Malware

CovalentStealer

CovalentStealer is a custom data exfiltration tool observed by CISA during an intrusion affecting a Defense Industrial Base (DIB) sector organization from November 2021 through January 2022, as documented in alert AA22-277A. CISA assessed that likely multiple APT groups had compromised the victim enterprise network, with some actors maintaining long-term access. The tool was used from late July through mid-October 2021 to exfiltrate remaining sensitive files, including sensitive contract-related information collected from shared drives. Reported functionality includes identifying and enumerating file shares, categorizing files, encrypting collected data with a 256-bit AES key, and uploading the files to remote infrastructure. The content states that collected files were stored in a Microsoft OneDrive cloud folder. In the broader intrusion, actors also used compromised credentials, Microsoft Exchange access, Windows Command Shell, PowerShell, WinRAR for manual collection and archiving, and the open-source Impacket toolkit for remote execution and lateral movement. CovalentStealer is therefore associated with APT activity targeting a DIB organization and was specifically used for theft of sensitive enterprise data.

For your environment

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MITRE ATT&CK

Techniques & procedures

3 distinct techniques documented for this family, organized by ATT&CK tactic.

Exfiltration

3 techniques

T1029Scheduled TransferEvidence1

"Actors scheduled data exfiltration to be performed only at certain times of day or at certain intervals..."

T1041Exfiltration Over C2 ChannelEvidence1

APT actors ... used a custom data exfiltration tool, CovalentStealer, to steal the victim's sensitive data.

T1567.002Exfiltration to Cloud StorageEvidence1

"The actor's CovalentStealer tool stores collected files on a Microsoft OneDrive cloud folder."

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

2 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

2 SOURCESView more in app

splunk researchNews

Oct 5, 2022

Analytics Story: CISA AA22-277A | Splunk Security Content

A custom data exfiltration tool used to steal sensitive data from the victim environment.

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IOC matching

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Threat actor attribution

Named campaigns wielding this family, with evidence pinned to each claim.

Exploited vulnerabilities

CVEs this family uses for access and lateral movement.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

MITRE ATT&CK mapping3

Every documented technique, ranked by evidence weight.

Researcher chatter

Reddit, Mastodon, and CTI community discussion around this family.

CovalentStealer