• 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
  • APT
  • Breaking News
  • Cyber warfare
  • Hacking
  • Malware
  • Chinese threat actor Scarab targets Ukraine, CERT-UA warns

Chinese threat actor Scarab targets Ukraine, CERT-UA warns

Pierluigi Paganini March 25, 2022

Ukraine CERT (CERT-UA) released details about a campaign that SentinelLabs linked with the suspected Chinese threat actor tracked as Scarab.

Ukraine CERT (CERT-UA) published technical details about a malicious activity tracked as UAC-0026, which SentinelLabs associated with China-linked Scarab APT. Scarab APT was first spotted in 2015, but experts believe it has been active since at least 2012, conducting surgical attacks against a small number of individuals across the world, including Russia and the United States.

Scarab has conducted multiple cyberspionage campaigns over the years, it employed the custom backdoor Scieron and later the HeaderTip implant.

Experts pointed out that the UAC-0026 activity is the first public example of a Chinese threat actor targeting Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion.

The attacker spread their malware through phishing messages using weaponized documents that deploy the HeaderTip malware. The messages use a RAR-archive titled “On the preservation of video recordings of the criminal actions of the army of the Russian Federation.rar” which included an executable with the same name. The lure document employed in the campaign spotted by CERT-UA mimics the National Police of Ukraine.

“Running the executable file will create a lure document “# 2163_02_33-2022.pdf” (applies to a letter from the National Police of Ukraine), as well as a DLL file with the MZ header “officecleaner.dat” and the BAT file “officecleaner” removed. .bat “, which will ensure the formation of the correct DLL-file, run it and write to the Windows registry to ensure consistency.” reads the advisory published by CERT-UA. “The mentioned DLL-file is classified as a malicious program HeaderTip, the main purpose of which is to download and execute other DLL-files.”

Scarab APT

SentinelLab experts analyzed the infrastructure used by Scarab and several samples of the HeaderTip malware shared by CERT-UA.

“We assess with high confidence the recent CERT-UA activity attributed to UAC-0026 is the Scarab APT group.” reads the analysis published by SentinelLabs. “An initial link can be made through the design of the malware samples and their associated loaders from at least 2020. Further relationships can be identified through the reuse of actor-unique infrastructure between the malware families associated with the groups:

  • 508d106ea0a71f2fd360fda518e1e533e7e584ed (HeaderTip – 2021)
  • 121ea06f391d6b792b3e697191d69dc500436604 (Scieron 2018)
  • Dynamic.ddns[.]mobi (Reused C2 Server)”

The analysis of metadata associated with lure documents suggests the author is using the Windows operating system in a Chinese language setting.

The HeaderTip samples employed by threat actors are 32-bit DLL files written in C++. Experts reported that the HeaderTip malware implements backdoor capabilities and can be also used as a first stage malware.

“ConclusionWe assess with high confidence the recent CERT-UA activity attributed to UAC-0026 is the Scarab APT group and represents the first publicly-reported attack on Ukraine from a non-Russian APT.” concludes SentinelOne. “The HeaderTip malware and associated phishing campaign utilizing Macro-enabled documents appears to be a first-stage infection attempt. At this point in time, the threat actor’s further objectives and motivations remain unclear.”

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook

[adrotate banner=”9″][adrotate banner=”12″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Ukraine)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]


facebook linkedin twitter

CERT-UA Hacking hacking news information security news IT Information Security malware Pierluigi Paganini Russia Scarab APT 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