Facefish
FaceFish is a backdoor observed by Kaspersky in an intrusion attributed to the hacktivist group Twelve targeting Russian organizations. In the reported incident, the attackers exploited VMware vCenter vulnerabilities CVE-2021-21972 and CVE-2021-22005 to deploy a web shell, which was then used to drop the FaceFish backdoor. The broader Twelve intrusion set emphasized destructive operations against Russian targets, including abuse of valid accounts for initial access, lateral movement over RDP, use of publicly available offensive tools such as Cobalt Strike, Mimikatz, Chisel, BloodHound, PowerView, adPEAS, CrackMapExec, Advanced IP Scanner, and PsExec, and tunneling malicious RDP sessions through ngrok. Kaspersky also reported that Twelve used PowerShell to manipulate Active Directory, masqueraded malware and scheduled tasks under names such as "Update Microsoft," "Yandex," "YandexUpdate," and "intel.exe," disabled Sophos-related processes via a script named "Sophos_kill_local.ps1," exfiltrated data via DropMeFiles, and ultimately deployed LockBit 3.0-based ransomware and a Shamoon-identical wiper. High-confidence IOC/context directly tied to FaceFish in the content is limited to its delivery following exploitation of VMware vCenter flaws CVE-2021-21972 and CVE-2021-22005 via a web shell.
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Vulnerabilities exploited
2 CVEs Mallory has correlated with this family across public research and vendor advisories. Each row links to the full Mallory page for that vulnerability.
In one incident investigated by Kaspersky, the threat actors are said to have exploited known security vulnerabilities (e.g., CVE-2021-21972 and CVE-2021-22005) in VMware vCenter to deliver a web shell that then was used to drop a backdoor dubbed FaceFish.
In one incident investigated by Kaspersky, the threat actors are said to have exploited known security vulnerabilities (e.g., CVE-2021-21972 and CVE-2021-22005) in VMware vCenter to deliver a web shell that then was used to drop a backdoor dubbed FaceFish.
Groups observed using it
2 distinct threat actors attributed by public researchers. Open in Mallory to see the full evidence chain and overlapping campaigns.
In one incident investigated by Kaspersky, the threat actors are said to have exploited known security vulnerabilities (e.g., CVE-2021-21972 and CVE-2021-22005) in VMware vCenter to deliver a web shell that then was used to drop a backdoor dubbed FaceFish.
...prior iterations known as Facefish (February 2021), Kitsune (February 2022), and Megatsune (November 2023).
Techniques & procedures
2 distinct techniques documented for this family, organized by ATT&CK tactic.
Initial Access
1 technique"...shifting the focus... from the exploitation of 1-day vulnerabilities in corporate services available from the internet (e.g., Microsoft Exchange)..."
Stealth
1 technique"PUMAKIT, a kernel rootkit... conceal itself from system tools..."
Recent activity
2 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
Earlier iteration of the PUMAKIT kernel rootkit lineage.
Backdoor dropped after exploitation of VMware vCenter vulnerabilities, used to maintain unauthorized access to victim environments.
The version that knows your environment.
Match every observed IP, domain, and hash against your live telemetry.
Named campaigns wielding this family, with evidence pinned to each claim.
CVEs this family uses for access and lateral movement.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Every documented technique, ranked by evidence weight.
Reddit, Mastodon, and CTI community discussion around this family.