Loading story…
Researchers identified a large cryptojacking operation that abused public container registries by uploading 30 malicious images across 10 Docker Hub accounts, which collectively recorded more than 20 million pulls. The images were designed to deploy cryptocurrency miners on victim systems, with most samples mining Monero and frequently using the open-source miner XMRig.
The campaign was tied to multiple Docker Hub accounts, including azurenql, 021982, dockerxmrig, ggcloud1, and ggcloud2, which researchers assessed as part of the same broader operation. Attackers used multiple image tags to support different CPU architectures, operating systems, and miner variants, increasing compatibility and reach, and the observed mining activity was estimated to have generated roughly $200,000 in cryptocurrency while indicating a wider malicious-image problem across public registries.
Trace attribution and downstream blast radius.
1 event from the most recent confirmed update back to the earliest known activity.
Unit 42 reported finding 30 malicious container images across 10 Docker Hub accounts that were being used for cryptojacking. The images had accumulated more than 20 million pulls, and the researchers linked several accounts to a broader Monero-mining campaign.
Vulnerabilities, threat actors, malware, products, organizations, and breaches Mallory has linked to this story.
See attribution and downstream blast radius, and whether this package or vendor reaches your builds.
1 reference tracked. Mallory keeps watching after this page renders.
Map indicators from this story to your assets and identify affected systems in minutes.
Every observed campaign, victim, and pivot linked to actors named in this story.
Malware, exploits, and IOCs connected to the activity described here.
YARA, Sigma, and Snort rules deployed to your SIEM as soon as they’re published.
Get matching new stories delivered to your team as they break — not the next morning.
Ask questions about this story and take action on the answers.
Other stories Mallory is tracking that overlap on entities, sources, or topic labels.
Linux-focused cryptocurrency-mining malware has increasingly targeted servers, cloud workloads, and Docker environments, with attackers abusing the platforms’ reliability, prevalence, and processing power to mine privacy-centric coins such as **Monero**. The activity reflects a broader shift in cryptojacking operations toward Linux systems and exposed applications or APIs that can be leveraged to gain unauthorized access and sustain mining activity. Researchers reported that newer Linux cryptominers are not only designed to consume victim resources but also to detect, disable, and remove rival miners already present on compromised machines, effectively turning infected hosts into contested infrastructure. The behavior mirrors tactics seen in earlier malware families including **KORKERDS** and **Skidmap**, underscoring how cryptojacking campaigns have evolved from simple resource theft into more persistent and competitive operations aimed at monopolizing compromised compute capacity.
Aug 14, 2026
Threat actors were observed targeting exposed Docker APIs by deploying a malicious container image named **`gin`** with the **`--privileged`** option, then abusing the Linux **`cgroups` `release_agent`** mechanism to escape the container and execute code on the host. Trend Micro detected the activity in a honeypot after the environment was identified by the **`zgrab`** scanner, showing how internet-exposed container management interfaces can be rapidly discovered and exploited. The attack chain used a script called **`calm.sh`**, which dropped another script named **`cmd`** and launched a fake **`nginx`** binary that was actually an ELF cryptocurrency miner. If the container escape attempt failed, the attackers still tried to mine cryptocurrency directly on the vulnerable server, underscoring that misconfigured privileged containers can turn a Docker deployment into a host-level compromise and that image security requires more than basic vulnerability scanning alone.
Aug 15, 2026
Threat actors abused exposed Docker servers by creating a malicious Alpine Linux container that launched a multi-stage infection chain, ultimately installing both a cryptocurrency miner and an IRC-based DDoS bot. The attack used a Bash script named `XMI` and a Python script named `d.py` to download payloads, establish persistence, and spread further, with the miner identified as **Coinminer.Linux.MALXMR.UWELD** and the bot as a Kaiten/Tsunami variant detected as **Backdoor.Linux.KAITEN.AMV**. The malware relied on Base64 obfuscation, cron jobs, and a service placed in `/etc/init.d` for persistence, and it attempted lateral movement by harvesting targets from `/.ssh/known_hosts`; researchers also found commented-out SSH brute-force propagation code. Trend Micro said the miner wallet overlapped with earlier campaigns exploiting `CVE-2019-3396` and `CVE-2017-5638`, previously associated in public reporting with the **8220** mining group, while the DDoS component communicated with command-and-control infrastructure including `c4k[.]xpl[.]pwndns[.]pw`, `104[.]244[.]75[.]25`, and `107[.]189[.]11[.]170`.
Aug 14, 2026