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 | b1880340818a1feda156abd272255bc… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | 5e026885bcf4b67993aefa4e992153f… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | 049cc8d88a086c8fc69b51d76b6c0c4… | 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 | bbb1e2ac1d243b8db922a23821de570… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | e3545b2c53c2cb8f012f0badc1bf452… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | 89c05ecd388c5f168704c5a8e1d37f7… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | e063b210b50ca1426da45afa430d87c… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | aeeb445216a205abd770546dfa8d03f… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | 39e9859f0cf85a0c8361e042e8316d4… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | fdea182ffe7c04c28f28f88ceb96247… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| HASH | 9b8eefa1d7ee348c2b1b4c350028df5… | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |
| IPv4 | 45.61.136.133 | 2023-08-31 | 2023-10-24 |