Rewterz Threat Alert – Qakbot (Qbot) Malware – Active IOCs

Severity

High

Analysis Summary

QBot, often known as QakBot, is modular information malware. It has been operational since 2007. This banking Trojan, QakBot steals financial data from infected systems, and a loader using C2 servers for payload targeting and download. Qakbot can propagate to other computers on the same network and allow it to mask its existence and build persistence on infected computers. A malware attachment to a phishing email is commonly used in QakBot attacks. This particular campaign includes an xls file that contains macros. These macros run a script that fetches the Qakbot payload from a list of URLs. To get the victim to activate macros, the attackers employ a common trick, like when the target downloads the file, it is asked to allow changes and then content before viewing the document.

Recently, it is observed that attackers are employing a number of strategies to avoid detection, using Excel (XLM) 4.0 and ZIP file extensions. They are utilizing sophisticated strategies to evade automated detection and increase the likelihood that their attack will succeed, such as obfuscating code, using numerous URLs to deliver the payload and others. Threat actors are disguising attachments intended to spread malware using a variety of different common file names with typical keywords for finance and business operations. 

Impact

• Unauthorized Access
• Financial Theft 
• Information Theft

Indicators of Compromise

IP

• 47[.]23[.]89[.]61
• 47[.]180[.]172[.]159
• 179[.]158[.]103[.]236
• 93[.]48[.]80[.]198

MD5

• aaabcb8c5464c4fdb6d72816f77f3b65
• 13355c76c11d17bb2542608e3104fa88

SHA-256

• 1cbd5c3072fd99bff1408bc1f8a3b09206322de8b83b743a57efa24adefdb44f
• b47bf41986964ec1f181f023eacc2c10eed2ad556f64d402bec61b39e60aae69

SHA-1

• 7397d48671bde4ef13ae59f3427f0c1a1e7977d4
• 6b6174b23ac8039c32e09c59cd91afee8bac792a

Remediation

• Block the threat indicators at their respective controls.
• Search for IOCs in your environment.