The REvil ransomware operators are now using a Linux encryptor to encrypts Vmware ESXi virtual machines which are widely adopted by enterprises.
The availability of the Linux encryptor was announced by the REvil gang in May, a circumstance that suggests the group is expanding its operation.
Now MalwareHunterTeam researchers spotted a Linux version of the REvil ransomware that also targets ESXi servers, BleepingComputer reported.
REvil ransomware Linux version…
— MalwareHunterTeam (@malwrhunterteam) June 28, 2021
Config base:
{"pk":"[…]","pid":"[…]","sub":"[…]","dbg":false,"et":0,"nbody":"[…]","nname":"{EXT}-readme.txt","rdmcnt":0,"ext":".[…]"}
"Using silent mode, if you on esxi – stop VMs manualy"@demonslay335 @VK_Intel pic.twitter.com/K08zJuI5Z8
The popular malware researcher Vitali Kremez explained that the new variant is an ELF64 executable with the same configuration options as the Windows version.
“Kremez states that this is the first known time the Linux variant has been publicly available since it was released.” states BleepingComputer.
2021-06-28:
— Vitali Kremez (@VK_Intel) June 28, 2021#REvil #Ransomware Goes Elf Hunting for VMware ESXi VM | Linux 64-Bit Flavor
Leverages "esxcli" CLI component to kill VMs via world id
affiliate "sub":"7864" | usual struct
GCC: (Ubuntu 4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04.4) 4.8.4
*requires admin /vmfs
ht @malwrhunterteam pic.twitter.com/guhYzXkeBL
Upon executing on ESXi servers, the Linux version of the ransomware will run the esxcli command line tool to list all running ESXi virtual machines and close the virtual machine disk (VMDK) files stored in the /vmfs/ folder. Then the REvil ransomware will encrypt the files.
esxcli --formatter=csv --format-param=fields=="WorldID,DisplayName" vm process list | awk -F ""*,"*" '{system("esxcli vm process kill --type=force --world-id=" $1)}'
Indicators of Compromise (IoC) for REvil Linux encryptor have been published by security expert Jaime Blasco on Alienvault’s Open Threat Exchange.
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(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Linux)
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