VMConnect supply chain attack continues, evidence points to North Korea
2023-08-31 • Reversing Labs •
https://www.reversinglabs.com/blog/vmconnect-supply-chain-campaign-continues
ReversingLabs identified three malicious PyPI packages, tablediter, request-plus, and requestspro, as a continuation of the VMConnect supply-chain campaign with links to Labyrinth Chollima, a Lazarus Group offshoot. The packages impersonated popular Python libraries such as prettytable and requests, using mimicry, copied metadata, and modified package code to reach developers. Tablediter delayed execution until a commonly used add_row function was called, then decoded XOR/hex-obfuscated code that contacted attacker C2 for further commands. Request-plus and requestspro modified requests internals to collect host data, POST it to C2, retrieve a token, and fetch a double-encrypted Python module likely used to download the next stage. The campaign matters because it shows North Korea-linked actors continuing to abuse open-source ecosystems while reducing dynamic-analysis visibility by avoiding immediate install-time execution.
Indicators of Compromise
| Type | Value | First Seen | Last Seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| HASH | ab416586abcc4b09edf925c6a613d75… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | 33b4811c482a400b0d9c7ef6c8dd9b6… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | 727755fb0f3872307f8ca49a84bed9b… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | 321363f11464208ee24e56a700ad5d2… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | 2c72edf29d5bca22525d612c94f1ee3… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | 859f5b0af717fca9f890dcba0b87ac6… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | 1ff44024ac3b371e12ceb07d1969e75… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | 8d94f2ce6a9c0fb0cf4ecdd03d27854… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | 27cb875d5c09986e390b9ce53224153… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | e063b210b50ca1426da45afa430d87c… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | aeeb445216a205abd770546dfa8d03f… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | 3ff596b23900fc85f778886a01b8bf2… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | 038600aa7fd8051135988b8cecfbaab… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | c3ff3f8992d7e3bf58b55db26181975… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| IPv4 | 45.61.136.133 | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |