Sophisticated Quasar Linux RAT Targets Software Developers
Sophisticated Quasar Linux RAT Targets Software Developers
https://www.securityweek.com/sophisticated-quasar-linux-rat-targets-software-developers/
Publish Date: 2026-05-06 05:48:00
Source Domain: www.securityweek.com
A recently identified Linux backdoor was designed to steal developer credentials across the software supply chain, Trend Micro warns.
Dubbed Quasar Linux (QLNX), the RAT has a modular architecture, uses multiple persistence and detection evasion mechanisms, packs a rootkit, and provides attackers with remote access to the infected machines.
The main purpose of QLNX, Trend Micro says, is the theft of developer credentials, keys, and tokens that could provide its operators with access to development tools, cloud environments, and repositories.
It targets AWS credentials and configurations, Kubernetes tokens, Docker Hub credentials, Git access tokens and configurations, NPM authentication tokens, and PyPI API keys, potentially allowing operators to publish malicious packages through established developer accounts.
“An attacker who successfully deploys QLNX against a package maintainer gains access to that maintainer’s publishing pipeline. A single compromise can be silently leveraged to trojanize packages, inject backdoors into build artifacts, or pivot into cloud environments where production infrastructure lives,” Trend Micro says.
The RAT is executed in memory, spoofs its process name, and can delete itself to evade detection. It also performs system reconnaissance to detect containers, hides specific processes, ports, and files, and clears system logs.
It also deploys a Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) backdoor to harvest credentials, and gathers extensive system information, including clipboard contents, SSH keys, and browser profiles.
QLNX contains two PAM backdoor implementations: the first harvests plaintext credentials from authentication events, contains a master password bypass, and logs outbound SSH session data; the second loads into dynamically linked processes to extract the service name, username, and authentication token.
The malware contains a two-tier rootkit…
