Malware

Microsoft: Raspberry Robin worm already infected hundreds of networks

Microsoft announced that the Windows worm Raspberry Robin has already infected the networks of hundreds of organizations.

Raspberry Robin is a Windows worm discovered by cybersecurity researchers from Red Canary, the malware propagates through removable USB devices.

The malicious code uses Windows Installer to reach out to QNAP-associated domains and download a malicious DLL. The malware uses TOR exit nodes as a backup C2 infrastructure.

The malware was first spotted in September 2021, the experts observed Raspberry Robin targeting organizations in the technology and manufacturing industries. Initial access is typically through infected removable drives, often USB devices.

“Raspberry Robin is typically introduced via infected removable drives, often USB devices. The Raspberry Robin worm often appears as a shortcut .lnk file masquerading as a legitimate folder on the infected USB device.” continues the analysis. “Soon after the Raspberry Robin infected drive is connected to the system, the UserAssist registry entry is updated and records execution of a ROT13-ciphered value referencing a .lnk file when deciphered. In the example below, q:\erpbirel.yax deciphers to d:\recovery.lnk.”

The malware uses cmd.exe to read and execute a file stored on the infected external drive, it leverages msiexec.exe for external network communication to a rogue domain used as C2 to download and install a DLL library file.

Then msiexec.exe launches a legitimate Windows utility, fodhelper.exe, which in turn run rundll32.exe to execute a malicious command. Experts pointed out that processes launched by fodhelper.exe run with elevated administrative privileges without requiring a User Account Control prompt.

According to the researchers, looking for fodhelper.exe as a parent process it is possible to detect the threat.

Now Microsoft confirmed that the threat was discovered on the networks of multiple customers, including organizations in the technology and manufacturing sectors.

BleepingComputer reported that Microsoft warned its customers via a private threat intelligence advisory sent to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint subscribers.

The IT giants believe that the Raspberry Robin represents a high risk to organizations because it could be used by threat actors as an entry point in the target networks and to drop additional malicious payloads.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, malware)

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Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.

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