CLOSEDQUORUM (Organization): news timeline & CVEs

This Malware Doesn’t Wait for Hackers—It Asks AI Models What to Do Next

Cisco Talos documents CLOSEDQUORUM, a Windows implant that votes across DeepSeek, Qwen, Mistral, and Gemini APIs to choose attack actions autonomously.

Cisco Talos's CAIRN research project identified CLOSEDQUORUM, a Windows malware sample that replaces dedicated C2 by sending host details to up to four AI models—DeepSeek, Qwen, Mistral, and Gemini—and letting the majority vote select actions like credential theft, process injection, or persistence. The implant targets Windows and browser passwords plus cryptocurrency wallets, reports via a Discord webhook, and uses WMI-based persistence, though lateral movement has no working handler in the distributed build. The public build contains placeholder keys and a dummy reporting address, researchers did not observe it operating end to end, and there is no confirmed deployment in the wild. Development artifacts were linked to a carding forum user, but no victims or active campaign have been identified.

Cyber Security Newsupdated Sep 24, 05:44 UTC · 3d agofirst Sep 23, 07:20 UTC · 4d agoMalware 13 sources

AI malware just removed the human from the attack loop

Cisco Talos uncovers CLOSEDQUORUM, first 'LLM-as-C2' malware using multi-model judge panel to autonomously steal credentials and crypto wallets.

Cisco Talos's CAIRN research toolkit identified CLOSEDQUORUM, a 64-bit Go Windows binary described as the first 'LLM-as-C2' architecture that automates an entire attack phase without a human operator. A panel of LLMs (DeepSeek, Qwen, Mistral, Google Gemini) votes on next actions via constrained JSON decisions, with deterministic tie-breaking biased toward DeepSeek. It performs LSASS credential dumping, steals saved browser passwords from Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, and targets crypto wallets including MetaMask, Ethereum, and Exodus. Talos states there is no confirmation of CLOSEDQUORUM deployment in the wild, and simultaneously released CAIRN as an open-source toolkit for hunting AI-integrated malware via VirusTotal metadata.

CSO Onlineupdated Sep 24, 05:44 UTC · 3d agofirst Sep 23, 00:39 UTC · 4d agoMalware 13 sources

Windows CLOSEDQUORUM malware uses AI models to autonomously select post-compromise actions

Cisco Talos documents CLOSEDQUORUM, the first known Windows implant using a four-LLM quorum to autonomously choose credential theft, wallet theft, injection, and persistence actions.

Cisco Talos discovered CLOSEDQUORUM, a Go-based Windows implant that queries Google Gemini, DeepSeek, Qwen, and Mistral whose majority vote selects predefined actions, with DeepSeek breaking ties. Its modules dump LSASS memory, steal Chrome/Edge/Firefox passwords and MetaMask/Exodus/Ethereum wallet data, inject shellcode via process hollowing or Early Bird, and establish WMI persistence, exfiltrating AES-256-GCM encrypted data to operator Discord webhooks. No in-the-wild deployment has been observed, but artifacts link the developer to 2025 carding forum posts. Talos also open-sourced its CAIRN toolkit for hunting AI-integrated malware.

The Register · Securityupdated Sep 24, 05:44 UTC · 3d agofirst Sep 22, 21:33 UTC · 4d agoMalware 13 sources1

CLOSEDQUORUM

Timeline3 articles

Appears with

This Malware Doesn’t Wait for Hackers—It Asks AI Models What to Do Next

AI malware just removed the human from the attack loop

Windows CLOSEDQUORUM malware uses AI models to autonomously select post-compromise actions