• 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

Critical Sudo bugs expose major Linux distros to local Root exploits

 | 

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

 | 
  • 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
  • Intelligence
  • Malware
  • China-linked APT UNC3886 targets EoL Juniper routers

China-linked APT UNC3886 targets EoL Juniper routers

Pierluigi Paganini March 12, 2025

Mandiant researchers warn that China-linked actors are deploying custom backdoors on Juniper Networks Junos OS MX routers.

In mid-2024, Mandiant identified custom backdoors on Juniper Networks’ Junos OS routers, and attributed the attacks to a China-linked espionage group tracked as UNC3886. These TINYSHELL-based backdoors had various capabilities, including active and passive access and a script to disable logging. Mandiant collaborated with Juniper Networks to investigate, finding that the affected Juniper MX routers were running outdated hardware and software, making them vulnerable to exploitation.

UNC3886 is a sophisticated China-linked cyber espionage group that targets network devices and virtualization technologies using zero-day exploits. Its primary focus is on defense, technology, and telecommunications sectors in the US and Asia.

In 2023, the APT group targeted multiple government organizations using the Fortinet zero-day CVE-2022-41328 to deploy custom backdoors.

The group’s latest operation on Juniper Networks’ Junos OS routers demonstrates a deep knowledge of system internals. UNC3886 prioritizes stealth by using passive backdoors and tampering with logs and forensic artifacts to ensure long-term persistence while evading detection.

Mandiant observed UNC3886 using compromised credentials to access Junos OS CLI from terminal servers managing network devices, escalating to FreeBSD shell mode. Junos OS includes a Verified Exec (veriexec) subsystem, adapted from NetBSD Veriexec, to ensure file integrity by preventing unauthorized code execution, including binaries, libraries, and scripts. To deploy malware, the threat actor had to first bypass this security mechanism. UNC3886 bypassed it by injecting malicious code into trusted processes. This allowed them to install six TinyShell-based backdoors named appid, to, irad, jdosd, oemd, and lmpad. Each backdoor was designed for remote access, persistence, and stealth, enabling attackers to evade detection and maintain long-term control.

“Veriexec protection prevents unauthorized binaries from executing. This poses a challenge for threat actors, as disabling veriexec can trigger alerts. However, execution of untrusted code is still possible if it occurs within the context of a trusted process. Mandiant’s investigation revealed that UNC3886 was able to circumvent this protection by injecting malicious code into the memory of a legitimate process.” reads the report published by Mandiant “This specific technique is now tracked as CVE-2025-21590, as detailed in Juniper Network’s security bulletin JSA93446.”

Below are the descriptions of the backdoors provided by Mandiant:

  1. appid – TINYSHELL-based active backdoor, mimicking a legitimate binary named appidd (Application Identification Daemon)
  2. to – TINYSHELL-based active backdoor, mimicking a legitimate binary named top (Table of Processes)
  3. irad – TINYSHELL-based passive backdoor, mimicking a legitimate binary named irsd (Interface Replication and Synchronization Daemon)
  4. lmpad – TINYSHELL-based utility and passive backdoor, mimicking a legitimate binary named lmpd (Link Management Protocol Daemon)
  5. jdosd – TINYSHELL-based passive backdoor, mimicking a legitimate binary named jddosd (Juniper DDOS protection Daemon)
  6. oemd – TINYSHELL-based passive backdoor, mimicking a legitimate binary named oamd (Operation, Administration and Maintenance Daemon)

“China-nexus espionage actors  are continuing to compromise networking infrastructure with custom malware ecosystems. While UNC3886 previously focused their operations on network edge devices, this activity demonstrated they’re also targeting internal networking infrastructure, such as Internet Service Provider (ISP) routers. Mandiant observed the threat actor targeting network authentication services, including the Terminal Access Controller Access-Control System (TACACS+), and terminal servers with access to the routers to gain privileged initial access.” concludes the report published by Mandiant. “This privileged access allowed the threat actor to enter Junos OS shell mode and perform restricted operations.”

Mandiant also provided Indicators of Compromise (IoCs) and Yara rules to detect these backdoors.

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, backdoor)


facebook linkedin twitter

backdoor CVE-2025-21590 Hacking hacking news information security news IT Information Security Juniper malware Pierluigi Paganini Security Affairs Security News

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 04, 2025
Critical Sudo bugs expose major Linux distros to local Root exploits
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 04, 2025
Google fined $314M for misusing idle Android users' data
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

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

    recent articles

    Critical Sudo bugs expose major Linux distros to local Root exploits

    Security / July 04, 2025

    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

    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