MAR-10265965-2.v1 – North Korean Trojan: SLICKSHOES
NotificationThis report is provided "as is" for informational purposes only. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not provide any warranties of any kind regarding any information contained herein. The DHS does not endorse any commercial product or service referenced in this bulletin or otherwise. This document is marked TLP:WHITE--Disclosure is not limited. Sources may use TLP:WHITE when information carries minimal or no foreseeable risk of misuse, in accordance with applicable rules and procedures for public release. Subject to standard copyright rules, TLP:WHITE information may be distributed without restriction. For more information on the Traffic Light Protocol (TLP), see http://www.us-cert.gov/tlp. SummaryDescriptionThis Malware Analysis Report (MAR) is the result of analytic efforts between Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Department of Defense (DoD). Working with U.S. Government partners, DHS, FBI, and DoD identified Trojan malware variants used by the North Korean government. This malware variant has been identified as SLICKSHOES. The U.S. Government refers to malicious cyber activity by the North Korean government as HIDDEN COBRA. For more information on HIDDEN COBRA activity, visit https[:]//www[.]us-cert.gov/hiddencobra. DHS, FBI, and DoD are distributing this MAR to enable network defense and reduce exposure to North Korean government malicious cyber activity. This MAR includes malware descriptions related to HIDDEN COBRA, suggested response actions and recommended mitigation techniques. Users or administrators should flag activity associated with the malware and report the activity to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) or the FBI Cyber Watch (CyWatch), and give the activity the highest priority for enhanced mitigation. This sample is a Themida-packed dropper that decodes and drops a file "C:\Windows\Web\taskenc.exe" which is a Themida-packed beaconing implant. The beaconing implant does not execute the dropped file nor does it schedule any tasks to run the malware. The dropped beaconing implant uses an indigenous network encoding algorithm and is capable of many features including conducting system surveys, file upload/download, process and command execution, and screen captures. For a downloadable copy of IOCs, see MAR-10265965-2.v1.stix. Submitted Files (1)fdb87add07d3459c43cfa88744656f6c00effa6b7ec92cb7c8b911d233aeb4ac (CCA9FBB11C194FC53015185B741887...) IPs (1)188.165.37.168 Findingsfdb87add07d3459c43cfa88744656f6c00effa6b7ec92cb7c8b911d233aeb4acTagsemotettrojan Details
Antivirus
YARA RulesNo matches found. ssdeep MatchesNo matches found. PE Metadata
PE Sections
Relationships
DescriptionThis sample is a Themida-packed dropper that decodes and drops an embedded file (MD5: B57DB76CC1C0175C4F18EA059D9E2AB2 / SHA256: 7250ccf4fad4d83d087a03d0dd67d1c00bf6cb8e7fa718140507a9d5ffa50b54) to C:\Windows\Web\taskenc.exe. This dropper does not execute the dropped file or create any auto-run keys or scheduled tasks to execute it. The dropped file (taskenc.exe) is a Themida-packed beaconing implant with RAT functionality. The implant beacons to a hardcoded IP (188.165.37.168) over the hardcoded TCP port 80 every 60 seconds. The initial beacon contains the string “ApolloZeus” as well as victim information, including OS version, user name, and IP address. All traffic, including the beacon, is encoded with an indigenous encoding algorithm. Due to the way the implant decodes the hardcoded string “ApolloZeus” in-place in memory, the first beacon contains the string in plaintext, the second beacon will contain the string encoded, and so on. This is probably unintended and an oversight by the developers. --Begin Packet Format-- --Begin Victim Information-- A Python3 script for decoding the traffic is displayed below: --Begin Python3 Script-- for e in enc: Screenshots Figure 1 - Implant Functionality. 188.165.37.168Ports
Relationships
DescriptionHardcoded C2 address used in implant. Relationship Summary
RecommendationsCISA recommends that users and administrators consider using the following best practices to strengthen the security posture of their organization's systems. Any configuration changes should be reviewed by system owners and administrators prior to implementation to avoid unwanted impacts.
Additional information on malware incident prevention and handling can be found in National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-83, "Guide to Malware Incident Prevention & Handling for Desktops and Laptops". Contact Information
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CISA encourages you to report any suspicious activity, including cybersecurity incidents, possible malicious code, software vulnerabilities, and phishing-related scams. Reporting forms can be found on CISA's homepage at www.us-cert.gov. |
Revisions
February 14, 2020: Initial Version