Pawn Storm Uses Brute Force and Stealth Against High-Value Targets

SUMMARY :

Pawn Storm (also known as APT28 and Forest Blizzard) is an advanced persistent threat (APT) actor that shows incessant and lasting repetitions in its tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). The group targets organizations dealing with foreign affairs, energy, defense, and transportation, as well as organizations involved with labor, social welfare, finance, parenthood, and even local city councils. Pawn Storm employs a wide range of tools to hide their tracks, including VPN services, Tor, compromised routers, and hacked email accounts. The group has been using brute-force attacks since 2019 to access corporate and government accounts. Pawn Storm also exploits vulnerabilities like CVE-2023-23397 in Outlook and CVE-2023-38831 in WinRAR to steal Net-NTLMv2 hashes for use in further attacks. Defenders can use the indicators of compromise listed in the report to check if their organization has been targeted.

OPENCTI LABELS :

spear-phishing,hash theft,information stealer,cve-2023-38831,brute-force,cve-2023-23397,apt,targeted attack


AI COMMENTARY :

1. Introduction to Pawn Storm Pawn Storm, also known as APT28 and Forest Blizzard, has earned a reputation as a persistent and highly capable advanced threat actor that relentlessly targets high-value organizations. From foreign affairs and defense to energy and transportation, no sector is off limits. Through an intricate web of spear-phishing campaigns and information stealer malware, Pawn Storm orchestrates targeted attacks designed to compromise corporate and government accounts. The report title, “Pawn Storm Uses Brute Force and Stealth Against High-Value Targets,” encapsulates the duality of this group’s approach: overwhelming force coupled with discreet, sophisticated infiltration methods.

2. Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures Since 2019, Pawn Storm has refined its tactics to include brute-force and hash theft attacks, exploiting weak or reused credentials to gain initial access. Once inside a network, the group pivots quickly to use compromised routers and VPN services to mask their activities. They also leverage Tor connections to obscure their command and control infrastructure. Pawn Storm’s targeted nature is evident in their choice of sectors—labor, social welfare, parenthood, and even local city councils—extending beyond traditional defense and government entities to disrupt critical services and gather sensitive intelligence.

3. Exploiting Vulnerabilities for Deeper Access In addition to brute forcing passwords, Pawn Storm exploits known vulnerabilities such as CVE-2023-23397 in Outlook and CVE-2023-38831 in WinRAR. By manipulating these flaws, the group can steal Net-NTLMv2 hashes and leverage them to move laterally across networks or escalate privileges. The cve-2023-23397 exploit is particularly dangerous for email environments, enabling silent remote code execution, while the cve-2023-38831 vulnerability in WinRAR gives attackers a powerful avenue to inject malicious payloads during file extraction.

4. Stealth and Persistence Avoiding detection is a cornerstone of Pawn Storm’s methodology. The group consistently rotates through compromised email accounts and hacked routers to prevent static indicators from being tracked. Information stealer malware is deployed to harvest credentials, system information, and other valuable data, which is then exfiltrated over encrypted channels. Spear-phishing remains their primary entry point, with carefully crafted lures that bypass standard email filters, demonstrating the sophistication of their social engineering techniques.

5. Indicators of Compromise and Detection Organizations can defend against Pawn Storm by monitoring for unusual login patterns, such as repeated failed attempts indicative of brute-force attacks. Unrecognized IP addresses connecting via VPN or Tor should be flagged for immediate investigation. Suspicious email attachments exploiting the stated CVEs or unexpected processes spawned by WinRAR or Outlook can also serve as early warning signs. Regularly auditing router configurations and scanning for unauthorized changes helps close off one of the group’s favorite covert channels.

6. Mitigation and Defensive Recommendations To protect against these targeted attacks, security teams should enforce multifactor authentication to thwart hash theft and brute-force attempts. Patching systems promptly to address CVE-2023-23397 and CVE-2023-38831 is critical for reducing exposure. Email security can be enhanced with advanced threat detection that identifies anomalous attachments and malicious links. Finally, network segmentation and strict access controls limit the potential impact of a breach, preventing adversaries from rapidly escalating privileges or pivoting to sensitive systems.


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Pawn Storm Uses Brute Force and Stealth Against High-Value Targets