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Ransomware


REDLINE/VIDAR ABUSES EV CERTIFICATES, SHIFTS TO RANSOMWARE

In this blog, we investigate how threat actors used information-stealing malware
with EV code signing certificates and later delivered ransomware payloads to its
victims via the same delivery method.

By: Hitomi Kimura, Ryan Soliven, Ricardo Valdez III, Nusrath Iqra, Ryan Maglaque
September 13, 2023 Read time: 6 min (1609 words)

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We have been observing malware families RedLine and Vidar since the middle of
2022, when both were used by threat actors to target victims via spear-phishing
scams. Earlier this year, RedLine targeted the hospitality industry with its
info stealer malware.

Our latest investigations show that the threat actors behind RedLine and Vidar
now distribute ransomware payloads with the same delivery techniques they use to
spread info stealers. This suggests that the threat actors are streamlining
operations by making their techniques multipurpose. In this particular case we
investigated, the victim initially received a piece of info stealer malware with
Extended Validation (EV) code signing certificates. After some time, however,
they started receiving ransomware payloads via the same route.  

EV code signing certificates are issued to organizations that are verified to
have legal and physical existence in each country. They entail an issuance
process with extended identity verification compared to regular code signing
certificates, as well as private key generation where a hardware token is
required.

Figure 1. The info stealer sample with an EV code signing

Since June of this year, the CA/Browser Forum (CABF) — a public key
infrastructure (PKI) industry group — made hardware key generation mandatory for
even regular code signing certificates. This is an additional effort to address
private key protection by making it more difficult to steal private keys and
certificates from computers since they cannot be copied as software data.  

Despite these additional security measures, there were over 30 EV code-signed
samples used from July to August 2023 related to this case. The info stealer,
detected as TrojanSpy.Win32.VIDAR.SMA, was polymorphous, with each sample having
a different hash. While there are other cases where threat actors have used EV
certificates for their malware, this is the first time a single threat actor was
observed with this many samples. It is currently unknown how the threat actor
accessed the private key.

In a previous report, we observed that QAKBOT operators abused regular code
signing certificates, most of which were used by a single threat actor.
Reviewing the certificate contents suggested that the certificates were directly
issued by a certificate authority (CA) to a threat actor impersonating the
victim companies. In the case of RedLine and Vidar, we can assume that that the
threat actor who code-signed the EV certificate possibly owns the hard token
itself or has access to the host that the hard token is connected.

Certificates used for signing malicious modules can be revoked by reports from
security researchers that result in invalidating their respective code signing.
Code signing using X.509 certificates allows the setting of a “revocation date”
that only invalidates modules signed after the specified revocation date. This
is to protect the validity of code signing for modules signed before the private
key was compromised.

In the case we investigated, the code signing of the info stealer was not
invalidated because the revocation date was set on August 3, the date we
reported the abuse rather than the sample's signing date. The malware sample was
signed on July 17, earlier than the revocation date set, and thus continued to
have a valid signature verification. 

We contacted the CA to explain that the certificate should be revoked using the
issuance date as the revocation date instead so that all code signing using that
certificate is invalidated. The certificate was then processed with March 21 as
the revocation date, and all public observed sample signatures beyond March 21
were invalidated. Notably, ineffective revocation date setting is a problem that
has been reported in past research papers.

The certificate we investigated had the serial number
5927C49718E319C84A7253F7DEB1A420, and in the following image we can see that the
revocation date on the certificate revocation list (CRL) was updated from August
3 to March 21.

Figure 2. The revocation date on the CRL was updated from August 3 to March 21.

Technical analysis

Figure 3. The infection chain of the piece of info stealer malware used by
RedLine and Vidar

Malicious actors behind RedLine and Vidar use classic and well-worn techniques
to lure victims to run malicious files: 

 * They use phrases in spear-phishing emails that call for action and invoke a
   sense of urgency on topics related to health and hotel accommodations.
 *  
 * They use double extensions to trick users into thinking that the files they
   are executing are .pdf or .jpg files rather than .exe files that jump-start
   the infection when they are run. They also take advantage of regular users
   whose view might typically hide the extension, resulting in them failing to
   notice that the file they are executing is in face an EXE file.
 *  
 * They use LNK files that contain the command to execute the malicious file to
   help bypass detection.
 *  
 * Despite Google Drive’s built-in protocols, which automatically evaluate files
   to guard systems against malware, malicious actors manage to transfer
   malicious files through the file storage service.

Figure 4. The infection chain that delivered a ransomware payload through the
same delivery method used for RedLine and Vidar’s info stealer malware

In the case we investigated, the victim had initially been getting info stealer
malware from a series of campaigns around July 10 this year. On August 9, they
received a ransomware payload after being tricked into downloading and opening a
fake TripAdvisor complaint email attachment. The attachment used a double file
extension (.pdf.htm) to masquerade itself as a benign .pdf file and conceal the
actual .htm payload.  

Figure 5. The “TripAdvisor-Complaint.pdf.htm” file
Figure 6. User downloading the spear-phishing attachment, as seen on the Trend
Vision One™ Workbench

Upon opening the attachment and selecting “Read Complaint,” the user then
unknowingly executed the following JavaScript files from samuelelena[.]co:

 * hxxps://samuelelena[.]co/npm/module.external/jquery.min.js 
 * hxxps://samuelelena[.]co/npm/module.external/moment.min.js 
 * hxxps://samuelelena[.]co/npm/module.external/client.min.js 
 * hxxps://samuelelena[.]co/npm/module.tripadvisor/module.tripadvisor.js

Figure 7. The contents of “TripAdvisor-Complaint.PDF.htm”

This subsequently downloaded and executed TripAdvisor Complaint-Possible
Suspension.exe. A different version, spotted and analyzed by BleepingComputer,
downloads an Excel XLL file when the "Read Complaint" button is selected. This
XLL file is created using Excel-DNA, which integrates .NET into Microsoft Excel
to execute the malware when it is opened.

Figure 8. The subsequent download and execution of “TripAdvisor
Complaint-Possible Suspension.exe”

The file TripAdvisor Complaint-Possible Suspension.exe connected to the
following URLs:

 * hxxps://doi[.]org (governs the Digital Object Identifier systems)
 * hxxps://i.ibb[.]co/Gp95Qcw/2286401330.png (image hosting site)

Contents of the 2286401330.png file were read and transformed into an encrypted
shellcode that was saved as:

 * C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\KYMRCRHEVFUJGZHWNKKD\YUUUBCFJVYCNCBMABZLBL

Figure 9. The “2286401330.png” file
Figure 10. Shellcode “YUUUBCFJVYCNCBMABZLBL”

Afterward, the encrypted shellcode was decrypted to generate another shellcode,
saved as follows:

 * C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp\70685a9e

Figure 11. The outbound connection to
“hxxps://i.ibb[.]co/Gp95Qcw/2286401330.png” leading to the creation of shellcode
“70685a9e”
Figure 12. Shellcode “70685a9e”

Following this, TripAdvisor Complaint-Possible Suspension.exe spawned cmd.exe,
where the second decrypted shellcode 70685a9e was injected. After this, cmd.exe
dropped a legitimate 7-Zip standalone console application rgb9rast.exe in %temp%
and launched it as follows:

 * C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp\rgb9rast.exe

Figure 13. Process injection to “rgb9gast.exe”

Eventually, the ransomware payload detected as Ransom.Win64.CYCLOPS.A was
injected into rgb9rast.exe. We observed rgb9gast.exe dropping the ransom note,
encrypting files with a .knight_l extension, and performing an outbound Server
Message Block (SMB) connection to encrypt files on the network. 

Figure 14. Encryption using the “.knight_l” extension and outbound SMB
connection to encrypt other files on the network

We observed that the threat actors also use the following file names for their
malicious files. The samples of the following files were found to have EV code
signing:  

 * Additional information about the reservation.exe
   
 * doctor's opinion.exe
 * Doctor's recommendations.exe

The threat actors also use the following file names for their malicious files
without EV code signing:

 * Additional informatoin about the reservation.exe (The spelling “informatoin”
   instead of “information” is as the file name reads.)
 * TripAdvisor Complaint - Possible Suspension.exe ransomware

They also used the following double extensions:

 * Additional information about the reservation.jpg.exe
 * Additional information about the reservation.pdf.exe 
 * cleaning products recommendations.pdf.exe 
 * doctor's opinion.pdf.exe 
 * doctor's opinion.pdf.exe.exe
 * Doctor's recommendations.pdf.exe
 * Requests.pdf.exe
 * requests.pdf.exe

Common delivery methods for the ransomware payload observed include the
following paths:

 * C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Outlook\AHYEW8U2\TripAdvisor-Complaint-Lcn5en.PDF.htm
 * C:\Users\ [user] \AppData\Local\Temp\gigiduru.PDF.htm
 * C:\Users\ [user]
   \AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Outlook\MNV4PEH3\TripAdvisor-Complaint-9dyl66.PDF.htm
 * C:\Users\ [user]
   \AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Outlook\J53L41BP\TripAdvisor-Complaint-1uy8dx.PDF.htm

Conclusion

Despite more stringent security measures implemented by the CABF, threat actors
are still able to propagate information-stealing malware code-signed with EV
certificates that should ideally already have a strong issuance process and
secure private key protection. Revoking abused certificates with compromised
private keys should also be thoroughly investigated to ensure that adjustments
to revocation dates made by CAs cover all instances of use on malicious files.


At this point, it is worth noting that unlike the samples of the info stealer we
investigated, the files used to drop the ransomware payload did not have EV
certificates. However, the two originate from the same threat actor and are
spread using the same delivery method. We can therefore assume a division of
labor between the payload provider and the operators.

Users who have encountered info stealers are advised to be cautious against
ransomware, as our findings suggest that threat actors are becoming more
efficient in maximizing their techniques for different purposes and cybercrimes.
 

Our investigations in this entry underline the importance of configuring and
updating attack surface protections that remove malicious items before they even
reach users. Organizations are recommended to “shift left” — take steps earlier
in the threat life cycle to prevent attacks and implement measures to detect
breaches before they cause extensive harm. In the case of ransomware attacks,
early detection and mitigation can prevent threat actors from harvesting enough
information that that they can leverage for a ransomware attack. Users should
also avoid or refrain from downloading files, programs, and software from
unverified sources and websites and install a multilayered protection system for
their individual and enterprise systems.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

Get the list of IOCs here.  

Tags
Malware | Ransomware | Exploits & Vulnerabilities | Research | Articles, News,
Reports


AUTHORS

 * Hitomi Kimura
   
   Incident Response Analyst

 * Ryan Soliven
   
   Incident Response Analyst

 * Ricardo Valdez III
   
   Threats Analyst

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