G0010 Turla
Turla is a Russian-based threat group that has infected victims in over 45 countries, spanning a range of industries including government, embassies, military, education, research and pharmaceutical companies since 2004. Heightened activity was seen in mid-2015. Turla is known for conducting watering hole and spearphishing campaigns and leveraging in-house tools and malware. Turla’s espionage platform is mainly used against Windows machines, but has also been seen used against macOS and Linux machines.7493
Item | Value |
---|---|
ID | G0010 |
Associated Names | IRON HUNTER, Group 88, Belugasturgeon, Waterbug, WhiteBear, Snake, Krypton, Venomous Bear |
Version | 3.1 |
Created | 31 May 2017 |
Last Modified | 22 March 2023 |
Navigation Layer | View In ATT&CK® Navigator |
Associated Group Descriptions
Name | Description |
---|---|
IRON HUNTER | 10 |
Group 88 | 8 |
Belugasturgeon | 1 |
Waterbug | Based similarity in TTPs and malware used, Turla and Waterbug appear to be the same group.11 |
WhiteBear | WhiteBear is a designation used by Securelist to describe a cluster of activity that has overlaps with activity described by others as Turla, but appears to have a separate focus.62 |
Snake | 952 |
Krypton | 9 |
Venomous Bear | 92 |
Techniques Used
Domain | ID | Name | Use |
---|---|---|---|
enterprise | T1134 | Access Token Manipulation | - |
enterprise | T1134.002 | Create Process with Token | Turla RPC backdoors can impersonate or steal process tokens before executing commands.5 |
enterprise | T1087 | Account Discovery | - |
enterprise | T1087.001 | Local Account | Turla has used net user to enumerate local accounts on the system.1315 |
enterprise | T1087.002 | Domain Account | Turla has used net user /domain to enumerate domain accounts.13 |
enterprise | T1583 | Acquire Infrastructure | - |
enterprise | T1583.006 | Web Services | Turla has created web accounts including Dropbox and GitHub for C2 and document exfiltration.15 |
enterprise | T1071 | Application Layer Protocol | - |
enterprise | T1071.001 | Web Protocols | Turla has used HTTP and HTTPS for C2 communications.316 |
enterprise | T1071.003 | Mail Protocols | Turla has used multiple backdoors which communicate with a C2 server via email attachments.22 |
enterprise | T1560 | Archive Collected Data | - |
enterprise | T1560.001 | Archive via Utility | Turla has encrypted files stolen from connected USB drives into a RAR file before exfiltration.12 |
enterprise | T1547 | Boot or Logon Autostart Execution | - |
enterprise | T1547.001 | Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder | A Turla Javascript backdoor added a local_update_check value under the Registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run to establish persistence. Additionally, a Turla custom executable containing Metasploit shellcode is saved to the Startup folder to gain persistence.316 |
enterprise | T1547.004 | Winlogon Helper DLL | Turla established persistence by adding a Shell value under the Registry key HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon .3 |
enterprise | T1110 | Brute Force | Turla may attempt to connect to systems within a victim’s network using net use commands and a predefined list or collection of passwords.7 |
enterprise | T1059 | Command and Scripting Interpreter | - |
enterprise | T1059.001 | PowerShell | Turla has used PowerShell to execute commands/scripts, in some cases via a custom executable or code from Empire‘s PSInject.16512 Turla has also used PowerShell scripts to load and execute malware in memory. |
enterprise | T1059.003 | Windows Command Shell | Turla RPC backdoors have used cmd.exe to execute commands.512 |
enterprise | T1059.005 | Visual Basic | Turla has used VBS scripts throughout its operations.12 |
enterprise | T1059.006 | Python | Turla has used IronPython scripts as part of the IronNetInjector toolchain to drop payloads.18 |
enterprise | T1059.007 | JavaScript | Turla has used various JavaScript-based backdoors.3 |
enterprise | T1584 | Compromise Infrastructure | - |
enterprise | T1584.003 | Virtual Private Server | Turla has used the VPS infrastructure of compromised Iranian threat actors.14 |
enterprise | T1584.004 | Server | Turla has used compromised servers as infrastructure.1712 |
enterprise | T1584.006 | Web Services | Turla has frequently used compromised WordPress sites for C2 infrastructure.17 |
enterprise | T1555 | Credentials from Password Stores | - |
enterprise | T1555.004 | Windows Credential Manager | Turla has gathered credentials from the Windows Credential Manager tool.12 |
enterprise | T1213 | Data from Information Repositories | Turla has used a custom .NET tool to collect documents from an organization’s internal central database.13 |
enterprise | T1005 | Data from Local System | Turla RPC backdoors can upload files from victim machines.5 |
enterprise | T1025 | Data from Removable Media | Turla RPC backdoors can collect files from USB thumb drives.512 |
enterprise | T1140 | Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information | Turla has used a custom decryption routine, which pulls key and salt values from other artifacts such as a WMI filter or PowerShell Profile, to decode encrypted PowerShell payloads.5 |
enterprise | T1587 | Develop Capabilities | - |
enterprise | T1587.001 | Malware | Turla has developed its own unique malware for use in operations.17 |
enterprise | T1189 | Drive-by Compromise | Turla has infected victims using watering holes.1310 |
enterprise | T1546 | Event Triggered Execution | - |
enterprise | T1546.003 | Windows Management Instrumentation Event Subscription | Turla has used WMI event filters and consumers to establish persistence.5 |
enterprise | T1546.013 | PowerShell Profile | Turla has used PowerShell profiles to maintain persistence on an infected machine.5 |
enterprise | T1567 | Exfiltration Over Web Service | - |
enterprise | T1567.002 | Exfiltration to Cloud Storage | Turla has used WebDAV to upload stolen USB files to a cloud drive.12 Turla has also exfiltrated stolen files to OneDrive and 4shared.13 |
enterprise | T1068 | Exploitation for Privilege Escalation | Turla has exploited vulnerabilities in the VBoxDrv.sys driver to obtain kernel mode privileges.20 |
enterprise | T1083 | File and Directory Discovery | Turla surveys a system upon check-in to discover files in specific locations on the hard disk %TEMP% directory, the current user’s desktop, the Program Files directory, and Recent.713 Turla RPC backdoors have also searched for files matching the lPH*.dll pattern.5 |
enterprise | T1615 | Group Policy Discovery | Turla surveys a system upon check-in to discover Group Policy details using the gpresult command.13 |
enterprise | T1562 | Impair Defenses | - |
enterprise | T1562.001 | Disable or Modify Tools | Turla has used a AMSI bypass, which patches the in-memory amsi.dll, in PowerShell scripts to bypass Windows antimalware products.5 |
enterprise | T1105 | Ingress Tool Transfer | Turla has used shellcode to download Meterpreter after compromising a victim.16 |
enterprise | T1570 | Lateral Tool Transfer | Turla RPC backdoors can be used to transfer files to/from victim machines on the local network.512 |
enterprise | T1112 | Modify Registry | Turla has modify Registry values to store payloads.512 |
enterprise | T1106 | Native API | Turla and its RPC backdoors have used APIs calls for various tasks related to subverting AMSI and accessing then executing commands through RPC and/or named pipes.5 |
enterprise | T1027 | Obfuscated Files or Information | - |
enterprise | T1027.005 | Indicator Removal from Tools | Based on comparison of Gazer versions, Turla made an effort to obfuscate strings in the malware that could be used as IoCs, including the mutex name and named pipe.4 |
enterprise | T1027.010 | Command Obfuscation | Turla has used encryption (including salted 3DES via PowerSploit‘s Out-EncryptedScript.ps1 ), random variable names, and base64 encoding to obfuscate PowerShell commands and payloads.5 |
enterprise | T1027.011 | Fileless Storage | Turla has used the Registry to store encrypted and encoded payloads.512 |
enterprise | T1588 | Obtain Capabilities | - |
enterprise | T1588.001 | Malware | Turla has used malware obtained after compromising other threat actors, such as OilRig.1417 |
enterprise | T1588.002 | Tool | Turla has obtained and customized publicly-available tools like Mimikatz.12 |
enterprise | T1201 | Password Policy Discovery | Turla has used net accounts and net accounts /domain to acquire password policy information.13 |
enterprise | T1120 | Peripheral Device Discovery | Turla has used fsutil fsinfo drives to list connected drives.13 |
enterprise | T1069 | Permission Groups Discovery | - |
enterprise | T1069.001 | Local Groups | Turla has used net localgroup and net localgroup Administrators to enumerate group information, including members of the local administrators group.13 |
enterprise | T1069.002 | Domain Groups | Turla has used net group “Domain Admins” /domain to identify domain administrators.13 |
enterprise | T1566 | Phishing | - |
enterprise | T1566.002 | Spearphishing Link | Turla attempted to trick targets into clicking on a link featuring a seemingly legitimate domain from Adobe.com to download their malware and gain initial access.3 |
enterprise | T1057 | Process Discovery | Turla surveys a system upon check-in to discover running processes using the tasklist /v command.7 Turla RPC backdoors have also enumerated processes associated with specific open ports or named pipes.5 |
enterprise | T1055 | Process Injection | Turla has also used PowerSploit‘s Invoke-ReflectivePEInjection.ps1 to reflectively load a PowerShell payload into a random process on the victim system.5 |
enterprise | T1055.001 | Dynamic-link Library Injection | Turla has used Metasploit to perform reflective DLL injection in order to escalate privileges.1619 |
enterprise | T1090 | Proxy | Turla RPC backdoors have included local UPnP RPC proxies.5 |
enterprise | T1090.001 | Internal Proxy | Turla has compromised internal network systems to act as a proxy to forward traffic to C2.2 |
enterprise | T1012 | Query Registry | Turla surveys a system upon check-in to discover information in the Windows Registry with the reg query command.7 Turla has also retrieved PowerShell payloads hidden in Registry keys as well as checking keys associated with null session named pipes .5 |
enterprise | T1021 | Remote Services | - |
enterprise | T1021.002 | SMB/Windows Admin Shares | Turla used net use commands to connect to lateral systems within a network.7 |
enterprise | T1018 | Remote System Discovery | Turla surveys a system upon check-in to discover remote systems on a local network using the net view and net view /DOMAIN commands. Turla has also used net group “Domain Computers” /domain , net group “Domain Controllers” /domain , and net group “Exchange Servers” /domain to enumerate domain computers, including the organization’s DC and Exchange Server.713 |
enterprise | T1518 | Software Discovery | - |
enterprise | T1518.001 | Security Software Discovery | Turla has obtained information on security software, including security logging information that may indicate whether their malware has been detected.13 |
enterprise | T1553 | Subvert Trust Controls | - |
enterprise | T1553.006 | Code Signing Policy Modification | Turla has modified variables in kernel memory to turn off Driver Signature Enforcement after exploiting vulnerabilities that obtained kernel mode privileges.2021 |
enterprise | T1082 | System Information Discovery | Turla surveys a system upon check-in to discover operating system configuration details using the systeminfo and set commands.713 |
enterprise | T1016 | System Network Configuration Discovery | Turla surveys a system upon check-in to discover network configuration details using the arp -a , nbtstat -n , net config , ipconfig /all , and route commands, as well as NBTscan.71213 Turla RPC backdoors have also retrieved registered RPC interface information from process memory.5 |
enterprise | T1016.001 | Internet Connection Discovery | Turla has used tracert to check internet connectivity.13 |
enterprise | T1049 | System Network Connections Discovery | Turla surveys a system upon check-in to discover active local network connections using the netstat -an , net use , net file , and net session commands.713 Turla RPC backdoors have also enumerated the IPv4 TCP connection table via the GetTcpTable2 API call.5 |
enterprise | T1007 | System Service Discovery | Turla surveys a system upon check-in to discover running services and associated processes using the tasklist /svc command.7 |
enterprise | T1124 | System Time Discovery | Turla surveys a system upon check-in to discover the system time by using the net time command.7 |
enterprise | T1204 | User Execution | - |
enterprise | T1204.001 | Malicious Link | Turla has used spearphishing via a link to get users to download and run their malware.3 |
enterprise | T1078 | Valid Accounts | - |
enterprise | T1078.003 | Local Accounts | Turla has abused local accounts that have the same password across the victim’s network.15 |
enterprise | T1102 | Web Service | Turla has used legitimate web services including Pastebin, Dropbox, and GitHub for C2 communications.115 |
enterprise | T1102.002 | Bidirectional Communication | A Turla JavaScript backdoor has used Google Apps Script as its C2 server.316 |
Software
References
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Rapid7. (2013, November 26). meterpreter/source/extensions/priv/server/elevate/. Retrieved July 8, 2018. ↩
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