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Kaspersky says BlackX UEFI bootkit used Baton Drop in Central Asia
BleepingComputer reports Kaspersky said a BlackX UEFI bootkit used CVE-2022-21894 to bypass Secure Boot in an early-2026 campaign it linked with medium confidence to APT41.
Kaspersky researchers said a UEFI bootkit they call BlackX was used in an espionage campaign in early 2026 that exploited the Baton Drop Secure Boot flaw, CVE-2022-21894, BleepingComputer reported on Saturday1.
The campaign targeted diplomatic agencies in Central Asia — Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan — according to that account of Kaspersky's analysis1. Kaspersky attributed the operation with medium confidence to APT41, a group also referred to as Brass Typhoon, Wicked Panda and Barium1.
Kaspersky said BlackX's use of Baton Drop is similar to BlackLotus, a bootkit documented since 2022 that ESET said in March 2023 could bypass Secure Boot, according to BleepingComputer's account1. The method lets an attacker enroll custom Machine Owner Keys and load arbitrary EFI files, the researchers said1.
BlackX uses a different kernel driver and follow-on payloads than BlackLotus, Kaspersky said1. The firm said the bootkit was likely derived by reverse-engineering BlackLotus or from source code that has not been published, according to that account1.
The driver was signed with a now-revoked certificate issued to Wenjiang District Mingyu Network Technology Service Studio, BleepingComputer reported1. Kaspersky said it disables security-related processes and registry callbacks and tampers with Event Tracing for Windows providers1. Some of those steps run only if Kaspersky or Avast products are detected; Kaspersky said that mechanism does not work against its own products1.
The driver also intercepts attempts to open bootkit files and launches Windows Calculator instead, and it deploys a remote-access tool that uses Google Drive, OneDrive or Yandex.Disk for command-and-control, according to the report1.
Kaspersky warned that the Oct. 19, 2026 expiration of the Windows Production PCA 2011 certificate does not by itself stop the vulnerable binaries from loading unless administrators add the certificate to a blocklist1. Independent confirmation of the attribution and victim list was not in the BleepingComputer account1.
Sources
How it’s being reported
2 sourcesBlackX UEFI bootkit exploits Baton Drop flaw to bypass Secure Boot
Reuse of the old Baton Drop (CVE-2022-21894) path and resemblance to BlackLotus.
Kaspersky described BlackX, a UEFI bootkit in an early-2026 espionage campaign against diplomatic targets in Central Asia, using the Baton Drop Secure Boot bypass and a driver aimed at security…
BlackX UEFI Bootkit Bypasses Secure Boot on Patched Windows Systems Missing Revocations
Gives this outlet’s account of the story.
Diplomatic organizations in Central Asia have been targeted by a sophisticated new Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) bootkit called BlackX. The activity, which singled out diplomatic…