Security News > 2023 > October > Google links WinRAR exploitation to Russian, Chinese state hackers

Google's Threat Analysis Group, a team of security experts who defend Google users from state-sponsored attacks, has detected state hackers from several countries targeting the bug, including the Sandworm, APT28, and APT40 threat groups from Russia and China.

In an early September attack, Russian Sandworm hackers delivered Rhadamanthys infostealer malware in phishing attacks using fake invitations to join a Ukrainian drone training school.

APT40 Chinese hackers exploit the WinRAR vulnerability in attacks against targets in Papua New Guinea.

Within hours of Group-IB disclosing their findings, proof of concept exploits began surfacing on public GitHub repositories, immediately leading to what Google TAG describes as CVE-2023-38831 "Testing activity" by financially motivated hackers and APT groups.

"The widespread exploitation of the WinRAR bug highlights that exploits for known vulnerabilities can be highly effective, despite a patch being available. Even the most sophisticated attackers will only do what is necessary to accomplish their goals," Google said.

Russian Sandworm hackers breached 11 Ukrainian telcos since May. WinRAR zero-day exploited since April to hack trading accounts.

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https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/google-links-winrar-exploitation-to-russian-chinese-state-hackers/