NightEagle Hackers Abuse Microsoft Dev Tunnels and GhostContainer to Breach Russian Companies
Kaspersky links NightEagle (APT-Q-95) intrusions in Russia to stolen VPN credentials, the GhostContainer Exchange backdoor, and Microsoft Dev Tunnels abuse.
Kaspersky's Global Emergency Response Team attributes new intrusions against Russian organizations to NightEagle (APT-Q-95), active since at least 2023 and previously focused on Asia. Initial access uses valid VPN credentials, followed by the .NET GhostContainer backdoor on Microsoft Exchange servers, which abuses ASP.NET view state injection, disables AMSI and event logging, and proxies traffic. Operators moved laterally via RDP, abused Microsoft Dev Tunnels with rdp2tcp, used Impacket atexec and netsh portproxy, and in one case exploited BlueKeep (CVE-2019-0708) to create admin accounts and attempt DCSync.
- GhostContainer .NET backdoor on Exchange executes commands, proxies traffic, and loads .NET payloads.
- Microsoft Dev Tunnels plus rdp2tcp sustain access without opening new inbound ports.
- BlueKeep (CVE-2019-0708) exploited in one incident; DCSync replication attempts observed.
- Uses valid VPN credentials for initial access, reducing detection likelihood.
- Kaspersky published detections for devtunnels.ms DNS queries, RDP events, and IoCs.
- ATT&CK
- T1133 External Remote ServicesT1190 Exploit Public-Facing ApplicationT1021.001 Remote Services: Remote Desktop ProtocolT1003.006 OS Credential Dumping: DCSyncT1572 Protocol Tunneling
- Threat actors
- NightEagleAPT-Q-95
- Malware
- GhostContainer
- Organizations
- Cloudflare
- Countries
- Russia
Vulnerabilities mentioned
All| CVE | Vulnerability | CVSS | EPSS | Signals | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2019-0708 | Unauthenticated RCE in Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (BlueKeep) | 9.8 | 100% | KEVRansomwarePoC ×4 | KEV |
| CVE-2020-0688 | RCE in Microsoft Exchange Server from Shared Install-Time Validation Keys | 8.8 | 100% | KEVRansomwarePoC ×2 | KEV |
Indicators of compromise
auto-extracted · verify before use · export allAll| Type | Indicator | Context |
|---|---|---|
| md5 | 1dcafb7f8448683281106b06dd22409a | t critical defensive choke points. Indicators of compromise 1dcafb7f8448683281106b06dd22409a AdobeSync.exe 1f3034b706c78b35d8e34044e68c693a adobe_32.exe |
| md5 | 1f3034b706c78b35d8e34044e68c693a | f compromise 1dcafb7f8448683281106b06dd22409a AdobeSync.exe 1f3034b706c78b35d8e34044e68c693a adobe_32.exe 3ecd1cd627d0340c92901a478a7caad8 631fb131a56ca |
| md5 | 3ecd1cd627d0340c92901a478a7caad8 | AdobeSync.exe 1f3034b706c78b35d8e34044e68c693a adobe_32.exe 3ecd1cd627d0340c92901a478a7caad8 631fb131a56caf4ca0f287ed73e876ab App_Web_Container_1.dll 4a |
| md5 | 4aa9fb1bf9223dfcdac920759bc7a3c7 | d8 631fb131a56caf4ca0f287ed73e876ab App_Web_Container_1.dll 4aa9fb1bf9223dfcdac920759bc7a3c7 1c-office-plugin.exe, 1cbroker.exe, trueconf.exe Note: IP a |
| md5 | 631fb131a56caf4ca0f287ed73e876ab | 34044e68c693a adobe_32.exe 3ecd1cd627d0340c92901a478a7caad8 631fb131a56caf4ca0f287ed73e876ab App_Web_Container_1.dll 4aa9fb1bf9223dfcdac920759bc7a3c7 1c |
From the original article
4 min read at gbhackers.com
The NightEagle advanced persistent threat group, tracked as APT-Q-95, has expanded its operations to target businesses in Russia, combining stolen VPN credentials, a stealthy Microsoft Exchange backdoor, and legitimate tunneling technologies to move through victim networks. Researchers from Kaspersky’s Global Emergency Response Team said the group has been active since at least 2023 and previously […]
By Mayura Kathir · gbhackers.com
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