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APT & Targeted Attacks


WATER MAKARA USES OBFUSCATED JAVASCRIPT IN SPEAR PHISHING CAMPAIGN, TARGETS
BRAZIL WITH ASTAROTH MALWARE

Trend Micro researchers have uncovered a surge of malicious activities involving
a threat actor group that we track as Water Makara. This group is targeting
enterprises in Brazil, deploying banking malware using obfuscated JavaScript to
slip past security defenses.

By: Charles Adrian Marty, Kim Benedict Victorio, Adriel Isidro, Christian
Alpuerto, Mark Jason Co, Lorenzo Laureano, Andre Filipe Codod, Adremel Redondo
October 14, 2024 Read time: 6 min (1618 words)

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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Highlights:

 * Water Makara uses the notorious Astaroth banking malware, now with a new
   evasion technique.
 * The spear phishing campaign was observed targeting companies in Latin
   America, with a particular focus on organizations in Brazil.
 * The spear phishing campaign’s impact has targeted various industries, with
   manufacturing companies, retail firms, and government agencies being the most
   affected.
 * The malicious emails often impersonate official tax documents, using the
   urgency of personal income tax filings to trick users into downloading the
   malware.

Trend Micro Research recently identified a significant surge of spear phishing
attacks aimed at users in Brazil. These emails, which come with attachments
often masquerading as personal income tax documents, contain harmful ZIP files.
The threat uses mshta.exe, an oft-abused utility normally meant to run HTML
Application files, to execute obfuscated JavaScript commands, establishing
connections to a C&C server.

In terms of impact, the spear phishing campaigns mostly target companies in
Brazil. The figure below shows the distribution of the cyberattacks by industry,
with Trend Micro telemetry showing manufacturing companies, retail firms, and
government agencies as the most affected.

 

Figure 1. Distribution of the attacks by industry

We track this intrusion set as Water Makara, which uses the Astaroth malware
with a new defense evasion technique. Astaroth, a notorious information-stealing
banking trojan, remains active and is anticipated to persist into 2024. In this
blog, we’ll explore the tactics used by Water Makara and share best practices
that can be taken to strengthen defenses against such threats.

Figure 2. The infection chain of the malware
Figure 3. Example of the spear phishing email whose final payload is the
Astaroth malware


WATER MAKARA’S ATTACK CHAIN

Figure 2 illustrates the infection chain of the malware, from how the malicious
attachment is delivered and how it intends to be executed. The attack begins
with a spear phishing email that is designed to appear legitimate and credible,
often impersonating well-known organizations or official entities. This common
social engineering tactic could trick the recipient into downloading the
malicious ZIP attachment.

Figure 3 presents an example of an Astaroth phishing email, sourced from a
threat hunter on Twitter with the user @9823f_. The email’s content pertains to
“Aviso de Irregularidade,” which translates to “Notice of Irregularity.” This
term refers to a formal notification issued by authorities, typically related to
taxes or compliance indicating the presence of discrepancies or issues that
require attention.

The ZIP file, in turn, contains a malicious LNK file. Although the originally
mentioned ZIP file is unavailable, we have sourced a similar email sample
separately to analyze. In this instance, the downloaded a ZIP file is labeled
“IRPF20248328025.zip” where “IRPF” refers to “Imposto de Renda da Pessoa
Física,” which translates to “Personal Income Tax.” Due to the familiarity and
significance of personal income tax documents, potential victims are more
inclined to trust and open or extract this file. In addition to “IRPF”, the file
also uses other names designed to trick the user into downloading and extracting
the ZIP file. The LNK file, when executed by the user, runs embedded malicious
JavaScript commands.

Figure 4. Example file name of the ZIP file
Figure 5. Example of the LNK file

Aside from the LNK file, the ZIP file also contains another file that has
similar obfuscated JavaScript commands. Initially, this file is Base64-encoded,
and decoding reveals the hidden malicious scripts. Employing various file
formats to spread malware is a tactic commonly seen in drive-by downloads. By
embedding malicious code into seemingly benign files, they trick users into
executing the malicious payload.

In this campaign, there are multiple variants or file extensions used, namely,
.pdf, .jpg, .png, .gif, .mov, and .mp4.

Figure 6 shows the content of the LNK file. In this example, we analyzed a
sequence of commands used to execute a malicious JavaScript hidden within the
LNK file. Each command plays a specific role, contributing to the overall
execution of the attack:

 * cmd.exe: The command-line interpreter on Windows
 * /v:Off: Disables the delayed environment variable expansion to ensure that
   the command variables are resolved immediately, potentially avoiding
   conflicts or detection
 * D: Turns off the execution of AutoRun commands to ensure that their specific
   commands execute without interference from any automatic scripts that might
   otherwise run
 * /c: Carries out the command specified by the string, which then terminates,
   to ensure that the command is executed efficiently and that the command
   prompt closes immediately afterward to reduce the likelihood of detection
 * mshta: A legitimate Microsoft program that executes HTML Applications (HTA),
   which can be used maliciously to execute code through a seemingly benign HTML
   file

Figure 6. Snippet of code showing the abuse of MSHTA to execute encoded
JavaScript commands
Figure 7. The encoded JavaScript commands

Figure 7 shows the encoded JavaScript commands, which can be decoded using
unescape string. The decoded commands reveal a malicious URL. The variable
_$_TLEN is defined as an array containing two strings: '[7 random characters]'
and is most likely a method or function name, and the URL.

The hostname looks suspicious and could be part of a phishing or malware
distribution campaign. The use of GetObject function indicates an attempt to
execute or retrieve an object, which could lead to other malicious actions.

Figure 8. The decoded JavaScript commands with malicious URL

The GetObject function attempts to retrieve and execute the object at the URL by
invoking a method named “SXSPP29” on it. If an error occurs during this process,
it is silently caught, and no action is taken. If the JavaScript command is
executed successfully, the Astaroth C&C server will be able to gain a foothold
on the endpoint.

Figure 9. The GetObject function

The URLs share several similarities and patterns. In this example, the URLs
contain the domain patrimoniosoberano[.]world. This indicates that they belong
to the same domain but might point to different subdomains or paths within that
domain.

Each URL has a unique subdomain but follows a similar naming scheme:

 * hxxps[://]pritonggopatrimoniosoberano[.]world/?5/
 * hxxps[://]pritongongor[.]patrimoniosoberano[.]world/?5/
 * hxxps[://]spunalu[.]patrimoniosoberano[.]world/?5/
 * hxxps[://]sprunal[.]patrimoniosoberano[.]world/?5/

Additionally, each URL ends with the similar path, /?5/. There might be some
commonality in the resource they are pointing to or in the way the parameters
are structured in the URLs. The technique they use is called domain generation
algorithm (DGA), a method used by various malware to create a large number of
domain names algorithmically.

Based on list of indicators of compromise (IoCs), the second-level domain (SDL)
of the URLs has a similar structure and potentially the same C&C servers used by
Astaroth. While Trend Micro has already neutralized the known behaviors
associated to this malware, it is crucial for users to remain vigilant and aware
of the risks posed by this phishing attack.

We are actively monitoring this intrusion set. As of this writing, no critical
payloads have been observed on the endpoints, thanks to the existing mitigation
policy for these behaviors. Trend Micro solutions effectively block this threat
from the point of initial access.

 While Astaroth might seem like an old banking trojan, its reemergence and
continued evolution make it a persistent threat. Beyond stolen data, its impact
extends to long-term damage to consumer trust, regulatory fines, and increased
costs from business disruption and downtime as well as recovery and remediation.

Water Makara's spear phishing campaign relies on unwitting users clicking on the
malicious files, which underscores the critical role of human awareness.
Companies should also adopt best practices, such as conducting regular security
training, enforcing strong password policies, using multifactor authentication
(MFA), keeping security solutions and software updated, and applying the
principle of least privilege.


TREND MICRO SOLUTIONS

Trend Micro solutions already detect, block, and mitigate this threat:

 * Email Security  has a hunting query that can be utilized as a filter to block
   malicious emails. It can detect and quarantine phishing emails before they
   reach end users.

Endpoint protection with

 * Apex One  provides advanced threat detection and response capabilities to
   identify and mitigate suspicious activities like the execution of encoded
   JavaScript commands.
 * Cloud App Security add an extra layer of security for cloud-based email
   services such as Office 365 or Google Workspace, scanning and blocking
   malicious attachments and links before they reach the inbox.
 * Deep Security provides comprehensive security controls for networks,
   including real-time analysis and protection against threats.
 * Deep Discovery Analyzer uses behavioral analysis and sandboxing to
   understanding the behavior of JavaScript-encoded commands and its potential
   impact

Trend Micro’s solutions also have Playbook rules that can be utilized to block,
flag, and respond to suspicious file names, such as LNK files, which can often
be used in phishing campaigns.

 * Vision One has extended detection and response capabilities that continuously
   monitor the network for IoCs and unusual behaviors. Vision One also has
   Threat Insights that provide comprehensive intelligence on threat actors,
   their activities, and techniques, which enables organizations to proactively
   protect their environments, mitigate risks, and respond effectively to
   threats. Additionally, Vision Once has the Search App function that can match
   or hunt the IoCs with data in the organization’s environment.   

Trend Micro Vision One Intelligence Reports App [IOC Sweeping]

[TAD Emerging Threat Analysis]: Encoded JavaScript commands with malicious URL
in LATAM

Trend Micro Vision One Threat Insights App

               Threat Actor/s: Water Makara

               Emerging Threats: Surge in Obfuscated JavaScript Commands
Executed via mshta.exe Targeting Brazil with Phishing Campaigns

Trend Micro Vision One Search App – Hunting Queries

Possible malicious HTTPS request connecting to Astaroth’s C&C server:

request:/https\:\/\/.*(\.world|\.org|\.io|\.net|\.city|\.com|\.cfd|\.xyz)(\/\?[0-9]\/)/

INDICATORS OF COMPROMISE (IOCS)

The full list of IOCs can be found here.

MITRE ATT&CK® techniques

Tactic

Technique

ID

Initial Access

Phishing: Spearphishing Attachment

T1566.001

Execution

User Execution: Malicious File

T1204.002

Command and Scripting Interpreter: JavaScript

T1059.007

Defense Evasion

System Binary Proxy Execution: Mshta

T1218.005

Masquerading: Masquerade File Type

T1036.008

Command and Control

Dynamic Resolution: Domain Generation Algorithms

T1568.002

Tags
APT & Targeted Attacks | Endpoints | Research | Articles, News, Reports


AUTHORS

 * Charles Adrian Marty
   
   Threat Response Engineer

 * Kim Benedict Victorio
   
   Cybersecurity Engineer

 * Adriel Isidro
   
   Sr. Engineer - Threat Research

 * Christian Alpuerto
   
   Threat Response Engineer

 * Mark Jason Co
   
   Sr. Threat Solution Engineer

 * Lorenzo Laureano
   
   Sr. Cybersecurity Engineer

 * Andre Filipe Codod
   
   Sr. Engineer - Threat Research

 * Adremel Redondo
   
   Cybersecurity Technical Expert

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