GINC-APT-0397 · State

Earth Alux

Category
State · Attributed to a state or working for one.
Origin
China(high confidence)
Motivation
Information theft and espionage
Seen
2023
Sources
5 sources carry it
Identifier
GINC-APT-0397 · earth-alux

What it is

Earth Alux is a China-linked APT group known for conducting cyberespionage attacks across various sectors, including government, technology, and telecommunications. They primarily exploit vulnerable services in exposed servers to gain initial access, implanting web shells like GODZILLA and deploying backdoors such as VARGEIT and COBEACON. The group employs tools like RSBINJECT and MASQLOADER for lateral movement and network discovery, while also utilizing RAILSETTER for persistence through mspaint injection. Their operations have predominantly targeted the APAC region and have extended to Latin America, with a focus on exfiltrating sensitive information to attacker-controlled cloud storage.

Attribution

Each attribution is a claim: who makes it, and to whom. Western and Eastern sources are kept apart, as they often disagree.

Targets

Countries
Brazil, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand
Sectors
Government, IT, Manufacturing, Retail, Shipping and Logistics, Technology, Telecommunications

Tools

The tools and malware families the sources tie to it.

  • Backdoor.Oldrea
  • China Chopper
  • CloudDuke
  • Cobalt Strike
  • CrossRat
  • Cyber Eye RAT
  • CyberGate
  • Godzilla
  • MASQLOADER
  • RAILLOAD
  • RAILSETTER
  • RSBINJECT
  • VARGEIT
  • Xploit

Sources