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APT Group UPS Targets US Government with Hacking Team Flash Exploit ![Clock Icon](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/icon-clock.svg) 4 min read * ![Profile Icon](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/icon-profile-grey.svg) By: * [Bryan Lee](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/author/bryanlee/) * ![Published Icon](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/icon-calendar-grey.svg) Published:July 10, 2015 * ![Tags Icon](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/icon-category.svg) Categories: * [Malware](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/category/malware/) * [Threat Research](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/category/threat-research/) * ![Tags Icon](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/icon-tags-grey.svg) Tags: * [ActionScript](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/actionscript/) * [Adobe Flash](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/adobe-flash/) * [Hacking Team](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/hacking-team/) * [![Download Icon](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/icon-download.svg)](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/apt-group-ups-targets-us-government-with-hacking-team-flash-exploit/?pdf=download&lg=en&_wpnonce=ac4b3be3b8 "Click here to download") * [![Print Icon](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/icon-print.svg)](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/apt-group-ups-targets-us-government-with-hacking-team-flash-exploit/?pdf=print&lg=en&_wpnonce=ac4b3be3b8 "Click here to print") Share![Down arrow](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/down-arrow.svg) * ![Link Icon](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/icon-share-link.svg) * [![Link Email](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/icon-sms.svg)](mailto:?subject=APT%20Group%20UPS%20Targets%20US%20Government%20with%20Hacking%20Team%20Flash%20Exploit&body=Check%20out%20this%20article%20https%3A%2F%2Funit42.paloaltonetworks.com%2Fapt-group-ups-targets-us-government-with-hacking-team-flash-exploit%2F "Share in email") * [![Facebook Icon](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/icon-fb-share.svg)](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Funit42.paloaltonetworks.com%2Fapt-group-ups-targets-us-government-with-hacking-team-flash-exploit%2F "Share in Facebook") * [![LinkedIn Icon](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/icon-linkedin-share.svg)](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Funit42.paloaltonetworks.com%2Fapt-group-ups-targets-us-government-with-hacking-team-flash-exploit%2F&title=APT%20Group%20UPS%20Targets%20US%20Government%20with%20Hacking%20Team%20Flash%20Exploit "Share in LinkedIn") * [![Twitter Icon](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/icon-twitter-share.svg)](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Funit42.paloaltonetworks.com%2Fapt-group-ups-targets-us-government-with-hacking-team-flash-exploit%2F&text=APT%20Group%20UPS%20Targets%20US%20Government%20with%20Hacking%20Team%20Flash%20Exploit "Share in Twitter") * [![Reddit Icon](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/icon-reddit-share.svg)](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com//www.reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Funit42.paloaltonetworks.com%2Fapt-group-ups-targets-us-government-with-hacking-team-flash-exploit%2F&ts=markdown "Share in Reddit") * [![Mastodon Icon](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/icon-mastodon-share.svg)](https://mastodon.social/share?text=APT%20Group%20UPS%20Targets%20US%20Government%20with%20Hacking%20Team%20Flash%20Exploit%20https%3A%2F%2Funit42.paloaltonetworks.com%2Fapt-group-ups-targets-us-government-with-hacking-team-flash-exploit%2F "Share in Mastodon") On July 8, 2015, Unit 42 used the [AutoFocus](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/products/platforms/subscriptions/autofocus.html) Threat Intelligence service to locate and investigate activity consistent with a spear-phishing attack targeting the US Government. The attack exploited an Adobe Flash vulnerability that stems from the zero-day vulnerabilities exposed from this month's Hacking Team data breach. The spear-phishing attack used a link to a Flash exploit hosted on two subdomains of a legitimate website, perrydale\[.\]com; rpt.perrydale\[.\]com and report.perrydale\[.\]com. Both domains resolve to the same Ukraine-based IP 194.44.130.179. There are no indications at this time that the actual website has been compromised, rather, this is more likely a case of DNS hijacking. The Flash exploits, specifically located at rpt.perrydale\[.\]com/en/show.swf and report.perrydale\[.\]com/ema/show.swf leverage one of the newly disclosed vulnerabilities from the Hacking Team data breach, CVE-2015-5119. Successful exploitation leads to the affected host retrieving a secondary payload, b.gif, also located at the same two subdomains as the Flash exploit. This attack shares similarities with a [previous targeted attack](https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2015/06/operation-clandestine-wolf-adobe-flash-zero-day.html), also using a Flash exploit, leveraging what was at the time a zero-day vulnerability in CVE-2015-3113. Analysis of both malicious Flash files indicates both these attacks are attributed to the APT group known as UPS or APT3. ### ActionScript The malicious Flash file named "show.gif" contains ActionScript that attempts to exploit a vulnerability and execute shellcode to ultimately install a payload. Show.swf is composed of the following ActionScript classes: * MainClass.as * MyClass.as * MyClass1.as * MyClass2.as * MyUtils.as * ShellWin32.as Preliminary analysis of class names revealed overlap with one of the two Flash zero-day exploits disclosed following the [Hacking Team breach](https://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/unpatched-flash-player-flaws-more-pocs-found-in-hacking-team-leak/). When comparing the classes above with those associated with Hacking Team's Flash zero-days, we found that MyClass.as, MyClass1.as, MyClass2.as, MyUtils.as and ShellWin32.as were shared within show.swf and Hacking Team's Flash exploit. In addition, there are several log messages as well as multiple function and variable names that exist in the ActionScript classes in both the UPS and the Hacking Team's Flash files. The most important overlap occurs in the "TryExpl" function within MyClass.as, where the same functions and variables are used to create the use-after-free condition caused during the exploitation of the CVE-2015-5119 vulnerability. Figure 1 shows the code in the "TryExpl" function that causes the use-after-free vulnerability found in both the UPS and the Hacking Team's Flash exploits. Also, the error message "can't cause UaF" is found in both exploits. [![figure 1\_ups](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/figure-1_ups.png)](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/figure-1_ups.png) Figure 1. ActionScript Causing the Use-After-Free Vulnerability While analyzing the MainClass portion of show.swf, we also observed shared functions with a previous attack attributed to UPS that was designed to exploit an earlier Flash zero-day, CVE-2015-3113. The CVE-2015-3113 ActionScript is publically available and can be obtained from the following link: [https://gist.github.com/mak/bd71962aae98ab0b0441](https://gist.github.com/mak/bd71962aae98ab0b0441) The shared function names, seen below, include several functions used for data type manipulation, logging, and decrypting the shellcode executed in the event of successful exploitation: * decode * hexToIntArray * logMsg * func\_prepare * hexToBin The most obvious overlap between the two ActionScripts involves the shared variable name "m\_scKey", which is a variable that stores the RC4 key that the ActionScript will use to decrypt the shellcode. ### Shellcode When the Flash vulnerability is successfully exploited, shellcode executes which then extracts and decrypts a payload embedded in an animated GIF image. During analysis, Unit 42 was unable to obtain the payload; the "b.gif" file received was not weaponized as it does not contain an encrypted payload. There are two likely reasons for this -- UPS is known for both only serving malicious payloads within very limited windows of time during an attack, and even then only serving those payloads to victims that fit their desired profile. The technique of extracting and decrypting a payload from within an animated GIF image was also used by UPS in the attacks exploiting CVE-2015-3113. Using Zynamic's binDiff tool to compare, we discovered 99% similarity with 99% confidence between the 5119 shellcode and the 3113 shellcode. By manually comparing the code, we confirmed the high similarity and confidence rates as calculated by binDiff. The technique of locating the payload embedded in the animated GIF is the same within both the 5119 and the 3113 shellcodes. Additionally, both shellcodes use the exact same algorithm and key values to decrypt the payload from ciphertext to cleartext, specifically using an XOR, subtraction and a second XOR instruction using key values 0x12, 0x11 and 0x85, respectively. In fact, we compared the two shellcodes side-by-side and found that there is only one instruction added to the 5119 shellcode as seen highlighted in red in the image below. [![primary secondary](http://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/primary-secondary-500x218.png)](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/primary-secondary.png) ### Conclusion These attacks highlight how sophisticated APT groups such as UPS can quickly leverage new vulnerabilities in their attacks. A [patch](https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsb15-14.html) is available for this vulnerability, but was only released on the same day of weaponization, which leaves very little time for any organization to patch effectively. Due to the highly targeted nature of this type of attack, traditional detection methods via known IOCs can be challenging. Deployment of automated, behavioral preventative measures such as [Palo Alto Networks Traps](https://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/2015/07/palo-alto-networks-traps-protects-from-latest-flash-zero-day-vulnerability-cve-2015-5119/%20) can significantly reduce organizational risk to these types of attacks. ### Indicators of Compromise **SHA256** a2fe113cc13acac2bb79a375f692b8ba5cc2fa880272adc7ab0d01f839e877ff **Domains** rpt.perrydale\[.\]com report.perrydale\[.\]com **IPs** 194\.44.130.179 **URLs** rpt.perrydale\[.\]com /en/show.swf report.perrydale\[.\]com /ema/show.swf rpt.perrydale\[.\]com /en/b.gif report.perrydale\[.\]com /ema/b,gif Back to top ### Tags * [ActionScript](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/actionscript/ "ActionScript") * [Adobe Flash](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/adobe-flash/ "Adobe Flash") * [Hacking Team](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/hacking-team/ "Hacking Team") [Threat Research Center](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com "Threat Research") [Next: New Android Malware Family Evades Antivirus Detection by Using Popular Ad Libraries](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/new-android-malware-family-evades-antivirus-detection-by-using-popular-ad-libraries/ "New Android Malware Family Evades Antivirus Detection by Using Popular Ad Libraries") ### Related Articles * [Fake Flash Updaters Push Cryptocurrency Miners](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/unit42-fake-flash-updaters-push-cryptocurrency-miners/ "article - table of contents") * [Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 Vulnerability Research May 2017 Disclosures](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/unit42-palo-alto-networks-unit-42-vulnerability-research-may-2017-disclosures/ "article - table of contents") * [Pulling the Brake on the Magnitude EK Train](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/unit42-pulling-brake-magnitude-ek-train/ "article - table of contents") ## Related Malware Resources ![Pictorial representation of a magnifying glass illuminating a glowing orange circular digital circuit interface on a dark, high-tech background.](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/04_Myth-Busting_Overview_1920x900-786x368.jpg) [![category icon](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Insights-icon-white.svg)Insights](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/category/insights/) September 16, 2026 [#### Atomic macOS (AMOS) Stealer Activity](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/atomic-macos-amos-stealer-activity/) * [MacOS](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/macos/ "macOS") * [Malware](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/malware/ "malware") * [Threat intelligence](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/threat-intelligence/ "threat intelligence") [Read now ![Right arrow](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/icon-right-arrow-withtail.svg)](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/atomic-macos-amos-stealer-activity/ "Atomic macOS (AMOS) Stealer Activity") ![Pictorial representation of post-exploitation identity misuse in SPIFFE/SPIRE. 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A close-up of a computer circuit board with a central microchip is depicted. Red digital data streams in the form of glowing binary numbers and arrows appear to flow in and out of the chip. The scene is illuminated with a futuristic blue and red glow.](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/04_Malware_Category_1920x900-4-786x368.jpg) [![category icon](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/icon-threat-research.svg)Threat Research](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/category/threat-research/) August 10, 2026 [#### The Permanent Threat: Analyzing Aeternum's Blockchain-Based C2 Operations and Communications](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/aeternum-blockchain-c2-analysis/) * [Aeternum](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/aeternum/ "Aeternum") * [Infection chain](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/infection-chain/ "infection chain") * [JSON](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/json/ "JSON") [Read now ![Right arrow](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/icon-right-arrow-withtail.svg)](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/aeternum-blockchain-c2-analysis/ "The Permanent Threat: Analyzing Aeternum’s Blockchain-Based C2 Operations and Communications") ![Pictorial representation of ChainDrop, a self-propagating npm worm. An artistic depiction of a digital workspace featuring an open laptop with a red virus on the screen.](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/03_Malware_Category_1920x900-7-786x368.jpg) [![category icon](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/top-threats.svg)High Profile Threats](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/category/top-cyberthreats/) August 6, 2026 [#### ChainDrop: Inside a Self-Propagating npm Worm](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/chaindrop-npm-worm-analysis/) * [Blockchain](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/blockchain/ "blockchain") * [ChainDrop](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/chaindrop/ "ChainDrop") * [Claude code](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/claude-code/ "Claude code") [Read now ![Right arrow](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/icon-right-arrow-withtail.svg)](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/chaindrop-npm-worm-analysis/ "ChainDrop: Inside a Self-Propagating npm Worm") * ![Slider arrow](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/slider-arrow-left.svg) * ![Slider arrow](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/slider-arrow-left.svg) ![Close button](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/close-modal.svg) ![Enlarged Image]() ![Newsletter](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/unit42-footer-subscribe-desktop.png) ![UNIT 42 Small Logo](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/palo-alto-logo-small.svg) Get updates from Unit 42 ## Peace of mind comes from staying ahead of threats. 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