Description

The CISA and NSA — joined by Canadian cyber-authorities — have issued a joint alert regarding a newly active malware campaign involving the backdoor called BRICKSTORM. The malware is being deployed by state-sponsored actors from the People's Republic of China (PRC) to stealthily infiltrate critical government, public-sector and IT networks. BRICKSTORM is a sophisticated backdoor, implemented in Go, with support for VMware vSphere (notably vCenter/ESXi) and some Windows environments. After initial network compromise (often via a vulnerable web server or existing web shell), attackers move laterally using stolen credentials (e.g., RDP, SMB, service accounts) to reach domain controllers, ADFS servers, and vCenter servers. Once inside vCenter, BRICKSTORM enables attackers to: clone VM snapshots (e.g., servers containing credential stores), covertly extract passwords and cryptographic keys, create hidden rogue VMs, and maintain persistence. BRICKSTORM uses encrypted and obfuscated communication (HTTPS, WebSockets, nested TLS, DNS-over-HTTPS) to hide C2 traffic, and supports interactive shell access, file operations (upload/download/create/delete), and proxy/SOCKS-based lateral movement.The malware includes a “self-watching” mechanism: if removed or disrupted, it attempts automatic reinstallation — complicating clean-up efforts.