SesameOp: Novel backdoor uses OpenAI Assistants API for command and control - AI Case Study
AI Case StudyThe Microsoft Incident Response - Detection and Response Team (DART) investigated a compromised system where a threat actor utilized SesameOp, a backdoor implant that abuses the OpenAI Assistants API as a covert command and control channel, for espionage activities. The SesameOp malware used the OpenAI API to fetch and execute the threat actor’s commands and to exfiltrate encrypted results from the victim system...
Overview
Risk patterns
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- 1Dominant ATLAS tactic. Command and Control appears in 1 case steps.
Procedure timeline
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Command and Control
Step 1
AI Service API
The threat actor abused the OpenAI Assistants API to relay commands to the SesameOp malware, which executed them on the victim system, and sent the results back to the threat actor via the same channel. Both commands and results are encrypted. SesameOp cleaned up its tracks by deleting the Assistants and Messages it created and used for communication.
Mitigations
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Source evidence
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Original source
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