In their first article on the XZ backdoor, Kaspersky researchers analyzed its code from initial infection to the function hooking it performs. As they mentioned then, its initial goal was to successfully hook one of the functions related to RSA key manipulation.
In this article, the research team will focus on the backdoor’s behaviour inside OpenSSH, specifically OpenSSH portable version 9.7p1 – the most recent version at this time. To better understand what’s going on, they recommend you to read Baeldung’s article about SSH authentication methods and JFrog’s article about privilege separation in SSH.
Read more…
Source: Kaspersky
Related:
- Hook for Gold: Inside GoldFactory’s Сampaign That Turns Apps Into Goldmines
December 3, 2025
In February 2024, Group-IB uncovered sophisticated mobile threat campaigns that show how fast banking malware is evolving across the Asia-Pacific region. Ongoing monitoring of this evolving threat revealed a surge of aggressive mobile Trojans targeting both iOS and Android users, all operated by a single threat actor tracked as GoldFactory. Since releasing our initial report, we ...
- Iranian hacker group deploys malicious Snake game to target Egyptian and Israeli critical infrastructure
December 3, 2025
An Iranian-aligned hacking group tracked as ‘MuddyWater’ has dramatically shifted tactics in attacks against Israeli and Egyptian critical infrastructure. Previous campaigns by the group, observed by ESET Research, were characteristically noisy in their tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) making them easily detectable. However, the group has begun employing a new backdoor deployed via the Fooder loader, ...
- Shai Hulud 2.0, now with a wiper flavor
December 3, 2025
In September, a new breed of malware distributed via compromised Node Package Manager (npm) packages made headlines. It was dubbed “Shai-Hulud”, and Kaspersky published an in-depth analysis of it in another post. Recently, a new version was discovered. Shai Hulud 2.0 is a type of two-stage worm-like malware that spreads by compromising npm tokens to republish ...
- Tomiris wreaks Havoc: New tools and techniques of the APT group
November 28, 2025
While tracking the activities of the Tomiris threat actor, Kaspersky researchers identified new malicious operations that began in early 2025. These attacks targeted foreign ministries, intergovernmental organizations, and government entities, demonstrating a focus on high-value political and diplomatic infrastructure. In several cases, Kaspersky traced the threat actor’s actions from initial infection to the deployment of post-exploitation ...
- New macOS malware chain could cause a major security headache
November 26, 2025
North Korean state-sponsored threat actors are targeting macOS users with new malware, utilizing a strategy that combines two popular approaches – fake job ads, and ClickFix, experts have warned. Security researchers Jamf confirmed they have spotted attacks in the wild using ClickFix, an attack method in which the victim is presented with a fake problem, and ...
- Mac users warned about new DigitStealer information stealer
November 19, 2025
This variant comes with advanced detection-evasion techniques and a multi-stage attack chain. Most infostealers go after the same types of data and use similar methods to get it, but DigitStealer is different enough to warrant attention. A few things make it stand out: platform-specific targeting, fileless operation, and anti-analysis techniques. Together, they pose relatively new challenges ...

