Cobalt Group

Techniques (MITRE ATT&CK)34

SourceMITRE ATT&CK

Also known as:COBALT SPIDERCobalt GangCobalt SpiderG0080GOLD KINGSWOODMule Libra

About the group

Cobalt Group is a financially motivated threat group that has primarily targeted financial institutions since at least 2016. The group has conducted intrusions to steal money via targeting ATM systems, card processing, payment systems and SWIFT systems. Cobalt Group has mainly targeted banks in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. One of the alleged leaders was arrested in Spain in early 2018, but the group still appears to be active. The group has been known to target organizations in order to use their access to then compromise additional victims. Reporting indicates there may be links between Cobalt Group and both the malware Carbanak and the group Carbanak.

Attack chain

Plausible scenario built from the group's real techniques, ordered by the phases of an attack. Each step shows how the group typically operates.

Arsenal severity66

Impact: High

Illustrative chain derived from techniques documented in MITRE ATT&CK — it does not represent a specific past attack. Severity summarizes the known arsenal (kill-chain coverage, actively exploited CVEs, techniques).

Techniques (MITRE ATT&CK) 34

How the group operates, mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK matrix and organized by the phases of an attack.

Resource development

Tool

Initial access

Compromise Software Supply Chain Spearphishing Attachment Spearphishing Link

Execution

Scheduled Task PowerShell Windows Command Shell Visual Basic JavaScript Exploitation for Client Execution Malicious Link Malicious File Dynamic Data Exchange

Persistence

Logon Script (Windows)Windows Service Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder

Privilege escalation

Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Bypass User Account Control

Discovery

Network Service Discovery Security Software Discovery

Lateral movement

Remote Desktop Protocol

Command and control

Web Protocols DNS Ingress Tool Transfer Remote Access Tools Protocol Tunneling Asymmetric Cryptography

stealth

Command Obfuscation Process Injection File Deletion CMSTP Odbcconf Regsvr32 XSL Script Processing

Exploited vulnerabilities 5

CVEs this group is known to exploit, per MITRE ATT&CK. Ordered by real-world severity.

CVE-2017-11882HIGHEPSS 100%KEV MITRE ATT&CK

CVE-2017-0199HIGHEPSS 100%KEV MITRE ATT&CK

CVE-2017-8570HIGHEPSS 90%KEV MITRE ATT&CK

CVE-2017-8759HIGHEPSS 89%KEV MITRE ATT&CK

CVE-2018-8174HIGHEPSS 88%KEV MITRE ATT&CK

Known infrastructure 2993

Real indicators (C2, domains, URLs and hashes) associated with the malware this group uses. Source: abuse.ch (ThreatFox, URLhaus, MalwareBazaar).

ip:port114.215.184.158:8000Cobalt Strikethreatfox

urlhttp://69.49.229.88:443/MQEwCobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port154.12.17.20:8080Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port154.12.17.20:22Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port154.12.17.20:443Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port154.12.17.20:80Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port129.204.55.230:443Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port47.94.56.71:8080Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port47.94.56.71:80Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port47.94.56.71:443Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port45.227.253.132:8080Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port45.227.253.132:80Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port45.227.253.132:443Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port45.227.253.132:32775Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port117.158.148.164:65535Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port38.76.190.209:8888Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port188.227.14.105:8080Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port186.241.115.168:12443Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port109.206.247.245:10881Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port43.134.112.45:7500Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port43.134.112.45:7000Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port43.134.112.45:80Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port43.134.112.45:8080Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port43.134.112.45:443Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port43.134.112.45:22Cobalt Strikethreatfox

ip:port101.34.208.175:18317Cobalt Strikethreatfox

sha1_hash2ff26540ebb9100dae76a2ae040108ba9338113cCobalt Strikethreatfox

md5_hashe4a34372eab0832d0682fa986a8e0b97Cobalt Strikethreatfox

sha256_hash35afe2df347cb0909fdf2aba8ed6a506a681518a98c0a723b25a16957437f944Cobalt Strikethreatfox

sha256_hash224aec5fec1f907ce152895095f56a3a2f2db0d627633ee691af56a13f34e7f8Cobalt Strikethreatfox

+2993 indicators in total. See them all on the IOCs page.

References

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