• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

Taking over millions of developers exploiting an Open VSX Registry flaw

 | 

OneClik APT campaign targets energy sector with stealthy backdoors

 | 

APT42 impersonates cyber professionals to phish Israeli academics and journalists

 | 

Kai West, aka IntelBroker, indicted for cyberattacks causing $25M in damages

 | 

Cisco fixed critical ISE flaws allowing Root-level remote code execution

 | 

U.S. CISA adds AMI MegaRAC SPx, D-Link DIR-859 routers, and Fortinet FortiOS flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

CitrixBleed 2: The nightmare that echoes the 'CitrixBleed' flaw in Citrix NetScaler devices

 | 

Hackers deploy fake SonicWall VPN App to steal corporate credentials

 | 

Mainline Health Systems data breach impacted over 100,000 individuals

 | 

Disrupting the operations of cryptocurrency mining botnets

 | 

Prometei botnet activity has surged since March 2025

 | 

The U.S. House banned WhatsApp on government devices due to security concerns

 | 

Russia-linked APT28 use Signal chats to target Ukraine official with malware

 | 

China-linked APT Salt Typhoon targets Canadian Telecom companies

 | 

U.S. warns of incoming cyber threats following Iran airstrikes

 | 

McLaren Health Care data breach impacted over 743,000 people

 | 

American steel giant Nucor confirms data breach in May attack

 | 

The financial impact of Marks & Spencer and Co-op cyberattacks could reach £440M

 | 

Iran-Linked Threat Actors Cyber Fattah Leak Visitors and Athletes' Data from Saudi Games

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 50

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Breaking News
  • Cyber Crime
  • Hacking
  • Internet of Things
  • Malware
  • QSnatch malware infected over 62,000 QNAP NAS Devices

QSnatch malware infected over 62,000 QNAP NAS Devices

Pierluigi Paganini July 28, 2020

US and UK cybersecurity agencies issued a joint advisory about the spread of QSnatch Data-Stealing Malware that already infected over 62,000 QNAP NAS devices.

The United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) issued a joint advisory about a massive ongoing campaign spreading the QSnatch data-stealing malware.

The malicious code specifically targets QNAP NAS devices manufactured by Taiwanese company QNAP, it already infected over 62,000 QNAP NAS devices.

The QSnatch malware implements multiple functionalities, such as:  

  • CGI password logger  
    • This installs a fake version of the device admin login page, logging successful authentications and passing them to the legitimate login page.
  • Credential scraper
  • SSH backdoor  
    • This allows the cyber actor to execute arbitrary code on a device.
  • Exfiltration
    • When run, QSnatch steals a predetermined list of files, which includes system configurations and log files. These are encrypted with the actor’s public key and sent to their infrastructure over HTTPS.
  • Webshell functionality for remote access
QSnatch QNAP

In November 2019, security experts first spotted the QSnatch malware that at the time infected thousands of QNAP NAS devices worldwide. At the time, the German Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-Bund) reported that over 7,000 devices have been infected in Germany alone.

Auf Basis von Sinkhole-Daten sind aktuell bereits ca. 7.000 NAS-Geräte in Deutschland betroffen.
Weitere Informationen von unseren Kollegen bei @CERTFI:https://t.co/DgrWKoRHS0

— CERT-Bund (@certbund) October 31, 2019

QSnatch (aks Derek) is a data-stealing malware that was first details by the experts at the National Cyber Security Centre of Finland (NCSC-FI) in October 2019. The experts were alerted about the malware in October and immediately launched an investigation.

“CISA and NCSC have identified two campaigns of activity for QSnatch malware. The first campaign likely began in early 2014 and continued until mid-2017, while the second started in late 2018 and was still active in late 2019. The two campaigns are distinguished by the initial payload used as well as some differences in capabilities. This alert focuses on the second campaign as it is the most recent threat.” reads the alert. “Analysis shows a significant number of infected devices. In mid-June 2020, there were approximately 62,000 infected devices worldwide; of these, approximately 7,600 were in the United States and 3,900 were in the United Kingdom.”

Experts pointed out that any QNAP NAS device that was not updated is potentially vulnerable to QSnatch malware. The experts observed that once a device has been infected, the malicious code can prevent the installation of firmware updates.

According to the alert, the malware is relatively sophisticated and attackers demonstrate an awareness of operational security.

The infection vector is yet to be identified, anyway, the threat actors in both campaigns are not currently active. In the second campaign observed by the agencies, attackers were injecting the malware during the infection stage and subsequently using a domain generation algorithm (DGA) to set up a C2 channel.

The two agencies urge organizations to ensure their devices have not been previously infected, they recommend a full factory reset of the device before performing the firmware upgrade.

To prevent QSnatch malware infections, agencies recommend that organizations take the recommended measures in QNAP’s November 2019 advisory.

CISA and NCSC also recommend organizations consider the following mitigations:  

  • Verify that you purchased QNAP devices from reputable sources.  
    • If sources are in question, run a full factory reset on the device prior to completing the firmware upgrade. For additional supply chain recommendations, see CISA’s tip on Securing Network Infrastructure Devices.
  • Block external connections when the device is intended to be used strictly for internal storage.
[adrotate banner=”9″][adrotate banner=”12″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, QSnatch)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]


facebook linkedin twitter

CISA Hacking hacking news information security news IoT IT Information Security malware NCSC Pierluigi Paganini QNAP QSnatch malware Security Affairs Security News

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini June 27, 2025
Taking over millions of developers exploiting an Open VSX Registry flaw
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini June 27, 2025
OneClik APT campaign targets energy sector with stealthy backdoors
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    Taking over millions of developers exploiting an Open VSX Registry flaw

    Hacking / June 27, 2025

    OneClik APT campaign targets energy sector with stealthy backdoors

    Hacking / June 27, 2025

    APT42 impersonates cyber professionals to phish Israeli academics and journalists

    APT / June 27, 2025

    Kai West, aka IntelBroker, indicted for cyberattacks causing $25M in damages

    Cyber Crime / June 26, 2025

    Cisco fixed critical ISE flaws allowing Root-level remote code execution

    Security / June 26, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT