VMDetector-Based Loader Abuses Steganography to Deliver Infostealers


Recently, the SonicWall Capture Labs threat research team has identified various malware strains being distributed through a custom VMDetector Loader. This loader is typically delivered to the victim’s system via image files embedded with steganography. The primary payloads observed include popular malware families such as Remcos, VIPKeyLogger, AveMariaRAT, DCRAT, FormBook, and others.

Attackers send an email with an archive file that includes either JavaScript, VBScript, or HTA content. The embedded scripts employ basic obfuscation through string replacement and base64 encoding, making them appear benign while evading straightforward detection.

Read more…
Source: Sonicwall


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


Related:

  • China used stolen data to expose CIA operatives in Africa and Europe

    March 21, 2023

    Around 2013, U.S. intelligence began noticing an alarming pattern: Undercover CIA personnel, flying into countries in Africa and Europe for sensitive work, were being rapidly and successfully identified by Chinese intelligence, according to three former U.S. officials. The surveillance by Chinese operatives began in some cases as soon as the CIA officers had cleared passport control. Read ...

  • Clop ransomware claims Saks Fifth Avenue, retailer says mock data stolen

    March 21, 2023

    The Clop ransomware gang claims to have attacked Saks Fifth Avenue on its dark web leak site. The cyber security incident is among Clop’s ongoing attacks against vulnerable GoAnywhere MFT servers belonging to established enterprises. Although the company states no real customer data is impacted, it did not address if corporate or employee data was stolen. Read ...

  • Hackers mostly targeted Microsoft, Google, Apple zero-days in 2022

    March 20, 2023

    Hackers continue to target zero-day vulnerabilities in malicious campaigns, with researchers reporting that 55 zero-days were actively exploited in 2022, most targeting Microsoft, Google, and Apple products. Most of these vulnerabilities (53 out of 55) enabled the attacker to either gain elevated privileges or perform remote code execution on vulnerable devices. Read more… Source: Bleeping Computer  

  • New ‘HinataBot’ botnet could launch massive 3.3 Tbps DDoS attacks

    March 19, 2023

    A new malware botnet was discovered targeting Realtek SDK, Huawei routers, and Hadoop YARN servers to recruit devices into DDoS (distributed denial of service) swarm with the potential for massive attacks. The new botnet was discovered by researchers at Akamai at the start of the year, who caught it on their HTTP and SSH honeypots, seen ...

  • Emotet malware now distributed in Microsoft OneNote files to evade defenses

    March 18, 2023

    The Emotet malware is now distributed using Microsoft OneNote email attachments, aiming to bypass Microsoft security restrictions and infect more targets. Emotet is a notorious malware botnet historically distributed through Microsoft Word and Excel attachments that contain malicious macros. If a user opens the attachment and enables macros, a DLL will be downloaded and executed that ...

  • KillNet and affiliate hacktivist groups targeting healthcare with DDoS attacks

    March 17, 2023

    In the last year, geopolitical tension has led to an uptick of reported cybercrime events fueled by hacktivist groups. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) published an advisory to warn organizations about these attacks and teamed with the FBI on a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) response strategy guide. KillNet, a group that the US ...