• 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

Google fined $314M for misusing idle Android users' data

 | 

A flaw in Catwatchful spyware exposed logins of +62,000 users

 | 

China-linked group Houken hit French organizations using zero-days

 | 

Cybercriminals Target Brazil: 248,725 Exposed in CIEE One Data Breach

 | 

Europol shuts down Archetyp Market, longest-running dark web drug marketplace

 | 

Kelly Benefits data breach has impacted 550,000 people, and the situation continues to worsen as the investigation progresses

 | 

Cisco removed the backdoor account from its Unified Communications Manager

 | 

U.S. Sanctions Russia's Aeza Group for aiding crooks with bulletproof hosting

 | 

Qantas confirms customer data breach amid Scattered Spider attacks

 | 

CVE-2025-6554 is the fourth Chrome zero-day patched by Google in 2025

 | 

U.S. CISA adds TeleMessage TM SGNL flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

A sophisticated cyberattack hit the International Criminal Court

 | 

Esse Health data breach impacted 263,000 individuals

 | 

Europol dismantles €460M crypto scam targeting 5,000 victims worldwide

 | 

CISA and U.S. Agencies warn of ongoing Iranian cyber threats to critical infrastructure

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Citrix NetScaler flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Canada bans Hikvision over national security concerns

 | 

Denmark moves to protect personal identity from deepfakes with new copyright law

 | 

Ahold Delhaize data breach affected over 2.2 Million individuals

 | 

Facebook wants access to your camera roll for AI photo edits

 | 
  • 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
  • Hacking
  • Malware
  • Security
  • DPRK-linked BlueNoroff used macOS malware with novel persistence

DPRK-linked BlueNoroff used macOS malware with novel persistence

Pierluigi Paganini November 07, 2024

SentinelLabs observed North Korea-linked threat actor BlueNoroff targeting businesses in the crypto industry with a new multi-stage malware.

SentinelLabs researchers identified a North Korea-linked threat actor targeting crypto businesses with new macOS malware as part of a campaign tracked as “Hidden Risk.” The attackers, linked to BlueNoroff and past RustBucket campaigns, used fake cryptocurrency news emails and a malicious app disguised as a PDF.

SentinelLabs researchers speculate DPRK-linked actors targeting the crypto industry since July 2024 as part of the Hidden Risk campaign. The attackers exploit a unique, novel persistence method via the zshenv configuration file.

The initial attack vector is a phishing email containing a link to a malicious application disguised as a link to a PDF document relating to a cryptocurrency topic such as “Hidden Risk Behind New Surge of Bitcoin Price”, “Altcoin Season 2.0-The Hidden Gems to Watch” and “New Era for Stablecoins and DeFi, CeFi”.

BlueNoroff
The fake PDF displayed to targets (left) and the original source document hosted online (right)

The dropper mimicking the PDF file is hosted on delphidigital[.]org.

Phishing messages impersonate a real person and forward a message from a crypto influencer, while the PDF copies genuine research on Bitcoin ETFs to appear legitimate.

The first stage is a Mac application written in the Swift programming language.

“The first stage is a Mac application written in Swift displaying the same name as the expected PDF, “Hidden Risk Behind New Surge of Bitcoin Price.app”. The application bundle has the bundle identifier Education.LessonOne and contains a universal architecture (i.e., arm64 and x86-64) Mach-O executable named LessonOne.” reads the report published by SentinelLabs. “The application bundle was signed and notarized on 19 October, 2024 with the Apple Developer ID “Avantis Regtech Private Limited (2S8XHJ7948)”. The signature has since been revoked by Apple.”

Once launched, the application downloads and displays a decoy PDF file retrieved from Google Drive, that fetches the second-stage executable from a remote server and executes it. The second-state malware is a Mach-O x86-64 executable which can only run on Intel architecture Macs or Apple silicon devices with the Rosetta emulation framework installed. 

The malware binary, named “growth,” is a 5.1 MB unsigned C++ file, available for researchers to analyze via SentinelLabs.

The backdoor uses a novel persistence technique by exploiting the Zsh configuration file, .zshenv, ensuring it is sourced for all Zsh sessions. This approach bypasses macOS 13 Ventura’s user notifications for new persistence items, making it harder to detect. This is the first time the researchers observed this technique used in attacks in the wild by malware authors, providing more effective persistence than prior methods, which relied on files like .zshrc that only activate with interactive sessions. The “growth” binary installs this mechanism, creating a hidden marker file in /tmp/.zsh_init_success to confirm successful setup.

Analysis of network infrastructure in the Hidden Risk campaign strengthens the attribution of this attack to North Korea’s BlueNoroff threat actor.

BlueNoroff used Namecheap and hosting providers like Quickpacket, Routerhosting, and Hostwinds to set up crypto-themed infrastructure. The latest campaign mirrors an August 2024 macOS malware attack and uses notarized malware signed with hijacked Apple developer accounts. This shift in tactics shows BlueNoroff’s adaptability and awareness of public reports on their activities, continually refining their methods to target the crypto and Web3 sectors.

“Over the last 12 months or so, North Korean cyber actors have engaged in a series of campaigns against crypto-related industries, many of which involved extensive ‘grooming’ of targets via social media. We observe that the Hidden Risk campaign diverts from this strategy taking a more traditional and cruder, though not necessarily any less effective, email phishing approach.” concludes the report. “Despite the bluntness of the initial infection method, other hallmarks of previous DPRK-backed campaigns are evident, both in terms of observed malware artifacts and associated network infrastructure, as discussed extensively throughout this post.”

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, BlueNoroff APT)


facebook linkedin twitter

APT BlueNoroff BlueNoroff APT crypto industry Hacking hacking news Hidden Risk campaign information security news IT Information Security Pierluigi Paganini Security Affairs Security News

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 04, 2025
Google fined $314M for misusing idle Android users' data
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 04, 2025
A flaw in Catwatchful spyware exposed logins of +62,000 users
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

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

    recent articles

    Google fined $314M for misusing idle Android users' data

    Laws and regulations / July 04, 2025

    A flaw in Catwatchful spyware exposed logins of +62,000 users

    Malware / July 04, 2025

    China-linked group Houken hit French organizations using zero-days

    APT / July 03, 2025

    Cybercriminals Target Brazil: 248,725 Exposed in CIEE One Data Breach

    Data Breach / July 03, 2025

    Europol shuts down Archetyp Market, longest-running dark web drug marketplace

    Cyber Crime / July 03, 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