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The Magnificence of Agent Tesla

Plasma ball

The Agent Tesla Remote Access Trojan (RAT) family of malware has had a long-standing presence in the threat landscape. This malicious software is sold as a remote access service for targeted systems, as such, the authors are constantly updating their malicious code to evade detection efforts. Attackers/customers of the service are also continuously developing and expanding their infrastructure to enhance their distribution/infection rates. Through analysis of one sample associated with such a campaign to send malicious files, we will see how they currently function and what new additions have been introduced into the latest versions.  

So Tesla’s Agent mainly spreads through email attachments; we will start by analyzing the MS document, which is the first step in infecting the user.

File TypeMicrosoft Windows Document
SHA256 at InQuest Labs 6883bdd8e0cac72d9332c300430511716028bb65c4b7458751655149b9ab25e7 
Image 1: 6883bdd8e0cac72d9332c300430511716028bb65c4b7458751655149b9ab25e7 –
PURCAHSE ORDER_d.xlsx

This document exploits an old vulnerability CVE-2017-11882. This vulnerability is prevalent among the developers of Agent Tesla; although considered quite ancient in comparison to other documented vulnerabilities, it has proven to be an effective attack vector based on the rate of infection amongst targeted victims.

     

 Image 2: 9c25441b84bdc3fd16820274148e66a989aedacf05671575dd6f4e533ea47e7f                 Microsoft_Office_Word_Macro-Enabled_Document1.docm

When unpacking the document, we find another file attachment that is generally not flagged malicious. It is this file that will be launched when the entire document is opened. This is done to bypass antivirus solutions. When launched, the document checks the environment in which the document is opened. If it detects a sandbox environment tasked for automatic document verification, then it does not perform its malicious functions.

The primary purpose of this document is to download and run an executable file from a remote server.

hxxp://122.114.198.100/httpss/vbc.exe 

This is the address where the executable file is downloaded and then launched. Let’s take a deeper look at the .exe file.

File Type PE-32 Nullsoft  install file.
SHA256b2591ab91ce60fe508b9b816367c233af1c9c584aa72c5857fdbc8376b68ea62 

The executable is the installer NSIS. We need to extract the files contained within the executable. Because the payload is often encrypted, we need to obtain the extracted contents for analysis. When executed, this file extracts two additional executable files.

File Type PE-32 
SHA2561e39b4beee939d8370a3d4edf699893fc17fb0e408bb014f561d121b2c3dc477 

Agent Tesla Payload.

File Type PE-32 .NET executable 
SHA25686b625ac98bbd536cd339fda48bb21869d58f135c9c08f02db5de51a35cbbf55 

The developers of Agent Tesla regularly make changes to the functionality of their malware both to expand features and maintain low initial detection rates.

       

Image 3: A string deobfuscation function is used at runtime.

A dictionary (consisting of 11985 elements) is needed by a function to restore strings at runtime. This obfuscation interferes with analysis and takes time for the analyst to analyze the sample comprehensively.

Image 4: End of the list of deobfuscation list values.
Image 5: User screenshots capture function.
Image 6: The image shows how the program selects keystrokes.
Image 7: Email via Smtp connection function.

As with previous versions, Agent Tesla supports sending victim information via email to campaign operators.

Agent Tesla continues to remain a serious threat that spreads mainly through spam attachments, including legitimate accounts that have been compromised. The spyware module, along with stealing screenshots and keystrokes; is also capable of stealing passwords from popular web browsers.

IOCs:

de372779e02883c9ac7a5cce8bf941df449db3803a84411f7313df8b224fda1c
12f2bd047cb5264959503a455a31427d720c109669c7a8c23c9949627ddc0c63
730ce08a2b4c1e2114ddbbf4f1fb8179732d1d30d691fe329712f1963c06e824
12f2bd047cb5264959503a455a31427d720c109669c7a8c23c9949627ddc0c63
eb9a0a7dfdb07e81595ece5734b939b8a77c54eddbb58655a4f0456209606edd 
hxxp://122.114.198.100/httpss/vbc.exe
hxxp://122.114.198.100/win/vbc.exe 

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