Lightning Framework: New Undetected “Swiss Army Knife” Linux Malware ⚡

Lightning Framework is a new undetected Swiss Army Knife-like Linux malware that has modular plugins and the ability to install rootkits.

Year after year Linux environments increasingly become the target of malware due to continued threat actor interest in the space. Malware targeting Linux environments surged in 2021, with a large amount of innovation resulting in new malicious code, especially in ransomwares, trojans, and botnets. With the rise in use of the cloud, it is no wonder that malware innovation is still accelerating at breakneck speed in this realm.

This is a technical analysis of a previously undocumented and undetected Linux threat called the Lightning Framework. It is rare to see such an intricate framework developed for targeting Linux systems. Lightning is a modular framework we discovered that has a plethora of capabilities, and the ability to install multiple types of rootkit, as well as the capability to run plugins. The framework has both passive and active capabilities for communication with the threat actor, including opening up SSH on an infected machine, and a polymorphic malleable command and control configuration. We are releasing this blog for informational purposes. We do not have all the files that are referenced in the framework, but hope that this release will help others if they possess other pieces of the jigsaw puzzle. We have not observed this malware being used in attacks in the wild.

Technical Analysis of Lightning Framework

The framework consists of a downloader and core module, with a number of plugins. Some of the plugins used by the malware are open-source tools. Below is a figure of the framework layout:

Overview of the Modules

Name	Name on Disk	Description
Lightning.Downloader	kbioset	The persistent module that downloads the core module and its plugins
Lightning.Core	kkdmflush	The main module of the Lightning Framework
Linux.Plugin.Lightning.SsHijacker	soss	There is a reference to this module but no sample found in the wild yet.
Linux.Plugin.Lightning.Sshd	sshod	OpenSSH with hardcoded private and host keys
Linux.Plugin.Lightning.Nethogs	nethoogs	There is a reference to this module but no sample found in the wild yet. Presumably the software Nethogs
Linux.Plugin.Lightning.iftop	iftoop	There is a reference to this module but no sample found in the wild yet. Presumably the software iftop
Linux.Plugin.Lightning.iptraf	iptraof	There is a reference to this module but no sample found in the wild yet. Presumably the software IPTraf
Linux.Plugin.RootkieHide	libsystemd.so.2	There is a reference to this module but no sample found in the wild yet. LD_PRELOAD Rootkit
Linux.Plugin.Kernel	elastisearch.ko	There is a reference to this module but no sample found in the wild yet. LKM Rootkit

Lightning.Downloader

The main function of the downloader module is to fetch the other components and execute the core module.

The downloader module starts by checking if it is located in the working directory /usr/lib64/seahorses/ under the name kbioset. The framework makes heavy use of typosquatting and masquerading in order to remain undetected. The reference to seahorses masquerades the password and key manager software seahorse. If not it will relocate itself to that working directory and execute that copy. The downloader will fingerprint the host name and network adapters to generate a GUID, which will be sent to the command and control (C2) server. 

The downloader will then contact the C2 to fetch the following modules and plugins:

• Linux.Plugin.Lightning.SsHijacker
• Linux.Plugin.Lightning.Sshd
• Linux.Plugin.Lightning.Nethogs
• Linux.Plugin.Lightning.iftop
• Linux.Plugin.Lightning.iptraf
• Lightning.Core

The method of contacting the C2 will be described below in the malleable C2 section (click here to jump to that section). The downloader will then execute the core module (kkdmflush). 

Lightning.Core

The core module is the main module in this framework, it is able to receive commands from the C2 and execute the plugin modules. The module has many capabilities and uses a number of techniques to hide artifacts to remain running under the radar. 

The core module modifies the name of the calling thread of the module to kdmflush, to make it appear that it is a kernel thread. 

Next the core module sets up persistence by creating a script that is executed upon system boot. This is achieved by first creating a file located at /etc/rc.d/init.d/elastisearch. The name appears to typosquat elasticsearch. The following contents are written to the file:

#!/bin/bash
# chkconfig:2345 90 20
/usr/lib64/seahorses/kbioset &

This script will execute the downloader module upon boot. The service is then added using the chkconfig utility. 

The timestamp of the file is modified to hide artifacts, a technique known as “timestomping”. The file has its last modified time edited to match that of either whoami, find, or su. It will look for each file respectively until it finds one. This technique is used for most of the files that the framework creates.

The malware will attempt to hide its Process ID (PID) and any related network ports. This is achieved by writing the frameworks running PIDs to two files: hpi and hpo. These files are parsed and then the existence of the file proc/y.y is checked. If the file exists, it means that a rootkit has been installed. The PIDs are written to proc/y.y for use by the rootkit, which may scrub any reference to files running in the framework from commands such as ps and netstat.

The core module will generate a GUID in the same manner as the downloader and contact the C2. The response is parsed and the command is executed. The core module has the following commands:

Command	Description
SystemInfo	Fingerprints the machine
PureShellCommand	Runs Shell command
RunShellPure	Starts the Linux.Plugin.Lightning.Sshd (SSH Daemon) plugin
CloseShellPure	Terminates the Linux.Plugin.Lightning.Sshd plugin
Disconnect	Exits the Core module
GetRemotePathInfo	Collects the summary of given path
KeepAlive	No action, connection remains alive
UploadFileHeader	Checks access of file
FileEdit	Gets contents of file and time meta
TryPassSSH	Adds a public key to the root/.ssh/authorized_keys file
DeleteVecFile	Deletes the specified file or path
PreDownloadFile	Calculates a checksum of the file
DownloadFile	Sends a file to the C2
DeleteGuid	Removes the framework
UpdateVersion	Calls the Downloader module to update the framework
UpdateRemoteVersion	Updates the framework including the downloader
Socks5	Sets up a Socks5 proxy
RestorePlug	The same as UpdateVersion
GetDomainSetting	Fetches the contents of the malleable C2 configuration file (cpc)
SetDomainSetting	Updates the contents of the malleable C2 configuration file (cpc)
InstallKernelHide	Fetches the OS release
RemoveKernelHide	Removes kernel module
UpdateKernelVersion	Removes the kernel module and runs uname -r
OverrideFile	Overwrites specified file
UploadFileContent	Writes data sent from server to file
LocalPluginRequest	Either write the LD_PRELOAD rootkit or LKM rootkit

Network Communication

Network communication in the Core and Downloader modules are performed over TCP sockets. The data is structured in JSON. The C2 is stored in a polymorphic encoded configuration file that is unique for every single creation. This means that configuration files will not be able to be detected through techniques such as hashes. The key is built into the start of the encoded file.

The decoded configuration is structured in JSON. The default configuration in the analyzed sample uses a local IP address 10.2.22[.]67 with the port 33229. 

There is a passive mode of communication available if the actor executes the RunShellPure command. This starts an SSH service on the infected machine with the Linux.Plugin.Lightning.Sshd plugin. The plugin is an OpenSSH daemon that has hardcoded private and host keys, allowing the attacker to SSH into the machine with their own SSH key, creating a secondary backdoor. 

Summary

The Lightning Framework is an interesting malware as it is not common to see such a large framework developed for targeting Linux. Although we do not have all the files, we can infer some of the missing functionality based on strings and code of the modules that we do possess. Check out our next blog here about detection opportunities for Lightning Framework using osquery.

We would like to extend a huge thanks to our friends and partners at IBM and SentinelOne for their help during investigating this threat.

IOCs for Lightning Framework

Hashes

File	SHA256
Lightning.Downloader	48f9471c20316b295704e6f8feb2196dd619799edec5835734fc24051f45c5b7
Lightning.Core	fd285c2fb4d42dde23590118dba016bf5b846625da3abdbe48773530a07bcd1e
Linux.Plugin.Lightning.Sshd	ad16989a3ebf0b416681f8db31af098e02eabd25452f8d781383547ead395237

Sigma Detection Rules

title: Lightning Framework File Path
status: experimental
description: Detects creation of files related to Lightning Framework.
author: Intezer
references:
   - https://intezer.com
logsource:
   product: linux
   category: file_create
detection:
   selection1:
      TargetFilename|startswith:
         - '/usr/lib64/seahorses/'
   selection2:   
      TargetFilename|contains:
         - 'kbioset'
         - 'cpc'
         - 'kkdmflush'
         - 'soss'
         - 'sshod'
         - 'nethoogs'
         - 'iftoop'
         - 'iptraof'
   condition: selection1 and selection2
falsepositives:
   - Unknown.

title: Lightning Default C2 Communication
status: experimental
description: Detects communication to default local ip for Lightning Framework
author: Intezer
references:
  - https://intezer.com
logsource:
  category: firewall
detection:
  select_outgoing:
    dst_ip: 10.2.22.67
    dst_port: 33229
  condition: select_outgoing
falsepositives:
  - Unknown. 

MITRE ATT&CK

Tactic	Technique	ID	Description
Persistence	Boot or Logon Initialization Scripts	T1037	An init.d script is used for persistence of downloader module
Persistence	SSH Authorized Keys	T1098.004	SSH keys can be added to the authorized_keys file
Defense Evasion	Obfuscated Files or Information	T1027	The C2 profile is encoded on disk
Defense Evasion	Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information	T1140	The C2 profile is decoded with a dynamic XOR algorithm
Defense Evasion	Hide Artifacts	T1564	Many artifacts are hidden including ports, PIDs, and file timestamps
Defense Evasion	Masquerading	T1036	Many files are masqueraded as other files or tasks
Defense Evasion	Rootkit	T1014	LKM and LD_PRELOAD rootkits are used
Defense Evasion	Timestomp	T1070.006	Files created by Lightning are modified to match that of other utilities
Defense Evasion	File Deletion	T1070.004	The framework has the ability to remove itself
Discovery	File and Directory Discovery	T1083	The framework can list files and directories on infected systems
Discovery	Network Service Discovery	T1046	Multiple plugins can be used to perform network service discovery
Discovery	Network Sniffing	T1040	Multiple plugins can be used to perform network sniffing
Discovery	System Information Discovery	T1082	Lightning can perform detailed system fingerprinting
Command and Control	Data Encoding	T1132	Data from the C2 is encoded
Command and Control	Non-Application Layer Protocol	T1095	Communication with the C2 is performed over TCP
Command and Control	Proxy	T1090	The framework has the ability to start a Socks5 proxy
Command and Control	Exfiltration Over C2 Channel	T1041	Data can be exfiltrated