Hackers are using a free AI hacking tool to steal Amazon cloud keys

Security researchers say attackers are using a free AI tool called AntiFox to break into web servers and then reach into the victims' Amazon Web Services (AWS) accounts. The tool is open source, so anyone can download it. The attackers ran it from servers rented on Alibaba Cloud, according to a report from Arctic Wolf, a security firm.

What AntiFox is

AntiFox is an agentic penetration testing platform. Penetration testing is authorized hacking, where a company hires someone to find weak spots before criminals do. Agentic means AI agents do the work on their own. AntiFox automates tasks like mapping which services a target exposes to the internet and probing them for flaws. It began as a copy of an earlier tool, ARTEX 0.1.1, and has a Chinese-language interface.

How the attacks worked

In one case, attackers planted a webshell on an internet-facing Microsoft IIS web server. A webshell is a hidden backdoor that lets someone run commands on the server. They used it to read application settings and database connection strings, which often hold passwords. They then copied configuration and log files to a folder reachable from the web.

With valid AWS logins and server roles, the attackers sent requests to Amazon's systems. In one break-in they cycled through several identities and made hundreds of requests in about 30 minutes. Most were blocked. Some worked, and the attackers obtained production secrets. In a separate incident, they used a valid AWS identity to read, copy and delete files in S3, Amazon's storage service.

Why it matters

AntiFox follows ARTEX AI, another China-developed tool of this kind. It went closed-source after attacks on South Korean banks. CrowdStrike also linked ARTEX to a campaign by a group called Vapor Panda that targeted more than 200 organizations in 14 countries. AntiFox is still on GitHub, now at version 2.0. Its publishers ban use against live systems, but they describe no technical controls that enforce that.

What to do

Arctic Wolf's advice for defenders points to a few steps. Businesses on AWS can ask their IT provider to check for them.

• Look for exposed passwords and keys in website and application files.
• Rotate any credentials that may have leaked.
• Revoke affected AWS sessions and keys.
• Watch for web server backdoor activity alongside unusual AWS access.

What is not known

The material does not say how many organizations were hit or who they are. It also does not name the attackers.