Check Point Software´s May 2021 Most Wanted Malware: Dridex Drops from List While Trickbot Rises to Top

Check Point Research (CPR) reports that the Dridex trojan, which is often used in the initial stages of ransomware attacks, has now dropped from the index after being one of the most prevalent malwares in recent months

CPR latest Global Threat Index for May 2021 has revealed that Trickbot, which first entered the list in April 2019, has now taken the top spot, while the established Dridex trojan has dropped off altogether after being one of the most popular malwares in recent months amidst a global surge in ransomware. While it’s not yet known why Dridex has fallen from the list, recent reports indicate that the Evil Corp gang, which is well known for distributing Dridex, has rebranded and shifted its approach to evade US treasury department sanctions.

Taking first place in the index is Trickbot, which is a botnet and banking Trojan that can steal financial details, account credentials, and personally identifiable information, as well as spread within a network and drop ransomware, particularly Ryuk. It is constantly being updated with new capabilities, features and distribution vectors, which enables it to be a flexible and customizable malware that can be distributed as part of multi-purpose campaigns. Trickbot gained popularity after the takedown of the Emotet botnet in January, and made fresh headlines this week as the US Justice Department charged a Latvian woman for her role in creating and deploying the Trickbot malware.

Since the beginning of 2021, CPR has seen a significant increase in the volume of cyberattacks towards enterprises. When comparing to May 2020 CPR has seen an increase of 70% in the number of cyberattacks in the Americas, while EMEA presents a 97% increase compared to May 2020, and APAC sees a staggering 168% year on year increase.

While there have been a lot of talks about the recent increase in ransomware attacks, the reality is that there has been a huge increase in the total number of cyberattacks in general. It’s a significant and troubling trend, and organizations need to be aware of the risks and ensure adequate solutions are in place. Attacks cannot only be blocked; they can also be prevented, including zero-day attacks and unknown malware. With the right security solutions in place, the majority of attacks, even the most advanced ones can be prevented without disrupting the normal business flow.

CPR also revealed that “Web Server Exposed Git Repository Information Disclosure” is still the most common exploited vulnerability, impacting 48% of organizations globally, followed by “HTTP Headers Remote Code Execution (CVE-2020-13756)” which impacts 47.5% of organizations worldwide. “MVPower DVR Remote Code Execution” ranks in third place in the top exploited vulnerabilities list, with a global impact of 46%.

Top malware families

*The arrows relate to the change in rank compared to the previous month.

This Month, Trickbot becomes the most popular malware with a global impact of 8% of organizations, followed by XMRig and Formbook impacting 3% of organizations worldwide each.

1. ↑ Trickbot – Trickbot is a modular Botnet and Banking Trojan constantly being updated with new capabilities, features and distribution vectors. This enables Trickbot to be a flexible and customizable malware that can be distributed as part of multi-purpose campaigns.

2. ↑ XMRig – XMRig is an open-source CPU mining software used for the mining process of the Monero cryptocurrency, and first seen in-the-wild in May 2017.
3. ↑ Formbook – Formbook is an Infostealer that harvests credentials from various web browsers, collects screenshots, monitors and logs keystrokes, and can download and execute files according to its C&C orders.
4.    ↓ Agent Tesla– Agent Tesla is an advanced RAT functioning as a keylogger and information stealer, which is capable of monitoring and collecting the victim’s keyboard input, system keyboard, taking screenshots, and exfiltrating credentials to a variety of software installed on a victim’s machine (including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and the Microsoft Outlook email client).
5. ↑ Lokibot – Lokibot is an Info Stealer distributed mainly by phishing emails, and is used to steal various data such as email credentials, as well as passwords to CryptoCoin wallets and FTP servers.
6. ↑ Glupteba – Glupteba is a backdoor which gradually matured into a botnet. By 2019 it included a C&C address update mechanism through public BitCoin lists, an integral browser stealer capability and a router exploiter.
7. ↑ Ramnit – Ramnit is a banking Trojan that steals banking credentials, FTP passwords, session cookies and personal data.
8. ↑ Phorpiex – Phorpiex is a botnet known for distributing other malware families via spam campaigns as well as fueling large scale Sextortion campaigns.
9. ↓ Qbot – Qbot is a banking Trojan that first appeared in 2008, designed to steal users banking credentials and keystrokes. Often distributed via spam email, Qbot employs several anti-VM, anti-debugging, and anti-sandbox techniques, to hinder analysis and evade detection.
10. ↑ IcedID – IcedID is a banking Trojan spread by mail spam campaigns and uses evasive techniques like process injection and steganography to steal user financial data.

Top exploited vulnerabilities

This month “Web Server Exposed Git Repository Information Disclosure” is the most common exploited vulnerability, impacting 48% of organizations globally, followed by “HTTP Headers Remote Code Execution (CVE-2020-13756)” which impacts 47.5% of organizations worldwide. “MVPower DVR Remote Code Execution” takes third place in the top exploited vulnerabilities list, with a global impact of 46%.

1. ↔ Web Server Exposed Git Repository Information Disclosure – information disclosure vulnerability has been reported in Git Repository. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an unintentional disclosure of account information.

2. ↔ HTTP Headers Remote Code Execution (CVE-2020-10826, CVE-2020-10827,CVE-2020-10828,CVE-2020-13756) – HTTP headers let the client and the server pass additional information with an HTTP request. A remote attacker may use a vulnerable HTTP Header to run arbitrary code on the victim machine.

3. ↔ MVPower DVR Remote Code Execution – remote code execution vulnerability exists in MVPower DVR devices. A remote attacker can exploit this weakness to execute arbitrary code in the affected router via a crafted request.
4. ↔ Dasan GPON Router Authentication Bypass (CVE-2018-10561) – authentication bypass vulnerability exists in Dasan GPON routers. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability would allow remote attackers to obtain sensitive information and gain unauthorized access into the affected system.
5.    ↔ Apache Struts2 Content-Type Remote Code Execution (CVE-2017-5638,CVE-2017-5638,CVE-2019-0230) – remote code execution vulnerability exists in the Apache Struts2 using Jakarta multipart parser. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending an invalid content-type as part of a file upload request. Successful exploitation could result in execution of arbitrary code on the affected system.
6. ↑ Command Injection Over HTTP – A command Injection over HTTP vulnerability has been reported. A remote attacker can exploit this issue by sending a specially crafted request to the victim. Successful exploitation would allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the target machine.
7. ↔ SQL Injection (different techniques) – Inserting an injection of SQL query in input from client to application, while exploiting a security vulnerability in an application’s software.
8. ↑ OpenSSL TLS DTLS Heartbeat Information Disclosure (CVE-2014-0160,CVE-2014-0346) – An information disclosure vulnerability exists in OpenSSL. The vulnerability, aka Heartbleed, is due to an error when handling TLS/DTLS heartbeat packets. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to disclose memory contents of a connected client or server.
9. ↑ WordPress portable-phpMyAdmin Plugin Authentication Bypass (CVE-2012-5469) – An authentication bypass vulnerability exists in WordPress portable-phpMyAdmin Plugin. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability would allow remote attackers to obtain sensitive information and gain unauthorized access into the affected system.
10. ↑ PHP php-cgi query string parameter code execution (“CVE-2012-1823, CVE-2012-2311, CVE-2012-2335, CVE-2012-2336,CVE-2013-4878) – A remote code execution vulnerability has been reported in PHP. The vulnerability is due to the improper parsing and filtering of query strings by PHP. A remote attacker may exploit this issue by sending crafted HTTP requests. Successful exploitation would allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the target.

Top mobile malwares

This month xHelper takes first place in the most prevalent mobile malware, followed by Triada and Hiddad.

1. xHelper – A malicious application seen in the wild since March 2019, used for downloading other malicious apps and display advertisement. The application is capable of hiding itself from the user, and can reinstall itself in case it was uninstalled.
2. Triada – Modular Backdoor for Android which grants superuser privileges to downloaded malware.

Hiddad – Hiddad is an Android malware which repackages legitimate apps and then releases them to a third-party store. Its main function is to display ads, but it can also gain access to key security details built into the