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Tracking Elirks Variants in Japan: Similarities to Previous Attacks

Unit 42 links new Elirks backdoor variants attacking Japanese organizations to 2012 Taiwan attacks, delivered via spear-phishing PDFs exploiting Adobe Flash CVE-2011-0611.

Unit 42 analyzed new Elirks backdoor variants found in an attack on a Japanese business, noting strong similarities to 2012 attacks on Taiwanese ministries. The backdoor retrieves its C2 address from attacker-created accounts on Japanese blog and SNS services. Recent deliveries used an airline e-ticket lure named "E-TKT" with a PDF exploiting Adobe Flash CVE-2011-0611. Shared infrastructure and tactics with the Scarlet Mimic campaign suggest possible ongoing cyber espionage across East Asia.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · Aug 17, 2026Threat actor in the wildCVE-2011-0611

Mustang Panda Upgrades CoolClient With a Kernel Rootkit

Mustang Panda's updated CoolClient backdoor deploys a signed kernel driver to hide processes, files and network activity in Asian intrusions.

Kaspersky analysis shows Mustang Panda (HoneyMyte) upgraded its CoolClient espionage backdoor with a signed kernel-mode driver installed as a Windows service, communicating via IOCTL requests to hide processes, files and registry entries. In a Myanmar campaign the actor deployed PlugX first, then CoolClient via a fake Windows Defender directory and Sangfor defender.exe DLL sideloading, with scheduled task and AutoRun persistence and UAC bypass. The updated variant was observed in intrusions across Pakistan, Mongolia and Myanmar, with victims also in Russia including confirmed government entities.

Security Affairs · Aug 16, 2026Threat actor in the wild1

Mustang Panda Adds Signed Windows Rootkit to CoolClient Backdoor for Stealth

Kaspersky reports Mustang Panda's updated CoolClient backdoor now deploys a signed kernel-mode Windows rootkit, hitting government victims in Myanmar, Mongolia, Pakistan, and Russia.

Kaspersky identified a new CoolClient variant attributed to HoneyMyte (Mustang Panda) that installs a digitally signed Windows kernel driver, msagent.sys, to hide and protect malicious processes, files, registry keys, and C2 network information. CoolClient is consistently deployed as a secondary backdoor after PlugX, with confirmed victims including government entities in Myanmar, Mongolia, Pakistan, and Russia. In a Myanmar campaign, PlugX was used to deploy CoolClient via a renamed Sangfor executable for DLL side-loading, a scheduled task for persistence, and RPC-based process creation with PPID spoofing. The driver, signed with a 2013 certificate issued to Nanjing Ranyi Technology, implements 33 IOCTL handlers, process hiding via unlinking, a filesystem minifilter, and registry callbacks.

The Hacker News · Aug 15, 2026Threat actor in the wild1

BambooToken: The Malware That Speaks MQTT to Stay Under the Radar

Lumen's Black Lotus Labs uncovered BambooToken, a Windows and Linux malware family using MQTT broker-based C2 and DLL sideloading across Asia since February 2023.

Lumen Black Lotus Labs identified BambooToken, a multiplatform malware family that exchanges commands through MQTT brokers so infected hosts never contact the C2 server directly, active from at least February 2023 through July 2026. The Windows variant sideloads via Tendyron's OnKey hardware-token software used in Chinese banking and government, or impersonates Kingsoft Office, without either vendor's signing certificate being compromised; a Linux build appeared by December 2025 with shell, file transfer, and system information commands. Victims include MikroTik and DrayTek routers in Singapore, Cambodia, and Vietnam reached after internet-wide SNMP scanning, and Lumen cannot attribute the family to any known actor.

Security Affairs · 1h agoMalware in the wild