Midnight Blizzard Exposed - Inside APT29's 2025 Grapeloader Campaign
Key Points
Sophisticated Attack Uncovered: In January 2025, Midnight Blizzard (APT29) targeted European diplomats with phishing emails disguised as wine-tasting invitations, impersonating a European Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
New Malware Deployed: The campaign used GRAPELOADER to deliver WINELOADER, a backdoor designed to steal sensitive information, leveraging advanced techniques like DLL side-loading.
Long-Standing Threat: Midnight Blizzard has evolved since 2008, consistently targeting governments and high-value organizations, with tactics becoming more sophisticated over time.
A Wine-Tasting Trap
In January 2025, Midnight Blizzard (also known as APT29 or Cozy Bear) targeted European diplomats with a phishing campaign. They sent emails posing as a European Ministry of Foreign Affairs, offering invitations to a wine-tasting event. The emails directed recipients to download a file that quietly installed malicious software, enabling the hackers to steal sensitive information and spy on their targets.
Technical Attack Path
Grapeloader attack path.
Step 1: Initial Delivery via Spear-Phishing
Method: The campaign begins with spear-phishing emails sent to targeted European diplomats. These emails impersonate a legitimate European Ministry of Foreign Affairs, increasing their credibility.
Lure: The emails use culturally relevant subjects such as "Wine Event" or "Diplomatic dinner," enticing recipients to engage.
Payload Delivery: The emails contain a link to download a ZIP file named "wine.zip," hosted on domains like bakenhof[.]com and silry[.]com.
Step 2: ZIP File Extraction and DLL Side-Loading
ZIP Contents: The "wine.zip" archive contains three files:
wine.exe: A legitimate PowerPoint executable used as a decoy to avoid suspicion.
AppvIsvSubsystems64.dll: A legitimate DLL required for wine.exe to function.
ppcore.dll: The malicious GRAPELOADER payload.
Execution: When the victim runs wine.exe, it loads ppcore.dll via DLL side-loading, a technique where a legitimate executable inadvertently executes a malicious DLL.
Technical Insight: DLL side-loading exploits the trust in legitimate software, allowing GRAPELOADER to run without triggering immediate alerts.
Step 3: GRAPELOADER Activation and Persistence
Functionality: GRAPELOADER performs several key actions:
Fingerprinting: Collects host information, including system details, user accounts, and network configurations, to assess the target environment.
Persistence: Modifies the Windows Registry by adding an entry to the Run key (SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, entry: POWERPNT), ensuring the malware executes on system startup.
C2 Communication: Contacts a command-and-control (C2) server to receive further instructions and payloads.
Technical Insight: The Registry modification ensures persistence across reboots, making the infection harder to remove without targeted remediation.
Step 4: WINELOADER Deployment and Espionage
Payload Delivery: GRAPELOADER downloads WINELOADER, a modular backdoor, disguised as vmtools.dll.
Download URLs: The payload is retrieved from URLs such as hxxps://silry[.]com/inva.php and hxxps://bakenhof[.]com/invb.php.
Functionality: WINELOADER is designed for cyberespionage and includes:
Data Collection: Gathers extensive system information, including OS details, installed software, and network configurations.
Evasion Techniques: Uses string obfuscation, runtime API resolving, DLL unhooking, and shellcode execution evasion to avoid detection by security tools.
C2 Communication: Communicates with C2 servers at ophibre[.]com and bravecup[.]com to exfiltrate data and receive commands.
Technical Insight: WINELOADER’s modularity allows it to adapt to different environments, and its evasion techniques make it challenging for traditional antivirus solutions to detect.
Step 5: Espionage and Data Exfiltration
Objective: The ultimate goal is cyberespionage, targeting sensitive diplomatic information.
Target Scope: Primarily European Ministries of Foreign Affairs and embassies, with limited targeting of Middle Eastern diplomats.
Technical Insight: The collected data is sent back to the C2 servers, providing Midnight Blizzard with intelligence that could influence geopolitical strategies.
The Evolution of Midnight Blizzard
Tactical Evolution
Over the years, Midnight Blizzard’s tactics have become increasingly sophisticated:
Early Years (2008-2015): Focused on basic malware like MiniDuke and targeted spear-phishing to access sensitive networks. Their attacks were direct but effective for intelligence gathering.
Mid-Period (2016-2020): Shifted to high-impact campaigns, such as the DNC hack and SolarWinds attack, leveraging supply chain vulnerabilities and advanced persistence techniques. They began using more sophisticated social engineering to target specific individuals.
Recent Years (2021-2024):
2023: Credential Theft Surge: Increased focus on credential theft, using residential proxy services to mask their origins (SOCRadar).
2024: Password Spray Attacks: Compromised Microsoft’s systems by targeting legacy accounts without multifactor authentication (Microsoft Security Blog).
October 2024: Large-Scale Spear-Phishing: Targeted government agencies and enterprises with Zero Trust-themed phishing campaigns (SC Media).
2025: Wine-Tasting Phishing Campaign: Introduced GRAPELOADER and an updated WINELOADER, using culturally relevant lures like wine-tasting events to target diplomats. This campaign reflects a return to targeted spear-phishing but with advanced malware and evasion techniques.
Midnight Blizzard’s Tactical Evolution
Trends in Behavior
Target Consistency: Midnight Blizzard consistently targets governments, diplomatic entities, and organizations with strategic value, reflecting their espionage objectives.
Tactical Innovation: They’ve evolved from basic malware to advanced techniques like supply chain attacks, credential theft, and culturally tailored phishing.
Evasion Focus: Recent campaigns show increased use of evasion techniques, such as string obfuscation and DLL unhooking, to bypass security tools.
Geopolitical Expansion: The 2025 campaign’s targeting of Middle Eastern diplomats suggests a broadening of their geopolitical focus, potentially to influence regional dynamics.
Conclusion
Midnight Blizzard’s 2025 phishing campaign is a testament to their enduring threat as a state-sponsored cyber espionage group. Their attack path, from phishing emails to the deployment of GRAPELOADER and WINELOADER, showcases their technical sophistication and strategic focus on diplomatic targets. Their evolution over the past 17 years—from basic malware to advanced supply chain attacks and culturally tailored phishing—underscores the need for multi-layered defenses.
Citations
https://research.checkpoint.com/2025/apt29-phishing-campaign/
https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/apt29-wineloader-german-political-parties
https://www.picussecurity.com/resource/blog/apt29-cozy-bear-evolution-techniques