Read the original article at https://us-cert.cisa.gov/ncas/alerts/aa22-054a
Original release date: February 23, 2022
Summary
The Sandworm actor, which the United Kingdom and the United States have previously attributed to the Russian GRU, has replaced the exposed VPNFilter malware with a new more advanced framework.
The United Kingdom’s (UK) National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the U.S. have identified that the actor known as Sandworm or Voodoo Bear is using a new malware, referred to here as Cyclops Blink. The NCSC, CISA, and the FBI have previously attributed the Sandworm actor to the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate’s Russian (GRU’s) Main Centre for Special Technologies (GTsST). The malicious cyber activity below has previously been attributed to Sandworm:
- The BlackEnergy disruption of Ukrainian electricity in 2015
- Industroyer in 2016
- NotPetya in 2017
- Attacks against the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in 2018
- A series of disruptive attacks against Georgia in 2019
Cyclops Blink appears to be a replacement framework for the VPNFilter malware exposed in 2018, and which exploited network devices, primarily small office/home office (SOHO) routers and network attached storage (NAS) devices.
This advisory summarizes the VPNFilter malware it replaces, and provides more detail on Cyclops Blink, as well as the associated tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) used by Sandworm. An NCSC malware analysis report on Cyclops Blink is also available.
It also provides mitigation measures to help organizations defend against malware.
Click here for a PDF version of this report.
Technical Details
VPNFilter
The malware was first exposed in 2018
A series of articles published by Cisco Talos in 2018 describes VPNFilter and its modules in detail. VPNFilter was deployed in stages, with most functionality in the third-stage modules. These modules enabled traffic manipulation, destruction of the infected host device, and likely enabled downstream devices to be exploited. They also allowed monitoring of Modbus SCADA protocols, which appears to be an ongoing requirement for Sandworm, as also seen in their previous attacks against ICS networks.
VPNFilter targeting was widespread and appeared indiscriminate, with some exceptions: Cisco Talos reported an increase of victims in Ukraine in May 2018. Sandworm also deployed VPNFilter against targets in the Republic of Korea before the 2018 Winter Olympics.
In May 2018, Cisco Talos published the blog that exposed VPNFilter and the U.S. Department of Justice linked the activity to Sandworm and announced efforts to disrupt the botnet.
Activity since its exposure
A Trendmicro blog in January 2021 detailed residual VPNFilter infections and provided data which showed that although there had been a reduction in requests to a known C2 domain, there was still more than a third of the original number of first-stage infections.
Sandworm has since shown limited interest in existing VPNFilter footholds, instead preferring to retool.
Cyclops Blink
Active since 2019
The NCSC, CISA, the FBI, and NSA, along with industry partners, have now identified a large-scale modular malware framework (T1129) which is targeting network devices. The new malware is referred to here as Cyclops Blink and has been deployed since at least June 2019, fourteen months after VPNFilter was disrupted. In common with VPNFilter, Cyclops Blink deployment also appears indiscriminate and widespread.
The actor has so far primarily deployed Cyclops Blink to WatchGuard devices, but it is likely that Sandworm would be capable of compiling the malware for other architectures and firmware.
Note: Note that only WatchGuard devices that were reconfigured from the manufacturer default settings to open remote management interfaces to external access could be infected
Malware overview
The malware itself is sophisticated and modular with basic core functionality to beacon (T1132.002) device information back to a server and enable files to be downloaded and executed. There is also functionality to add new modules while the malware is running, which allows Sandworm to implement additional capability as required.
The NCSC has published a malware analysis report on Cyclops Blink which provides more detail about the malware.
Post exploitation
Post exploitation, Cyclops Blink is generally deployed as part of a firmware ‘update’ (T1542.001). This achieves persistence when the device is rebooted and makes remediation harder.
Victim devices are organized into clusters and each deployment of Cyclops Blink has a list of command and control (C2) IP addresses and ports that it uses (T1008). All the known C2 IP addresses to date have been used by compromised WatchGuard firewall devices. Communications between Cyclops Blink clients and servers are protected under Transport Layer Security (TLS) (T1071.001), using individually generated keys and certificates. Sandworm manages Cyclops Blink by connecting to the C2 layer through the Tor network.