Beginning in August 2025, a sophisticated intrusion was discovered where attackers used log poisoning techniques to deploy a web shell on vulnerable phpMyAdmin panels. The threat actors exploited misconfigured web applications to plant China Chopper web shells, controlled via AntSword, before deploying Nezha, an open-source monitoring tool, to facilitate remote command execution. This led to the deployment of Ghost RAT on compromised systems. Analysis revealed over 100 compromised machines, predominantly located in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong. The attackers demonstrated technical proficiency through multi-stage operations, utilizing AWS and VPS infrastructure, with indicators pointing to China-nexus threat actors. The campaign highlights increasing abuse of legitimate publicly available tools to achieve malicious objectives while maintaining plausible deniability.
A South Asian financial institution was targeted with two custom malware components: BRUSHWORM, a modular backdoor, and BRUSHLOGGER, a keylogger. BRUSHWORM features anti-analysis checks, encrypted configuration, scheduled task persistence, modular payload downloading, USB worm propagation, and extensive file theft. BRUSHLOGGER uses DLL side-loading to capture system-wide keystrokes with window context tracking. The malware's low sophistication and implementation flaws suggest an inexperienced author, possibly using AI code-generation tools. Multiple testing versions were discovered on VirusTotal, indicating iterative development. The malware components combine to create a functional collection platform with modular loading, USB propagation, broad file theft, air-gap bridging, and persistent keystroke capture.
