systemd service for persistence.

Usage

  1. Clone this repository to your local machine:

    git clone https://github.com/Trevohack/DynastyPersist.git
  2. One linear

    curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Trevohack/DynastyPersist/main/src/dynasty.sh | bash

Support

For support, email spaceshuttle.io.all@gmail.com or join our Discord server.

  • Discord: https://discord.gg/WYzu65Hp

Thank You!



Kinsing Hackers Exploit Apache ActiveMQ Vulnerability to Deploy Linux Rootkits

The Kinsing threat actors are actively exploiting a critical security flaw in vulnerable Apache ActiveMQ servers to infect Linux systems with cryptocurrency miners and rootkits. "Once Kinsing infects a system, it deploys a cryptocurrency mining script that exploits the host's resources to mine cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, resulting in significant damage to the infrastructure and a negative

Qubitstrike Targets Jupyter Notebooks with Crypto Mining and Rootkit Campaign

A threat actor, presumably from Tunisia, has been linked to a new campaign targeting exposed Jupyter Notebooks in a two-fold attempt to illicitly mine cryptocurrency and breach cloud environments. Dubbed Qubitstrike by Cado, the intrusion set utilizes Telegram API to exfiltrate cloud service provider credentials following a successful compromise. "The payloads for the Qubitstrike campaign are

Rogue npm Package Deploys Open-Source Rootkit in New Supply Chain Attack

A new deceptive package hidden within the npm package registry has been uncovered deploying an open-source rootkit called r77, marking the first time a rogue package has delivered rootkit functionality. The package in question is node-hide-console-windows, which mimics the legitimate npm package node-hide-console-window in what's an instance of a typosquatting campaign. It was downloaded 704

Reptile Rootkit: Advanced Linux Malware Targeting South Korean Systems

By: THN
Threat actors are using an open-source rootkit called Reptile to target Linux systems in South Korea. "Unlike other rootkit malware that typically only provide concealment capabilities, Reptile goes a step further by offering a reverse shell, allowing threat actors to easily take control of systems," the AhnLab Security Emergency Response Center (ASEC) said in a report published this week. "Port

Hidden - Windows Driver With Usermode Interface Which Can Hide Processes, File-System And Registry Objects, Protect Processes And Etc

By: Zion3R

 


Hidden has been developed like a solution for reverse engineering and researching tasks. This is a windows driver with a usermode interface which is used for hiding specific environment on your windows machine, like installed RCE programs (ex. procmon, wireshark), vm infrastructure (ex. vmware tools) and etc.


Features

  • hide registry keys and values
  • hide files and directories
  • hide processes (experimental, might be not stable)
  • protect specific processes
  • exclude specific processes from hiding and protection features
  • usermode interface (lib and cli) for working with a driver

and so on

System requirements

Windows Vista and above, x86 and x64

Recommended build environment

  • Visual Studio 2019
  • Windows Driver Kit 10

Building

Following guide explains how to make a release win32 build

  1. Open Hidden.sln using Visual Studio
  2. Build Hidden Package project with configurations Release, Win32
  3. Open build results folder <ProjectDir>\Release

Installing

  1. Disable a digital signature enforcement on a test machine (bcdedit /set TESTSIGNING ON) and reboot it
  2. Copy files from <ProjectDir>\Release\Hidden Package to a test machine
  3. Right mouse click on Hidden.inf and choose Install
  4. Start a driver (sc start hidden)
  5. Make sure service is running (sc query hidden)

Important: Keep in mind that the driver bitness have to be the same to an OS bitness

Hiding

A command line tool hiddencli is used for managing a driver. You are able to use it for hiding and unhiding objects, changing a driver state and so on.

To hide a file try the command

hiddencli /hide file c:\Windows\System32\calc.exe

Want to hide a directory? No problems

hiddencli /hide dir "c:\Program Files\VMWare"

Registry key?

hiddencli /hide regkey "HKCU\Software\VMware, Inc."

Maybe a process?

hiddencli /hide pid 2340

By a process image name?

hiddencli /hide image apply:forall c:\Windows\Explorer.EXE

To get a full help just type

hiddencli /help


Chinese Hackers Deploy Microsoft-Signed Rootkit to Target Gaming Sector

By: THN
Cybersecurity researchers have unearthed a novel rootkit signed by Microsoft that's engineered to communicate with an actor-controlled attack infrastructure. Trend Micro has attributed the activity cluster to the same actor that was previously identified as behind the FiveSys rootkit, which came to light in October 2021. "This malicious actor originates from China and their main victims are the

Nidhogg - All-In-One Simple To Use Rootkit For Red Teams

By: Zion3R


Nidhogg is a multi-functional rootkit for red teams. The goal of Nidhogg is to provide an all-in-one and easy-to-use rootkit with multiple helpful functionalities for red team engagements that can be integrated with your C2 framework via a single header file with simple usage, you can see an example here.

Nidhogg can work on any version of x64 Windows 10 and Windows 11.

This repository contains a kernel driver with a C++ header to communicate with it.


Current Features

  • Process hiding and unhiding
  • Process elevation
  • Process protection (anti-kill and dumping)
  • Bypass pe-sieve
  • Thread hiding
  • Thread protection (anti-kill)
  • File protection (anti-deletion and overwriting)
  • File hiding
  • Registry keys and values protection (anti-deletion and overwriting)
  • Registry keys and values hiding
  • Querying currently protected processes, threads, files, registry keys and values
  • Arbitrary kernel R/W
  • Function patching
  • Built-in AMSI bypass
  • Built-in ETW patch
  • Process signature (PP/PPL) modification
  • Can be reflectively loaded
  • Shellcode Injection
    • APC
    • NtCreateThreadEx
  • DLL Injection
    • APC
    • NtCreateThreadEx
  • Querying kernel callbacks
    • ObCallbacks
    • Process and thread creation routines
    • Image loading routines
    • Registry callbacks
  • Removing and restoring kernel callbacks
  • ETWTI tampering

Reflective loading

Since version v0.3, Nidhogg can be reflectively loaded with kdmapper but because PatchGuard will be automatically triggered if the driver registers callbacks, Nidhogg will not register any callback. Meaning, that if you are loading the driver reflectively these features will be disabled by default:

  • Process protection
  • Thread protection
  • Registry operations

PatchGuard triggering features

These are the features known to me that will trigger PatchGuard, you can still use them at your own risk.

  • Process hiding
  • File protecting

Basic Usage

It has a very simple usage, just include the header and get started!

#include "Nidhogg.hpp"

int main() {
HANDLE hNidhogg = CreateFile(DRIVER_NAME, GENERIC_WRITE | GENERIC_READ, 0, nullptr, OPEN_EXISTING, 0, nullptr);
// ...
DWORD result = Nidhogg::ProcessUtils::NidhoggProcessProtect(pids);
// ...
}

Setup

Building the client

To compile the client, you will need to install CMake and Visual Studio 2022 installed and then just run:

cd <NIDHOGG PROJECT DIRECTORY>\Example
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build .

Building the driver

To compile the project, you will need the following tools:

Clone the repository and build the driver.

Driver Testing

To test it in your testing environment run those commands with elevated cmd:

bcdedit /set testsigning on

After rebooting, create a service and run the driver:

sc create nidhogg type= kernel binPath= C:\Path\To\Driver\Nidhogg.sys
sc start nidhogg

Debugging

To debug the driver in your testing environment run this command with elevated cmd and reboot your computer:

bcdedit /debug on

After the reboot, you can see the debugging messages in tools such as DebugView.

Resources

Contributions

Thanks a lot to those people that contributed to this project:



Bootlicker - A Generic UEFI Bootkit Used To Achieve Initial Usermode Execution

By: Zion3R


bootlicker is a legacy, extensible UEFI firmware rootkit targeting vmware hypervisor virtual machines. It is designed to achieve initial code execution within the context of the windows kernel, regardless of security settings configured.


Architecture

bootlicker takes its design from the legacy CosmicStrain, MoonBounce, and ESPECTRE rootkits to achive arbitrary code excution without triggering patchguard or other related security mechanisms.

After initial insertion into a UEFI driver firmware using the the injection utility, the shellcodes EfiMain achieves execution as the host starts up, and inserts a hook into the UEFI firmware's ExitBootServices routine. The ExitBootServices routine will then, on execution, find the source caller of the function, and if it matches WinLoad.EFI, attempts to find the unexported winload.efi!OslArchTransferToKernel routine, which will allow us to att ack the booting kernel before it achieves its initial execution.

Once OslArchTransferToKernel executes, it will search for the ACPI.SYS driver, find the .rsrc PE section, and inject a small stager shellcode entrypoint called DrvMain to copy over a larger payload that will act as our kernel implant.

Resources

Entirely based upon d_olex / cr4sh's DmaBackdoorBoot

Epilogue

This code is apart of a larger project I've been working on that on / off in between burnout, like most of the concepts I've produced over the years under various aliases, will never see the light of day. Some of the code comments I've been to lazy to strip out that refer to unrelated functiaonlity, despite it being previously present. Do not expect this to work out of the box, some slight modifications are certainly necessary.



CopperStealer Malware Crew Resurfaces with New Rootkit and Phishing Kit Modules

The threat actors behind the CopperStealer malware resurfaced with two new campaigns in March and April 2023 that are designed to deliver two novel payloads dubbed CopperStealth and CopperPhish. Trend Micro is tracking the financially motivated group under the name Water Orthrus. The adversary is also assessed to be behind another campaign known as Scranos, which was detailed by Bitdefender in

Researchers Uncover UEFI Secure Boot Bypass in 3 Microsoft Signed Boot Loaders

A security feature bypass vulnerability has been uncovered in three signed third-party Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) boot loaders that allow bypass of the UEFI Secure Boot feature. "These vulnerabilities can be exploited by mounting the EFI System Partition and replacing the existing bootloader with the vulnerable one, or modifying a UEFI variable to load the vulnerable loader

Experts Uncover New 'CosmicStrand' UEFI Firmware Rootkit Used by Chinese Hackers

An unknown Chinese-speaking threat actor has been attributed to a new kind of sophisticated Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) firmware rootkit called CosmicStrand. "The rootkit is located in the firmware images of Gigabyte or ASUS motherboards, and we noticed that all these images are related to designs using the H81 chipset," Kaspersky researchers said in a new report published today

New Linux Malware Framework Lets Attackers Install Rootkit on Targeted Systems

A never-before-seen Linux malware has been dubbed a "Swiss Army Knife" for its modular architecture and its capability to install rootkits. This previously undetected Linux threat, called Lightning Framework by Intezer, is equipped with a plethora of features, making it one of the most intricate frameworks developed for targeting Linux systems. "The framework has both passive and active

New UEFI Firmware Vulnerabilities Impact Several Lenovo Notebook Models

Consumer electronics maker Lenovo on Tuesday rolled out fixes to contain three security flaws in its UEFI firmware affecting over 70 product models. "The vulnerabilities can be exploited to achieve arbitrary code execution in the early phases of the platform boot, possibly allowing the attackers to hijack the OS execution flow and disable some important security features," Slovak cybersecurity

The Link Between AWM Proxy & the Glupteba Botnet

On December 7, 2021, Google announced it was suing two Russian men allegedly responsible for operating the Glupteba botnet, a global malware menace that has infected millions of computers over the past decade. That same day, AWM Proxy — a 14-year-old anonymity service that rents hacked PCs to cybercriminals — suddenly went offline. Security experts had long seen a link between Glupteba and AWM Proxy, but new research shows AWM Proxy’s founder is one of the men being sued by Google.

AWMproxy, the storefront for renting access to infected PCs, circa 2011.

Launched in March 2008, AWM Proxy quickly became the largest service for crooks seeking to route their malicious Web traffic through compromised devices. In 2011, researchers at Kaspersky Lab showed that virtually all of the hacked systems for rent at AWM Proxy had been compromised by TDSS (a.k.a TDL-4 and Alureon), a stealthy “rootkit” that installs deep within infected PCs and loads even before the underlying Windows operating system boots up.

In March 2011, security researchers at ESET found TDSS was being used to deploy Glupteba, another rootkit that steals passwords and other access credentials, disables security software, and tries to compromise other devices on the victim’s network — such as Internet routers and media storage servers — for use in relaying spam or other malicious traffic.

A report from the Polish computer emergency response team (CERT Orange Polksa) found Glupteba was by far the biggest malware threat in 2021.

Like its predecessor TDSS, Glupteba is primarily distributed through “pay-per-install” or PPI networks, and via traffic purchased from traffic distribution systems (TDS). Pay-per-install networks try to match cybercriminals who already have access to large numbers of hacked PCs with other crooks seeking broader distribution of their malware.

In a typical PPI network, clients will submit their malware—a spambot or password-stealing Trojan, for example —to the service, which in turn charges per thousand successful installations, with the price depending on the requested geographic location of the desired victims. One of the most common ways PPI affiliates generate revenue is by secretly bundling the PPI network’s installer with pirated software titles that are widely available for download via the web or from file-sharing networks.

An example of a cracked software download site distributing Glupteba. Image: Google.com.

Over the past decade, both Glupteba and AWM Proxy have grown substantially. When KrebsOnSecurity first covered AWM Proxy in 2011, the service was selling access to roughly 24,000 infected PCs scattered across dozens of countries. Ten years later, AWM Proxy was offering 10 times that number of hacked systems on any given day, and Glupteba had grown to more than one million infected devices worldwide.

There is also ample evidence to suggest that Glupteba may have spawned Meris, a massive botnet of hacked Internet of Things (IoT) devices that surfaced in September 2021 and was responsible for some of the largest and most disruptive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks the Internet has ever seen.

But on Dec. 7, 2021, Google announced it had taken technical measures to dismantle the Glupteba botnet, and filed a civil lawsuit (PDF) against two Russian men thought to be responsible for operating the vast crime machine. AWM Proxy’s online storefront disappeared that same day.

AWM Proxy quickly alerted its customers that the service had moved to a new domain, with all customer balances, passwords and purchase histories seamlessly ported over to the new home. However, subsequent takedowns targeting AWM Proxy’s domains and other infrastructure have conspired to keep the service on the ropes and frequently switching domains ever since.

Earlier this month, the United States, Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K. dismantled the “RSOCKS” botnet, a competing proxy service that had been in operation since 2014. KrebsOnSecurity has identified the owner of RSOCKS as a 35-year-old from Omsk, Russia who runs the world’s largest forum catering to spammers.

The employees who kept things running for RSOCKS, circa 2016.

Shortly after last week’s story on the RSOCKS founder, I heard from Riley Kilmer, co-founder of Spur.us, a startup that tracks criminal proxy services. Kilmer said RSOCKS was similarly disabled after Google’s combined legal sneak attack and technical takedown targeting Glupteba.

“The RSOCKS website gave you the estimated number of proxies in each of their subscription packages, and that number went down to zero on Dec. 7,” Kilmer said. “It’s not clear if that means the services were operated by the same people, or if they were just using the same sources (i.e., PPI programs) to generate new installations of their malware.”

Kilmer said each time his company tried to determine how many systems RSOCKS had for sale, they found each Internet address being sold by RSOCKS was also present in AWM Proxy’s network. In addition, Kilmer said, the application programming interfaces (APIs) used by both services to keep track of infected systems were virtually identical, once again suggesting strong collaboration.

“One hundred percent of the IPs we got back from RSOCKS we’d already identified in AWM,” Kilmer said. “And the IP port combinations they give you when you access an individual IP were the same as from AWM.”

In 2011, KrebsOnSecurity published an investigation that identified one of the founders of AWM Proxy, but Kilmer’s revelation prompted me to take a fresh look at the origins of this sprawling cybercriminal enterprise to determine if there were additional clues showing more concrete links between RSOCKS, AWM Proxy and Glupteba.

IF YOUR PLAN IS TO RIP OFF GOOGLE…

Supporting Kilmer’s theory that AWM Proxy and RSOCKS may simply be using the same PPI networks to spread, further research shows the RSOCKS owner also had an ownership stake in AD1[.]ru, an extremely popular Russian-language pay-per-install network that has been in operation for at least a decade.

Google took aim at Glupteba in part because its owners were using the botnet to divert and steal vast sums in online advertising revenue. So it’s more than a little ironic that the critical piece of evidence linking all of these operations begins with a Google Analytics code included in the HTML code for the original AWM Proxy back in 2008 (UA-3816536).

That analytics code also was present on a handful of other sites over the years, including the now-defunct Russian domain name registrar Domenadom[.]ru, and the website web-site[.]ru, which curiously was a Russian company operating a global real estate appraisal business called American Appraisal.

Two other domains connected to that Google Analytics code — Russian plastics manufacturers techplast[.]ru and tekhplast.ru — also shared a different Google Analytics code (UA-1838317) with web-site[.]ru and with the domain “starovikov[.]ru.”

The name on the WHOIS registration records for the plastics domains is an “Alexander I. Ukraincki,” whose personal information also is included in the domains tpos[.]ru and alphadisplay[.]ru, both apparently manufacturers of point-of-sale payment terminals in Russia.

Constella Intelligence, a security firm that indexes passwords and other personal information exposed in past data breaches, revealed dozens of variations on email addresses used by Alexander I. Ukraincki over the years. Most of those email addresses start with some variation of “uai@” followed by a domain from one of the many Russian email providers (e.g., yandex.ru, mail.ru). [Full disclosure: Constella is currently an advertiser on this website].

But Constella also shows those different email addresses all relied on a handful of passwords — most commonly “2222den” and “2222DEN.” Both of those passwords have been used almost exclusively in the past decade by the person who registered more than a dozen email addresses with the username “dennstr.”

The dennstr identity leads to several variations on the same name — Denis Strelinikov, or Denis Stranatka, from Ukraine, but those clues ultimately led nowhere promising. And maybe that was the point.

Things began looking brighter after I ran a search in DomainTools for web-site[.]ru’s original WHOIS records, which shows it was assigned in 2005 to a “private person” who used the email address lycefer@gmail.com. A search in Constella on that email address says it was used to register nearly two dozen domains, including starovikov.ru and starovikov[.]com.

A cached copy of the contact page for Starovikov[.]com shows that in 2008 it displayed the personal information for a Dmitry Starovikov, who listed his Skype username as “lycefer.”

Finally, Russian incorporation documents show the company LLC Website (web-site[.]ru)was registered in 2005 to two men, one of whom was named Dmitry Sergeevich Starovikov.

Bringing this full circle, Google says Starovikov is one of the two operators of the Glupteba botnet:

The cover page for Google’s lawsuit against the alleged Glupteba botnet operators.

Mr. Starovikov did not respond to requests for comment. But attorneys for Starovikov and his co-defendant last month filed a response to Google’s complaint in the Southern District of New York, denying (PDF) their clients had any knowledge of the scheme.

Despite all of the disruption caused by Google’s legal and technical meddling, AWM is still around and nearly as healthy as ever, although the service has been branded with a new name and there are dubious claims of new owners. Advertising customer plans ranging from $50 a day to nearly $700 for “VIP access,” AWM Proxy says its malware has been running on approximately 175,000 systems worldwide over the last 24 hours, and that roughly 65,000 of these systems are currently online.

AWM Proxy, as it exists today.

Meanwhile, the administrators of RSOCKS recently alerted customers that the service and any unspent balances will soon be migrated over to a new location.

Many people seem to equate spending time, money and effort to investigate and prosecute cybercriminals with the largely failed war on drugs, meaning there is an endless supply of up-and-coming crooks who will always fill in any gaps in the workforce whenever cybercriminals face justice.

While that may be true for many low-level cyber thieves today, investigations like these show once again how small the cybercriminal underground really is. It also shows how it makes a great deal of sense to focus efforts on targeting and disrupting the relatively small number of established hackers who remain the real force multipliers of cybercrime.

New Syslogk Linux Rootkit Lets Attackers Remotely Command It Using "Magic Packets"

A new covert Linux kernel rootkit named Syslogk has been spotted under development in the wild and cloaking a malicious payload that can be remotely commandeered by an adversary using a magic network traffic packet. "The Syslogk rootkit is heavily based on Adore-Ng but incorporates new functionalities making the user-mode application and the kernel rootkit hard to detect," Avast security
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