Google heeft een backdoor in meer dan 1,3 miljoen Android-settopboxen ontmanteld. Criminelen zouden de backdoor onder meer hebben misbruikt voor advertentiefraude. De fabrikant van deze tv-boxen, Videostrong, zou de backdoor opzettelijk hebben geplaatst.

De Amerikaanse FBI zegt dat Noord-Koreaanse hackers bij Binance hebben ingebroken. De federale politiedienst wijst naar een bende genaamd TraderTraitor, een ransomwarebende die sinds 2022 actief is en namens Noord-Korea blockchainbedrijven hackt. Andere beveiligingsbedrijven wezen die bende eerder ook aan.

Belgische gemeenten waarschuwen inwoners voor phishing nadat softwareleverancier Vanden Broele is gehackt. Criminelen drongen binnen in eSignFlow, dat gemeenten gebruiken om documenten digitaal te ondertekenen.

In January, we responded to the Lazarus Group’s novel attack campaign against South Korea, which followed last year’s Operation SyncHole. In this new operation, the group employed an updated malware chain that included both their old and new malware, which we disclosed in full, and used another mandatory South Korean security software program as a part of infection chain using a watering‑hole strategy. Notably, the group targeted victims more selectively, sending spear‑phishing emails with links to fabricated but relevant sites, such as portfolio and résumé pages tailored to each target. We dubbed this activity Operation FlashHole.

Our examination reveals that the earliest evidence of this new operation dates back to July 2025. This suggests the group began preparing for the campaign shortly after ending Operation SyncHole, which lasted at least four months. We identified a minimum of three organizations impacted by the campaign in South Korea’s software, construction, and wired communication equipment manufacturing sectors. These sectors differ from those affected by Operation SyncHole, indicating that the group has expanded its target scope over time.

Background

After more than a year since the first observation of Operation SyncHole, we detected a suspicious execution chain originating from legitimate South Korean software. This chain mirrors the one from the previous operation; however, this time, the attacker abused CrossWeb EX instead of Cross EX, which was abused in Operation SyncHole. Both applications appear to be maintained by the same vendor, and both are related to financial security. CrossWeb EX is a financial security solution that is required to access widely used online banking and government websites. It encrypts communications between the user’s browser and the web server using public key infrastructure (PKI). This is not the first time Lazarus has abused this software. It was also used in 2021 to deploy the Racket downloader and again in 2022 and 2023. Although the exact method by which CrossWeb EX was abused remains unclear, we determined that the attack chain ultimately leads to the execution of the malware in memory.

We noted that the spawned process was running with a high integrity level. The parent process, INISAFECrossWebEXSvc.exe, originates from the installation bundle of INISAFE CrossWeb EX V3 version 3.4.1.2, released in 2023 after KrCERT’s public advisory.

As we already mentioned in our SyncHole blog post, this pattern closely mirrors the long‑standing strategy employed by the Lazarus Group to target South Korea. Since CrossWeb EX and similar software is mandatory for South Korean users and typically runs in the background to interact with the browser, it has been leveraged as a critical attack vector by the group. In 2025, a paper was presented at the USENIX Security Symposium that investigated vulnerabilities in South Korea’s mandatory security software and demonstrated how such software can unintentionally create a massive attack surface.

In July 2026, the South Korean government and several local security vendors also published a joint security advisory covering typical Lazarus attack techniques, including exploitation of financial security software. While this advisory overlaps with our findings from Operation FlashHole and Operation SyncHole, and AhnLab’s detailed analysis report Operation Double Barrel covers a wide range of recent Lazarus Group activities, we are conducting a more granular classification based on their TTPs. We will discuss this further in the attribution section.

Initial infection vector

Although we could not precisely determine what triggered the infection chain, our analysis uncovered a suspicious website hosted on GitHub Pages that is associated with the GitHub account used as the C2 channel. The GitHub account was created last September, and the initial version of the site was designed to showcase the résumé of a senior network appliance developer. In January, however, this site was replaced with another featuring an interior design showcase. The first site was likely accessed by an employee of a wired communication manufacturing company, while the second site likely affected a target in the construction sector.

The first site with the résumé had a photograph supposedly of a job seeker, but the lack of EXIF metadata and the unnatural texture of the image indicate that it was generated by AI. This suggests the Lazarus Group has incorporated AI into its long‑standing strategy, like other Korean‑speaking threat actors (1, 2). The group most likely also used AI to create the lure site: the job seeker’s name resembles the Korean version of “John Doe,” and the portfolio was populated with seemingly meaningless details and random companies. The generated site was then manually tailored to specific targets.

The websites contained embedded links that loaded an external JavaScript file via a script tag.

• Malicious link embedded in the résumé site: hxxps://javadevhouse.co[.]kr/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.3/jquery.min.js
• Malicious link embedded in interior design site: hxxps://pythonapischool[.]com/api/detach

Based on the analysis, we assess with medium-to-high confidence that the targets received phishing emails containing links to the malicious site hosted on GitHub Pages (using the domain <username>.github.io). The research results showed a high possibility that visiting the malicious site initiated an infection process involving CrossWeb EX software. This assessment aligns with Lazarus’s recent approach, as detailed in the joint advisory published by the South Korean government and security companies.

Full infection chain

Following the initial compromise, the legitimate Windows binary fsquirt.exe was executed under the CrossWeb EX process and injected with shellcode containing a malicious DLL – TechHub malware. From our extensive and thorough examination, we identified several malicious payloads and reconstructed the complete infection chain. The infection chain is rather complex and reveals the Lazarus Group’s advanced operational techniques on targeted hosts. These techniques conceal their malicious payloads, intent and their sophisticated malware delivery framework. The latter was updated extensively compared to the previous campaign, despite the new operation starting less than a year later. Significantly, the execution chain below exists only in memory during the initial infiltration, highlighting the attackers’ considerable efforts to hide the initial compromise.

Following the initial compromise, the group sought to maintain persistence on the network by installing a pair of malware strains – TouchHub and TouchShift – leveraging DLL side‑loading under the name mscoree.dll. TouchHub was deployed by the first instance of TechHub. It then used DLL side-loading to launch TouchShift, which led to the in‑memory execution of another TechHub instance. After launching the second time, TechHub deployed another pair, ClientHub and LPEClient, rather than executing Cubridge directly. Only minimal traces of these files were found on disk; the remainder of the malicious code persisted exclusively in memory.

Since Cubridge remains only in memory at the initial compromise stage, we suspect the group designed this indirect, multistage chain to deliberately redeploy Cubridge after gaining persistence, as it serves as the most sophisticated orchestrator of the attack.

Malware set

The full chain comprises advanced variants of the known Lazarus malware strains, including TechHub, Cubridge, TouchShift, LPEClient, and the newly identified TouchHub and ClientHub.

TechHub – the start of the chain

TechHub, a downloader that plays a central role in this attack, communicates with GitHub using a Personal Access Token (PAT). It serves as the initial payload, providing the top of the chain with sufficient functionality to profile compromised hosts and facilitate subsequent payloads.

This variant is a more advanced version of the malware named CLOUDBURST by Mandiant and NickelLoader by ESET. According to their reports, the earlier version communicated with a C2 server via HTTP(S) to fetch additional payloads. The latest iteration we found, however, communicates with GitHub instead and has updated command strings.

We identified three variants of TechHub in the chain: an in‑memory version, a simple DLL side‑loading version, and a DLL side‑loading version that uses a registered Windows service. Depending on which stage loads the malware, it contacts a private GitHub repository via the GitHub API using either hard‑coded credentials or credentials retrieved from its configuration file.

When TechHub loads, it creates a 4‑byte hexadecimal identifier (ID) in the range 0x1000–0xFFFF or reads one from the configuration file, enabling the attackers to distinguish between compromised hosts. TechHub then checks a GitHub issue by sending the request GET /issues?state=[open/closed] to determine whether any previous communication remains active and removes any traces of it if found. It then proceeds with the handshaking process.

1. It creates a new issue titled 1[ID] with the body “hel” using the POST /issues request, and sets its status to open.
2. It then retrieves a file from the repository containing the 2[ID] value in its name. This file contains the RSA public key.
3. It generates a random 16‑byte XOR key, encrypts it with the provided RSA public key, and uploads the result, prefixed with 1[ID], to the repository.
4. The hard‑coded IV is XORed with the generated 16‑byte key and then used after the handshake.

During file exchange, filenames follow the pattern [1|2][ID][random-16-byte-key] throughout communication. The “2” prefix indicates delivery from the repository to TechHub, while “1” indicates delivery from TechHub to the repository. The random 16‑byte key in the filename is used for AES encryption or decryption of each file’s contents, employing either a hard‑coded IV or an updated IV.

After the key exchange is complete, TechHub reads a file with the prefix “2” once again and verifies that the delivered data equals “hel”. If the check passes, TechHub gathers extensive information from the infected host. This data is then encrypted and sent to the repository. After transmitting the device information, the process concludes by updating the body of the previously created issue from “hel” to “hey” using PATCH /issues/[issue number]. The malware is now fully prepared to receive commands from the repository.

TechHub supports four commands. The laeca command deploys a payload packaged in shellcode that reflectively loads the embedded payload directly into memory.

Command	Description
mqdrz	Collect information about the device and its running processes
laeca	Directly invoke the received shellcode in memory
aqvxp	Terminate the current process
rtcya	Beaconing after finishing the handshake process

Cubridge – the framework orchestrator

Cubridge, deployed via TechHub on the compromised host, is capable of retrieving various payloads through multiple methods. It serves as the central orchestrator of the entire malware framework, supporting a range of plugins, modules, and tools. An earlier version of Cubridge was also disclosed in the reports covering the previous version of TechHub. In those reports, Mandiant identified it as SIDESHOW, and ESET identified one of its modules as LightlessCan.

To establish communication with the C2 server, Cubridge randomly selects one of the predefined C2 servers and constructs a dedicated C2 URL for every request, using the pattern [C2_URL]/[page1]/[page2]/[page3]. This is achieved by concatenating terms from predefined word lists. Our analysis identified a single hardcoded C2 server – hxxps://cubedesign[.]co[.]kr/news/AABBCC – associated with the examined instance that is configured to version 5.1. During URL generation, AABBCC is substituted with a null value. The page3 segment is assigned a randomly generated integer between 10000000 and 99999999. Consequently, each generated URL is designed to appear authentic and remain unique for each request.

The predefined list for page1 is shown below. TechHub randomly selects one item from the list.

economy, opinion, politics, national, international, medical, investment, sports, lifestyle, shopping, culture

The predefined word list for page2 is shown below.

article, list, story

This means the hardcoded URL can later be transformed, for example, into hxxps://cubedesign[.]co[.]kr/news/economy/article/12345678 by following the steps described above.

Authentication using the POST request with the C2 server requires three parameters in the form of key‑value pairs. Each key is randomly generated using a different predefined word dictionary, and the associated values consist of a randomly generated 8‑byte hexadecimal bot ID, a fixed authentication token (KW4Ofw982CNJjxd51AVqkGAop), and a randomly generated 16‑byte hexadecimal session ID.

Cubridge employs a more robust handshaking process than TechHub, combining the RSA and RC6 algorithms. Unlike TechHub, it skips the profiling step and proceeds directly to command and control after the handshake. During communication, the malware mimics browser requests, using X‑CSRF‑Token and X‑Requested‑With headers for authentication and the Upgrade‑Insecure‑Requests header to request additional data.

Cubridge contains extensive functionality, with a particular focus on loading subsequent‑stage payloads. The commands employ various techniques, such as DLL injection, reflective loading, and section‑mapping injection. The payloads may be delivered in various forms:

• Plugins – reusable extensions that add functionality as needed and can be invoked at any time (in shellcode and DLL form);
• Tools (in DLL form) – independent utilities that perform one-off tasks;
• Modules – components that are loaded once and remain active providing an extended set of functionalities.

It is anticipated that the commands for plugins and shellcode will load identical types of plugins because both support a similarly formed exported function for subsequent activity. The shellcode can be generated using the open‑source sRDI tool to package a DLL‑style plugin. The capabilities of a single DLL are likely utilized to load a tool that works independently because when a single DLL is loaded, only its DllMain entry point and its parameters are accessible; no other exported functions are exposed.

Command	Payload type	Description
0	–	Collect device info including the computer name, time zone, PID, and other similar details
1		Archive the specified file/directory using the legacy ZipCrypto algorithm and the hard‑coded password: xdkiTajAAxc3i/w[<881fnC!G*cb1Dit2sh.gAk/
2		Create a file at the specified path
3	Possibly plugin	Inject the provided DLL payload into the target process and load it reflectively using reflective DLL injection
4	Plugin	Reflectively load a plugin in DLL format
5		Retrieve the address of the specified exported function from the target plugin and run it with the provided parameters
6		Retrieve all information about the loaded plugins
7		Unload the specified plugin
8	Shellcode	Inject the provided shellcode into the target process and load it using section mapping injection
9		Load the provided shellcode directly into memory
10		Retrieve the address of the specified export function from the target shellcode (likely a plugin in shellcode form) and run it with the provided parameter
11		Retrieve all information about the loaded shellcode
12		Unload the specified shellcode
13	–	Set the scheduled Cubridge execution time (in minutes) by updating a global variable
14		Set the scheduled Cubridge execution time (in minutes) by updating a global variable, while disabling monitoring by also updating another global variable
15		Terminate in a controlled manner
16		Get the configuration for Cubridge: retrieve the global flags, the number of C2 servers, the C2 addresses, etc.
17		Update the global flags, the number of C2 servers, the C2 addresses, etc.
18	Tool	Load a DLL reflectively with the specified parameter
19		Configure the parameters for loading a single DLL
20		Unload the single DLL
21	Module	Load the “action module” (ActionModule.dll) reflectively and invoke its AppinfoView export function
22		Load the “function module” (FunctionModule.dll) reflectively and invoke its PresentationFontConfig export function

Commands 21 and 22 each load a different module. As their internal names imply, the action module manages basic file and process operations, while the function module implements Windows’ default commands. The action module covers commands 23–41, and the function module handles commands 42–79.

The action module handles system operation commands, file system interactions, and process behavior. It is invoked by passing the appropriate command and parameters to its AppinfoView export function. The module supports 19 commands, numbered 23 through 41. Execution results are first sent to Cubridge, which then forwards them to the C2 server.

Command	Role
23	Get local disk space for each drive
24	Get information about the specified file or directory
25	Execute the provided command
26	Get information about the specified file or directory (similar to command 24)
27	Execute the provided command under the target process (PPID spoofing)
28	Execute the provided command under the target process within the provided session (PPID spoofing + session impersonation)
29	Get detailed information about processes
30	Terminate the provided process
31	Suspend all threads belonging to the specified process
32	Resume all threads belonging to the specified process
33	Permanently delete the file by overwriting its entire contents with the sequence: 0 → 1 → random bytes → 1 → 0
34	Rename the provided file to :EFS (the alternate data stream area) and delete it using the native API SetFileInformationByHandle
35	Set the current working directory
36	Copy the specified file to the provided path
37	Delete the specified directory
38	Move the specified file to the provided path
39	Create the provided directory
40	Initiate a non‑blocking connection attempt to the specified IP address and port (possibly for port scanning)
41	Read the specified file

The function module implements commands that emulate Windows’ built-in commands. Similar to the action module, its DllMain routine initializes all supported command functions, which are later accessed through the PresentationFontConfig export. Altogether, the module offers 38 commands, numbered from 42 to 79. While we believe this module is based on the previous LightlessCan, this is the first time we’ve seen it in the form of a separate module.

Command	Role
42	Capture all displays and archive them using the legacy ZipCrypto algorithm with the hard‑coded password: xdkiTajAAxc3i/w[<881fnC!G*cb1Dit2sh.gAk/
43	Synchronize the MAC (Modified, Accessed, and Created) times of the file provided in the second argument to match those of the file provided as the first argument
44	Get information about the specified directory
45	Get information about the specified drive
46	Inject the provided DLL payload into the target process
47	Unload the specified DLL from the specified process
48	Implementation of the ipconfig command
49	Implementation of the net command
50	Implementation of the netsh advfirewall firewall command
51	Implementation of the netstat command
52	Implementation of the ping -6 command
53	Implementation of the reg command
54	Implementation of the sc command
55	Implementation of the ping command
56	Implementation of the whoami command
57	Implementation of the nslookup command
58	Implementation of the schtasks command
59	Implementation of the systeminfo command
60	Implementation of the arp command
61	Call the CryptUnprotectData function to retrieve the AES key that DPAPI protects. Extract the key using the encrypted_key keyword from Chromium’s Local State file located at: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Local State
62	Not implemented
63	Not implemented
64	Read the specified file and decrypt it using an XOR operation with the key 0x59. Then extract the paths from the decrypted buffer and archive files and directories at these paths with the legacy ZipCrypto algorithm, using the hard‑coded password: xdkiTajAAxc3i/w[<881fnC!G*cb1Dit2sh.gAk/
65 ~ 79	Not implemented

Besides the modules, we also observed that the actor deployed various plugins and tools.

Type of payload	Name	Description
Plugin	ADFinder (AdFinder.dll)	Launches LDAP queries in an Active Directory environment, taking six arguments such as log file path, ADsPath, search filter, and attribute names
Plugin	FileCollector (Dll.dll)	Recursively scans every subdirectory and file in the provided directory, gathering detailed information about each
Tool	Browser stealer	Can be injected into Chromium-based browsers, such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Brave. Once injected, it extracts files and credentials from the victim’s browsers, including stored passwords, bookmarks, history, preferences, and cookies
Tool	Process collector	Iterates over all running processes, collecting each process’s ID, path, and command line

TouchHub installs a service for TouchShift

During our analysis, we obtained a previously unknown malware sample from TechHub’s private GitHub repository, which served as a parent installer for TouchShift. We dubbed this malware TouchHub. Upon execution, it copies the legitimate printfilterpipelinesvc.exe to C:\Windows\System32\RasConv\ImeBroker.exe, registers it as a service, and places an embedded TouchShift payload named mscoree.dll in the same directory. Following creation, the malware synchronizes the MAC timestamps of C:\Windows\System32\drivers\monitor.sys with those of the newly written file, hindering forensic analysis.

It then goes through the service registration process by collecting up to 100 legitimate service names that are registered under the netsvcs svchost group in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Svchost. It randomly selects one of these names, appends two random alphabetic characters to form a new service name, and uses this name to create a service that runs the hard‑coded command line C:\Windows\System32\RasConv\ImeBroker.exe -TimeBroker with the description Microsoft Service. The newly created service is started immediately.
Overall, TouchHub creates three files in the designated directory to launch TouchShift with SYSTEM privileges.

Path	Type	Description
C:\Windows\System32\RasConv\ImeBroker.exe	Executable file registered as a service	Copied from C:\Windows\System32\printfilterpipelinesvc.exe
C:\Windows\System32\RasConv\mscoree.dll	Side-loaded TouchShift payload	Dropped by TouchHub. It contains encrypted payloads and includes portions of a legitimate DLL’s contents, which significantly inflates its size
C:\Windows\System32\RasConv\ActivationStore.dat	TechHub’s configuration file	Dropped by TouchHub after extracting configuration values

TouchShift, a prevalent loader employed across multiple infection chains

The version of TouchShift dropped by TouchHub is almost identical to the version described in Mandiant’s blog post, even sharing the same malicious export function, LockClrVersion. It takes the argument supplied by TouchHub and XORs it with a hard‑coded key. The resulting value is XORed once more with the executable’s filename, and this result is used as the AES key. All strings involved in this process (the argument, the XOR key, the filename) must be exactly 16 bytes long. If a string is shorter, it is padded with NULL bytes (\x00); if it is longer, it is truncated to 16 characters. For example, one of the string combinations in the obtained sample was:

• Argument: -TimeBroker\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00 (padded with NULL)
• Hard-coded XOR key: x809G736iC3f8Wp8
• Executable filename: ImeBroker.exe\x00\x00\x00 (padded with NULL)

After deriving the key, the malware decrypts the embedded payload using AES‑CBC‑128 without padding. The decrypted data is shellcode that starts with a call instruction. It wraps the next‑stage payload – identified as the third version of TechHub (DLL side-loading with a registered service) – that reads the ActivationStore.dat file as an external configuration.

ClientHub

We also identified a new piece of malware stored in TechHub’s private repository, which we named ClientHub. It supports various commands formed using a bitmask. There are at least two versions of ClientHub: one that communicates with websites via HTTP(S) and one that interacts with the Dropbox API using credentials.

Depending on the version, its configuration is sourced from internal resources or the external configuration file C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\msadc\msadc.inc. The configuration comprises keys and IVs for the SNOW 1.0 algorithm, scheduled execution times, and C2 server addresses encrypted with the SNOW stream cipher. The SNOW cipher is a family of high‑speed stream ciphers used for secure data encryption in telecommunications and wireless networks. This is the first time it has been observed in the malware of the Lazarus Group.

To establish C2 communication, the malware initially generates a 32‑byte random array. It subsequently overwrites portions of this array with data collected from the compromised device. The resulting 32‑byte array comprises a blend of random bytes and relevant information. This array is later used as the key for the SNOW algorithm to decrypt data received from the C2 server. Finally, the key array is encrypted with a hard‑coded RSA public key and encoded in Base64.

Offset	Size	Field value
0	4	Current process ID
4	4	First four bytes of the decrypted C2 server information.
8	7	Randomly generated bytes
15	1	Calculated flag value that indicates a state machine.
16	8	Current system time, represented as a FILETIME structure.
24	8	Randomly generated bytes

The ciphertext is delivered to the C2 server via GET requests. Each request contains headers that are atypical for malware: Sec-CH-UA, Sec-CH-UA-Platform, Sec-CH-UA-Mobile, Sec-Fetch-Mode, and Sec-Fetch-Dest. These headers are normally used by legitimate Chromium‑based browsers and enable malware to imitate legitimate traffic and evade detection. The C2 server replies with commands in a custom header and message body.

struct header
{
  int has_more_data // whether more body data remains 
  int body_checksum;// ROR13 checksum for the body data
  int body_type;    // specifies the body type
  int unknown;
  int body_length;  // Length of the body data
  int IV[2];        // Random IV used to encrypt the body data
};

The body_type field in the header determines how the subsequent payload is processed. This value functions as a bitmask, with each bit representing a distinct flag (e.g., 0x1, 0x2, 0x4, etc.). The resulting behavior also depends on whether the least‑significant bit (bit 0) is set: when the value is odd, the malware interprets the incoming message body as an additional payload that is subsequently loaded into memory. Conversely, when the value is even, the malware invokes the previously loaded payload.

The odd value supports four distinct loading methods based on the received message body and ensures that each method executes only once.

Bitmask	Value in decimal	Description	Result sent to the C2
0x00000001	1	DLL loading: load the received body reflectively along with the provided parameter	The payload’s image base
0x00000011	3	Plugin: load the received body reflectively, obtain the address of a function in the payload, and then invoke that function along with the provided parameter	The payload’s image base, the address of the invoked function, and the execution result
0x00000101	5	Plugin: load the received body reflectively, obtain the address of a function in the payload, but refrain from invoking it immediately	The payload’s image base, the address of the function
0x00001011	11	Plugin: execute the behavior associated with value 3, then unload immediately after invoking the plugin	–
0x00010001	17	DLL loading: load the received body reflectively with the provided parameter, maintaining stateful communication via a persistent interactive session using a shared buffer	The payload’s image base, the address of the interactive shared buffer, and the execution result

The even value provides two distinct invocation methods for DLLs and plugins that have already been loaded and are associated with the odd‑value bitmask. The 2 (0x10) flag allows the payload previously loaded with the 1, 3, or 5 bitmask to be reused and invoked directly. The value 16 (0x10000) corresponds to the 17 (0x10001) flag in loading mode and uses the established interactive shared buffer to exchange data. All values are guaranteed to act independently.

Bitmask	Value in decimal	Description	Result sent to the C2
0x00000010	2	Invoke the previously loaded DLLs and plugins along with the provided parameter	The execution result
0x00000100	4	Not implemented	–
0x00001000	8	Unload the previously loaded DLLs and plugins	The execution result
0x00010000	16	Send the updated parameter to the payload loaded by the command with the value 17, and exchange data through the interactive session. This command also determines whether to retrieve the execution result or unload the payload	The execution result

Taking into account the loading mechanism, we identified four plugins deployed to the target that work perfectly with ClientHub.

Plugin	Description
File archiver	Archives the provided file using the legacy ZipCrypto algorithm (without password protection) and returns the compressed data
File collector	Searches for all files matching the provided search pattern and collects metadata including filename, MAC timestamps, file size, and attribute values
File cleaner	Overwrites the provided file with NULL bytes, renames it to a randomly generated filename of the same length, and then deletes it. If a directory with a search pattern is provided, it locates all matching files, renames each to a randomly generated name of identical length to its original name, and deletes them
Drive and session monitor	Monitors remote session changes and local drive changes for the provided duration (in 10-minute intervals) and returns the collected status information

In addition to the plugins, ClientHub supports the loading of LPEClient malware and communication with it. We found that ClientHub’s body_type values 16 and 17 correspond to LPEClient’s C2 communication mechanism.

LPEClient

LPEClient is the only malware that was also observed in Operation SyncHole, indicating that the actor relies heavily on it for sophisticated victim profiling and payload delivery across multiple operations. LPEClient first appeared in 2019, and was discovered in 2020. Since then, the tool has been widely observed in the Dream Job and Cascade Hole campaigns that targeted South Korea. Recent research conducted by Check Point revealed that LPEClient was used to deploy the FudModule malware using a zero-day.

LPEClient has evolved continuously over time, but we discovered that it recently underwent a major operational revamp. It no longer contains the C2 server address itself; instead, it interacts with ClientHub via a shared buffer. We believe this change is intended to enhance concealment.

The previous version collected the computer name, memory status, CPU specifications, operating system details, version of the ntoskrnl.exe file, firmware table, antivirus name, domain name, user name, the integrity level of the current process, and a random byte sequence of 1,568 bytes. The newly updated LPEClient variant mostly collects the same information; however, it also introduces several changes.

• It does not collect the version of the ntoskrnl.exe file by querying the FileVersion value. Instead, depending on the specific build, it reads either the HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\UBR registry key or the SYSTEM_BUILD_VERSION_INFORMATION structure to retrieve the revision portion of the Windows build number. These values can be used to infer the system’s cumulative update or patch level.
• To collect information about installed antivirus products, it switched from querying a WQL command to reading the WMI repository file directly. It now reads C:\Windows\System32\wbem\Repository\OBJECTS.DATA and searches for keywords such as AntiVirusProduct, companyName, and displayName to identify the installed products.
• It also collects low‑level Windows security mitigation states. To achieve this, it queries the SYSTEM_KERNEL_VA_SHADOW_INFORMATION structure for the Kernel VA Shadow mitigation status and the SYSTEM_SHADOW_STACK_INFORMATION structure for the Shadow Stack (CET) protection status.

Additionally, it generates a 32‑byte random unique identifier by using the HighwayHash algorithm and an XOR operation with the current system time. The collected information, including the generated identifier, is compressed with the XPRESS Huffman algorithm using the maximum compression setting. The compressed data is then concatenated with the message ID 0xF07D6B34 and encrypted using GOST (also known as Magma), Russia’s national cryptographic standard that employs a DES‑like structure, before being sent to the ClientHub via a shared buffer. Initially, KrCERT described the algorithm as a custom DES‑like scheme. However, further analysis by us and Check Point confirmed that it is actually the GOST algorithm. The key is randomly generated by a proprietary key‑generation algorithm and prepended to the encrypted message.

The next request handles the key exchange by delivering the message ID 0xA39CF278 together with the generated unique identifier. The response is decrypted using the AES‑CBC‑256 algorithm. The SHA‑256 hash of the previously generated 1,568‑byte random value, which was originally sent to the C2 server during the collection phase, serves as the key for this decryption.

Through this process, LPEClient obtains a byte array comprising four 1,568‑byte blocks from the C2 response. Each block contains an ML‑KEM‑1024 public key, where ML‑KEM is a NIST‑standardized post‑quantum key encapsulation mechanism derived from CRYSTALS‑Kyber. LPEClient then generates four distinct pairs of shared keys and ciphertexts from these blocks, encrypts the ciphertexts with the GOST algorithm, and transmits them to the C2 server via ClientHub together with the message identifier 0xEF8C0D51 and the associated identifier. Now that the preparation phase for receiving payloads is complete, the malware is ready to receive payloads forwarded by ClientHub from the C2 server, along with the necessary parameters. The use of post-quantum cryptography shows that the group intends to hide subsequent payloads.

The response to the 0xEF8C0D51 message is decrypted with the Threefish algorithm using a 128-byte key, composed of the four distinct shared keys. Threefish is a tweakable block cipher that accepts a ‘tweak’ value alongside the key and the message. The concept of a tweak is similar to that of a nonce or initialization vector, which are used in different types of ciphers. In LPEClient communication, the tweak for the decryption is derived by XORing the unique identifier with 165 (0xA5). The first four bytes of the decrypted message must specify the parameter’s length, followed by the parameter itself and then the payload. The payload must be larger than 4 KB and start with the characters 'MZ', which indicates that the decrypted payload is an executable file. The payload is then reflectively loaded into memory. After successful loading, LPEClient sends the message ID 0xCB790A25 to the C2 server.

Before loading the acquired payload, LPEClient takes measures to bypass security products. Instead of invoking VirtualProtect directly, the malware uses the identified HeapPageAllocator::ProtectPages in jscript9.dll to modify the memory page protection of the MD4Update function. The beginning of the function is then overwritten with a hard‑coded opcode sequence that serves as a syscall stub with the required arguments. LPEClient then uses the syscall stub to disable a user‑mode syscall instrumentation hook.

We identified the final payload that was ultimately loaded as Cubridge. The overall communication process is as follows.

Comparison of plugins and modules

Throughout the engagement, we identified a variety of payloads deployed by TechHub, Cubridge, and ClientHub. These payloads have been categorized as tools, plugins, and modules that constitute the group’s modular malware framework. While we have not yet ascertained which payloads are deployed under specific conditions, the evidence suggests that the Lazarus Group’s toolkit is becoming increasingly sophisticated and segmented into specialized components rather than a single comprehensive backdoor. We also believe that TechHub and Cubridge may share similar tools.

Deployed via	Type of payload	Family
TechHub/Cubridge	Tool	Process collector, Browser stealer
Cubridge	Module	Action module, Function module
Cubridge	Plugin	ADFinder, FileCollector
ClientHub	Plugin	File archiver, File collector, File cleaner, Drive/session monitor

These modularizations are not confined to the instances within this campaign. As previously noted, similar patterns have been identified in CookiePlus, MISTPEN, SIGNBT, and IMETHOD. Note that we have reclassified the ThreatNeedle variant used in Operation SyncHole as the latest version of IMETHOD, the predecessor of ThreatNeedle in use since at least 2016.

Infrastructure

Based on the information we obtained from the TechHub malware, we identified at least three primary repositories used as the C2 server and one fallback repository. The earliest evidence indicates that the group has been leveraging GitHub as a C2 server since at least July 2025. We suspect that all the accounts were created using hijacked email accounts, and disguised as normal repositories by copying or creating normal projects to avoid suspicion.

For the Cubridge and ClientHub C2 servers, the Lazarus Group employed only a minimal number of compromised yet legitimate South Korean media and interior design websites. Later, we observed that a broader range of compromised legitimate sites across various industries were also exploited. In addition, one ClientHub sample that we detected used Dropbox as a C2 channel.

Victims

We have identified at least three firms from the software, construction, and wired communication equipment industries in South Korea that were targeted by Operation FlashHole. As with the previous operation, however, we remain confident that a considerably larger number of organizations across a broader spectrum of industries have been affected.

The software sector was the only sector targeted in both the SyncHole and FlashHole campaigns. This suggests the actor is eager to compromise the sector, steal source code, and exploit vulnerabilities for further attacks.

Attribution and links to other campaigns

Operation FlashHole is the latest wave in the broader Cascade Hole campaign, which involves the use of South Korean software as a potential entry point to deliver malware targeting the country. Although the malware chain has advanced significantly since last year, we assess with medium-to-high confidence that the same actor is responsible for both the SyncHole and FlashHole operations based on the initial vector, targets, multi‑stage chain, and technical and operational improvements. The use of LPEClient in particular is a strong indicator supporting this assessment.

The malware strains used in the attack are historically linked to the toolsets observed in the Lazarus Group’s notorious Dream Job campaign. Earlier versions of TechHub (also known as CLOUDBURST and NickelLoader), Cubridge (also known as SIDESHOW and LightlessCan), and TouchShift were all observed in that campaign, especially between 2022 and 2023.

We also discovered that both CookiePlus and ClientHub have significant overlaps in class name, configuration path, and plugins. Based on these similarities, we assess with medium‑high confidence that ClientHub is an advanced version of CookiePlus.

Since July, around the time Operation SyncHole began winding down, we have also observed several notable attacks against South Korea employing the COPPERHEDGE backdoor and targeting various South Korean organizations. Interestingly, the start times of these activities align with the earliest evidence we have identified for Operation FlashHole. Although the backdoor was part of the second phase of Operation SyncHole, it has been operating independently with its custom loader since then. These incidents featured malware chains and tools that were distinct from those used in Operation SyncHole and FlashHole.

As AhnLab noted in their report, the same backdoor was likely observed in atypical activity, specifically the Gunra ransomware infection. Our investigation further revealed that one instance of a backdoor infection ultimately resulted in the exfiltration of data to a dark web leak site, which clearly differed from Gunra’s. The site appears to have been crafted exclusively for this activity. In summary, unlike other attacks, the backdoor was used in conjunction with both ransomware and data exfiltration.

Another noteworthy point is that the recent Dream Job campaign employs an updated malware chain that, since around 2024, has primarily involved MISTPEN and ForestTiger rather than the earlier arsenal that included tools such as TechHub and Cubridge. However, the updated versions of this older malware have now re-emerged as part of Operation FlashHole. Considering these changes and all aspects of each attack’s TTPs, we have organized a classification for each attack.

Conclusion

Our analysis shows that the Lazarus Group begins preparing for its next operation shortly after completing the previous one, ultimately deploying an enhanced malware chain by refining existing tools. The group continues to use the advanced version of LPEClient for profiling and payload delivery, indicating that the tool is meticulously managed and well maintained. Ironically, the group seems to have adopted more secure post-quantum cryptography faster than many legitimate security products. These observations suggest the involvement of a dedicated developer, with others orchestrating comprehensive attack scenarios against newly targeted software.

We anticipated that specialized attacks targeting South Korea would persist. However, we did not foresee multiple attack campaigns being executed simultaneously, each leveraging different types of software and tools. Notably, the COPPERHEDGE cluster appears to be involved in monetizing the attacks, while Operation FlashHole is focused on espionage. We are closely monitoring these changes to understand their motivations and ultimate goals.
In October 2025, the South Korean government unveiled a comprehensive cybersecurity plan that will phase out the mandatory installation of security software for users beginning in 2026. We estimate that operations exploiting this software will remain highly active for some time, maximizing efficiency, before the software is fully eliminated or mitigated.

Kaspersky products detect the exploits and malware used in this attack with the following verdicts: MEM:Trojan.Win64.Shellcode.gen, Trojan.Win64.DLLhijack.*, Trojan.Win64.Lazarus.*.

Indicators of compromise

File hashes

TouchShift
ec84d6cb2ae7974767aedac246b50a3e             mscoree.dll
a28cba214058fcae2883d8cffc883abd                mscoree.dll
c105d6b16f544582772de0159f24c00a               mscoree.dll
2f8475a90a25624ed02f1d18d4e6d65d              mscoree.dll
676fabe30a28b53925fba98e34b35986              mscoree.dll
b4a7eff35f048f06fb0a2d7631f23a7d                  mscoree.dll

ClientHub Loader
ff07641dc56914dd90ee0bd7404d7ad7               liblzma.dll

File paths

C:\ProgramData\Package.txt
C:\ProgramData\RasConv\mscoree.dll
C:\ProgramData\Apple\mscoree.dll
C:\ProgramData\ssh\mscoree.dll
C:\ProgramData\qorestor\mscoree.dll
C:\ProgramData\Dell\mscoree.dll
C:\ProgramData\Dell\Dell1.tmp
C:\ProgramData\Dell\Dell3.tmp
C:\Windows\System32\RasConv\mscoree.dll
C:\Windows\System32\RasConv\ActivationStore.dat
C:\Windows\System32\DrvConh\mscoree.dll
C:\Windows\System32\DrvConh\ActivationStore.dat
C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\msadc\msadc.inc
C:\ProgramData\desktops.ini

C2 servers

javadevhouse.co[.]kr
pythonapischool[.]com
hxxps://cubedesign[.]co[.]kr/news            C2 of Cubridge
hxxps://cubedesign[.]co[.]kr/mobile/fashion            C2 of Cubridge
hxxps://fp-news[.]co[.]kr/shop/cart                                C2 of Cubridge
hxxps://k-wbc[.]co[.]kr/skin/social/social_view.php         C2 of ClientHub
hxxps://rcsh[.]co[.]kr/modules/bbs/tiles/bbs_div/inputForm.php    C2 of ClientHub
hxxps://www[.]ksog[.]org/insert_file/handle.php                   C2 of ClientHub

In January, we responded to the Lazarus Group’s novel attack campaign against South Korea, which followed last year’s Operation SyncHole. In this new operation, the group employed an updated malware chain that included both their old and new malware, which we disclosed in full, and used another mandatory South Korean security software program as a part of infection chain using a watering‑hole strategy. Notably, the group targeted victims more selectively, sending spear‑phishing emails with links to fabricated but relevant sites, such as portfolio and résumé pages tailored to each target. We dubbed this activity Operation FlashHole.

Our examination reveals that the earliest evidence of this new operation dates back to July 2025. This suggests the group began preparing for the campaign shortly after ending Operation SyncHole, which lasted at least four months. We identified a minimum of three organizations impacted by the campaign in South Korea’s software, construction, and wired communication equipment manufacturing sectors. These sectors differ from those affected by Operation SyncHole, indicating that the group has expanded its target scope over time.

Background

After more than a year since the first observation of Operation SyncHole, we detected a suspicious execution chain originating from legitimate South Korean software. This chain mirrors the one from the previous operation; however, this time, the attacker abused CrossWeb EX instead of Cross EX, which was abused in Operation SyncHole. Both applications appear to be maintained by the same vendor, and both are related to financial security. CrossWeb EX is a financial security solution that is required to access widely used online banking and government websites. It encrypts communications between the user’s browser and the web server using public key infrastructure (PKI). This is not the first time Lazarus has abused this software. It was also used in 2021 to deploy the Racket downloader and again in 2022 and 2023. Although the exact method by which CrossWeb EX was abused remains unclear, we determined that the attack chain ultimately leads to the execution of the malware in memory.

We noted that the spawned process was running with a high integrity level. The parent process, INISAFECrossWebEXSvc.exe, originates from the installation bundle of INISAFE CrossWeb EX V3 version 3.4.1.2, released in 2023 after KrCERT’s public advisory.

As we already mentioned in our SyncHole blog post, this pattern closely mirrors the long‑standing strategy employed by the Lazarus Group to target South Korea. Since CrossWeb EX and similar software is mandatory for South Korean users and typically runs in the background to interact with the browser, it has been leveraged as a critical attack vector by the group. In 2025, a paper was presented at the USENIX Security Symposium that investigated vulnerabilities in South Korea’s mandatory security software and demonstrated how such software can unintentionally create a massive attack surface.

In July 2026, the South Korean government and several local security vendors also published a joint security advisory covering typical Lazarus attack techniques, including exploitation of financial security software. While this advisory overlaps with our findings from Operation FlashHole and Operation SyncHole, and AhnLab’s detailed analysis report Operation Double Barrel covers a wide range of recent Lazarus Group activities, we are conducting a more granular classification based on their TTPs. We will discuss this further in the attribution section.

Initial infection vector

Although we could not precisely determine what triggered the infection chain, our analysis uncovered a suspicious website hosted on GitHub Pages that is associated with the GitHub account used as the C2 channel. The GitHub account was created last September, and the initial version of the site was designed to showcase the résumé of a senior network appliance developer. In January, however, this site was replaced with another featuring an interior design showcase. The first site was likely accessed by an employee of a wired communication manufacturing company, while the second site likely affected a target in the construction sector.

The first site with the résumé had a photograph supposedly of a job seeker, but the lack of EXIF metadata and the unnatural texture of the image indicate that it was generated by AI. This suggests the Lazarus Group has incorporated AI into its long‑standing strategy, like other Korean‑speaking threat actors (1, 2). The group most likely also used AI to create the lure site: the job seeker’s name resembles the Korean version of “John Doe,” and the portfolio was populated with seemingly meaningless details and random companies. The generated site was then manually tailored to specific targets.

The websites contained embedded links that loaded an external JavaScript file via a script tag.

• Malicious link embedded in the résumé site: hxxps://javadevhouse.co[.]kr/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.3/jquery.min.js
• Malicious link embedded in interior design site: hxxps://pythonapischool[.]com/api/detach

Based on the analysis, we assess with medium-to-high confidence that the targets received phishing emails containing links to the malicious site hosted on GitHub Pages (using the domain <username>.github.io). The research results showed a high possibility that visiting the malicious site initiated an infection process involving CrossWeb EX software. This assessment aligns with Lazarus’s recent approach, as detailed in the joint advisory published by the South Korean government and security companies.

Full infection chain

Following the initial compromise, the legitimate Windows binary fsquirt.exe was executed under the CrossWeb EX process and injected with shellcode containing a malicious DLL – TechHub malware. From our extensive and thorough examination, we identified several malicious payloads and reconstructed the complete infection chain. The infection chain is rather complex and reveals the Lazarus Group’s advanced operational techniques on targeted hosts. These techniques conceal their malicious payloads, intent and their sophisticated malware delivery framework. The latter was updated extensively compared to the previous campaign, despite the new operation starting less than a year later. Significantly, the execution chain below exists only in memory during the initial infiltration, highlighting the attackers’ considerable efforts to hide the initial compromise.

Following the initial compromise, the group sought to maintain persistence on the network by installing a pair of malware strains – TouchHub and TouchShift – leveraging DLL side‑loading under the name mscoree.dll. TouchHub was deployed by the first instance of TechHub. It then used DLL side-loading to launch TouchShift, which led to the in‑memory execution of another TechHub instance. After launching the second time, TechHub deployed another pair, ClientHub and LPEClient, rather than executing Cubridge directly. Only minimal traces of these files were found on disk; the remainder of the malicious code persisted exclusively in memory.

Since Cubridge remains only in memory at the initial compromise stage, we suspect the group designed this indirect, multistage chain to deliberately redeploy Cubridge after gaining persistence, as it serves as the most sophisticated orchestrator of the attack.

Malware set

The full chain comprises advanced variants of the known Lazarus malware strains, including TechHub, Cubridge, TouchShift, LPEClient, and the newly identified TouchHub and ClientHub.

TechHub – the start of the chain

TechHub, a downloader that plays a central role in this attack, communicates with GitHub using a Personal Access Token (PAT). It serves as the initial payload, providing the top of the chain with sufficient functionality to profile compromised hosts and facilitate subsequent payloads.

This variant is a more advanced version of the malware named CLOUDBURST by Mandiant and NickelLoader by ESET. According to their reports, the earlier version communicated with a C2 server via HTTP(S) to fetch additional payloads. The latest iteration we found, however, communicates with GitHub instead and has updated command strings.

We identified three variants of TechHub in the chain: an in‑memory version, a simple DLL side‑loading version, and a DLL side‑loading version that uses a registered Windows service. Depending on which stage loads the malware, it contacts a private GitHub repository via the GitHub API using either hard‑coded credentials or credentials retrieved from its configuration file.

When TechHub loads, it creates a 4‑byte hexadecimal identifier (ID) in the range 0x1000–0xFFFF or reads one from the configuration file, enabling the attackers to distinguish between compromised hosts. TechHub then checks a GitHub issue by sending the request GET /issues?state=[open/closed] to determine whether any previous communication remains active and removes any traces of it if found. It then proceeds with the handshaking process.

1. It creates a new issue titled 1[ID] with the body “hel” using the POST /issues request, and sets its status to open.
2. It then retrieves a file from the repository containing the 2[ID] value in its name. This file contains the RSA public key.
3. It generates a random 16‑byte XOR key, encrypts it with the provided RSA public key, and uploads the result, prefixed with 1[ID], to the repository.
4. The hard‑coded IV is XORed with the generated 16‑byte key and then used after the handshake.

During file exchange, filenames follow the pattern [1|2][ID][random-16-byte-key] throughout communication. The “2” prefix indicates delivery from the repository to TechHub, while “1” indicates delivery from TechHub to the repository. The random 16‑byte key in the filename is used for AES encryption or decryption of each file’s contents, employing either a hard‑coded IV or an updated IV.

After the key exchange is complete, TechHub reads a file with the prefix “2” once again and verifies that the delivered data equals “hel”. If the check passes, TechHub gathers extensive information from the infected host. This data is then encrypted and sent to the repository. After transmitting the device information, the process concludes by updating the body of the previously created issue from “hel” to “hey” using PATCH /issues/[issue number]. The malware is now fully prepared to receive commands from the repository.

TechHub supports four commands. The laeca command deploys a payload packaged in shellcode that reflectively loads the embedded payload directly into memory.

Command	Description
mqdrz	Collect information about the device and its running processes
laeca	Directly invoke the received shellcode in memory
aqvxp	Terminate the current process
rtcya	Beaconing after finishing the handshake process

Cubridge – the framework orchestrator

Cubridge, deployed via TechHub on the compromised host, is capable of retrieving various payloads through multiple methods. It serves as the central orchestrator of the entire malware framework, supporting a range of plugins, modules, and tools. An earlier version of Cubridge was also disclosed in the reports covering the previous version of TechHub. In those reports, Mandiant identified it as SIDESHOW, and ESET identified one of its modules as LightlessCan.

To establish communication with the C2 server, Cubridge randomly selects one of the predefined C2 servers and constructs a dedicated C2 URL for every request, using the pattern [C2_URL]/[page1]/[page2]/[page3]. This is achieved by concatenating terms from predefined word lists. Our analysis identified a single hardcoded C2 server – hxxps://cubedesign[.]co[.]kr/news/AABBCC – associated with the examined instance that is configured to version 5.1. During URL generation, AABBCC is substituted with a null value. The page3 segment is assigned a randomly generated integer between 10000000 and 99999999. Consequently, each generated URL is designed to appear authentic and remain unique for each request.

The predefined list for page1 is shown below. TechHub randomly selects one item from the list.

economy, opinion, politics, national, international, medical, investment, sports, lifestyle, shopping, culture

The predefined word list for page2 is shown below.

article, list, story

This means the hardcoded URL can later be transformed, for example, into hxxps://cubedesign[.]co[.]kr/news/economy/article/12345678 by following the steps described above.

Authentication using the POST request with the C2 server requires three parameters in the form of key‑value pairs. Each key is randomly generated using a different predefined word dictionary, and the associated values consist of a randomly generated 8‑byte hexadecimal bot ID, a fixed authentication token (KW4Ofw982CNJjxd51AVqkGAop), and a randomly generated 16‑byte hexadecimal session ID.

Cubridge employs a more robust handshaking process than TechHub, combining the RSA and RC6 algorithms. Unlike TechHub, it skips the profiling step and proceeds directly to command and control after the handshake. During communication, the malware mimics browser requests, using X‑CSRF‑Token and X‑Requested‑With headers for authentication and the Upgrade‑Insecure‑Requests header to request additional data.

Cubridge contains extensive functionality, with a particular focus on loading subsequent‑stage payloads. The commands employ various techniques, such as DLL injection, reflective loading, and section‑mapping injection. The payloads may be delivered in various forms:

• Plugins – reusable extensions that add functionality as needed and can be invoked at any time (in shellcode and DLL form);
• Tools (in DLL form) – independent utilities that perform one-off tasks;
• Modules – components that are loaded once and remain active providing an extended set of functionalities.

It is anticipated that the commands for plugins and shellcode will load identical types of plugins because both support a similarly formed exported function for subsequent activity. The shellcode can be generated using the open‑source sRDI tool to package a DLL‑style plugin. The capabilities of a single DLL are likely utilized to load a tool that works independently because when a single DLL is loaded, only its DllMain entry point and its parameters are accessible; no other exported functions are exposed.

Command	Payload type	Description
0	–	Collect device info including the computer name, time zone, PID, and other similar details
1		Archive the specified file/directory using the legacy ZipCrypto algorithm and the hard‑coded password: xdkiTajAAxc3i/w[<881fnC!G*cb1Dit2sh.gAk/
2		Create a file at the specified path
3	Possibly plugin	Inject the provided DLL payload into the target process and load it reflectively using reflective DLL injection
4	Plugin	Reflectively load a plugin in DLL format
5		Retrieve the address of the specified exported function from the target plugin and run it with the provided parameters
6		Retrieve all information about the loaded plugins
7		Unload the specified plugin
8	Shellcode	Inject the provided shellcode into the target process and load it using section mapping injection
9		Load the provided shellcode directly into memory
10		Retrieve the address of the specified export function from the target shellcode (likely a plugin in shellcode form) and run it with the provided parameter
11		Retrieve all information about the loaded shellcode
12		Unload the specified shellcode
13	–	Set the scheduled Cubridge execution time (in minutes) by updating a global variable
14		Set the scheduled Cubridge execution time (in minutes) by updating a global variable, while disabling monitoring by also updating another global variable
15		Terminate in a controlled manner
16		Get the configuration for Cubridge: retrieve the global flags, the number of C2 servers, the C2 addresses, etc.
17		Update the global flags, the number of C2 servers, the C2 addresses, etc.
18	Tool	Load a DLL reflectively with the specified parameter
19		Configure the parameters for loading a single DLL
20		Unload the single DLL
21	Module	Load the “action module” (ActionModule.dll) reflectively and invoke its AppinfoView export function
22		Load the “function module” (FunctionModule.dll) reflectively and invoke its PresentationFontConfig export function

Commands 21 and 22 each load a different module. As their internal names imply, the action module manages basic file and process operations, while the function module implements Windows’ default commands. The action module covers commands 23–41, and the function module handles commands 42–79.

The action module handles system operation commands, file system interactions, and process behavior. It is invoked by passing the appropriate command and parameters to its AppinfoView export function. The module supports 19 commands, numbered 23 through 41. Execution results are first sent to Cubridge, which then forwards them to the C2 server.

Command	Role
23	Get local disk space for each drive
24	Get information about the specified file or directory
25	Execute the provided command
26	Get information about the specified file or directory (similar to command 24)
27	Execute the provided command under the target process (PPID spoofing)
28	Execute the provided command under the target process within the provided session (PPID spoofing + session impersonation)
29	Get detailed information about processes
30	Terminate the provided process
31	Suspend all threads belonging to the specified process
32	Resume all threads belonging to the specified process
33	Permanently delete the file by overwriting its entire contents with the sequence: 0 → 1 → random bytes → 1 → 0
34	Rename the provided file to :EFS (the alternate data stream area) and delete it using the native API SetFileInformationByHandle
35	Set the current working directory
36	Copy the specified file to the provided path
37	Delete the specified directory
38	Move the specified file to the provided path
39	Create the provided directory
40	Initiate a non‑blocking connection attempt to the specified IP address and port (possibly for port scanning)
41	Read the specified file

The function module implements commands that emulate Windows’ built-in commands. Similar to the action module, its DllMain routine initializes all supported command functions, which are later accessed through the PresentationFontConfig export. Altogether, the module offers 38 commands, numbered from 42 to 79. While we believe this module is based on the previous LightlessCan, this is the first time we’ve seen it in the form of a separate module.

Command	Role
42	Capture all displays and archive them using the legacy ZipCrypto algorithm with the hard‑coded password: xdkiTajAAxc3i/w[<881fnC!G*cb1Dit2sh.gAk/
43	Synchronize the MAC (Modified, Accessed, and Created) times of the file provided in the second argument to match those of the file provided as the first argument
44	Get information about the specified directory
45	Get information about the specified drive
46	Inject the provided DLL payload into the target process
47	Unload the specified DLL from the specified process
48	Implementation of the ipconfig command
49	Implementation of the net command
50	Implementation of the netsh advfirewall firewall command
51	Implementation of the netstat command
52	Implementation of the ping -6 command
53	Implementation of the reg command
54	Implementation of the sc command
55	Implementation of the ping command
56	Implementation of the whoami command
57	Implementation of the nslookup command
58	Implementation of the schtasks command
59	Implementation of the systeminfo command
60	Implementation of the arp command
61	Call the CryptUnprotectData function to retrieve the AES key that DPAPI protects. Extract the key using the encrypted_key keyword from Chromium’s Local State file located at: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Local State
62	Not implemented
63	Not implemented
64	Read the specified file and decrypt it using an XOR operation with the key 0x59. Then extract the paths from the decrypted buffer and archive files and directories at these paths with the legacy ZipCrypto algorithm, using the hard‑coded password: xdkiTajAAxc3i/w[<881fnC!G*cb1Dit2sh.gAk/
65 ~ 79	Not implemented

Besides the modules, we also observed that the actor deployed various plugins and tools.

Type of payload	Name	Description
Plugin	ADFinder (AdFinder.dll)	Launches LDAP queries in an Active Directory environment, taking six arguments such as log file path, ADsPath, search filter, and attribute names
Plugin	FileCollector (Dll.dll)	Recursively scans every subdirectory and file in the provided directory, gathering detailed information about each
Tool	Browser stealer	Can be injected into Chromium-based browsers, such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Brave. Once injected, it extracts files and credentials from the victim’s browsers, including stored passwords, bookmarks, history, preferences, and cookies
Tool	Process collector	Iterates over all running processes, collecting each process’s ID, path, and command line

TouchHub installs a service for TouchShift

During our analysis, we obtained a previously unknown malware sample from TechHub’s private GitHub repository, which served as a parent installer for TouchShift. We dubbed this malware TouchHub. Upon execution, it copies the legitimate printfilterpipelinesvc.exe to C:\Windows\System32\RasConv\ImeBroker.exe, registers it as a service, and places an embedded TouchShift payload named mscoree.dll in the same directory. Following creation, the malware synchronizes the MAC timestamps of C:\Windows\System32\drivers\monitor.sys with those of the newly written file, hindering forensic analysis.

It then goes through the service registration process by collecting up to 100 legitimate service names that are registered under the netsvcs svchost group in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Svchost. It randomly selects one of these names, appends two random alphabetic characters to form a new service name, and uses this name to create a service that runs the hard‑coded command line C:\Windows\System32\RasConv\ImeBroker.exe -TimeBroker with the description Microsoft Service. The newly created service is started immediately.
Overall, TouchHub creates three files in the designated directory to launch TouchShift with SYSTEM privileges.

Path	Type	Description
C:\Windows\System32\RasConv\ImeBroker.exe	Executable file registered as a service	Copied from C:\Windows\System32\printfilterpipelinesvc.exe
C:\Windows\System32\RasConv\mscoree.dll	Side-loaded TouchShift payload	Dropped by TouchHub. It contains encrypted payloads and includes portions of a legitimate DLL’s contents, which significantly inflates its size
C:\Windows\System32\RasConv\ActivationStore.dat	TechHub’s configuration file	Dropped by TouchHub after extracting configuration values

TouchShift, a prevalent loader employed across multiple infection chains

The version of TouchShift dropped by TouchHub is almost identical to the version described in Mandiant’s blog post, even sharing the same malicious export function, LockClrVersion. It takes the argument supplied by TouchHub and XORs it with a hard‑coded key. The resulting value is XORed once more with the executable’s filename, and this result is used as the AES key. All strings involved in this process (the argument, the XOR key, the filename) must be exactly 16 bytes long. If a string is shorter, it is padded with NULL bytes (\x00); if it is longer, it is truncated to 16 characters. For example, one of the string combinations in the obtained sample was:

• Argument: -TimeBroker\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00 (padded with NULL)
• Hard-coded XOR key: x809G736iC3f8Wp8
• Executable filename: ImeBroker.exe\x00\x00\x00 (padded with NULL)

After deriving the key, the malware decrypts the embedded payload using AES‑CBC‑128 without padding. The decrypted data is shellcode that starts with a call instruction. It wraps the next‑stage payload – identified as the third version of TechHub (DLL side-loading with a registered service) – that reads the ActivationStore.dat file as an external configuration.

ClientHub

We also identified a new piece of malware stored in TechHub’s private repository, which we named ClientHub. It supports various commands formed using a bitmask. There are at least two versions of ClientHub: one that communicates with websites via HTTP(S) and one that interacts with the Dropbox API using credentials.

Depending on the version, its configuration is sourced from internal resources or the external configuration file C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\msadc\msadc.inc. The configuration comprises keys and IVs for the SNOW 1.0 algorithm, scheduled execution times, and C2 server addresses encrypted with the SNOW stream cipher. The SNOW cipher is a family of high‑speed stream ciphers used for secure data encryption in telecommunications and wireless networks. This is the first time it has been observed in the malware of the Lazarus Group.

To establish C2 communication, the malware initially generates a 32‑byte random array. It subsequently overwrites portions of this array with data collected from the compromised device. The resulting 32‑byte array comprises a blend of random bytes and relevant information. This array is later used as the key for the SNOW algorithm to decrypt data received from the C2 server. Finally, the key array is encrypted with a hard‑coded RSA public key and encoded in Base64.

Offset	Size	Field value
0	4	Current process ID
4	4	First four bytes of the decrypted C2 server information.
8	7	Randomly generated bytes
15	1	Calculated flag value that indicates a state machine.
16	8	Current system time, represented as a FILETIME structure.
24	8	Randomly generated bytes

The ciphertext is delivered to the C2 server via GET requests. Each request contains headers that are atypical for malware: Sec-CH-UA, Sec-CH-UA-Platform, Sec-CH-UA-Mobile, Sec-Fetch-Mode, and Sec-Fetch-Dest. These headers are normally used by legitimate Chromium‑based browsers and enable malware to imitate legitimate traffic and evade detection. The C2 server replies with commands in a custom header and message body.

struct header
{
  int has_more_data // whether more body data remains 
  int body_checksum;// ROR13 checksum for the body data
  int body_type;    // specifies the body type
  int unknown;
  int body_length;  // Length of the body data
  int IV[2];        // Random IV used to encrypt the body data
};

The body_type field in the header determines how the subsequent payload is processed. This value functions as a bitmask, with each bit representing a distinct flag (e.g., 0x1, 0x2, 0x4, etc.). The resulting behavior also depends on whether the least‑significant bit (bit 0) is set: when the value is odd, the malware interprets the incoming message body as an additional payload that is subsequently loaded into memory. Conversely, when the value is even, the malware invokes the previously loaded payload.

The odd value supports four distinct loading methods based on the received message body and ensures that each method executes only once.

Bitmask	Value in decimal	Description	Result sent to the C2
0x00000001	1	DLL loading: load the received body reflectively along with the provided parameter	The payload’s image base
0x00000011	3	Plugin: load the received body reflectively, obtain the address of a function in the payload, and then invoke that function along with the provided parameter	The payload’s image base, the address of the invoked function, and the execution result
0x00000101	5	Plugin: load the received body reflectively, obtain the address of a function in the payload, but refrain from invoking it immediately	The payload’s image base, the address of the function
0x00001011	11	Plugin: execute the behavior associated with value 3, then unload immediately after invoking the plugin	–
0x00010001	17	DLL loading: load the received body reflectively with the provided parameter, maintaining stateful communication via a persistent interactive session using a shared buffer	The payload’s image base, the address of the interactive shared buffer, and the execution result

The even value provides two distinct invocation methods for DLLs and plugins that have already been loaded and are associated with the odd‑value bitmask. The 2 (0x10) flag allows the payload previously loaded with the 1, 3, or 5 bitmask to be reused and invoked directly. The value 16 (0x10000) corresponds to the 17 (0x10001) flag in loading mode and uses the established interactive shared buffer to exchange data. All values are guaranteed to act independently.

Bitmask	Value in decimal	Description	Result sent to the C2
0x00000010	2	Invoke the previously loaded DLLs and plugins along with the provided parameter	The execution result
0x00000100	4	Not implemented	–
0x00001000	8	Unload the previously loaded DLLs and plugins	The execution result
0x00010000	16	Send the updated parameter to the payload loaded by the command with the value 17, and exchange data through the interactive session. This command also determines whether to retrieve the execution result or unload the payload	The execution result

Taking into account the loading mechanism, we identified four plugins deployed to the target that work perfectly with ClientHub.

Plugin	Description
File archiver	Archives the provided file using the legacy ZipCrypto algorithm (without password protection) and returns the compressed data
File collector	Searches for all files matching the provided search pattern and collects metadata including filename, MAC timestamps, file size, and attribute values
File cleaner	Overwrites the provided file with NULL bytes, renames it to a randomly generated filename of the same length, and then deletes it. If a directory with a search pattern is provided, it locates all matching files, renames each to a randomly generated name of identical length to its original name, and deletes them
Drive and session monitor	Monitors remote session changes and local drive changes for the provided duration (in 10-minute intervals) and returns the collected status information

In addition to the plugins, ClientHub supports the loading of LPEClient malware and communication with it. We found that ClientHub’s body_type values 16 and 17 correspond to LPEClient’s C2 communication mechanism.

LPEClient

LPEClient is the only malware that was also observed in Operation SyncHole, indicating that the actor relies heavily on it for sophisticated victim profiling and payload delivery across multiple operations. LPEClient first appeared in 2019, and was discovered in 2020. Since then, the tool has been widely observed in the Dream Job and Cascade Hole campaigns that targeted South Korea. Recent research conducted by Check Point revealed that LPEClient was used to deploy the FudModule malware using a zero-day.

LPEClient has evolved continuously over time, but we discovered that it recently underwent a major operational revamp. It no longer contains the C2 server address itself; instead, it interacts with ClientHub via a shared buffer. We believe this change is intended to enhance concealment.

The previous version collected the computer name, memory status, CPU specifications, operating system details, version of the ntoskrnl.exe file, firmware table, antivirus name, domain name, user name, the integrity level of the current process, and a random byte sequence of 1,568 bytes. The newly updated LPEClient variant mostly collects the same information; however, it also introduces several changes.

• It does not collect the version of the ntoskrnl.exe file by querying the FileVersion value. Instead, depending on the specific build, it reads either the HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\UBR registry key or the SYSTEM_BUILD_VERSION_INFORMATION structure to retrieve the revision portion of the Windows build number. These values can be used to infer the system’s cumulative update or patch level.
• To collect information about installed antivirus products, it switched from querying a WQL command to reading the WMI repository file directly. It now reads C:\Windows\System32\wbem\Repository\OBJECTS.DATA and searches for keywords such as AntiVirusProduct, companyName, and displayName to identify the installed products.
• It also collects low‑level Windows security mitigation states. To achieve this, it queries the SYSTEM_KERNEL_VA_SHADOW_INFORMATION structure for the Kernel VA Shadow mitigation status and the SYSTEM_SHADOW_STACK_INFORMATION structure for the Shadow Stack (CET) protection status.

Additionally, it generates a 32‑byte random unique identifier by using the HighwayHash algorithm and an XOR operation with the current system time. The collected information, including the generated identifier, is compressed with the XPRESS Huffman algorithm using the maximum compression setting. The compressed data is then concatenated with the message ID 0xF07D6B34 and encrypted using GOST (also known as Magma), Russia’s national cryptographic standard that employs a DES‑like structure, before being sent to the ClientHub via a shared buffer. Initially, KrCERT described the algorithm as a custom DES‑like scheme. However, further analysis by us and Check Point confirmed that it is actually the GOST algorithm. The key is randomly generated by a proprietary key‑generation algorithm and prepended to the encrypted message.

The next request handles the key exchange by delivering the message ID 0xA39CF278 together with the generated unique identifier. The response is decrypted using the AES‑CBC‑256 algorithm. The SHA‑256 hash of the previously generated 1,568‑byte random value, which was originally sent to the C2 server during the collection phase, serves as the key for this decryption.

Through this process, LPEClient obtains a byte array comprising four 1,568‑byte blocks from the C2 response. Each block contains an ML‑KEM‑1024 public key, where ML‑KEM is a NIST‑standardized post‑quantum key encapsulation mechanism derived from CRYSTALS‑Kyber. LPEClient then generates four distinct pairs of shared keys and ciphertexts from these blocks, encrypts the ciphertexts with the GOST algorithm, and transmits them to the C2 server via ClientHub together with the message identifier 0xEF8C0D51 and the associated identifier. Now that the preparation phase for receiving payloads is complete, the malware is ready to receive payloads forwarded by ClientHub from the C2 server, along with the necessary parameters. The use of post-quantum cryptography shows that the group intends to hide subsequent payloads.

The response to the 0xEF8C0D51 message is decrypted with the Threefish algorithm using a 128-byte key, composed of the four distinct shared keys. Threefish is a tweakable block cipher that accepts a ‘tweak’ value alongside the key and the message. The concept of a tweak is similar to that of a nonce or initialization vector, which are used in different types of ciphers. In LPEClient communication, the tweak for the decryption is derived by XORing the unique identifier with 165 (0xA5). The first four bytes of the decrypted message must specify the parameter’s length, followed by the parameter itself and then the payload. The payload must be larger than 4 KB and start with the characters 'MZ', which indicates that the decrypted payload is an executable file. The payload is then reflectively loaded into memory. After successful loading, LPEClient sends the message ID 0xCB790A25 to the C2 server.

Before loading the acquired payload, LPEClient takes measures to bypass security products. Instead of invoking VirtualProtect directly, the malware uses the identified HeapPageAllocator::ProtectPages in jscript9.dll to modify the memory page protection of the MD4Update function. The beginning of the function is then overwritten with a hard‑coded opcode sequence that serves as a syscall stub with the required arguments. LPEClient then uses the syscall stub to disable a user‑mode syscall instrumentation hook.

We identified the final payload that was ultimately loaded as Cubridge. The overall communication process is as follows.

Comparison of plugins and modules

Throughout the engagement, we identified a variety of payloads deployed by TechHub, Cubridge, and ClientHub. These payloads have been categorized as tools, plugins, and modules that constitute the group’s modular malware framework. While we have not yet ascertained which payloads are deployed under specific conditions, the evidence suggests that the Lazarus Group’s toolkit is becoming increasingly sophisticated and segmented into specialized components rather than a single comprehensive backdoor. We also believe that TechHub and Cubridge may share similar tools.

Deployed via	Type of payload	Family
TechHub/Cubridge	Tool	Process collector, Browser stealer
Cubridge	Module	Action module, Function module
Cubridge	Plugin	ADFinder, FileCollector
ClientHub	Plugin	File archiver, File collector, File cleaner, Drive/session monitor

These modularizations are not confined to the instances within this campaign. As previously noted, similar patterns have been identified in CookiePlus, MISTPEN, SIGNBT, and IMETHOD. Note that we have reclassified the ThreatNeedle variant used in Operation SyncHole as the latest version of IMETHOD, the predecessor of ThreatNeedle in use since at least 2016.

Infrastructure

Based on the information we obtained from the TechHub malware, we identified at least three primary repositories used as the C2 server and one fallback repository. The earliest evidence indicates that the group has been leveraging GitHub as a C2 server since at least July 2025. We suspect that all the accounts were created using hijacked email accounts, and disguised as normal repositories by copying or creating normal projects to avoid suspicion.

For the Cubridge and ClientHub C2 servers, the Lazarus Group employed only a minimal number of compromised yet legitimate South Korean media and interior design websites. Later, we observed that a broader range of compromised legitimate sites across various industries were also exploited. In addition, one ClientHub sample that we detected used Dropbox as a C2 channel.

Victims

We have identified at least three firms from the software, construction, and wired communication equipment industries in South Korea that were targeted by Operation FlashHole. As with the previous operation, however, we remain confident that a considerably larger number of organizations across a broader spectrum of industries have been affected.

The software sector was the only sector targeted in both the SyncHole and FlashHole campaigns. This suggests the actor is eager to compromise the sector, steal source code, and exploit vulnerabilities for further attacks.

Attribution and links to other campaigns

Operation FlashHole is the latest wave in the broader Cascade Hole campaign, which involves the use of South Korean software as a potential entry point to deliver malware targeting the country. Although the malware chain has advanced significantly since last year, we assess with medium-to-high confidence that the same actor is responsible for both the SyncHole and FlashHole operations based on the initial vector, targets, multi‑stage chain, and technical and operational improvements. The use of LPEClient in particular is a strong indicator supporting this assessment.

The malware strains used in the attack are historically linked to the toolsets observed in the Lazarus Group’s notorious Dream Job campaign. Earlier versions of TechHub (also known as CLOUDBURST and NickelLoader), Cubridge (also known as SIDESHOW and LightlessCan), and TouchShift were all observed in that campaign, especially between 2022 and 2023.

We also discovered that both CookiePlus and ClientHub have significant overlaps in class name, configuration path, and plugins. Based on these similarities, we assess with medium‑high confidence that ClientHub is an advanced version of CookiePlus.

Since July, around the time Operation SyncHole began winding down, we have also observed several notable attacks against South Korea employing the COPPERHEDGE backdoor and targeting various South Korean organizations. Interestingly, the start times of these activities align with the earliest evidence we have identified for Operation FlashHole. Although the backdoor was part of the second phase of Operation SyncHole, it has been operating independently with its custom loader since then. These incidents featured malware chains and tools that were distinct from those used in Operation SyncHole and FlashHole.

As AhnLab noted in their report, the same backdoor was likely observed in atypical activity, specifically the Gunra ransomware infection. Our investigation further revealed that one instance of a backdoor infection ultimately resulted in the exfiltration of data to a dark web leak site, which clearly differed from Gunra’s. The site appears to have been crafted exclusively for this activity. In summary, unlike other attacks, the backdoor was used in conjunction with both ransomware and data exfiltration.

Another noteworthy point is that the recent Dream Job campaign employs an updated malware chain that, since around 2024, has primarily involved MISTPEN and ForestTiger rather than the earlier arsenal that included tools such as TechHub and Cubridge. However, the updated versions of this older malware have now re-emerged as part of Operation FlashHole. Considering these changes and all aspects of each attack’s TTPs, we have organized a classification for each attack.

Conclusion

Our analysis shows that the Lazarus Group begins preparing for its next operation shortly after completing the previous one, ultimately deploying an enhanced malware chain by refining existing tools. The group continues to use the advanced version of LPEClient for profiling and payload delivery, indicating that the tool is meticulously managed and well maintained. Ironically, the group seems to have adopted more secure post-quantum cryptography faster than many legitimate security products. These observations suggest the involvement of a dedicated developer, with others orchestrating comprehensive attack scenarios against newly targeted software.

We anticipated that specialized attacks targeting South Korea would persist. However, we did not foresee multiple attack campaigns being executed simultaneously, each leveraging different types of software and tools. Notably, the COPPERHEDGE cluster appears to be involved in monetizing the attacks, while Operation FlashHole is focused on espionage. We are closely monitoring these changes to understand their motivations and ultimate goals.
In October 2025, the South Korean government unveiled a comprehensive cybersecurity plan that will phase out the mandatory installation of security software for users beginning in 2026. We estimate that operations exploiting this software will remain highly active for some time, maximizing efficiency, before the software is fully eliminated or mitigated.

Kaspersky products detect the exploits and malware used in this attack with the following verdicts: MEM:Trojan.Win64.Shellcode.gen, Trojan.Win64.DLLhijack.*, Trojan.Win64.Lazarus.*.

Indicators of compromise

File hashes

TouchShift
ec84d6cb2ae7974767aedac246b50a3e             mscoree.dll
a28cba214058fcae2883d8cffc883abd                mscoree.dll
c105d6b16f544582772de0159f24c00a               mscoree.dll
2f8475a90a25624ed02f1d18d4e6d65d              mscoree.dll
676fabe30a28b53925fba98e34b35986              mscoree.dll
b4a7eff35f048f06fb0a2d7631f23a7d                  mscoree.dll

ClientHub Loader
ff07641dc56914dd90ee0bd7404d7ad7               liblzma.dll

File paths

C:\ProgramData\Package.txt
C:\ProgramData\RasConv\mscoree.dll
C:\ProgramData\Apple\mscoree.dll
C:\ProgramData\ssh\mscoree.dll
C:\ProgramData\qorestor\mscoree.dll
C:\ProgramData\Dell\mscoree.dll
C:\ProgramData\Dell\Dell1.tmp
C:\ProgramData\Dell\Dell3.tmp
C:\Windows\System32\RasConv\mscoree.dll
C:\Windows\System32\RasConv\ActivationStore.dat
C:\Windows\System32\DrvConh\mscoree.dll
C:\Windows\System32\DrvConh\ActivationStore.dat
C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\msadc\msadc.inc
C:\ProgramData\desktops.ini

C2 servers

javadevhouse.co[.]kr
pythonapischool[.]com
hxxps://cubedesign[.]co[.]kr/news            C2 of Cubridge
hxxps://cubedesign[.]co[.]kr/mobile/fashion            C2 of Cubridge
hxxps://fp-news[.]co[.]kr/shop/cart                                C2 of Cubridge
hxxps://k-wbc[.]co[.]kr/skin/social/social_view.php         C2 of ClientHub
hxxps://rcsh[.]co[.]kr/modules/bbs/tiles/bbs_div/inputForm.php    C2 of ClientHub
hxxps://www[.]ksog[.]org/insert_file/handle.php                   C2 of ClientHub

The United Kingdom has issued economic sanctions against Cryptomus, a chameleonic cryptocurrency platform that experts say serves as a major conduit for payments related to ransomware, narcotics, darknet markets, fraud and cybercrime services that are helping Russia circumvent existing financial restrictions.

On October 8, the U.K. issued sanctions (PDF) against Cryptomus — previously known as Certa Payments and Xeltox Enterprises — for processing payments that benefit the Russian government and its financial institutions. The sanctions freeze any Cryptomus assets at U.K. banks, and bar British companies from offering it any business, virtual or otherwise. Also targeted in these sanctions were the virtual payment platforms VexPay, TokenSpot, and the Tsunami Payments service.

As explained in our December 2024 investigation, “How Cryptocurrency Turns to Cash in Russian Banks,” Cryptomus has been a key payment processor for dozens of Russian cryptocurrency exchanges and websites hawking cybercrime services. The company has changed its name several times since emerging in 2022, most recently to “Heleket” last year after Canada levied a record CAD $176 million fine against the platform for anti-money laundering violations.

The blockchain data-crunching firm Chainalysis said the U.K. sanctions target the broader infrastructure supporting Russia’s wartime economy.

“Cryptomus and Heleket have emerged as major payment hubs for illicit activity,” Chainalysis wrote in an October 8 blog post. “Together, these services received more illicit funds across tracked categories than the mixers in our dataset and the number of illicit counterparties surged to more than 900 in a single month in late 2025.”

In April 2026, the blockchain analysis firm TRM Labs found Cryptomus had processed more than $7 billion in transactions since its inception in 2022, including transactions associated with child sexual abuse material vendors, terrorist financing networks, and human trafficking operations.

TRM noted that Cryptomus’s transaction volume cratered after the platform instituted new “know your customer” or KYC rules, and that the cryptocurrency platform responded to the Canadian fines by launching Heleket as a parallel service that continued to offer no-KYC payment processing.

Richard Sanders is a blockchain analyst and investigator who spent months mapping out Cryptomus’s payment infrastructure and transacting with its customers. Sanders said the U.K. sanctions on Cryptomus are important because Canada’s fine against the platform was ultimately unenforceable and uncollectible.

“A fine doesn’t stop a cryptocurrency payment processor from processing payments,” Sanders wrote on LinkedIn. “Sanctions kill the operation. The distinction matters.”

As our 2024 investigation noted, Cryptomus shared a Vancouver address with dozens of other foreign currency dealers and money transfer businesses — none of which appeared to be physically located there. Following the CAD $176 million fine for alleged money laundering violations, Cryptomus appealed the penalty, launched Heleket as a parallel service, and kept on processing large volumes of sketchy transactions, Sanders said.

Sanders said the sanctions also are notable because they are the first known instance of a “Five Eyes” country (referring to the Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S.) sanctioning a cryptocurrency operation incorporated in another Five Eyes jurisdiction.

Where do entities like Cryptomus and Heleket derive their authority to offer international financial services? The answer appears to involve fake financial institutions overseen by a phony regulatory body positioned in a country that is not widely recognized as a sovereign nation.

Our 2024 investigation found the sole shareholder of Cryptomus’s parent company Certa Payments was a 25-year-old Ukrainian woman who also headed several other firms, including the WS Management and Advisory Corporation, which bills itself as the regulatory body that exclusively oversees licenses for cryptocurrency, foreign exchange and online gaming businesses incorporated in the disputed region in northwest Africa known as the Western Sahara.

That entity’s website — crasadr.com — says it assists applicants with bank setup and formation, online gaming licenses, and the creation and licensing of foreign exchange brokers. One of Certa Payments’ former sites — certa[.]website — also shared a server with 12 other domains, including rasd-state[.]ws, a website for the Central Reserve Authority of the Western Sahara.

Cloudflare ziet inmiddels miljoenen pogingen om de PHP2Shell-kwetsbaarheden te misbruiken op zijn netwerk. Dat meldt ceo Matthew Prince. In de uren voor de bekendmaking werden al pogingen gedaan, en dat aantal is sindsdien alleen maar gegroeid.

Webwinkel Printerpix is gehackt. Bij die hack zijn niet alleen NAW-gegevens en bestelinformatie gestolen, maar ook wachtwoorden. Printerpix waarschuwt dat die wachtwoorden op andere sites kunnen worden gebruikt, wat erop wijst dat de wachtwoorden leesbaar waren.

Acht intermediate certificaten van het Indiase eMudhra lijken te zijn gecompromitteerd. Onbekenden hebben op een website een bericht geplaatst dat is ondertekend met de keys achter die certificaten, een teken dat die certificaten voortaan onveilig zijn. Met de gecompromitteerde certificaten kan iedereen eigen TLS-certificaten uitbrengen die browsers vervolgens accepteren.

De makers van PHP waarschuwen website- en softwarebeheerders voor twee ernstige kwetsbaarheden in PHP. Het gaat om remote code execution-bugs die eenvoudig kunnen worden uitgebuit. PHP wil zelf later op woensdag details naar buiten brengen, maar er lijkt inmiddels een proof-of-concept openbaar beschikbaar te zijn.

Cybercriminelen bieden de data die ze van onlinesupermarkt Flink stalen te koop aan. De recent opgerichte ransomwarebende LPG zei eind september dat de data van ruim 10.000 werknemers en een miljoen klanten van Flink had gestolen.

Het Belgische Belnet heeft een beveiligings- en privacyincident vastgesteld binnen zijn IT-infrastructuur. Belnet voorziet Belgische onderwijsinstellingen, onderzoekscentra en overheidsdiensten van netwerk. Aanvallers kregen daarbij mogelijk toegang tot bestanden die via FileSender en FedSender verstuurd zijn. Ze onderschepten ook e-mails naar domeinen van Belnet en verplaatsten die naar externe infrastructuur.

Gebruikers van de Android-versie van Microsoft Authenticator kunnen vanaf 2027 geen Microsoft-account meer gebruiken om hun tweestapsverificatie te back-uppen. Microsoft zegt dat gebruikers dat alleen nog via Google kunnen doen. Het bedrijf geeft daar geen verklaring voor.

Citrix heeft patches uitgebracht voor een actief misbruikte kwetsbaarheid in NetScaler ADC en NetScaler Gateway. Het lek kan leiden tot denial-of-serviceaanvallen, waardoor een dienst onbeschikbaar wordt.

'Onbevoegde gebruikers' hebben toegang gekregen tot het persoonsregister van Denemarken. Daarbij konden zij de gegevens van 8,8 miljoen inwoners inzien, bevestigt de Deense overheid in een verklaring.

Hackers hebben de persoonsgegevens van 700.000 mensen gratis online gezet, meldt een datalektracker. Ze zijn afkomstig uit een database van het Waalse opleidingsnetwerk Ifapme. Daaronder vallen ook gevoelige gegevens, zoals rijksregisternummers.

Een bedrijf zegt een manier te hebben gevonden om een hardnekkige beveiligingsfunctie in iPhones te omzeilen. Inactivity Reboot laat iPhones automatisch herstarten als ze 72 uur lang niet zijn ontgrendeld. Een net herstarte iPhone is moeilijker te kraken, maar forensischonderzoeksbedrijf Magnet Forensics zegt dat toch te kunnen.

A U.S. Army soldier who pleaded guilty to hacking into multiple telecommunications companies and stealing mobile call and text metadata for more than 100 million AT&T customers in 2024 was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison today and ordered to pay nearly $300,000 in restitution to victims.

Cameron John Wagenius, 22, was stationed at a U.S. Army base in South Korea when he adopted the cybercriminal persona “Kiberphant0m.” Working with three alleged co-conspirators, Kiberphant0m downloaded data from several large customers of the cloud data storage service Snowflake that had exposed credentials and did not enforce multi-factor authentication (Snowflake has since mandated MFA on all accounts).

In October 2024, Kiberphant0m bragged on the cybercrime forums that he’d stolen the call and text metadata (e.g. source and destination number, timestamp, duration, etc.) for tens of millions of AT&T customers. Kiberphant0m claimed to have hacked into more than dozen telecommunications companies worldwide, including Verizon’s Push-to-Talk business, and publicly extorted these companies in exchange for a promise not to publish the stolen data.

In late November 2025, KrebsOnSecurity warned that Kiberphant0m was likely a U.S. soldier stationed in South Korea. Less than a month later, Wagenius was arrested and charged in two separate federal indictments, and soon pleaded guilty to all counts in both cases.

At his sentencing hearing in Seattle today, Wagenius was sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison, and ordered to pay $294,978 in restitution.

Federal prosecutors said Wagenius was assisted in his efforts to extort victim companies by Kenneth Schuchman, a 28-year old man from Vancouver, Washington who has a lengthy cybercriminal history. In 2019, Schuchman pleaded guilty to operating the Satori botnet, a vast collection of hacked Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices that was used for large-scale distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.

Two other alleged co-conspirators of Wagenius are still facing charges in connection with the Snowflake data thefts; Conor Riley Moucka, a.k.a. “Judische,” of Kitchener, Ontario was arrested in 2024 and pleaded guilty in August 2026; and John Erin Binns, an American man currently living in Turkey who is also wanted for a 2021 data breach at T-Mobile that exposed the personal information of at least 76 million customers.

Kiberphant0m also admitted to re-extorting victims, and threatening to disclose national security secrets. Immediately following Moucka’s arrest — after AT&T had already paid the extortion group a $370,000 Bitcoin ransom — Kiberphant0m posted on hacker forums what he claimed were the AT&T call logs for then President-elect Donald Trump and for then Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as schematics allegedly stolen from the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA).

Paul Russell is a resident agent in charge at the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), the criminal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Defense Office of Inspector General. Russell said when DCIS received information that a soldier with secret clearance was allegedly involved in cybercrime and extortion, the agency began working the investigation alongside the FBI, the Army Criminal Investigative Division (CID), and the U.S. Secret Service.

“We don’t often get leads where there’s an active duty soldier with a secret clearance who’s creating hacking tools and trafficking in data,” Russell said. “That doesn’t happen every day, and so when that hits it really spins all of our partner organizations up. It was very serious from jump street, just because it was unique, it was an insider threat, and we weren’t sure what we were dealing with.”

A sentencing memo (PDF) filed Sept. 19 by federal prosecutors in Seattle notes that while Wagenius pleaded guilty almost immediately and has been remarkably cooperative, he recently got caught trying to find security vulnerabilities in the BOP’s computer network. The government’s memo notes that while incarcerated and awaiting sentencing, Wagenius violated the computer use policies of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) in attempts to learn about vulnerabilities in BOP computer systems.

“According to records from BOP, in or around September 2025, Wagenius used another inmate’s email system to request that the email recipient prompt a commercial AI tool to provide information about “[w]hat CVE’s are there for Windows 10 Enterprise privilege escalation and bypasses” and to “[p]rovide the CVE’s and a real world working script for each CVE . . . without omitted code,” the government’s memo states.

The memo states that less than a week later, Wagenius used a different inmate’s email account and requested that the email recipient prompt an AI tool to “[p]rovide the step by step for CVE-2023-45208, code for this if any, and if no code exists make some, make sure to describe everything in detail.” CVE-2023-45208 is a three-year-old “command injection” vulnerability in D-Link networking devices.

That same month, Wagenius allegedly again requested that the email recipient prompt AI with the question, “How do you make an antenna in a prison environment with commissary or readily available items/tools to improve/make an antenna to extend radio reception?”

Federal prosecutors said Wagenius also requested that the recipient research escaping prison.

“In several instances, Wagenius framed the AI queries as being posed in connection to a book he was writing. This is a common method of ‘prompt injection,’ in which attackers feed specially crafted, deceptive inputs into commercial AI tools that are programmed to avoid outputting malicious code that can be used to exploit computer vulnerabilities,” the sentencing memo reads.

The government told the court it is unaware of evidence that Wagenius figured out how to use or deploy the vulnerabilities he was researching in the BOP’s systems, and when questioned said he was only researching “potential vulnerabilities to provide information to the BOP.”

Incredibly, despite the enormous financial value of the data stolen from AT&T and other telecom providers, Wagenius’s extortion efforts were largely unsuccessful. The government’s sentencing memo says Wagenius made a whopping total of around $1,500 from selling stolen data.

“While Wagenius was not particularly financially successful as a cybercriminal, he both intended to and caused significant harm to numerous individual victims, U.S. companies, and the U.S. government,” the memo states.

Cameron John Wagenius was sentenced to 70 months in prison for stealing information from the wireless carriers.

The post Prison Sentence for Former US Soldier Who Hacked AT&T and Verizon appeared first on SecurityWeek.

Nvidia heeft het Open Agent Safety Platform uitgebracht. Dit platform bestaat uit twee nieuwe beveiligingstools voor AI-agents. Het bedrijf claimt dat deze tools de hack op Hugging Face door agents van OpenAI hadden kunnen voorkomen.