BlueBravo Adapts to Target Diplomatic Entities with GraphicalProton Malware

Recorded Future’s Insikt Group has been monitoring the activities of Russian state actors who are intensifying their efforts to hide command-and-control network traffic using legitimate internet services (LIS) and expanding the range of services misused for this purpose. BlueBravo is a threat group tracked by Insikt Group, whose actions align with those of the Russian advanced persistent threat (APT) groups APT29 and Midnight Blizzard, both attributed to Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

(Overview of BlueBravo attack flow (Source: Recorded Future)

In January 2023, Insikt Group reported on BlueBravo's use of a themed lure to deliver malware called GraphicalNeutrino. They identified several consistent tactics employed by the group, including compromised infrastructure, known malware families, third-party services for command-and-control (C2), and reused lure themes. Another malware variant used by BlueBravo, named GraphicalProton, was discovered. Unlike GraphicalNeutrino, which used Notion for C2, GraphicalProton uses Microsoft's OneDrive or Dropbox for communication.

The group's misuse of LIS is an ongoing strategy, as they have used various online services such as Trello, Firebase, and Dropbox to evade detection. BlueBravo appears to prioritize cyber-espionage efforts against European government sector entities, possibly due to the Russian government's interest in strategic data during and after the war in Ukraine.

Based on observed trends, Insikt Group predicts that BlueBravo will continue to adapt and create new malware variants while leveraging third-party services for C2 obfuscation. Defenders are urged to invest additional time and resources to track the evolving group, particularly organizations targeted by Russian state actors in relation to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

BlueBravo is expected to continue developing infrastructure and compromising vulnerable websites to deploy new strains of malware, targeting diplomatic and foreign policy institutions in Eastern Europe, as these organizations provide valuable insight for the Russian intelligence consumers during the ongoing war in Ukraine.

To read the entire analysis with endnotes, click here to download the report as a PDF.

Appendix A — Indicators of Compromise

Compromised Domains Associated with BlueBravo Activity: te-as[.]no easym6[.]com remcolours[.]com simplesalsamix[.]com sylvio[.]com[.]br reidao[.]com mightystake[.]com sharpledge[.]com fondoftravel[.]com URLs Associated with BlueBravo Activity: te-as[.]no/wine[.]php easym6[.]com/Information.php reidao[.]com/dashboard.php resetlocations[.]com/bmw.htm simplesalsamix[.]com/e-yazi.html sylvio.com[.]br/form.php mightystake[.]com/sponsorship.php sharpledge[.]com/login.php fondoftravel[.]com/contact.php Files: 9da5339a5a7519b8b639418ea34c9a95f11892732036278b14dbbf4810fec7a3 AppvIsvSubsystems64.dll6c55195f025fb895f9d0ec3edbf58bc0aa46c43eeb246cfb88eef1ae051171b3 Note.exe 22b037f0a42579b45530bed196dd2b47fd4d4dffb8daa2738581287932794954 Note.iso ed5c3800cf9eb3d76e5bab079c7f8f3e0748935f0696ce0898f8bd421c3c306f Bdcmetadataresource.xsd b84d6a12bb1756b69791e725b0e3d7a962888b31a8188de225805717c299c086 Note.iso aff3d7f9ebfdbe69c65b8441a911b539b344f2708e5cef498f10e13290e90c91 AppvIsvSubsystems64.dll 9f2b400439e610577a6bbc1f83849c6108689d99a9fe7bdd1c74e4dfffadde14 Bdcmetadataresource.xsd c71ec48a59631bfa3f33383c1f25719e95e5a80936d913ab3bfe2feb172c1c5e Note.zip 385973e7777081c81cfe236fcc8b3ebf5e4ae04f16030d525535f6cfe38cae7b AppvIsvSubsystems64.dll becbd20a19bab555b92d471b30b8159dfa709e9bc417e5d42d72c94546d9e61c Schema.inf 79a1402bc77aa2702dc5dca660ca0d1bf08a2923e0a1018da70e7d7c31d9417f bmw.iso 640a08b52623cd8702de066f1f9a6923b18283fc2656137cd9c584da1e07775c bmw1.png.lnk 6f37579d445639c7dfebb4927fe7f6ea70d25d1127f9d9b5078f8ccd4da36127 bmw2.png.lnk 0e22e6a1dc529008d62287cfddaed53c7f4cc698feec144f00c92594dc76d036 bmw3.png.lnk 02ce47bd766f7489c6326c30351eb9b365f9997de1b2f92924d130fa07e0d82c bmw4.png.lnk c5209127e65b0465c8a707ca127b067aa8756c1138bd0d3636f71bfbe8fd9bda bmw5.png.lnk e22bc75bb87e19554cd0f98c98b22a07368c2b23adacc41fe2cd68c20957d60a bmw6.png.lnk 2589700d01c8a60a4f2d8188e31712821c7085a4715785e2871ac517c81477e3 bmw7.png.lnk 62a903a4b5cd27d739950e71ab74061e815af4830a29df6dcbf8c1a34abc87cb bmw8.png.lnk 3a76182529c4fd5276091ed8ff4c4dcc89e4abc5981348a066c4eb34a9956947 bmw9.png.lnk 38f8b8036ed2a0b5abb8fbf264ee6fd2b82dcd917f60d9f1d8f18d07c26b1534 $Recycle.Bin/AppvIsvSubsystems64.dll 706112ab72c5d770d89736012d48a78e1f7c643977874396c30908fa36f2fed7 $Recycle.Bin/MSVCP140.dll e3abb477f3230c94bfc97ec8f7cee8d4ad4a1fba16cda1f318cfa12780fd33f7 $Recycle.Bin/Mso20Win32Client.DLL d0a3632404c5b4b224269ecedfbcdf2e02d7023a6ede4232c7e700d538504dfd $Recycle.Bin/bmw1.png 74723846c3e469e1652469d7adfefd8ee85d3fc2f44a4ddd6f852e12f728bb81 $Recycle.Bin/bmw2.png 7a7c86547c9e1ba6faafa1c673a0ff429104448a006918ff20910bd0a734ddd4 $Recycle.Bin/bmw3.png 400d8b83164de0bc4b9457fb1460b79c98d720bc5494727f9ab574173023d1e4 $Recycle.Bin/bmw4.png 6a97a31c1bce2993e624debcc30de4ac0240ffee66cb059ac6c85aba6a8ce688 $Recycle.Bin/bmw5.png 457988aca929192c46ca5440708a6c239a2c40596caf795afcc3d00661cdc86d $Recycle.Bin/bmw6.png 647d07167fe437adeb8af2e65b5560f2520a712bfbab43fbadd10b274d8045a3 $Recycle.Bin/bmw7.png d60b160b891e5ce6a52f6fe1ff49cf07510af80fce6db61aee46b3d5b830605f $Recycle.Bin/bmw8.png 1dd713c4760e2157d2eefb27809c0cd2a46f6042c92f1705514ea01b74cdb1cb $Recycle.Bin/bmw9.png c62199ef9c2736d15255f5deaa663158a7bb3615ba9262eb67e3f4adada14111 $Recycle.Bin/ojg2.px 6c55195f025fb895f9d0ec3edbf58bc0aa46c43eeb246cfb88eef1ae051171b3 $Recycle.Bin/windoc.exe 8902bd7d085397745e05883f05c08de87623cc15fe630b36ad3d208f01ef0596 a.docx 311e9c8cf6d0b295074ffefaa9f277cb1f806343be262c59f88fbdf6fe242517 BMW 5 for sale in Kyiv - 2023.docx 0dd55a234be8e3e07b0eb19f47abe594295889564ce6a9f6e8cc4d3997018839 e-yazi.zip 60d96d8d3a09f822ded0a3c84194a5d88ed62a979cbb6378545b45b04353bb37 AppvIsvSubsystems64.dll e3abb477f3230c94bfc97ec8f7cee8d4ad4a1fba16cda1f318cfa12780fd33f7 Mso20Win32Client.DLL 6c55195f025fb895f9d0ec3edbf58bc0aa46c43eeb246cfb88eef1ae051171b3 e-yazi.docx .exe 7a9d27006887464220c456cc1cdbcf7766bc8fd760114b79b04a7e3fef73b33a e-yazi.pdf 03959c22265d0b85f6c94ee15ad878bb4f2956a2b0047733edbd8fdc86defc48 okxi4t.z b422ba73f389ae5ef9411cf4484c840c7c82f2731c6324db0b24b6f87ce8477d Information.zip e7c49758bae63c83d251cacbfada7c09af0c3038e8ff755c4c04f916385805d8 AppvIsvSubsystems64.dll 6c55195f025fb895f9d0ec3edbf58bc0aa46c43eeb246cfb88eef1ae051171b3 Information .exe 5f6219ade8e0577545b9f13afd28f6d6e991326f3c427d671d1c1765164b0d57 dbg.info

Appendix B — Mitre ATT&CK Techniques

Tactic: Technique	ATT&CK Code
Resource Development: Compromise Infrastructure	T1584
Execution: User Execution: Malicious File	T1204.002
Persistence: Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder	T1547.001
Defense Evasion: Obfuscated Files or Information: HTML Smuggling	T1027.006
Defense Evasion: Obfuscated Files or Information: Dynamic API Resolution	T1027.007
Defense Evasion: Masquerading: Right-to-Left Override	T1036.002
Defense Evasion: Masquerading: Match Legitimate Name or Location	T1036.005
Defense Evasion: Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information	T1140
Defense Evasion: Hijack Execution Flow: DLL Search Order Hijacking	T1574.001
Defense Evasion: Hijack Execution Flow: DLL Side-Loading	T1574.002
Defense Evasion: Impair Defenses: Disable or Modify Tools	T1562.001
Discovery: System Owner/User Discovery	T1033
Discovery: System Information Discovery	T1082
Command and Control: Application Layer Protocol: Web Protocols	T1071.001
Command and Control: Web Service: Bidirectional Communication	T1102.002
Command and Control: Ingress Tool Transfer	T1105