On August 18, we caught a malware loader we believe to be novel. Entry point: a threat actor phished a client’s user through Microsoft Teams, posing as the IT help desk. We named it SynkLoader. (1/7)
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The attackers went hands-on-keyboard, running commands in real time, until they realized our “network” wasn’t real. Then they disconnected. (6/7)
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Our read, medium confidence: this toolkit belongs to a ransomware group or an initial access broker feeding one. Full breakdown, every module we received, and IOCs on the blog: expel.com/blog/synkloader-wh… (7/7)
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Based on our analysis, GoldenEyeDog has separate teams with dedicated resources and targets, and these separate teams can be distinguished based on code-signing certificate usage and tactics. 1/2
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We’re tracking these two groups as CylindricalCanine (Expel-TA-0002) and CuboidalCanine (Expel-TA-0003). This blog, part two of the series, is dedicated to understanding their differences and diving into CuboidalCanine. expel.com/blog/cylindricalca… 2/2
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In this version, CylindricalCanine still downloads the second stage from a text file hosted in the CDN. However, the files don't have normal extensions anymore. Looking in the directory shared by @elasticseclabs, we found two new certificates of interest. 🧵1/5
Elastic Security Labs is tracking Golden Gh0st RAT targeting Western companies, expanding beyond its previously documented targeting of financial organizations in the Asia-Pacific region. Same TTPs as @ExpelSecurity CylindricalCanine research post: go.es.io/3TEZ0G6 The initial payload was delivered as a fake screenshot with a .pif extension, signed with a revoked certificate and hosted on myphotos[.]s[.]gy. Follow-on payloads were staged in a public Google Cloud Storage bucket at storage[.]googleapis[.]com/nikeupdat/. Multiple stages, and every one is either validly code-signed or never exists on disk as an executable. Abused code-signing certificates, all valid at time of use. Two are EV, same CA, both dated 2026-07, issued to two different "Private Organization" subjects: - 杭州思维宇宙科技有限公司 (Hangzhou Siwei Yuzhou Technology), thumbprint: 14E0FCA3F0F656D1AF6EA66E1B2B7C6B4ACD8E2D - Dongguan Jieshan Technology Co., Ltd, thumbprint: C29C3C494A348EA879ABFF50DD56B85E9CB6366A IOCs: api[.]probref[.]com:5188 (C2) storage[.]googleapis[.]com/nikeupdat/ myphotos[.]s[.]gy 5ef6019fb6ee1db1201ee479a68669b47eb0d5d82770dbd30b05f46ccbc68f4f b6cb6d5de2c62aa1351b1b240dc223c3d6fa95083cf43b2866d84a8a6c4d0446
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The previous file was signed with the stolen Tencent certificate (thumbprint: 67DE1A4FB2174930244B306B14E2D7BF67CD05F0); SHA256: f39979afbaaad749121ed74bdc84480106d8f61b276fec890480d64f46542ee9 We've reported the Monarch and Chengdu certificates for revocation. 4/5
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We explained the main attack technique in greater detail in this blog. From what we are seeing, only small details have changed in this latest campaign: expel.com/blog/introducing-c… 5/5
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It takes a village to organise and run a village. We would like to thank our 2026 sponsors whose support funds our activities. Platinum: @hackthebox_eu Gold: DeepTempo, Detection Engineering Weekly, @ExpelSecurity, @FRSecure & @tryhackme blueteamvillage.org/
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Elastic Security Labs is tracking Golden Gh0st RAT targeting Western companies, expanding beyond its previously documented targeting of financial organizations in the Asia-Pacific region. Same TTPs as @ExpelSecurity CylindricalCanine research post: go.es.io/3TEZ0G6 The initial payload was delivered as a fake screenshot with a .pif extension, signed with a revoked certificate and hosted on myphotos[.]s[.]gy. Follow-on payloads were staged in a public Google Cloud Storage bucket at storage[.]googleapis[.]com/nikeupdat/. Multiple stages, and every one is either validly code-signed or never exists on disk as an executable. Abused code-signing certificates, all valid at time of use. Two are EV, same CA, both dated 2026-07, issued to two different "Private Organization" subjects: - 杭州思维宇宙科技有限公司 (Hangzhou Siwei Yuzhou Technology), thumbprint: 14E0FCA3F0F656D1AF6EA66E1B2B7C6B4ACD8E2D - Dongguan Jieshan Technology Co., Ltd, thumbprint: C29C3C494A348EA879ABFF50DD56B85E9CB6366A IOCs: api[.]probref[.]com:5188 (C2) storage[.]googleapis[.]com/nikeupdat/ myphotos[.]s[.]gy 5ef6019fb6ee1db1201ee479a68669b47eb0d5d82770dbd30b05f46ccbc68f4f b6cb6d5de2c62aa1351b1b240dc223c3d6fa95083cf43b2866d84a8a6c4d0446
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A self-propagating npm supply chain worm compromised keyv, cacheable, flat-cache, file-entry-cache, and 800+ downstream packages—stealing CI/CD, cloud, and API credentials along the way. (1/6)
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➡️ Audit lockfiles for affected package versions and pin to known-clean releases ➡️ Rotate every secret on any host or CI/CD runner that touched a compromised package ➡️ Check GitHub Actions and npm publishing logs for unauthorized activity (5/6)
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