Description of Campaign
Palo Alto's Unit 42 observed activity, leveraging execution-flow hijacking using dynamic-link library (DLL) search-order hijacking. The specially crafted DLL being loaded was named "Popping Eagle," whereas the second stage written in Go language was named "Going Eagle." Upon compromise, the threat actor was observed to perform network reconnaissance, scanning for open Remote Desktop Protocol and Server Message Block ports. The actor moved laterally through the victim's environment, leveraging password reuse of the local administrator account.
Currently, the activity isn't attributed to a known threat actor.
Our ATR team gathers and analyzes information from multiple open and closed sources before disseminating intelligence reports. This campaign was researched by Palo Alto and
shared publicly.
How to use this article:
- Scroll down and review the Product Countermeasures section of this article. Consider implementing them if they are not already in place.
- Review the following articles:
Threat Hunting
| YARA |
rule general_win_faked_dlls_export_popo
{
meta:
author = "paloaltonetworks"
date = "2022-03-13"
description = "Detects DLL files with an export function named 'popo'"
hash0 = "e5e89d8db12c7dacddff5c2a76b1f3b52c955c2e86af8f0b3e36c8a5d954b5e8" // fake uxtheme.dll
hash1 = "95676c8eeaab93396597e05bb4df3ff8cc5780ad166e4ee54484387b97f381df" // fake uxtheme.dll
hash2 = "59d12f26cbc3e49e28be13f0306f5a9b1a9fd62909df706e58768d2f0ccca189" // fake uxtheme.dll
hash3 = "0dc8f17b053d9bfab45aed21340a1f85325f79e0925caf21b9eaf9fbdc34a47a" // ClickRuntime-amd86.dll
condition:
(pe.characteristics & pe.DLL) and pe.is_dll() and
filesize < 20MB and
(
pe.exports("popo") or
pe.exports("Popo")
)
} |
This Knowledge Base article discusses a specific threat that's being tracked. The list of IOCs will change over time; check Trellix Insights for the latest IOCs.
Campaign IOC
| Type |
Value |
| URL |
https://dnszonetransfer.com/Protocol/extensions.php |
| DOMAIN |
dnszonetransfer.com |
| DOMAIN |
reporterror.net |
| IP-DST |
51.38.89.53 |
| IP-DST |
51.75.57.245 |
Minimum set of Manual Rules to improve protection to block this campaign:
IMPORTANT: Always follow best practices when you enable new rules and signatures.
When you implement new rules or signatures, always set them to Report mode first and check the alerts generated. Resolve any issues that arise and then set the rules to Block. This step mitigates against triggering false positives and allows you to refine your configuration.
For more information, see KB87843 - List of and best practices for Endpoint Security Dynamic Application Containment rules.
Endpoint Security - Advanced Threat Protection:
Rule ID: 5 Use GTI URL reputation to identify trusted or malicious processes
