SprySOCKS

A sophisticated UEFI bootkit named BlackX has been used to target diplomatic organizations in Central Asia, specifically in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, in early 2026. The bootkit exploits the CVE-2022-21894 vulnerability (Baton Drop) to bypass Secure Boot, even on patched systems that have not applied manual revocation updates. The attack is attributed to the China-linked APT41 group, leveraging techniques similar to the BlackLotus bootkit. The malware installs a malicious driver signed with a revoked certificate and deploys espionage payloads, including a .NET-based remote access trojan and a Rust-based DLL sideloaded via googleupdate.exe that communicates with 'archivetj[.]com'.