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Tracking Elirks Variants in Japan: Similarities to Previous Attacks ![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: * [Kaoru Hayashi](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/author/kaoru-hayashi/) * ![Published Icon](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/icon-calendar-grey.svg) Published:June 23, 2016 * ![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: * [APAC](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/apac/) * [Elirks](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/elirks/) * [Japan](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/japan/) * [PlugX](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/plugx/) * [Scarlet Mimic](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/scarlet-mimic/) * [![Download Icon](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/themes/unit42-v6/dist/images/icons/icon-download.svg)](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/unit42-tracking-elirks-variants-in-japan-similarities-to-previous-attacks/?pdf=download&lg=en&_wpnonce=7052973960 "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/unit42-tracking-elirks-variants-in-japan-similarities-to-previous-attacks/?pdf=print&lg=en&_wpnonce=7052973960 "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=Tracking%20Elirks%20Variants%20in%20Japan:%20Similarities%20to%20Previous%20Attacks&body=Check%20out%20this%20article%20https%3A%2F%2Funit42.paloaltonetworks.com%2Funit42-tracking-elirks-variants-in-japan-similarities-to-previous-attacks%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%2Funit42-tracking-elirks-variants-in-japan-similarities-to-previous-attacks%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%2Funit42-tracking-elirks-variants-in-japan-similarities-to-previous-attacks%2F&title=Tracking%20Elirks%20Variants%20in%20Japan:%20Similarities%20to%20Previous%20Attacks "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%2Funit42-tracking-elirks-variants-in-japan-similarities-to-previous-attacks%2F&text=Tracking%20Elirks%20Variants%20in%20Japan:%20Similarities%20to%20Previous%20Attacks "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%2Funit42-tracking-elirks-variants-in-japan-similarities-to-previous-attacks%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=Tracking%20Elirks%20Variants%20in%20Japan:%20Similarities%20to%20Previous%20Attacks%20https%3A%2F%2Funit42.paloaltonetworks.com%2Funit42-tracking-elirks-variants-in-japan-similarities-to-previous-attacks%2F "Share in Mastodon") A recent, well-publicized attack on a Japanese business involved two malware families, PlugX and Elirks, that were found during the investigation. PlugX has been used in a number of attacks since first being discovered in 2012, and we have published [several articles](https://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/plugx/) related to its use, including an analysis of an [attack campaign targeting Japanese companies](https://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/2015/04/unit-42-identifies-new-dragonok-backdoor-malware-deployed-against-japanese-targets/). Elirks, less widely known than PlugX, is a basic backdoor Trojan, first discovered in 2010, that is primarily used to steal information from compromised systems. We mostly observe attacks using Elirks occurring in East Asia. One of the unique features of the malware is that it retrieves its C2 address by accessing a pre-determined microblog service or SNS. Attackers create accounts on those services and post encoded IP addresses or the domain names of real C2 servers in advance of distributing the backdoor. We have seen multiple Elirks variants using Japanese blog services for the last couple of years. Figure 1 shows embedded URL in an Elirks sample found in early 2016. [![Japan Figure 1](http://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Japan-Figure-1-500x94.png)](https://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Japan-Figure-1.png) *Figure 1 Embedded URLs in Elirks variant* In another sample found in 2014, an attacker used a Japanese blog service. The relevant account still exists at the time of writing this article (Figure 2). [![Japan Figure 2](http://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Japan-Figure-2-500x644.png)](https://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Japan-Figure-2.png) *Figure 2 Blog account created by the attacker in 2014* **Link to previous attack campaign** Unit 42 previously identified an Elirks variant during our analysis of the attack campaign called [Scarlet Mimic.](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/resources/research/scarlet-mimic) It is years-long campaign targeting minority rights activists and governments. The malware primarily used in this series of attacks was FakeM. Our researchers described the threat sharing infrastructure with Elirks in the report. As of this writing, we can note similarities between previously seen Elirks attacks and this recent case in Japan. **Spear Phishing Email with PDF attachment** Figure 3 shows an email which was sent to a ministry of Taiwan in May 2012. [![Japan Figure 3](http://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Japan-Figure-3-500x356.png)](https://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Japan-Figure-3.png) *Figure 3 Spear Phishing Email sent to a ministry of Taiwan* The email characteristics were bit similar to the recent case (Table 1). |-----------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | 2012 | 2016 | | Email Sender | Masquerades as an existing bank in Taiwan | Masquerade as an existing aviation company in Japan | | Email Recipient | Representative email address of a ministry of Taiwan, which is publicly available. | Representative email address of a subsidiary company, which is publicly available. | | Subject | "Bank credit card statement" in Chinese | "Airline E-Ticket" in Japanese | | Attachment | PDF file named "Electronic Billing 1015" in Chinese | File named "E-TKT" in Japanese with PDF icon | *Table 1 Email characteristics* When a user opened the attached PDF file, the following message is displayed. It exploits a vulnerability in Adobe Flash, CVE-2011-0611 embedded in the PDF and installs Elirks malware on the system. [![Japan Figure 4](http://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Japan-Figure-4-500x225.png)](https://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Japan-Figure-4.png) *Figure 4 opening malicious PDF attachment* **Airline E-Ticket** Attackers choose a suitable file name to lure targeted individual or organization. In the recent case, the malicious attachment name in the email was reported as "E-TKT". We found similar file name in the previous attack in Taiwan in August 2012 (Figure 5). [![Japan Figure 5](http://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Japan-Figure-5-500x59.png)](https://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Japan-Figure-5.png) *Figure 5 Elirks executable file masquerade as folder of E-Ticket* When opening the file, Elirks executes itself on the computer and creates ticket.doc to deceive users (Figure 6). [![Japan Figure 6](http://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Japan-Figure-6-500x136.png)](https://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Japan-Figure-6.png) *Figure 6 doc file created by Elirks* We've also seen another file name related to aviation at Taiwan in March 2012. Figure 7 shows PDF file named "Airline Reservation Numbers (updated version).pdf". When opening the PDF file, it displays the exactly same message with the Figure4, exploits CVE-2011-0611 and installs Elirks. [![Japan Figure 7](http://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Japan-Figure-7.png)](https://blog.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Japan-Figure-7.png) *Figure 7 PDF named "Airline Reservation Number"* ### Conclusion Currently, we have found no reliable evidence to indicate the same adversary attacked a company in Japan in 2016 and multiple organizations in Taiwan in 2012. However, we can see some resemblances between the two attacks. In both cases, attackers used the same malware family, crafted spear phishing emails in a similar manner, and seem to be interested in some areas related to aviation. We have been seeing multiple Elirks variants targeting Japan in the last few years, potentially indicating an ongoing cyber espionage campaign. We will keep an eye on the threat actors. Palo Alto Networks customers are protected from Elirks variant and can gather additional information using the following tools: * WildFire detects all known Elirks samples as malicious * All known C2s are classified as malicious in PAN-DB * AutoFocus tags have been created: [Elirks](https://autofocus.paloaltonetworks.com/#/tag/Unit42.Elirks) ### Indicators: **Executable File:** 8587e3a0312a6c4374989cbcca48dc54ddcd3fbd54b48833afda991a6a2dfdea 0e317e0fee4eb6c6e81b2a41029a9573d34cebeabab6d661709115c64526bf95 f18ddcacfe4a98fb3dd9eaffd0feee5385ffc7f81deac100fdbbabf64233dc68 **Delivery PDF:** 755138308bbaa9fcb9c60f0b089032ed4fa1cece830a954ad574bd0c2fe1f104 200a4708afe812989451f5947aed2f30b8e9b8e609a91533984ffa55d02e60a2 Back to top ### Tags * [APAC](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/apac/ "APAC") * [Elirks](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/elirks/ "Elirks") * [Japan](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/japan/ "Japan") * [PlugX](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/plugx/ "PlugX") * [Scarlet Mimic](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/scarlet-mimic/ "Scarlet Mimic") [Threat Research Center](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com "Threat Research") [Next: Extending AutoFocus Threat Intelligence With New Tag Types](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/unit42-extending-autofocus-threat-intelligence-with-new-tag-types/ "Extending AutoFocus Threat Intelligence With New Tag Types") ### Related Articles * [CL-STA-0048: An Espionage Operation Against High-Value Targets in South Asia](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/espionage-campaign-targets-south-asian-entities/ "article - table of contents") * [ASEAN Entities in the Spotlight: Chinese APT Group Targeting](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/chinese-apts-target-asean-entities/ "article - table of contents") * [Intruders in the Library: Exploring DLL Hijacking](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/dll-hijacking-techniques/ "article - table of contents") ## Related Malware Resources ![Pictorial representation of attackers using AI tools to target Latin American organizations. 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A person types on a laptop with multiple digital interface elements projected, including an "AI" icon](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/AdobeStock_1246251272-2-786x369.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 6, 2026 [#### Token Jacking: Cybercriminals Could Be Stealing Your AI Resources](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/ai-token-jacking/) * [AI API](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/ai-api/ "AI API") * [AI gateway](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/ai-gateway/ "AI gateway") * [API keys](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/api-keys/ "API keys") [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/ai-token-jacking/ "Token Jacking: Cybercriminals Could Be Stealing Your AI Resources") ![Pictorial representation of malware bypassing DNS and communicating directly to IP addresses. Futuristic digital cityscape with glowing blue and orange geometric structures, resembling skyscrapers.](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/07_DNS_Overview_1920x900-786x368.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 4, 2026 [#### Almost Half of Malware Samples Communicate Direct to IP](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/malware-bypass-dns-direct-to-ip/) * [Command and Control](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/command-and-control/ "Command and Control") * [D2IP](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/d2ip/ "D2IP") * [Exfiltration](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/exfiltration/ "exfiltration") [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/malware-bypass-dns-direct-to-ip/ "Almost Half of Malware Samples Communicate Direct to IP") ![Pictorial representation of passwordless authentication. East Asian woman examining data on multiple screens in a high-tech environment, surrounded by digital graphics and code.](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/07_Cloud_cybersecurity_research_Overview_1920x900-786x368.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 3, 2026 [#### Pass the Passkey: A Novel Attack Surface in Passwordless Authentication](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/passwordless-authentication-security-risks/) * [Google authenticator](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/google-authenticator/ "google authenticator") * [Google Chrome](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/google-chrome/ "Google Chrome") * [Google Cloud](https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/tag/google-cloud/ "Google Cloud") [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/passwordless-authentication-security-risks/ "Pass the Passkey: A Novel Attack Surface in Passwordless Authentication") * ![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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