Hunting Lazarus: Inside the Contagious Interview C2 Infrastructure

2026-01-12 Red Asgard

https://redasgard.com/blog/hunting-lazarus-contagious-interview-c2-infrastructure

Thumbnail for Hunting Lazarus: Inside the Contagious Interview C2 Infrastructure

Red Asgard maps active Lazarus Group infrastructure discovered while vetting a cryptocurrency Upwork project containing Contagious Interview-style malware. The repository used VS Code auto-execution, a malicious npm dependency, and backend Function.constructor execution to reach Vercel-hosted Stage 1 servers before pulling modular payloads from dedicated C2 hosts. The investigation identifies infrastructure such as task-hrec.vercel.app, kb102531x.vercel.app, brantwork.vercel.app, 147.124.213.232, 147.124.212.125, 216.250.251.87, 66.235.168.238, and 45.59.163.55. Deobfuscation exposed a Python backdoor with Tsunami-style remote access, XMRig mining, scheduled-task persistence, Defender exclusions, Pastebin dead drops, and a custom XOR-encoded binary protocol on Z238. The reporting is significant because it documents both developer-targeted infection vectors and live operator responses such as rate limiting, service shutdowns, and payload rotation.

Indicators of Compromise

Type Value First Seen Last Seen
IPv4 147.124.213.232 2026-01-12 2026-02-26
IPv4 216.250.251.87 2026-01-12 2026-02-26
IPv4 45.59.163.55 2026-01-12 2026-02-26
IPv4 66.235.168.238 2026-01-12 2026-02-15
IPv4 45.43.11.199 2026-01-12 2026-02-04
IPv4 147.124.212.125 2026-01-12 2026-02-03
HASH 40b59567a2b580f1952dadae5dd5868… 2026-01-12 2026-01-12
URL https://pastebin.com/u/HolesGar… 2026-01-12 2026-01-12
URL https://pastebin.com/u/KerrWhal… 2026-01-12 2026-01-12
URL https://pastebin.com/u/CrackEde… 2026-01-12 2026-01-12
IPv4 66.235.63.55 2026-01-12 2026-01-12

Related Actors

Related Reports

2025-08-13 • 45% Match
#Lazarus #T1102.002 #T1082 #T1059.003 #T1567.002 #T1140 #T1584.004 #T1005 #T1070.004 #T1587.001 #T1041 #T1560 #T1608.001 #T1071.001 #T1046 #T1083 #T1056.001 #T1204.001 #T1036 #T1027 #T1204.002 #T1566.002 #T1566.003 #T1124 #T1057 #T1059.005 #T1583.006 #T1566.001 #T1547.001 #T1585.002 #T1053.005 #T1583.001 #T1059.001 #T1036.005 #T1132.001 #T1001.003 #T1585.001 #T1497.001 #T1105 #T1553.002 #T1620 #T1574.002 #T1562.001 #T1027.002 #T1489 #T1078 #T1008 #T1571 #T1491.001 #T1218 #T1220 #T1203 #T1189 #T1049 #T1564.001 #T1098 #T1016 #T1074.001 #T1588.002 #T1562.004 #T1591 #T1218.011 #T1583.004 #T1036.004 #T1588.003 #T1218.010 #T1593.001 #T1218.005 #T1589.002 #T1584.001 #T1070.006 #T1048.003 #T1134.002 #T1027.007 #T1021.001 #T1106 #T1090.001 #T1573 #T1070 #T1047 #T1574.013 #T1561.001 #T1036.003 #T1529 #T1055.001 #T1614.001 #T1010 #T1021.002 #T1033 #T1543.003 #T1485 #T1090.002 #T1542.003 #T1560.002 #T1012 #T1110 #T1547.009 #T1110.003 #T1534 #T1588.004 #T1104 #T1591.004 #T1561.002 #T1608.002 #T1202 #T1221 #T1557.001 #T1087.002 #T1560.003 #T1070.003 #T1021.004
Shares tags: Lazarus, T1204.002, T1566.003
« Back