A classy botnet marketing campaign has compromised greater than 25,000 IoT units throughout 40 international locations whereas establishing 140 command-and-control servers to facilitate cybercrime operations.
The PolarEdge botnet, first disclosed in February 2025, exploits weak IoT and edge units to assemble an Operational Relay Field community that gives infrastructure-as-a-service for superior persistent menace actors.
The malware operates by means of a client-server structure, with RPX_Client elements put in on compromised units and RPX_Server nodes managing proxy providers throughout a number of cloud platforms.
The botnet’s an infection marketing campaign started gaining momentum in Could 2025 when safety monitoring programs detected suspicious exercise from IP handle 111.119.223.196 distributing an ELF file flagged as PolarEdge-related.
Via correlation evaluation, researchers uncovered the RPX_Client part, which onboards compromised units into designated C2 node proxy swimming pools whereas enabling distant command execution.
Qianxin researchers recognized the malware after conducting focused investigation following detection by XLab’s Cyber Risk Perception and Evaluation System.
The successive discoveries of RPX_Server and RPX_Client elements enabled deeper understanding of the botnet’s relay operations and infrastructure scale.
Multi-hop design (Supply – Qianxin)
Geographic distribution evaluation reveals an infection focus in Southeast Asia and North America, with South Korea accounting for 41.97 p.c of compromised units, adopted by China at 20.35 p.c and Thailand at 8.37 p.c.
Main targets embrace KT CCTV programs, Shenzhen TVT DVRs, Cyberoam UTM home equipment, and varied router fashions from producers together with Asus, DrayTek, Cisco, and D-Hyperlink.
The botnet infrastructure operates throughout VPS nodes concentrated in autonomous system numbers 45102, 37963, and 132203, predominantly hosted on Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud platforms.
Technical Structure and An infection Mechanism
The RPX system implements a multi-hop proxy structure designed for supply concealment and attribution complexity. When attackers make the most of the community, connections traverse from native proxy by means of RPX_Server to RPX_Client on compromised units earlier than reaching last locations.
This layered method successfully obscures assault origins whereas offering operational flexibility. The malware achieves persistence by means of injection into initialization scripts utilizing the command:-
echo “/bin/sh /mnt/mtd/rpx.sh &” >> /and so forth/init.d/rcS
Upon execution, RPX_Client disguises its course of title as connect_server and enforces single-instance execution utilizing PID file /tmp/.msc to stop duplicate startups.
The malware makes an attempt studying world configuration file .fccq to acquire parameters together with C2 server handle, communication port, gadget UUID, and model info.
Configuration information undergoes single-byte XOR encryption with 0x25 earlier than storage. Community operations make the most of two impartial connections: port 55555 for node registration and visitors proxying, and port 55560 for distant command execution by means of go-admin service.
The command construction permits versatile management by means of magic area values 0x11, 0x12, and 0x16 that outline bot capabilities. Particular built-in instructions embrace change_pub_ip for updating C2 server addresses and update_vps for pattern self-upgrade capabilities.
Server logs affirm execution of infrastructure migration instructions, demonstrating operators’ skill to quickly relocate proxy swimming pools when nodes face publicity.
Site visitors evaluation reveals non-targeted operations primarily directed towards mainstream platforms together with QQ, WeChat, Google, and Cloudflare providers.
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