Operation AppleJeus: Lazarus hits cryptocurrency exchange with fake installer and macOS malware

2018-08-23 • Kaspersky •

https://securelist.com/operation-applejeus/87553/

Thumbnail for Operation AppleJeus: Lazarus hits cryptocurrency exchange with fake installer and macOS malware

Kaspersky describes Operation AppleJeus, a Lazarus campaign that targeted a cryptocurrency exchange through a trojanized Celas Trade Pro cryptocurrency trading application. The victim installed the application from a legitimate-looking website after receiving a download link by email, and the Windows installer launched a signed Updater.exe that collected host and process information before contacting www.celasllc[.]com/checkupdate.php. The updater disguised encrypted data transfer as GIF-like upload content, used hardcoded XOR and RC4 keys, and downloaded an additional payload when the server returned HTTP 200. The operation also included a macOS version with a hidden autoupdater launched through a dot-prefixed plist, making this notable as one of the first observed Lazarus malware operations against macOS. The report matters because it shows Lazarus using supply-chain-style software trojanization against cryptocurrency targets and expanding beyond Windows-only tooling.

Indicators of Compromise

Type Value First Seen Last Seen
DOMAIN celasllc.com 2018-08-23 2024-03-05
HASH e2199fc4e4b31f7e4c61f6d90385776… 2018-08-23 2021-12-21
HASH 4f9a8e4f807b52f941213b0d55990a3… 2018-08-23 2021-12-21
HASH 08012e68f4f84bba8b74690c379cb0b… 2018-08-23 2021-12-21
HASH d404c0a634cef0d32029286fde8efcc… 2018-08-23 2021-02-18
HASH bdff852398f174e9eef1db1c2d3fefd… 2018-08-15 2021-02-18
HASH 6ee19085ad5c17f989616d17ef68041… 2018-08-23 2021-02-17
HASH efa6c2894896343e55337231989d46c… 2018-08-23 2021-02-17
HASH e4226e9f6faaafaafca5f572770eeff… 2018-08-23 2021-02-17
IPv4 185.142.236.226 2018-08-23 2021-02-17
IPv4 196.38.48.121 2018-08-23 2021-02-17
HASH 7f000893320d77e012686e20e1212e2… 2018-08-23 2021-02-17
IPv4 185.142.236.213 2018-08-23 2021-02-17
HASH 0b6056e7ce278fb31bf644ef41e9532… 2018-08-23 2020-03-09
HASH ca70aa2f89bee0c22ebc18bd5569e54… 2018-08-23 2020-03-09
HASH 1b8d3e69fc214cb7a08bef3c0012471… 2018-08-23 2020-03-09
HASH 0c06e129902925c7ebd70e93d4d0970… 2018-08-23 2020-03-09
HASH c0e22e80ea020ca8f71f58a8b538552… 2018-08-23 2020-03-09
HASH fe29ed0336d7b3259ab8c391e0d0f40… 2018-08-23 2018-08-23
HASH d3ef262bae0beb5d35841d131b3f89a… 2018-08-23 2018-08-23
HASH 7c61fc881b84a60c84876f9d6ff7400… 2018-08-23 2018-08-23
HASH ef400d73c6920ac811af401259e3764… 2018-08-23 2018-08-23
HASH 8ae766795cda6336fd5cad9e89199ea… 2018-08-23 2018-08-23
HASH d555dcb6da4a6b87e256ef75c015078… 2018-08-23 2018-08-23
HASH 6829b51523f69bd0ea6ebc6157e989d… 2018-08-23 2018-08-23
HASH e1ed584a672cab33af29114576ad6cce 2018-08-23 2018-08-23
HASH 0a15a33844c9df11f12a4889ae7b7e4b 2018-08-23 2018-08-23
HASH d8484469587756ce0d10a09027044808 2018-08-23 2018-08-23
EMAIL [email protected] 2018-08-23 2018-08-23
URL https://www.domains4bitcoins.co… 2018-08-23 2018-08-23
URL https://libertyvps.net/ 2018-08-23 2018-08-23
URL https://www.changeip.com/ 2018-08-23 2018-08-23
DOMAIN libertyvps.net 2018-08-23 2018-08-23
IPv4 80.82.64.91 2018-08-23 2018-08-23
IPv4 185.142.239.173 2018-08-23 2018-08-23
URL https://www.celasllc.com/checku… 2018-08-15 2018-08-23

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2021-02-17 • 62% Match
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Shares tags: AppleJeus, FALLCHILL, Lazarus • Shares 2 IOCs
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