Rewterz Threat Alert – APT MustangPanda – Active IOCs

Severity

High

Analysis Summary

Researchers have identified recent Mustang Panda activity that involves the use of DLL side-loading to deliver PlugX. The initial infection vector is an executable downloaded from a remote URL. The executable is responsible for installing the malware by dropping the required files (a DLL loader, a legitimate binary, and the PlugX payload) onto the system. The legitimate binary is the Adobe CEF Helper and is vulnerable to DLL side-loading. When the installer runs the legitimate binary, the dropped DLL is loaded. This DLL is the loader for the final payload. First, it reads a hardcoded .dat file that contains the XOR key for decrypting the final payload, then it performs the decryption and loads the malware into memory. Once running in memory, the PlugX payload is able to decrypt its configuration data, which includes its installation location, the XOR key for C2 communication, and any C2 addresses and ports

Impact

• Information Theft
• Exposure of Sensitive Data

Indicators of Compromise

Filename

• ASEAN Leaders_Meeting[.]rar”;filename*=UTF-8”ASEAN%20Leaders%E2%80%99Meeting[.]rar

MD5

• ae358c1915e794671a1d710d9359146d

SHA-256

• 492fd69150d0cb6765e5201c144e26783b785242f4cf807d3425f8b8df060062

SHA-1

• cacc3eb2f415852f57579a69662744f75438e891

Remediation

• Always be suspicious about emails sent by unknown senders.
• Never click on links/attachments sent by unknown senders.
• Block all threat indicators at your respective controls.
• Search for IOCs in your environment.