A harmful new malware loader with options for figuring out whether or not it is on a enterprise system or a private laptop has begun quickly infecting methods worldwide over the previous few months.
Researchers at VMware Carbon Black are monitoring the menace, dubbed BatLoader, and say its operators are utilizing the dropper to distribute a wide range of malware instruments together with a banking Trojan, an info stealer, and the Cobalt Strike post-exploit toolkit on sufferer methods. The menace actor’s tactic has been to host the malware on compromised web sites and lure customers to these websites utilizing SEO (web optimization) poisoning strategies.
Living Off the Land
BatLoader depends closely on batch and PowerShell scripts to achieve an preliminary foothold on a sufferer machine and to obtain different malware onto it. This has made the marketing campaign exhausting to detect and block, particularly within the early phases, analysts from VMware Carbon Black’s managed detection and response (MDR) group stated in a report launched on Nov. 14.
VMware stated its Carbon Black MDR group had noticed 43 profitable infections within the final 90 days, along with quite a few different unsuccessful makes an attempt the place a sufferer downloaded the preliminary an infection file however didn’t execute it. Nine of the victims had been organizations within the enterprise companies sector, seven had been monetary companies firms, and 5 had been in manufacturing. Other victims included organizations within the training, retail, IT, and healthcare sectors.
On Nov. 9, eSentire stated its threat-hunting group had noticed BatLoader’s operator luring victims to web sites masquerading as obtain pages for fashionable enterprise software program resembling LogMeIn, Zoom, TeamViewer, and AnyDesk. The menace actor distributed hyperlinks to those web sites through adverts that confirmed up prominently in search engine outcomes when customers looked for any of those software program merchandise.
The safety vendor stated that in a single late October incident, an eSentire buyer arrived at a faux LogMeIn obtain web page and downloaded a Windows installer that, amongst different issues, profiles the system and makes use of the data to retrieve a second-stage payload.
“What makes BatLoader fascinating is that it has logic constructed into it that determines if the sufferer laptop is a private laptop or a company laptop,” says Keegan Keplinger, analysis and reporting lead with eSentire’s TRU analysis group. “It then drops the kind of malware acceptable for the state of affairs.”
Selective Payload Delivery
For instance, if BatLoader hits a private laptop, it downloads Ursnif banking malware and the Vidar info stealer. If it hits a domain-joined or company laptop, it downloads Cobalt Strike and the Syncro distant monitoring and administration device, along with the banking Trojan and data stealer.
“If BatLoader lands on a private laptop, it’ll proceed with fraud, infostealing, and banking-based payloads like Ursnif,” Keegan says. “If BatLoader detects that it is in an organizational atmosphere, it’ll proceed with intrusion instruments like Cobalt Strike and Syncro.”
Keegan says eSentire has noticed “loads” of latest cyberattacks involving BatLoader. Most of the assaults are opportunistic and hit anybody in search of trusted and fashionable free software program instruments.
“To get in entrance of organizations, BatLoader leverages poisoned adverts in order that when staff search for trusted free software program, like LogMeIn and Zoom, they as an alternative land on websites managed by attackers, delivering BatLoader.”
Overlaps With Conti, ZLoader
VMware Carbon Black stated that whereas there are a number of points of the BatLoader marketing campaign which can be distinctive, there are additionally a number of attributes of the assault chain which have a resemblance with the Conti ransomware operation.
The overlaps embody an IP tackle that the Conti group utilized in a marketing campaign leveraging the Log4j vulnerability, and using a distant administration device known as Atera that Conti has utilized in earlier operations.
In addition to the similarities with Conti, BatLoader additionally has a number of overlaps with Zloader, a banking Trojan that seems derived from the Zeus banking Trojan of the early 2000s, the safety vendor stated. The largest similarities there embody using web optimization poisoning to lure victims to malware-laden web sites, using Windows Installer for establishing an preliminary foothold and using PowerShell, batch scripts, and different native OS binaries in the course of the assault chain.
Mandiant was the primary to report on BatLoader. In a weblog publish in February, the safety vendor reported observing a menace actor utilizing “free productiveness apps set up” and “free software program growth instruments set up” themes as web optimization key phrases to lure customers to obtain websites.
“This preliminary BatLoader compromise was the starting of a multi-stage an infection chain that gives the attackers with a foothold contained in the goal group,” Mandiant stated. The attackers used each stage to arrange the following part of the assault chain utilizing instruments resembling PowerShell, Msiexec.exe, and Mshta.exe to evade detection.