• 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

DSPM & AI Are Booming: $17.87B and $4.8T Markets by 2033

 | 

Stealth backdoor found in WordPress mu-Plugins folder

 | 

U.S. CISA adds CrushFTP, Google Chromium, and SysAid flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

U.S. CISA urges FCEB agencies to fix two Microsoft SharePoint flaws immediately and added them to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Sophos fixed two critical Sophos Firewall vulnerabilities

 | 

French Authorities confirm XSS.is admin arrested in Ukraine

 | 

Microsoft linked attacks on SharePoint flaws to China-nexus actors

 | 

Cisco confirms active exploitation of ISE and ISE-PIC flaws

 | 

SharePoint under fire: new ToolShell attacks target enterprises

 | 

CrushFTP zero-day actively exploited at least since July 18

 | 

Hardcoded credentials found in HPE Aruba Instant On Wi-Fi devices

 | 

MuddyWater deploys new DCHSpy variants amid Iran-Israel conflict

 | 

U.S. CISA urges to immediately patch Microsoft SharePoint flaw adding it to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Microsoft issues emergency patches for SharePoint zero-days exploited in "ToolShell" attacks

 | 

SharePoint zero-day CVE-2025-53770 actively exploited in the wild

 | 

Singapore warns China-linked group UNC3886 targets its critical infrastructure

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Fortinet FortiWeb flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 54

 | 

Security Affairs newsletter Round 533 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

 | 

Radiology Associates of Richmond data breach impacts 1.4 million people

 | 
  • 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
  • Breaking News
  • Cyber Crime
  • Hacking
  • Morphing Meerkat phishing kits exploit DNS MX records

Morphing Meerkat phishing kits exploit DNS MX records

Pierluigi Paganini March 31, 2025

Morphing Meerkat phishing kits exploit DNS MX records to deliver spoofed login pages, targeting over 100 brands.

Infoblox researchers discovered a new phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) platform that generated multiple phishing kits, called Morphing Meerkat, using DNS mail exchange (MX) records to deliver fake login pages and targeting over 100 brands.

Threat actors are exploiting DNS techniques to enhance phishing attacks, using MX records to dynamically serve spoofed login pages. They also abuse open redirects, compromised domains, and distribute stolen credentials via Telegram.

The phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) platform behind Morphing Meerkat kits has been active for at least five years. It consistently employs the same tactics and core resources, yet its use of MX records for phishing has remained largely unreported.

The researchers believe that Morphing Meerkat has sent thousands of spam messages. Attackers sent messages from relatively centralized email servers, mainly belonging to internet service providers (ISPs) iomart (United Kingdom) and HostPapa (United States). The consistent tactics suggest a centralized phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) platform rather than multiple independent actors, as email activity is not widely distributed across providers.

Morphing Meerkat enables large-scale phishing and spam campaigns, it uses compromised WordPress sites, open redirects, and MX records to tailor fake login pages. The platform bypasses security with obfuscated code, dynamic translations, and redirects suspicious users to real sites. Stolen credentials are distributed via email and chat.

“We discovered cyber campaigns that used the phishing kits as early as January 2020. These early versions were only capable of serving phishing web templates disguised as five email brands: Gmail, Outlook, AOL, Office 365, and Yahoo. They also had no translation module, so the kits could only display English text in the phishing templates.” reads the report published by Infoblox. “Over time, Morphing Meerkat expanded the library of templates and we currently see 114 different brand designs. By July 2023 kits could dynamically load phishing pages based on DNS MX records. Today, the phishing kits can also dynamically translate text based on the victim’s web profile and target users in over a dozen different languages.”

The PhaaS platform sends spam emails with malicious links, targeting users globally, including high-profile professionals. The phishing kits use DNS MX records to serve dynamic login pages and can redirect victims to real sites for security evasion. Attackers adapt phishing pages into over a dozen languages using a JavaScript translation module, enabling large-scale attacks across different regions.

Phishing emails use generic or spoofed logos, often impersonating banks or shipping services with scare tactics. To evade detection, they embed links in compromised sites, URL shorteners, and abuse DoubleClick’s open redirects.

The platform tailors phishing pages by dynamically loading HTML based on the victim’s email provider’s MX records, using Cloudflare and Google DNS over HTTPS.

Morphing Meerkat exploits open redirects on ad tech platforms like Google DoubleClick, using fake domains and compromised sites. It queries the victim’s email domain’s MX record via DoH (Google/Cloudflare) to load a tailored phishing page with the email pre-filled for credibility.

Morphing Meerkat phishing kits

Morphing Meerkat’s PhaaS platform blocks security analysis, obfuscates code, and dynamically serves phishing pages based on DNS MX records. The platform supports more than 114 login templates and harvests credentials via email, PHP scripts, AJAX, or Telegram, often deleting evidence in real time.

Morphing Meerkat exfiltrates stolen credentials via AJAX requests, PHP scripts, or Telegram bot webhooks. To ensure accuracy, victims see an “Invalid Password” error, prompting them to re-enter credentials. After submission, they are redirected to the legitimate login page to avoid suspicion.

“Morphing Meerkat is another example of a long-running operation that is difficult to detect at scale. They know where security blind spots are and have been exploiting them via open redirects on adtech, DoH communication, and popular file sharing services.” concludes the report.

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, phishing)


facebook linkedin twitter

Cybercrime Hacking hacking news information security news IT Information Security malware Morphing Meerkat phishing phishing kits phishing-as-a-service Pierluigi Paganini Security Affairs Security News

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 24, 2025
DSPM & AI Are Booming: $17.87B and $4.8T Markets by 2033
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 24, 2025
Stealth backdoor found in WordPress mu-Plugins folder
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

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

    recent articles

    DSPM & AI Are Booming: $17.87B and $4.8T Markets by 2033

    Security / July 24, 2025

    Stealth backdoor found in WordPress mu-Plugins folder

    Malware / July 24, 2025

    U.S. CISA adds CrushFTP, Google Chromium, and SysAid flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

    Hacking / July 24, 2025

    U.S. CISA urges FCEB agencies to fix two Microsoft SharePoint flaws immediately and added them to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

    Hacking / July 23, 2025

    Sophos fixed two critical Sophos Firewall vulnerabilities

    Security / July 23, 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