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
Related:
- Updates on ThiefQuest, the Quickly-Evolving macOS Malware
July 17, 2020
Right as July of this year began, we noticed an emerging malware dubbed by most as ThiefQuest (also known as EvilQuest), a threat that targets macOS devices, encrypts files, and installs keyloggers in affected systems. It has been found in pirated versions of macOS shared on popular torrent sites. Developments on the malware have been ...
- Conti ransomware uses 32 simultaneous CPU threads for blazing-fast encryption
July 9, 2020
A lesser-known ransomware strain known as Conti is using up to 32 simultaneous CPU threads to encrypt files on infected computers for blazing-fast encryption speeds, security researchers from Carbon Black said in a report on Wednesday. Conti is just the latest in a long string of ransomware strains that have been spotted this year. Just like ...
- New Mirai Variant Expands Arsenal, Exploits CVE-2020-10173
July 8, 2020
Researchers at Trend Micro discovered a new Mirai variant (detected as IoT.Linux.MIRAI.VWISI) that exploits nine vulnerabilities, most notable of which is CVE-2020-10173 in Comtrend VR-3033 routers which we have not observed exploited by past Mirai variants. This discovery is a new addition to the Mirai variants that appeared in the past few months, that include SORA, UNSTABLE, and Mukashi. The case, ...
- Purple Fox EK Adds Microsoft Exploits to Arsenal
July 6, 2020
The Purple Fox exploit kit (EK) has added two new exploits targeting critical- and high-severity Microsoft vulnerabilities to its bag of tricks – and researchers say they expect more attacks to be added in the future. The Purple Fox EK was previously analyzed in September, when researchers said that it appears to have been built to replace the Rig ...
- TrickBot malware now checks screen resolution to evade analysis
July 1, 2020
The infamous TrickBot trojan has started to check the screen resolutions of victims to detect whether the malware is running in a virtual machine. When researchers analyze malware, they typically do it in a virtual machine that is configured with various analysis tools. Due to this, malware commonly uses anti-VM techniques to detect whether the malware is ...
- Threat Assessment: EKANS Ransomware
June 26, 2020
Unit 42 researchers have observed recent EKANS (Snake backward) ransomware activity affecting multiple industries in the U.S and Europe. As a result, we’ve created this threat assessment report for the activities of this ransomware. Identified techniques and campaigns can be visualized using the Unit 42 Playbook Viewer. EKANS, which was first observed in January 2020, has relatively ...

