Blitz Bot Malware Spreads via Backdoored Game Cheats, Drops XMRig Miner

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Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 discovered a Windows bot named “Blitz” distributed through compromised game cheats. This malware abuses Hugging Face Spaces for command-and-control (C2) communications and hosting malicious payloads. The primary objective? Deploying XMRig, a cryptocurrency miner, on infected systems.

Read the full report here: Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 Report

You Should Know: Detecting & Mitigating Blitz Bot Infections

1. Identifying Malicious Network Traffic

Blitz bot communicates with C2 servers via HTTP requests. Monitor for unusual traffic to Hugging Face Spaces domains: 

sudo tcpdump -i eth0 'host api-inference.huggingface.co || host hf.co' -w blitz_traffic.pcap

Analyze captured traffic with Wireshark:

wireshark blitz_traffic.pcap

2. Checking for XMRig Processes

XMRig typically runs as a background process. Detect it using: 

ps aux | grep -i xmrig

On Windows:

Get-Process | Where-Object { $_.ProcessName -like "xmrig" }

3. Blocking Malicious Domains via Firewall

Add Hugging Face Spaces C2 IPs to firewall blocklists: 

sudo iptables -A INPUT -s 185.199.108.0/24 -j DROP  Example IP range

For Windows:

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Block Blitz C2" -Direction Outbound -RemoteAddress 185.199.108.0/24 -Action Block

4. Scanning for Backdoored Game Cheats

Use YARA rules to detect Blitz-related files:

yara -r /path/to/game_cheats/ blitz_malware.yar

Example YARA rule (`blitz_malware.yar`):

rule Blitz_Bot {
meta:
description = "Detects Blitz bot malware"
strings:
$c2_url = "huggingface.co" nocase
$xmrig = "xmrig" nocase
condition:
any of them
}

5. Removing XMRig Miner

Terminate the process and delete associated files:

killall -9 xmrig
find / -name "xmrig" -exec rm -rf {} \;

On Windows:

Stop-Process -Name "xmrig" -Force
Remove-Item -Path "$env:APPDATA\xmrig" -Recurse -Force

What Undercode Say

The Blitz bot highlights how attackers exploit trusted platforms (Hugging Face) for malware distribution. Defensive measures include:
– Network monitoring for C2 traffic
– Endpoint detection for suspicious processes
– Firewall rules to block malicious IPs
– YARA scanning for malware signatures

Additional Useful Commands

  • Check open connections (Linux): 
    netstat -tulnp | grep -E '185.199.108|hf.co'
  • Windows suspicious DLLs: 
    Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Windows\System32.dll | Where-Object { $_.LastWriteTime -gt (Get-Date).AddDays(-7) }
  • Log analysis: 
    journalctl -u ssh --no-pager | grep "Failed password"

Stay vigilant against malware-laden game cheats—verify downloads and enforce strict application whitelisting.

Expected Output:

  • Detection of `xmrig` processes
  • Blocked C2 traffic in firewall logs
  • YARA rule matches on malicious files
  • Removal of Blitz-related payloads

References:

Reported By: Unit42 Xmrig – Hackers Feeds
Extra Hub: Undercode MoN
Basic Verification: Pass ✅

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