Operation ForumTroll: APT attack with Google Chrome zero-day exploit chain


In mid-March 2025, Kaspersky technologies detected a wave of infections by previously unknown and highly sophisticated malware.

In all cases, infection occurred immediately after the victim clicked on a link in a phishing email, and the attackers’ website was opened using the Google Chrome web browser. No further action was required to become infected. All malicious links were personalized and had a very short lifespan. However, Kaspersky’s exploit detection and protection technologies successfully identified the zero-day exploit that was used to escape Google Chrome’s sandbox. Kaspersky researchers quickly analyzed the exploit code, reverse-engineered its logic, and confirmed that it was based on a zero-day vulnerability affecting the latest version of Google Chrome, which was then reported to the Google security team.

Read more…
Source: Kaspersky


Sign up for our Newsletter
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox.


Related:

  • ‘Purple Fox’ Fileless Malware with Rookit Component Delivered by Rig Exploit Kit Now Abuses PowerShell

    September 9, 2019

    Exploit kits may no longer be as prolific as it was back when their activities were detected in the millions, but their recurring activities in the first half of 2019 indicate that they won’t be going away any time soon. The Rig exploit kit, for instance, is known for delivering various payloads — such as downloader trojans, ransomware, cryptocurrency-mining malware, and information stealers — whose ...

  • Critical Exim Flaw Opens Millions of Servers to Takeover

    September 9, 2019

    Researchers are urging users to upgrade their Exim servers immediately after millions of servers were found to be vulnerable to a critical flaw that could allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to take full control of them. Exim, which is free software used on Unix-like operating systems (including Linux or Mac OSX) serves as a mail transfer ...

  • Newly discovered cyber-espionage malware abuses Windows BITS service

    September 9, 2019

    Security researchers have found another instance of a malware strain abusing the Windows Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS). The malware appears to be the work of a state-sponsored cyber-espionage group that researchers have been tracking for years under the name of Stealth Falcon. The first and only report on this hacking group has been published in 2016 by ...

  • An inside job: The human factor of cybersecurity

    September 9, 2019

    As businesses continue their digital transformation, ensuring the sensitive information they handle always remains safe and secure is now a priority. However, even deploying just the latest cybersecurity applications might not enough to offer full protection. The latest research from the Telstra 2019 Security Report makes for worrying reading as it concludes 89% of cybersecurity risks are ...

  • China’s APT3 Pilfers Cyberweapons from the NSA

    September 6, 2019

    Large portions of APT3’s remote code-execution package were likely reverse-engineered from prior attack artifacts. The advanced persistent threat (APT) group known as APT3, which researchers across the board link to the Chinese government, has built a full in-house battery of exploits and cybertools collectively dubbed “UPSynergy.” An analysis of the toolkit has uncovered a geopolitical cat-and-mouse spy ...

  • Thousands of servers infected with new Lilocked (Lilu) ransomware

    September 6, 2019

    Thousands of web servers have been infected and had their files encrypted by a new strain of ransomware named Lilocked (or Lilu). Infections have been happening since mid-July, and have intensified in the past two weeks, ZDNet has learned. Based on current evidence, the Lilocked ransomware appears to target Linux-based systems only. First reports date to mid-July, after ...