Cyber Crime

Royal Ransomware adds support for encrypting Linux, VMware ESXi systems

Royal Ransomware operators added support for encrypting Linux devices and target VMware ESXi virtual machines.

The Royal Ransomware gang is the latest extortion group in order of time to add support for encrypting Linux devices and target VMware ESXi virtual machines.

Other ransomware operators already support Linux encrypting, including AvosLocker, Black Basta, BlackMatter, HelloKitty, Hive, LockBitLuna, Nevada, RansomEXX, and REvil

BleepingComputer first reported that Equinix Threat Analysis Center (ETAC) researcher Will Thomas discovered the Linux variant of the Royal Ransomware. The new variant appends the .royal_u extension to the filenames of all encrypted files on the VM.

Querying VirusTotal for the hash that was shared by the expert we can verify that currently the ransomware variant has a detection rate of 32 our of 63.

According to Thomas, the malware is executed using the command line and support multiple parameters to control the encryption operations.

When encrypting files the ransomware will append the .royal_u extension to all encrypted files on the VM.

Royal ransomware is a human-operated threat that first appeared on the threat landscape in September 2022, it has demanded ransoms up to millions of dollars.

Unlike other ransomware operations, Royal doesn’t offer Ransomware-as-a-Service, it appears to be a private group without a network of affiliates.

Once compromised a victim’s network, the threat actors deploy the post-exploitation tool Cobalt Strike to maintain persistence and perform lateral movements.

Originally, the ransomware operation used BlackCat’s encryptor, but later it started using Zeon. The ransom notes (README.TXT) include a link to the victim’s private negotiation page. Starting from September 2022, the note was changed to Royal.

The Royal ransomware can either fully or partially encrypt a file depending on its size and the ‘-ep’
parameter. The malware changes the extension of the encrypted files to ‘.royal’.

In November 2022, researchers from the Microsoft Security Threat Intelligence team warned that a threat actor, tracked as DEV-0569, is using Google Ads to distribute various payloads, including the recently discovered Royal ransomware. The DEV-0569 group carries out malvertising campaigns to spread links to a signed malware downloader posing as software installers or fake updates embedded in spam messages, fake forum pages, and blog comments.

In December 2022, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) warned healthcare organizations of Royal ransomware attacks.

BleepingComputer forum hosts a Royal Ransomware (.royal) Support Topic on this specific threat.

Last week, CERT-FR warned of an ongoing campaign targeting ESXi servers. Yesterday the Italian National Cyber Agency also warned of an ongoing massive ransomware campaign targeting VMware ESXi servers worldwide, including Italian systems. The attackers are attempting to exploit the CVE-2021–21974 vulnerability.

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Ransomware)

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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