--- title: SprySOCKS Windows Variant Uses Kernel Drivers to Evade... description: ESET has discovered a previously undocumented Windows variant of SprySOCKS, a backdoor used by FishMonger (aka Earth Lusca/Aquatic Panda), a China-nexus APT... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/sprysocks-windows-variant-uses-kernel-drivers-to-evade-detection-vyz246iry twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: SprySOCKS Windows Variant Uses Kernel Drivers to Evade Detection | daily.dev og:description: ESET has discovered a previously undocumented Windows variant of SprySOCKS, a backdoor used by FishMonger (aka Earth Lusca/Aquatic Panda), a China-nexus APT... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/sprysocks-windows-variant-uses-kernel-drivers-to-evade-detection-vyz246iry og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/vYz246IRY.png og:image:alt: SprySOCKS Windows Variant Uses Kernel Drivers to Evade Detection og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # SprySOCKS Windows Variant Uses Kernel Drivers to Evade Detection **[Dark Reading](https://daily.dev/sources/dr)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary ESET has discovered a previously undocumented Windows variant of SprySOCKS, a backdoor used by FishMonger (aka Earth Lusca/Aquatic Panda), a China-nexus APT linked to the i-Soon contractor. The Windows variant was deployed against government targets in Honduras, Taiwan, Thailand, and Pakistan in 2023–2024. It comes in two forms: WIN_PLUS and WIN_DRV, with the latter using two encrypted malicious kernel drivers (DriverLoader and RawWNPF) to hide processes and files by hooking Windows system calls like NtQuerySystemInformation. The DriverLoader was signed with a leaked certificate from the open-source PastDSE project, enabling it to load on outdated or misconfigured systems. ESET also found limited indications of possible UEFI bootkit involvement exploiting CVE-2023-24932. Defenders are advised to enable hypervisor-protected code integrity (HVCI) and monitor published IoCs. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Windows version of SprySOCKS Linux malware used to attack govt orgs](https://daily.dev/posts/windows-version-of-sprysocks-linux-malware-used-to-attack-govt-orgs-iyygrdkhw) · BleepingComputer · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#security](https://daily.dev/tags/security), [#malware](https://daily.dev/tags/malware) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/sprysocks-windows-variant-uses-kernel-drivers-to-evade-detection-vyz246iry) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"SprySOCKS Windows Variant Uses Kernel Drivers to Evade Detection","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/sprysocks-windows-variant-uses-kernel-drivers-to-evade-detection-vyz246iry","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/sprysocks-windows-variant-uses-kernel-drivers-to-evade-detection-vyz246iry"},"datePublished":"2026-06-16T18:28:09.779Z","dateModified":"2026-06-16T19:38:06.432Z","description":"ESET has discovered a previously undocumented Windows variant of SprySOCKS, a backdoor used by FishMonger (aka Earth Lusca/Aquatic Panda), a China-nexus APT...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/4e269f0b25f49d994de31b2c8768961e?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/4e269f0b25f49d994de31b2c8768961e?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Dark Reading","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Dark Reading","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/dr","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/dr"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/sprysocks-windows-variant-uses-kernel-drivers-to-evade-detection-vyz246iry","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"security,malware","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dark Reading","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/dr"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"SprySOCKS Windows Variant Uses Kernel Drivers to Evade Detection"}]} ```