Tag Archive for: Imgur

GitHub-hosted malware calculates Cobalt Strike payload from Imgur pic


malware

A new strand of malware uses Word files with macros to download a PowerShell script from GitHub.

This PowerShell script further downloads a legitimate image file from image hosting service Imgur to decode a Cobalt Strike script on Windows systems.

Multiple researchers have linked this strain to MuddyWater (aka SeedWorm and TEMP.Zagros), a government-backed advanced persistent threat (APT) group, first observed in 2017 while mainly targeting Middle Eastern entities.

Word macro spins up PowerShell script hosted on GitHub

This week researcher Arkbird has shared details on a new macro-based malware that is evasive and spawns payload in multifaceted steps.

The malware strand which looks “like MuddyWater,” according to the researcher, ships as an embedded macro within a legacy Microsoft Word (*.doc) file, in the style of the APT group.

In tests by BleepingComputer, when the Word document is opened, it runs the embedded macro. The macro further launches powershell.exe and feeds it the location of a PowerShell script hosted on GitHub.

Word Macro with link to GitHub
Macro script embedded within the malicious Word doc
Source: BleepingComputer 

The single-line PowerShell script has instructions to download a real PNG file (shown below) from the image hosting service Imgur.

While this image itself may be benign, its pixel values are used by the PowerShell script in calculating the next stage payload, a technique known as steganography. 

Malware calculates next stage payload by decoding the image pixel values
Malware calculates the next stage payload by decoding the pixel values within this image
Source: Imgur

As observed by BleepingComputer and shown below, the payload calculation algorithm runs a foreach loop to iterate over a set of pixel values within the PNG image and performs specific arithmetic operations to obtain functional ASCII commands.

imgur payload download
PowerShell script hosted on GitHub downloads PNG from Imgur and uses it to calculate the payload
Source: BleepingComputer

Decoded script executes Cobalt Strike payload

The decoded script obtained from manipulating the PNG’s pixel values is a Cobalt Strike script.

Cobalt Strike is a legitimate penetration testing toolkit that allows attackers to deploy “beacons” on compromised devices to remotely “create shells,…

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