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Hillingar - MirageOS Unikernels on NixOS
A technical write-up details Hillingar, enabling reproducible Nix-based builds and NixOS deployment of MirageOS OCaml unikernels such as authoritative DNS servers.
This blog post (published December 2022, updated February 2025) describes Hillingar, work from the author's master's thesis enabling reproducible builds and deployments of MirageOS OCaml unikernels using Nix and a custom NixOS module, demonstrated with an authoritative DNS server. MirageOS unikernels embed application and low-level OS code in a single kernel, allowing dead-code elimination that reduces attack surface and improves efficiency. The post covers challenges such as solving opam dependency version constraints when linking a single dependency set.
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TuxBot v3: Inside an IoT Botnet Framework With LLM
Unit 42 uncovers TuxBot v3, an LLM-assisted IoT botnet framework with 17-architecture builds, Telnet brute-forcing, and DDoS capabilities.
Palo Alto Unit 42 identified TuxBot v3 Evolution, a modular IoT botnet framework derived from AISURU, Wuhan-lineage botnets, and MHDDoS. The C-based bot brute-forces Telnet with 1,496 credential pairs, targets over 30 IoT device families, and communicates with a Go-based C2 over encrypted TCP with multiple fallback mechanisms including DGA, P2P, and DNS TXT. LLM-assisted development left hallucinated crypto implementations and broken exploit modules in the analyzed samples, though roughly 70% of core functionality works. Researchers warn polished production builds likely exist, raising the threat potential.
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The Gopher in the Room: Analysis of GoLang Malware in the Wild
Unit 42 analysis of 10,700 Go-compiled malware samples shows steady growth in the wild, with 92% targeting Windows and top families including Veil, GoBot2, and HERCULES.
Unit 42 collected roughly 10,700 unique Go-compiled malware samples and found that Go usage by malware developers has steadily risen in recent months. About 92% of samples targeted Windows and 75% were attributed to known families, led by Veil, GoBot2, and HERCULES. The most prevalent groupings were penetration testing tools, remote access Trojans, and backdoors. Statically linked Go binaries average 4.65MB, which can complicate phishing delivery but sometimes causes antivirus products to skip or fail scanning.
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Compiler Can Undo Your Security Checks
Chris Domas explains at Black Hat how legal compiler optimizations can strip security checks and memory-clearing operations, turning secure C source into vulnerable binaries.
David Bombal interviews researcher Chris Domas at Black Hat USA 2026 about how the C abstract machine permits compilers to legally transform code in ways that remove security protections, delete memory-clearing operations, and introduce time-of-check to time-of-use vulnerabilities. Factors like register pressure, structure layout, and data size affect vulnerability, with examples where 17 or 33 byte buffers are safe while nearby sizes produce vulnerable code. An AI-assisted analysis of 500 million lines of open-source code identified 300 potentially dangerous patterns. Recommended mitigations include enabling compiler warnings, using sanitizers, analyzing optimized builds, and testing the exact binary that ships.
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Tracking OceanLotus’ new Downloader, KerrDown
Unit 42 identifies KerrDown, a new OceanLotus (APT32) downloader active since 2018 targeting Vietnamese speakers via malicious macros and DLL side-loading.
Unit 42 tracks KerrDown, a previously undocumented downloader family used by OceanLotus (APT32) since at least early 2018, primarily targeting Vietnam or Vietnamese-speaking individuals. Delivery uses macro-laced Microsoft Office documents embedding base64-encoded 32-bit and 64-bit DLLs, and RAR archives containing a legitimate program abused for DLL side-loading. KerrDown is dropped as main_background.png, downloads a DES-encrypted payload from a URL, and executes it directly in memory. Researchers used Jaccard-index similarity analysis to identify the new family, connect campaign samples, and infer patterns in the group's working hours and days.
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JSCeal Hides Crypto Malware in V8 Bytecode
Check Point details JSCeal, a crypto-stealing malware delivered as compiled V8 bytecode, and built a decompiler pipeline to expose its capabilities.
JSCeal, tracked by Check Point Research since early 2025, is a cryptocurrency stealer delivered as heavily obfuscated JavaScript compiled to V8 bytecode (.jsc) and run by a bundled Node.js runtime. Check Point, presenting at Black Hat USA 2026, extended the open-source View8 decompiler into a pipeline that recovered readable code from 23 samples, revealing theft of browser credentials and cookies, Telegram sessions, keystrokes, screenshots, HTTPS traffic interception with attacker-controlled certificates, and automated Google account takeover. Targeted overrides rewrite content for Binance, Bybit, and Ledger users. Later samples added AES-256-CBC encryption with externally supplied keys and expanded targeting to macOS.
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