April 2022’s Most Wanted Malware: A Shake Up in the Index but Emotet is Still on Top

Check Point Research reports that April has seen a lot of activity from Formbook to Lokibot. This month also saw Spring4Shell make headlines, but it is not yet one of the most exploited vulnerabilities

Our latest Global Threat Index for April 2022 reveals that Emotet, an advanced, self-propagating and modular Trojan, is still the most prevalent malware impacting 6% of organizations worldwide. Despite this, there has been movement for all other malwares in the list. Tofsee and Nanocore are out, and have been replaced by Formbook and Lokibot, now the second and sixth most prevalent malwares respectively.

Emotet’s higher score in March (10%) was mainly due to specific Easter themed scams but this month’s decrease could also be explained by Microsoft’s decision to disable specific macros associated with Office files, affecting the way that Emotet is usually delivered. In fact, there are reports that Emotet has a new delivery method; using phishing emails that contain a OneDrive URL. Emotet has many uses after it succeeds in bypassing a machine’s protections. Due to its sophisticated techniques of propagating and assimilation, Emotet also offers other malwares to cybercriminals on dark web forums including banking trojans, ransomwares, botnets, etc. As a result, once Emotet finds a breach, the consequences can vary depending on which malware was delivered after the breach was compromised.

Elsewhere in the index, Lokibot, an infostealer, has re-entered the list in sixth place after a high impact spam campaign delivering the malware via xlsx files made to look like legitimate invoices. This, and the rise of Formbook, have had a knock on effect on the position of other malwares with the advanced remote access trojan (RAT) AgentTesla, for example, dropping into third place from second.

At the end of March, critical vulnerabilities were found in Java Spring Framework, known as Spring4Shell, and since then, numerous threat actors have leveraged the threat to spread Mirai, this month’s ninth most prevalent malware. Although Spring4Shell is not yet in the top ten list of vulnerabilities, it’s worth noting that over 35% of organizations worldwide have already been impacted by this threat in its first month alone, and so we expect to see it rise up the list in the coming months.

We also revealed this month that Education/Research is still the most targeted industry by cybercriminals globally. “Web Server Exposed Git Repository Information Disclosure” is the most exploited vulnerability, impacting 46% of organizations worldwide, closely followed by “Apache Log4j Remote Code Execution”. “Apache Struts ParametersInterceptor ClassLoader Security Bypass” shoots up the index, now in third place with a global impact of 45%.

Top Malware Families

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

This month Emotet is still the most popular malware impacting 6% of organizations worldwide, closely followed by Formbook which impacts 3% of organizations and AgentTesla with a global impact of 2%.

 

1. ↔ Emotet – Emotet is an advanced, self-propagating and modular Trojan. Emotet was once used as a banking Trojan, but recently is used as a distributer to other malware or malicious campaigns. It uses multiple methods for maintaining persistence and evasion techniques to avoid detection. In addition, it can be spread through phishing spam emails containing malicious attachments or links.
2. ↑ Formbook – Formbook is an Infostealer targeting the Windows OS and was first detected in 2016. It is marketed as Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) in underground hacking forums for its strong evasion techniques and relatively low price. FormBook harvests credentials from various web browsers, collects screenshots, monitors, and logs keystrokes, and can download and execute files according to orders from its C&C.
3. ↓ 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 Microsoft Outlook.)
4. ↓ XMRig – XMRig is open-source CPU mining software used to mine the Monero cryptocurrency. Threat actors often abuse this open-source software by integrating it into their malware to conduct illegal mining on victims¿ devices.
5. ↓ 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.
6. ↑ Lokibot – Lokibot  First identified in February 2016, LokiBot is a commodity infostealer with versions for both the Windows and Android OS. It harvests credentials from a variety of applications, web browsers, email clients, IT administration tools such as PuTTY and more. LokiBot is sold on hacking forums and it is believed that its source code was leaked, thus allowing numerous variants to appear. Since late 2017, some Android versions of LokiBot include ransomware functionality in addition to their infostealing capabilities.
7. ↓ Ramnit – Ramnit is a modular banking Trojan first discovered in 2010. Ramnit steals web session information, giving its operators the ability to steal account credentials for all services used by the victim, including bank accounts, and corporate and social networks accounts. The Trojan uses both hardcoded domains as well as domains generated by a DGA (Domain Generation Algorithm) to contact the C&C server and download additional modules.
8. ↓ Phorpiex – Phorpiex is a botnet (aka Trik) has been since 2010 and at its peak controlled more than a million infected hosts. Known for distributing other malware families via spam campaigns as well as fueling large-scale spam and sextortion campaigns.
9. ↓ Mirai – Mirai is an infamous Internet-of-Things (IoT) malware that tracks vulnerable IoT devices, such as web cameras, modems and routers, and turns them into bots. The botnet is used by its operators to conduct massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. The Mirai botnet first surfaced in September 2016 and quickly made headlines due to some large-scale attacks including a massive DDoS attack used to knock the entire country of Liberia offline, and a DDoS attack against the Internet infrastructure firm Dyn, which provides a significant portion of the United States internet’s infrastructure.
10. ↑ Remcos – Remcos is a RAT that first appeared in the wild in 2016. Remcos distributes itself through malicious Microsoft Office documents, which are attached to SPAM emails, and is designed to bypass Microsoft Windowss UAC security and execute malware with high-level privileges.

Top Attacked Industries Globally

This month Education &Research is the most attacked industry globally, followed by Government &Military and Internet Service Provider &Managed Service Provider (ISP&MSP).

1. Education & Research
2. Government & Military
3. Internet Service Providers &Managed Service Providers (ISP&MSP).

Top Exploited Vulnerabilities

This month “Web Server Exposed Git Repository Information Disclosure” is the most exploited vulnerability, impacting 46% of organizations globally, closely followed by “Apache Log4j Remote Code Execution” with a global impact of 46%. “Apache Struts ParametersInterceptor ClassLoader Security Bypass” is now in third place in the top exploited vulnerabilities list, with a global impact of 45%.

1. ↑ Web Server Exposed Git Repository Information Disclosure– An information disclosure vulnerability has been reported in Git Repository. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an unintentional disclosure of account information.
2. ↓ Apache Log4j Remote Code Execution (CVE-2021-44228)– A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Apache Log4j. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the affected system.
3. ↑ Apache Struts ParametersInterceptor ClassLoader Security Bypass (CVE-2014-0094,CVE-2014-0112,CVE-2014-0113,CVE-2014-0114)– A security bypass vulnerability exists in Apache Struts. The vulnerability is due to inadequate validation of data processed by ParametersInterceptor allowing for manipulation of the ClassLoader. A remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability by providing a class parameter in a request.
4. ↔ Web Servers Malicious URL Directory Traversal (CVE-2010-4598,CVE-2011-2474,CVE-2014-0130,CVE-2014-0780,CVE-2015-0666,CVE-2015-4068,CVE-2015-7254,CVE-2016-4523,CVE-2016-8530,CVE-2017-11512,CVE-2018-3948,CVE-2018-3949,CVE-2019-18952,CVE-2020-5410,CVE-2020-8260) – There exists a directory traversal vulnerability On different web servers. The vulnerability is due to an input validation error in a web server that does not properly sanitize the URI for the directory traversal patterns. Successful exploitation allows unauthenticated remote attackers to disclose or access arbitrary files on the vulnerable server.
5. ↓ 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.
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. ↓ MVPower DVR Remote Code Execution– A 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.
8. ↑ 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.
9. ↓ Dasan GPON Router Authentication Bypass (CVE-2018-10561) – An 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.
10. ↓ PHP Easter Egg Information Disclosure – An information disclosure vulnerability has been reported in the PHP pages. The vulnerability is due to incorrect web server configuration. A remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending a specially crafted URL to an affected PHP page.

Top Mobile Malwares

This month AlienBot is the most prevalent mobile malware, followed by FluBot and xHelper.

1. AlienBot – AlienBot malware family is a Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) for Android devices that allows a remote attacker, at a first step, to inject malicious code into legitimate financial applications. The attacker obtains access to victims’ accounts, and eventually completely controls their device.
2. FluBot– FluBot is an Android malware distributed via phishing SMS messages (Smishing), most often impersonating logistics delivery brands. Once the user clicks the link inside the message, they are redirected to the download of a fake application containing FluBot. Once installed the malware has various capabilities to harvest credentials and support the Smishing operation itself, including uploading of the contacts list, as well as sending SMS messages to other phone numbers.
3. 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 reinstalling itself in case it was uninstalled.