Over 300 Tor Exit Nodes Hijacked to Intercept SSH Passwords and Deploy Ebury Backdoor

Attackers compromised hundreds of Tor exit nodes and repurposed them to perform man-in-the-middle attacks against SSH connections. Instead of reaching the intended server, users were redirected to attacker-controlled infrastructure where they could be tricked into accepting a forged host key and revealing their credentials. Researcher kaba identified 333 malicious exit nodes routing traffic through the same 12 interception servers after noticing an unexpected host-key warning on October 2. The campaign also attempted to install the Ebury Linux backdoor designed to steal authentication data. The Tor Project confirmed that operators' servers had their configurations altered and some middle relays were converted into exit nodes. The initial access vector remains unknown, but the activity window was limited to October 1-5. Users who connected via Tor during this period, accepted an unfamiliar key, and entered a password should treat their credentials as compromised.

AntiMalwareOctober 21, 2026Translated from Russian

Read at source

Attackers have turned more than 300 Tor exit nodes into infrastructure for intercepting SSH connections, redirecting users to malicious servers that could capture passwords.

Security researcher kaba examined roughly 3,000 exit nodes and found 333 that forwarded SSH traffic through the same set of 12 interception servers, representing approximately one in ten nodes by volume.

The anomaly was first noticed on 2 October when an SSH client displayed the familiar host-key mismatch warning. Accepting the forged key and entering credentials allowed the attackers to obtain access to the victim’s server.

In addition to credential theft, the campaign attempted to deploy Ebury, a Linux backdoor specifically built to harvest authentication data from compromised systems.

The Tor Project verified that the affected operators’ servers had been modified and that some intermediate relays had been converted into exit nodes. Compromised nodes are being removed from the network.

The initial compromise method used against the node operators is still unknown. The dangerous period lasted from 1 to 5 October, and the total number of victims remains undisclosed.

Anyone who established an SSH session through Tor during those dates, accepted an unfamiliar host key, and supplied a password should assume the credentials are compromised. Reliance on the anonymity network does not replace the need to verify the server identity before authentication.

Ebury

ShareX Facebook LinkedIn Reddit

Meridian digestThe week's most consequential security stories, distilled into one briefing.See the digest

More in Malware & Botnets

Malware & Botnets

Yoba Campaign Uses Signed ChatGPT and Claude Binaries for DLL Sideloading and XMRig Deployment

Researchers at Check Point Research have uncovered the Yoba malware campaign that distributes fake desktop clients for ChatGPT and Claude through GitHub repositories. The attackers bundle legitimate signed executables from OpenAI and Anthropic with a malicious DLL that gets loaded via classic sideloading. Once executed, the loader establishes persistence using the Windows Task Scheduler and retrieves additional payloads through Telegram, DNS over HTTPS, and the Catbox file hosting service. The campaign ultimately deploys the XMRig cryptominer, which pauses mining activity when user interaction is detected to avoid detection. No compromise of OpenAI or Anthropic infrastructure was found; the attackers simply repurpose the companies' signed binaries and reputation. The operation primarily targets home users and small-to-medium businesses with Windows systems.

AntiMalwareOct 28, 2026Translated from Russian

Malware & Botnets

uCreator Spyware Infiltrates Modified Telegram, WeChat and GCash Builds on Android

Security researcher Ovi has published a detailed analysis of uCreator, also known as YingGai, a commercial Android spyware platform designed for surveillance and remote app control. The malware intercepts messages, verification codes and account data directly inside legitimate applications without requiring root privileges. Infection vectors include tampered Telegram, WeChat and GCash APKs distributed through unofficial sources, as well as the Onion Box container that launches the target app inside a controlled environment. Once active, uCreator hooks into the host process, reads Telegram’s local message database through client interfaces, captures two-factor authentication passwords and hides its own session from the user. The operation is supported by cloud-based command panels and exposed GitLab repositories that revealed server-side code and development history. Compatibility problems have been noted on Android 17, and the total number of victims remains unknown.

AntiMalwareOct 26, 2026Translated from Russian

Malware & Botnets

Researchers Deploy Cowrie Honeypot Disguised as NVIDIA H100 Server to Study SSH Botnet Tactics

A cybersecurity team set up a realistic Cowrie honeypot on a fake server equipped with four NVIDIA H100 GPUs, 128 AMD EPYC cores, and terabytes of storage to observe what SSH brute-force bots actually do after gaining access. The trap used a custom StickyAuth module that allowed entry only after several failed attempts and locked in the successful credential pair per IP address. Over the first 12.5 hours the system recorded 1,846 connections from 126 unique IPs, 175 successful logins, and 1,524 commands executed, with the majority of activity traced to a single botnet linked to the Outlaw group. The attackers deployed SSH keys signed mdrfckr, changed the root password, killed competing processes, installed cron jobs, and downloaded a mining archive called dota3 containing an IRC backdoor and its own SSH scanner. The researchers also identified three realism issues in the base Cowrie setup—limited grep flags, outdated filesystem paths in Debian 12, and inconsistent hostname reporting—and patched them to keep sophisticated bots engaged longer. An auxiliary LLM service later summarized each session in Telegram for easier analysis.

HabrOct 25, 2026Translated from Russian