403. Adversaries Abuse ControlR Agent

Hello everyone!

Today we're looking at another example of the Remote Desktop Software technique (T1219.002). Notably, the remote access tool leveraged by the threat actor is currently not included in the LOLRMM project.

According to a report from Seqrite, the ShadowRecruit campaign distributed archive files containing multiple components, including a malicious Windows shortcut (LNK), a PowerShell script, and an executable.

Execution of the LNK file resulted in the launch of PowerShell, which, among other actions, downloaded and executed the installer for the legitimate remote access software ControlR. Once installed, ControlR could be abused by the threat actor as either a primary or fallback channel for persistent remote access to the compromised host.

One approach to detecting this activity is to identify network communications with ControlR infrastructure:

event_type: "dnsreqwin"

AND

dns_rname: "controlr.app"

Another option is to hunt for evidence of ControlR agent execution:

event_type: "processcreatewin"

AND

proc_file_productname: *controlr*

See you soon!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

391. Hunting for TeamPCP's Stealer

Image
Hello everyone! What do I know about stealers? They seem to be very noisy! And today, we’ll once again see that in action using TeamPCP (Haze Wolf) as an example. This time , the stealer was implanted by attackers into three versions of the xinference package (2.6.0, 2.6.1, and 2.6.2). Essentially, it collects SSH keys, various credentials, environment variables, crypto wallets, and much more, then uses cURL for exfiltration. Let’s take a look at a couple of techniques the attackers used to obtain credentials. For example, they were interested in data stored in environment variables: env | grep AWS_ env | grep -i google env | grep -i gcloud env | grep -i azure This looks fairly suspicious from a detection perspective: event_type: processcreate* AND proc_file_path: "env" AND cmdline: ("grep" AND ("aws_" OR "google" OR "azure" OR "gcloud")) Another technique was abusing kubectl to obtain credentials: kubectl get secrets --all-n...
Read more

343. Ransomware Gangs Abuse SystemSettingsAdminFlows to Evade Defenses

Image
Hello everyone! Today we'll look at another example of how adversaries abuse legitimate Windows executables to evade defenses. This time it's  SystemSettingsAdminFlows.exe . According to this report , DeadLock leveraged this utility to disable various features of Windows Defender: SystemSettingsAdminFlows.exe Defender RTP 1  SystemSettingsAdminFlows.exe Defender SpynetReporting 0  SystemSettingsAdminFlows.exe Defender SubmitSamplesConsent 0  SystemSettingsAdminFlows.exe Defender DisableEnhancedNotifications 1 The commands disable Real-Time Protection (RTP) and cloud-based protections, stops the machine from sending threat reports to Microsoft, and prevent Windows Defender from automatically submitting suspicious files for analysis. Worth a query, isn't it? event_type: "processcreatewin" AND proc_file_path: "systemsettingsadminflows.exe" AND cmdline: "defender" See you tomorrow!
Read more

013. It Can Remove Rootkits. And Your EDR!

Image
Hello everyone! Let's talk about about another very curious tool abused by threat actors. For example, it was used by LockBit and RansomHub ransomware affiliates. Guessed it already? Yes, I'm talking about TDSSKiller - a legitimate rootkit removal tool by Kaspersky. Despite the fact it was developed for malware removal, it can also be used by adversary to remove security software.  For example, here's how RansomHub affiliates used it to disable Trend Micro service according to this report : C:\Windows\tdsskiller.exe -dcsvc "TMBMServer" -accepteula By the way, according to VirusTotal, this tool isn't detected by many antivirus engines: Still, we have a few detection and hunting opportunities, for example: Command line parameters typical for the tool:  -dcsvc Metadata indicating the executable is TDSSKiller: "TDSSKiller", "TDSS rootkit removing tool" Do you know any other curious legitimate tools used to disable EDR? See you tomorrow!
Read more