Reptile is an open-source kernel module rootkit that targets Linux systems and is publicly available on GitHub. [1] Rootkits are malware that possess the capability to conceal themselves or other malware. They primarily target files, processes, and network communications for their concealment. Reptile’s concealment capabilities include not only its own kernel module but also files, directories, file contents, processes, and network traffic. Unlike other rootkit malware that typically only provide concealment capabilities, Reptile goes a step further by offering a reverse...
In recent months, Microsoft has detected a wide range of social engineering campaigns using weaponized legitimate open-source software by an actor we track as ZINC. Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) observed activity targeting employees in organizations across multiple industries including media, defense and aerospace, and IT services in the US, UK, India, and Russia. Based on the observed tradecraft, infrastructure, tooling, and account affiliations, MSTIC attributes this campaign with high confidence to ZINC, a state-sponsored group based out of North Korea with objectives focused on espionage, data theft, financial gain, and network destruction.
We used our internal automated system for monitoring open-source repositories and discovered two other malicious Python packages in the PyPI.