Targeted espionage against Cambodian government entities

Description

Acronis Threat Research Unit identified two espionage campaigns targeting Cambodian government entities in defense and public works sectors, attributed to a cluster tracked as Khmer Shadow. Both campaigns delivered a custom C++ loader named NIGHTFORGE through government-themed lures in self-extracting archives. NIGHTFORGE employs sophisticated evasion techniques including NTDLL unhooking and Hell's Gate syscall resolution to decrypt and execute a Havoc Demon payload in memory. The loader utilizes DLL sideloading through a legitimate VMware-signed binary (VMwareNamespaceCmd.exe) and establishes persistence via COM-based scheduled tasks. Despite advanced technical capabilities, the actor demonstrated poor operational security by reusing identical payloads and infrastructure across targets. The campaigns targeted Cambodia's Information Collection Bureau and Ministry of Public Works and Transport using meeting-themed social engineering lures.