Exploring Compiled V8 Javascript Usage In Malware


In recent months, CPR has been investigating the usage of compiled V8 JavaScript by malware authors. Compiled V8 JavaScript is a lesser-known feature in V8, Google’s JavaScript engine, that enables the compilation of JavaScript into low-level bytecode.

This technique assists attackers in evading static detections and hiding their original source code, rendering it almost impossible to analyze statically. To statically analyze compiled JavaScript files, Check Point researchers employed a newly-developed custom tool named ”View8”, specifically designed for decompiling V8 bytecode to a high-level readable language. Using View8, they decompiled thousands of malicious compiled V8 applications, spanning various malware types, such as Remote Access Tools (RATs), stealers, miners and even ransomware.

Read more…
Source: Check Point


Sign up for our Newsletter


Related:

  • The Espionage Toolkit of Earth Alux: A Closer Look at its Advanced Techniques

    March 31, 2025

    The Earth Alux APT group’s schemes and tactics have been uncloaked through our relentless monitoring and investigation efforts. The China-linked intrusion set is actively launching cyberespionage attacks against the government, technology, logistics, manufacturing, telecommunications, IT services, and retail sectors. The first sighting of its activity was in the second quarter of 2023; back then, it was ...

  • MoDiRAT Malware Uses Horus Protector to Target France

    March 25, 2025

    The SonicWall Capture Labs threat research team has identified a new development in the Horus Protector distributed infection chain. Recently, it has been targeting the French region with MoDiRAT, a malware notorious for stealing credit card and other victim information. During the infection process, it deploys the DarkCloud stealer; however, before exiting, the loader verifies if ...

  • Arcane stealer: We want all your data

    March 19, 2025

    At the end of 2024, Kaspersky researchers discovered a new stealer distributed via YouTube videos promoting game cheats. What’s intriguing about this malware is how much it collects. It grabs account information from VPN and gaming clients, and all kinds of network utilities like ngrok, Playit, Cyberduck, FileZilla and DynDNS. The stealer was named Arcane, not ...

  • StilachiRAT analysis: From system reconnaissance to cryptocurrency theft

    March 17, 2025

    In November 2024, Microsoft Incident Response researchers uncovered a novel remote access trojan (RAT) they named StilachiRAT that demonstrates sophisticated techniques to evade detection, persist in the target environment, and exfiltrate sensitive data. Analysis of the StilachiRAT’s WWStartupCtrl64.dll module that contains the RAT capabilities revealed the use of various methods to steal information from the target ...

  • New XCSSET malware adds new obfuscation, persistence techniques to infect Xcode projects

    March 11, 2025

    Microsoft Threat Intelligence has uncovered a new variant of XCSSET, a sophisticated modular macOS malware that infects Xcode projects, in the wild during routine threat hunting. Its first known variant since 2022, this latest XCSSET malware features enhanced obfuscation methods, updated persistence mechanisms, and new infection strategies. These enhanced features help this malware family steal and ...

  • DCRat backdoor returns

    March 11, 2025

    Since the beginning of the year, Kaspersky researchers have been tracking in their telemetry a new wave of DCRat distribution, with paid access to the backdoor provided under the Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) model. The cybercriminal group behind it also offers support for the malware and infrastructure setup for hosting the C2 servers. Distribution The DCRat backdoor is ...