North Korean Hackers Exploit NPM Packages to Steal cryptocurrency and Sensitive Data

Veracode Menace Analysis has uncovered a classy North Korean cryptocurrency theft operation that continues to evolve, constructing on campaigns beforehand reported in February and June 2024.

This newest iteration includes twelve malicious NPM packages, together with cloud-binary, json-cookie-csv, cloudmedia, and nodemailer-enhancer, which had been flagged by automated monitoring techniques and subsequently faraway from the NPM registry.

The attackers, suspected to be state-sponsored actors aiming to fund sanctioned actions, impersonate recruiters providing pretend developer jobs.

Throughout simulated interviews, victims are tricked into putting in these packages as a part of coding workouts, reminiscent of working unit checks that execute hidden malware.

This tactic exploits belief within the hiring course of to deploy payloads that exfiltrate cryptocurrency wallet knowledge, browser extension credentials, and different delicate recordsdata from builders’ machines, doubtlessly enabling company community breaches.

Targets Builders By means of Faux Job Interviews

The malware, recognized as variants of the Beavertail household, employs superior obfuscation and encryption methods, with payloads usually hidden in innocuous recordsdata like licenses or analytics scripts.

As an example, in cloud-binary (a typosquat of the legit cloudinary package deal), a postinstall hook triggers a indifferent course of that decrypts an AES-256 encrypted payload utilizing a set key and IV, revealing obfuscated JavaScript.

This code helps cross-platform operations on Home windows, macOS, and Linux, enumerating system particulars like OS kind, username, and platform earlier than looking for crypto-related browser extensions (e.g., MetaMask, Phantom) by their IDs.

It collects and exfiltrates recordsdata reminiscent of .log and .ldb databases containing non-public keys and seed phrases, alongside paperwork, PDFs, screenshots, and macOS Keychain knowledge.

Further options embody downloading second-stage payloads by way of curl from command-and-control (C2) servers, executing arbitrary Python scripts fetched from endpoints like http://144.172.105.235:1224/shopper/5346/324, and establishing WebSocket connections for distant shell command execution.

Shared Infrastructure Reveal Attacker Hyperlinks

Investigations revealed code similarities throughout packages, such because the creation of a ~/.n3 listing, suggesting that is model 3 of the malware.

Encryption keys and C2 infrastructure, together with ports like 1224, are reused, linking these to prior assaults.

Variants differ in complexity: some, like nodemailer-enhancer, conceal payloads in hex-encoded license recordsdata decrypted with high-entropy keys, whereas others like json-cookie-csv incorporate backup C2 servers and axios requests to fetch extra obfuscated JavaScript from endpoints like https://api.npoint.io/e5a5e32cdf9bfe7d2386, which incorporates marketing campaign flags.

Intriguingly, some payloads include taunting messages, hinting at attainable involvement of a number of actors or inner rivalries. Veracode’s Package deal Firewall blocked most packages preemptively, and notifications to NPM ensured their removing.

This marketing campaign underscores the dangers in open-source ecosystems, the place attackers leverage supply-chain vulnerabilities to goal high-value belongings like crypto holdings and company secrets and techniques.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

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