Multiple Russia-aligned threat actors, including SHADOW-EARTH-066 and Earth Dahu, are actively exploiting a patched WinRAR path traversal vulnerability (CVE-2025-8088) to target Ukrainian organizations. The attackers use crafted RAR archives with NTFS Alternate Data Streams to silently drop malicious payloads, such as the evolved GIFTEDCROOK infostealer or HTA-based espionage tools, into the Windows Startup folder and ProgramData directories.
GammaSteel
4 posts
Old WinRAR Flaw Fuels Attacks on Ukraine: How Unmanaged Software Keeps the Door Open - 7 minWeekly Recap — 2026-06-01 -> 2026-06-08
Trojanized Build Pipelines and Blind-Spot Appliances Redefine the Perimeter Attackers are bypassing traditional network defenses by compromising the tools developers use to build software and the AI assistants they rely on to write code. Campaigns like Mini Shai-Hulud and Miasma - The Spreading Blight flooded package registries with malicious code that steals cloud credentials and CI/CD tokens, while researchers proved that public AI agent skill marketplaces are completely ineffective at catching malicious add-ons. Nation-state actors and cybercriminals are simultaneously shifting their focus to blind spots in corporate networks and trusted platforms. The VerdantBamboo group exploited firewalls to bypass conditional access, while UNC3753 used IT impersonation to trick law firm employees into installing remote access tools, and Kali365 expanded its phishing infrastructure to steal multi-factor authentication tokens. Defenders must shift their focus from perimeter email filtering to securing the software build pipeline and monitoring edge appliances for anomalous traffic. Hunt for unexpected connections to cloud storage APIs and review developer environments for compromised packages or AI skills.
FSB’s matryoshka #3/3 – Gamaredon’s gifts that keeps unpacking – GammaSteel Gamaredon, an FSB-linked threat actor, has deployed a highly evasive, fileless stealer dubbed GammaSteel targeting Ukrainian entities. The malware leverages Windows DPAPI to encrypt and stage payloads within the registry, actively monitoring local, network, and USB drives for sensitive documents to exfiltrate via legitimate cloud services and dynamic C2 infrastructure.
FSB’s matryoshka #2/3 – Gamaredon’s gifts that keeps unpacking – GammaLoad Gamaredon, a Russia-nexus threat actor, utilizes a multi-stage VBScript loader framework named GammaLoad to establish persistent access and deploy subsequent payloads like GammaSteel. The infection chain leverages Dead Drop Resolvers on legitimate platforms, stores C2 configurations in the Windows Registry, and uses Alternate Data Streams (ADS) combined with Scheduled Tasks for stealthy execution.
