Affected Platforms: Microsoft Windows
Impacted Users: Microsoft Windows
Impact: The stolen information can be used for future attack
Severity Level: High
In January 2024, FortiGuard Labs obtained an Excel document distributing an info-stealer. From the fingerprints in this attack, it is related to a Vietnamese-based group that was first reported on in August 2023 and again in September. The attack stages before the info-stealer are simple downloaders that increase the difficulty of detection. This article introduces each stage in this attack and provides a glimpse into the world behind the malware campaign.
The first stage of this attack is an Excel document with a VBA script that executes a PowerShell command to download a Windows Update.bat from filebin.net.
Figure 2: VBA script used in the first attack stage
Figure 3 is a screenshot of the Windows Update.bat, protected by the Abobus obfuscator. Obfuscations such as variables whose names contain non-English characters and “^” escape characters are inserted into the original code. Additionally, variable expansions (%variable:~start,length% )were used to replace the alphabet in the original code.
Figure 3: Windows Update.bat
Figure 4 is the malicious part of the original code, which downloads and executes test.vbs in the next stage.
Figure 4: Deobfuscated Windows Update.bat
Test.vbs is roughly the same as the middle stage of the campaign reported in August 2023. It downloads three files:
script.py |
Information stealer. |
Document.zip |
Python 3.11 with libraries for script.py. |
bypass.vbs |
Executes script.py with the downloaded Python. |
Script.py is obfuscated by PyObfuscate, which means it needs extra modules to be executed properly. Document.zip is downloaded to solve this problem.
In addition, test.vbs creates a value named “WinUpdater” within the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run to automatically run bypass.vbs when the victim logs in.
Figure 5: Script.py before deobfuscation
Unlike the info-stealer described in the August 2023 report, script.py only collects browsers' cookies and login data. It extracts data from a wide range of browsers, from familiar browsers such as Chrome and Edge to browsers focused on the local market, like the Cốc Cốc browser.
Figure 6: Extracting victim information from SQLite database
The collected data is compressed into a zip file, which will be sent to the attacker’s telegram bot with a message containing the date, victim’s country, IP address, language, password count, and cookie count.
Figure 7: Script.py sends user information to the attacker's telegram bot
Furthermore, a watermark in the message sent to the bot links to a telegram channel that provides hacking tools and sensitive information. Though it is not directly relevant to this campaign group, it still gives a fresh example of how stolen information is spread.
Figure 8: Screenshot of the telegram channel
As we mentioned, many stages of this attack are downloaded from an open platform. This gives us a chance to gather more information about this hacker group.
Figure 9: The GitLab repository accessed by the middle stage of the attack
Apart from the files in the infection vectors, files sharing several commonalities with this campaign were also uploaded. For example, obfuscated batch files and VBScript files executing PowerShell code whose code is identical to Windows Update.bat and test.vbs. From those downloaders, we found more repositories related to this hacker group.
Figure 10: A middle stage that has almost the same code as test.vbs except for the download link
In addition, there is malware probably used in other campaigns loaded on the repositories, including XWorm, VenomRat, RedLine, etc.
We also found clues to another campaign from the telegram bot that receives the victim’s information. As Figure 10 shows, the threat actor cheated the victim into enabling macros in a Word document named “done 300coki.docm.”
Figure 11: A part of a screenshot from the chat history of the telegram bot.
Though we couldn’t obtain the file named in Figure 10, the file name dropped a hint that they used cookies as a lure. Moreover, we found another Word document containing Facebook cookies and a malicious macro in the chat history.
Figure 12: Another Word document from the bot.
Like the Excel document we mentioned previously, the macro downloads an obfuscated batch file, which downloads the next stage of the attack. However, the infection vector was divided into more pieces, as Figure 12 shows.
Figure 13: Attack flow of a new campaign
The dll files are extracted from image files. The data is base64-encoded and appended to a jpg file.
Figure 14: The picture and appended data
The payload is XWorm, which we also found variants of on the GitHub repositories mentioned in the Abused Open Platforms section.
The threat actors separate the malware campaign into several simple downloaders and use open platforms to avoid detection. However, this also provided clues to identify the hacker group. From the information left in the files, we also found files abused in other campaigns and the SNS platforms being abused to distribute malware. Such services not only provide a convenient environment for people but are commonly used by threat actors.
The malware described in this report are detected and blocked by FortiGuard Antivirus as:
VBA/Agent.ZCI!tr
MSIL/Injector.UWS!tr
VBA/Agent.4C99!tr.dldr
VBS/Agent.HLI!tr
FortiGate, FortiMail, FortiClient, and FortiEDR support the FortiGuard AntiVirus service. The FortiGuard AntiVirus engine is a part of each of those solutions. As a result, customers who have these products with up-to-date protections are protected.
The FortiGuard CDR (content disarm and reconstruction) service can disarm the malicious macros in the document.
We also suggest that organizations go through Fortinet’s free Fortinet Certified Fundamentals (FCF) in cybersecurity training. The training is designed to help end users learn about today's threat landscape and will introduce basic cybersecurity concepts and technology.
FortiGuard IP Reputation and Anti-Botnet Security Service proactively block these attacks by aggregating malicious source IP data from the Fortinet distributed network of threat sensors, CERTs, MITRE, cooperative competitors, and other global sources that collaborate to provide up-to-date threat intelligence about hostile sources.
If you believe this or any other cybersecurity threat has impacted your organization, please contact our Global FortiGuard Incident Response Team.
gitlab[.]com/anhducratsilver
github[.]com/Akabanwa-toma
github[.]com/osmosieucapvippro
github[.]com/NHTBOT
github[.]com/1nuhongio
65[.]0[.]50[.]125
103[.]85[.]247[.]61
74[.]222[.]9[.]95
103[.]82[.]26[.]41
103[.]48[.]85[.]6
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