The Russian state-sponsored threat actor known as APT28 has been found leveraging a new code execution method that makes use of mouse movement in decoy Microsoft PowerPoint documents to deploy malware.
The technique “is designed to be triggered when the user starts the presentation mode and moves the mouse,” cybersecurity firm Cluster25 said in a technical report. “The code execution runs a PowerShell script that downloads and executes a dropper from OneDrive.”
The dropper, a seemingly harmless image file, functions as a pathway for a follow-on payload, a variant of a malware known as Graphite, which uses the Microsoft Graph API and OneDrive for command-and-control (C2) communications to retrieve additional payloads.
The attack employs a lure document that makes use of a template potentially linked to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a Paris-based intergovernmental entity.
