thedfirreport.com - Bumblebee malware has been an initial access tool used by threat actors since late 2021. In 2023 the malware was first reported as using SEO poisoning as a delivery mechanism. Recently in May of 2025 Cyjax reported on a campaign using this method again, impersonating various IT tools. We observed a similar campaign in July in which a download of an IT management tool ended with Akira ransomware.

In July 2025, we observed a threat actor compromise an organization through this SEO poisoning campaign. A user searching for “ManageEngine OpManager” was directed to a malicious website, which delivered a trojanized software installer. This action led to the deployment of the Bumblebee malware, granting the threat actor initial access to the environment. The intrusion quickly escalated from a single infected host to a full-scale network compromise.

Following initial access, the threat actor moved laterally to a domain controller, dumped credentials, installed persistent remote access tools, and exfiltrated data using an SFTP client. The intrusion culminated in the deployment of Akira ransomware across the root domain. The threat actor returned two days later to repeat the process, encrypting systems within a child domain and causing significant operational disruption across the enterprise.

This campaign affected multiple organizations during July as we received confirmation of a similar intrusion responded to by the Swisscom B2B CSIRT in which a malicious IT tool dropped Bumblebee and also ended with Akira ransomware deployment.

Between 27 and 29 May 2024 Operation Endgame, coordinated from Europol’s headquarters, targeted droppers including, IcedID, SystemBC, Pikabot, Smokeloader, Bumblebee and Trickbot. The actions focused on disrupting criminal services through arresting High Value Targets, taking down the criminal infrastructures and freezing illegal proceeds. This approach had a global impact on the dropper ecosystem. The malware, whose infrastructure was taken down...

Continuing a string of successful botnet takedowns, on Thursday, May 30th 2024, a coalition of international law enforcement agencies announced "Operation Endgame". This effort targeted multiple botnets such as IcedID, Smokeloader, SystemBC, Pikabot and Bumblebee, as well as some of the operators of these botnets. These botnets played a key part in enabling ransomware, thereby causing damages to society estimated to be over a hundred million euros. This coordinated effort is the largest operation ever against botnets involved with ransomware.

Deep Instinct’s Threat Research Lab recently noticed a new strain of a JavaScript-based dropper that is delivering Bumblebee and IcedID. The dropper contains comments in Russian and employs the unique user-agent string “PindOS”, which may be a reference to current (and past) anti-American sentiment in Russia.

Bumblebee is a malware loader first discovered in March 2022. It was associated with Conti group and was being used as a replacement for BazarLoader. It acts as a primary vector for multiple types of other malware, including ransomware.

IcedID is a modular banking malware designed to steal financial information. It has been seen in the wild since at least 2017 and has recently been observed shifting some of its focus to malware delivery.

In this intrusion from May 2022, the threat actors used BumbleBee as the initial access vector from a Contact Forms campaign. We have previously reported on two BumbleBee intrusions (1, 2), and this report is a continuation of a series of reports uncovering multiple TTPs seen by BumbleBee post exploitation operators.

The intrusion began with the delivery of an ISO file that contained an LNK and a DLL. The threat actors leveraged BumbleBee to load a Meterpreter agent and Cobalt Strike Beacons. They then performed reconnaissance, used two different UAC bypass techniques, dumped credentials, escalated privileges using a ZeroLogon exploit, and moved laterally through the environment.

The spring of 2022 saw a spike in activity of Bumblebee loader, a recent threat that has garnered a lot of attention due to its many links to several well-known malware families.

In this intrusion from May 2022, the threat actors used BumbleBee as the initial access vector. BumbleBee has been identified as an initial access vector utilized by several ransomware affiliates. …

Delivers Payload Using Post Exploitation Framework
During our routine threat-hunting exercise, Cyble Research & Intelligence Labs (CRIL) came across a Twitter post wherein a researcher mentioned an interesting infection chain of the Bumblebee loader malware being distributed via spam campaigns.

Bumblebee is a replacement for the BazarLoader malware, which acts as a downloader and delivers known attack frameworks and open-source tools such as Cobalt Strike, Shellcode, Sliver, Meterpreter, etc. It also downloads other types of malware such as ransomware, trojans, etc.

Cybereason GSOC observed distribution of the Bumblebee Loader and post-exploitation activities including privilege escalation, reconnaissance and credential theft. Bumblebee operators use the Cobalt Strike framework throughout the attack and abuse credentials for privilege escalation to access Active Directory, as well as abusing a domain administrator account to move laterally, create local user accounts and exfiltrate data...