Ted Backdoor Reveals Critical Gap in Load Balancer Security
In September 2026, North Korean state-sponsored actors deployed a sophisticated backdoor called 'Ted' by compromising HAProxy load balancers at two South Korean organizations in the automotive and media sectors. The attackers replaced legitimate HAProxy binaries with trojanized versions containing embedded malware that intercepted web traffic and served altered pages to selected visitors. The implant operated covertly by handling command-and-control requests without reaching backend servers, erasing traces from connection logs and statistics. The attack toolkit included additional trojans targeting system binaries like sshd and crond, along with a companion remote access trojan called curlRAT that maintained persistent access to compromised systems. This incident highlights the evolving sophistication of supply chain attacks where legitimate infrastructure components are weaponized to establish persistent footholds in critical networks. The attack demonstrates advanced techniques for traffic manipulation and steganographic communication that bypass traditional security controls focused on network perimeter defense.
Kill Chain
