Ukraine's UAV Supply Chain Targeted With Besomar-Themed Malware Chain
A newly identified threat group, designated as GhostShell, has been conducting cyber operations against Ukraine's unmanned aerial vehicle supply chain since February 2026. The attackers employ malicious archives containing decoy documents that impersonate Besomar, a Ukrainian manufacturer of high-precision interceptor drones, to compromise defense and procurement networks. The attack chain deploys three distinct payloads: a custom backdoor (122.exe) utilizing mTLS client certificates for screen capture and command execution, an in-memory stager (update.exe) disguised as a Windows Health Service that fetches next-stage payloads via Telegram, and a proxy launcher (22.exe) that tunnels traffic through Xray Core to deploy the Vidar v2 information stealer. The targeting strongly suggests a Russian cyber operation, though analysts employ the SOLBIT framework to avoid attribution based on easily forgeable indicators.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
GhostShell is a newly identified threat group conducting cyber operations against Ukraine's UAV supply chain since early 2026. The attackers use malicious archives with decoy documents impersonating Besomar, a Ukrainian high-precision interceptor drone manufacturer, to infiltrate defense and procurement networks. The malware chain consists of three payloads: a custom backdoor (122.exe) leveraging mTLS client certificates for screen capture and command execution; an in-memory stager (update.exe) disguised as a Windows Health Service that fetches next-stage payloads via Telegram; and a proxy launcher (22.exe) that tunnels traffic through Xray Core to deploy the Vidar v2 information stealer. The targeting and tactics strongly suggest a Russian cyber operation, though attribution is cautious due to potential indicator forgery. There are no known exploits in the wild or vendor patches available.
Potential Impact
The malware chain enables attackers to gain persistent access to targeted defense and procurement networks supporting Ukraine's UAV supply chain. The custom backdoor allows screen capture and command execution, the stager facilitates stealthy payload delivery, and the proxy launcher enables traffic tunneling and deployment of an information stealer (Vidar v2). This compromises sensitive information and operational security of UAV manufacturing and supply processes. The campaign poses a medium severity risk to national defense infrastructure.
Mitigation Recommendations
No official patches or fixes are currently available for this threat. Organizations involved in Ukraine's UAV supply chain should implement detection and blocking of the identified malware hashes and monitor for the described attack behaviors. Due to the lack of vendor advisories or patches, defensive measures should focus on network segmentation, endpoint detection of the specific payloads, and restricting use of Telegram-based payload delivery channels. Attribution remains uncertain; therefore, mitigation should prioritize containment and monitoring rather than attribution-driven responses.
Affected Countries
Ukraine
Indicators of Compromise
- hash: ab5681266f70af7df24383f15de876e411fc18e35cb6f24603b12f580b05ccb3
- hash: 8de34006dafd990853a45cbe9aaab4ee18c8cd4c1ad0a98fe71f8d63cd60db25
- hash: b1834634820ae696f0514ca2b6723061f115857232306e573f4d115bc6ead012
- hash: 16a59e1fece21ca5394a8ec9ea596fec
- hash: 6da30ad8677b058fad4d3d3031a428ec
- hash: d0a66dd44ee64b76de79cddab13d2745
- hash: 4b5f407f5966f49f8c1005a94a822c83b20fa325
- hash: 52a1b02e4fe0998069c777bec37eb394781e8fda
- hash: c4834de90f419c5517f3a1c13d219d71fc85e742
Ukraine's UAV Supply Chain Targeted With Besomar-Themed Malware Chain
Description
A newly identified threat group, designated as GhostShell, has been conducting cyber operations against Ukraine's unmanned aerial vehicle supply chain since February 2026. The attackers employ malicious archives containing decoy documents that impersonate Besomar, a Ukrainian manufacturer of high-precision interceptor drones, to compromise defense and procurement networks. The attack chain deploys three distinct payloads: a custom backdoor (122.exe) utilizing mTLS client certificates for screen capture and command execution, an in-memory stager (update.exe) disguised as a Windows Health Service that fetches next-stage payloads via Telegram, and a proxy launcher (22.exe) that tunnels traffic through Xray Core to deploy the Vidar v2 information stealer. The targeting strongly suggests a Russian cyber operation, though analysts employ the SOLBIT framework to avoid attribution based on easily forgeable indicators.
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
GhostShell is a newly identified threat group conducting cyber operations against Ukraine's UAV supply chain since early 2026. The attackers use malicious archives with decoy documents impersonating Besomar, a Ukrainian high-precision interceptor drone manufacturer, to infiltrate defense and procurement networks. The malware chain consists of three payloads: a custom backdoor (122.exe) leveraging mTLS client certificates for screen capture and command execution; an in-memory stager (update.exe) disguised as a Windows Health Service that fetches next-stage payloads via Telegram; and a proxy launcher (22.exe) that tunnels traffic through Xray Core to deploy the Vidar v2 information stealer. The targeting and tactics strongly suggest a Russian cyber operation, though attribution is cautious due to potential indicator forgery. There are no known exploits in the wild or vendor patches available.
Potential Impact
The malware chain enables attackers to gain persistent access to targeted defense and procurement networks supporting Ukraine's UAV supply chain. The custom backdoor allows screen capture and command execution, the stager facilitates stealthy payload delivery, and the proxy launcher enables traffic tunneling and deployment of an information stealer (Vidar v2). This compromises sensitive information and operational security of UAV manufacturing and supply processes. The campaign poses a medium severity risk to national defense infrastructure.
Mitigation Recommendations
No official patches or fixes are currently available for this threat. Organizations involved in Ukraine's UAV supply chain should implement detection and blocking of the identified malware hashes and monitor for the described attack behaviors. Due to the lack of vendor advisories or patches, defensive measures should focus on network segmentation, endpoint detection of the specific payloads, and restricting use of Telegram-based payload delivery channels. Attribution remains uncertain; therefore, mitigation should prioritize containment and monitoring rather than attribution-driven responses.
Affected Countries
Technical Details
- Author
- AlienVault
- Tlp
- white
- References
- ["https://cyberpress.org/ghostshell-targets-uav-supply/"]
- Adversary
- GhostShell
- Pulse Id
- 6a3b9d601cf5ebad8e7b3d3b
- Threat Score
- null
Indicators of Compromise
Hash
| Value | Description | Copy |
|---|---|---|
hashab5681266f70af7df24383f15de876e411fc18e35cb6f24603b12f580b05ccb3 | — | |
hash8de34006dafd990853a45cbe9aaab4ee18c8cd4c1ad0a98fe71f8d63cd60db25 | — | |
hashb1834634820ae696f0514ca2b6723061f115857232306e573f4d115bc6ead012 | — | |
hash16a59e1fece21ca5394a8ec9ea596fec | — | |
hash6da30ad8677b058fad4d3d3031a428ec | — | |
hashd0a66dd44ee64b76de79cddab13d2745 | — | |
hash4b5f407f5966f49f8c1005a94a822c83b20fa325 | — | |
hash52a1b02e4fe0998069c777bec37eb394781e8fda | — | |
hashc4834de90f419c5517f3a1c13d219d71fc85e742 | — |
Threat ID: 6a3c168aeed863c81e352e39
Added to database: 06/24/2026, 17:40:26 UTC
Last enriched: 06/24/2026, 17:54:24 UTC
Last updated: 06/24/2026, 18:39:28 UTC
Views: 14
Community Reviews
0 reviewsCrowdsource mitigation strategies, share intel context, and vote on the most helpful responses. Sign in to add your voice and help keep defenders ahead.
Want to contribute mitigation steps or threat intel context? Sign in or create an account to join the community discussion.
Actions
Updates to AI analysis require Pro Console access. Upgrade inside Console → Billing.
External Links
Need more coverage?
Upgrade to Pro Console for AI refresh and higher limits.
For incident response and remediation, OffSeq services can help resolve threats faster.
Latest Threats
Check if your credentials are on the dark web
Instant breach scanning across billions of leaked records. Free tier available.