Analyzing a new stealer written in Golang

Golang Go is a relatively new programming language, and it is not common to find malware written in it. However, new variants written in Go are slowly emerging, presenting a challenge to malware analysts. Applications written in this language are bulky and look much different under a debugger fro...

Hidden Bee: Let’s go down the rabbit hole

Some time ago, we discussed the interesting malware, Hidden Bee. It is a Chinese miner, composed of userland components, as well as of a bootkit part. One of its unique features is a custom format used for some of the high-level elements this format was featured in my recent presentation at SAS...

Update now! February's Patch Tuesday tackles three zero-days

The Patch Tuesday roundup from Microsoft for February 2023 includes three zero-days. Not exactly what we had in mind for Valentine's Day. Microsoft classifies a vulnerability as a zero-day if it is publicly disclosed or actively exploited with no official fix available. As far as we can tell, onl...

Millions of Arris routers are vulnerable to path traversal attacks

Security researcher Derek Abdine has published an advisory about vulnerabilities that exist in the MIT-licensed muhttpd web server. This web server is present in Arris firmware which can be found in several router models. muhttpd web server muhttpd mu HTTP deamon is a simple but complete web serv...

Google Chrome zero-day: Now is the time to update and restart your browser

Update 2019-03-21 A proof of concept for CVE-2019-5786 was published by Exodus Intel. In our earlier post we exercised caution before claiming we would have blocked this zero-day, but we can now say with confidence that an older version of Malwarebytes 1.12.1.122 would have mitigated this attack:...

Don't share the WhatsApp 'Martinelli' phone hacking alert: It's a hoax

Everyone loves a good campfire story prone to exaggeration. However, when told online its not quite got the same effect. Long ago, sites like Myspace would play host to very certain types of messages. "Dont open this post from Johnny Cyberhack, or your account will be stolen and your C drive will...

Vulnerabilities in GPS tracker could have “life-threatening” implications

Researchers at BitSight have discovered six vulnerabilities in the MiCODUS MV720 GPS tracker, a popular vehicle tracking device. The vulnerabilities are severe enough for the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency CISA to publish a Security Advisory titled ICSA-22-200-01: MiCODUS MV720 GP...

Cisco warns of ISE vulnerability with no fixed release or workaround

Cisco has published a security advisory for a vulnerability in the web-based management interface of Cisco Identity Services Engine ISE that could allow an authenticated, remote attacker to read and delete files on an affected device. The bug, with a CVSS score of 7.1 has no patch and no...

A week in security (September 24 – 30)

Last week on Labs was a busy one. We discussed how SMS phishing attacks target the job market, issued a warning for TV Licensing phishes, commented on how Apple confused Safari users with recent changes to how OSX handles browser extensions, and elaborated on holes found in Mojave’s privacy...

[updated] Patch now! PrintNightmare over, MSHTML fixed, a new horror appears … OMIGOD

The September 2021 Patch Tuesday could be remembered as the final patching attempt in the PrintNightmare… nightmare. The ease with which the vulnerabilities shrugged off the August patches doesn’t look to get a rerun. So far we haven’t seen any indications that this patch is so easy to circumvent...

Falsifying and weaponizing certified PDFs

The Portable Document Format PDF file type is one of the most common file formats in use today. Its value comes from the fact that PDFs always print the same way, and that PDFs are supposed to be read-only unlike a Word document, say, which is designed to be easy to edit. This immutability can be...

Royal Mail phish deploys evasion tricks to avoid analysis

Royal Mail phish scams are still in circulation, slowly upgrading their capabilities with evasion tools deployed in far more sophisticated malware attacks. Often, the quality of sites we see varies greatly. Many fake Royal Mail pages are cookie-cutter efforts existing on borrowed time. The...

WhatsApp fix goes live after targeted attack on human rights lawyer

If you use WhatsApp, you’ll want to update both app and device as soon as possible due to a freshly-discovered exploit. The vulnerability was found in Google Android, Apple iOS, and Microsoft Windows Phone builds of the app. Unlike many mobile attacks, potential victims aren’t required to install...

Google reminds website owners to move to HTTPS before October deadline

With the release of Chrome v62 in less than 3 months, Google will begin marking non-HTTPS pages with text input fields—like contact forms and search bars—and all HTTP websites viewed in Incognito mode as "NOT SECURE" in the address bar. The company has started sending out warning emails to web...

Oracle releases massive Critical Patch Update containing 520 security patches

Oracle has issued a Critical Patch Update which contains 520 new security patches across various product families. A few of these updates may need your urgent attention if you are a user of the affected product. Publicly disclosed computer security flaws are listed in the Common Vulnerabilities a...

The strangest cybersecurity events of 2020: a look back

This year is finally coming to an end, and it only took us about eight consecutive months of March to get here. There is a ton to talk about, and that’s without even discussing the literal global pandemic. You see, 2020s news stories were the pressure-cooker product of mania, chaos, and the...

Update now! Chrome patches zero-day that was exploited in the wild

A Chrome patch has been issued with an advisory stating that the Stable channel has been updated to 88.0.4324.150 for Windows, Mac and Linux. The only noteworthy thing about this update is a patch for a zero-day vulnerability that has been actively exploited in the wild. But that one looks to be...

RMM software: What is it and do you need it?

As cybersecurity products evolve to better protect against new forms of malware, trickier evasion techniques, and more organized cybercrime campaigns, the practice of cybersecurity evolves, too, providing simple, streamlined methods to manage hundreds of endpoints through one tool: RMM software...

Cybersecurity for journalists: How to defeat threat actors and defend freedom of the press

When you’re a journalist or work for the press, there may be times when you need to take extra cybersecurity precautions—more so than your Average Joe. Whether a reporter is trying to crowd-source information without revealing their story or operating in a country where freedom of the press is a...

Update vRealize now! VMware patches critical RCE vulnerabilities

VMware has issued a security advisory for vRealize Log Insight that covers four vulnerabilities reported privately by the Zero Day Initiative ZDI. Two of these vulnerabilities are rated as critical. The issues have been fixed on vRealize Log Insight 8.10.2, so users should upgrade to the latest...

Magniber ransomware: exclusively for South Koreans

The Magnitude exploit kit has been pretty consistent over the last few months, dropping the same payload—namely, the Cerber ransomware—and targeting a few select countries in Asia. Strangely, Magnitude EK disappeared in late September, and for a while we wondered whether this was yet another...

Video game portrayals of hacking: NITE Team 4

Note: The developers of NITE Team 4 granted the blog author access to the game plus DLC content. A little while ago, an online acquaintance of mine asked if a new video game based on hacking called NITE Team 4 was in any way realistic, or “doable” in terms of the types of hacking it portrayed...

Plugin vulnerabilities exploited in traffic monetization schemes

In their Website Hack Trend Report, web security company Sucuri noted that WordPress infections rose to 90 percent in 2018. One aspect of Content Management System CMS infections that is sometimes overlooked is that attackers not only go after the CMSes themselves—WordPress, Drupal, etc.—but also...

What SMBs can do to protect against Log4Shell attacks

As you may already know, the business, tech, and cybersecurity industries have been buzzing about Log4Shell CVE-2021-44228, aka Logjam, the latest software flaw in an earlier version of the Apache Log4j logging utility. As the name suggests, a logger is a piece of software that logs every event...

New Mac ransomware spreading through piracy

Editor’s note: The original name for the malware, EvilQuest, has been changed due to a legitimate game of the same name from 2012. The new name, ThiefQuest, is also more fitting for our updated understanding of the malware. A Twitter user going by the handle @beatsballert messaged me yesterday...

Update now! October patch Tuesday fixes actively used zero-day...but not the one you expected

Microsoft fixed 84 vulnerabilities in its October 2022 Patch Tuesday updates. Thirteen of them received the classification 'Critical'. Among them are a zero-day vulnerability that's being actively exploited, and another that hasnt been spotted in the wild yet. The bad news is that the much-desire...

Chrome targeted by Magnitude exploit kit

Exploit kits EK are not as widespread as they used to be. One of the reasons is likely that most exploit kits targeted software that is hardly ever used anymore. Internet Explorer, Silverlight, and Flash Player to name a few, have been deprecated, replaced, and quickly lost their user-base. So,...

Cisco Small Business routers vulnerable to remote attacks, won’t get a patch

In a security advisory, Cisco has informed users that a vulnerability in the Universal Plug-and-Play UPnP service of Cisco Small Business RV110W, RV130, RV130W, and RV215W routers could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to execute arbitrary code or cause an affected device to restart...

How to send an anonymous email

Sometimes readers ask us how to send an anonymous email or how criminals and scammers manage to send anonymous emails. Since this is not an easy question to answer, because, for starters, there are several ways to interpret the question, I’ll try to give you some information here. Interpret the...

How your iPhone could tell you if you’re being stalked

The latest iOS beta suggests that Apple’s next big update will include an iPhone feature that warns users about hidden, physical surveillance of their location. The feature detects AirTags, Apples answer to trackable fobs made by Tile, and serves to block the potential abuse of the much-rumored...

A week in security (July 1 – 7)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs, we explained what to do when you find stalkerware, how cooperating apps and automatic permissions are setting you up for failure, and why you should steer clear of Bitcoin Cash generators. Other cybersecurity news: A former Chief Information Officer CIO of Equifax...

Skimmer acts as payment service provider via rogue iframe

Criminals continue to target online stores to steal payment details from unaware customers at a rapid pace. There are many different ways to go about it, from hacking the shopping site itself, to compromising its supply-chain. A number of online merchants externalize the payment process to a...

Electrum Bitcoin wallets under siege

By Adam Thomas and Jérôme Segura, with additional contributions from Vasilios Hioueras and S!Ri Since at least late December 2018, many users of the popular Electrum Bitcoin wallet have fallen victim to a series of phishing attacks, which we estimate netted crooks well over 771 Bitcoins—an amount...

Iranian hacking group uses compromised email accounts to distribute MSP remote access tool

Researchers have uncovered a new campaign by hacking group MuddyWater, aka Static Kitten, in which a legitimate remote access tool is sent to targets from a compromised email account. The targets in this campaign are reportedly in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Oman, Qatar,...

Update now! Apple patches two zero-day vulnerabilities that may have been actively exploited

Apple has released security updates for macOS Monterey 12.3.1, iOS 15.4.1, iPadOS 15.4.1, tvOS 15.4.1, and watchOS 8.5.1. The update patches two vulnerabilities about which the advisory states that Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited for both vulnerabilitie...

Godfather Android banking malware is on the rise

Researchers at Cyble Research & Intelligence Labs CRIL have found a new version of the Android banking Trojan called Godfather. The new version of Godfather uses an icon and name similar to a legitimate application named MYT Music, which is hosted on the Google Play Store with over 10 million...

Threat spotlight: DarkSide, the ransomware used in the Colonial Pipeline attack

Late last week, the business network systems of Colonial Pipeline, the biggest supplier of fuels on the East Coast of the United States, were compromised due to a ransomware attack, forcing the company to temporarily shut down its operations while investigations are underway. Monday morning,...

Software renewal scammers unmasked

Weve been tracking a fraudulent scheme involving renewal notifications for several months now. It came to our attention because the Malwarebytes brand as well as other popular names were being used to send fake invoices via email. The concept is simple but effective. You receive an invoice for a...

New Flash Player zero-day comes inside Office document

Update 2018-02-06: Adobe has released a patch for this vulnerability. More information is available here. We tested this zero-day with a proof-of concept that was made available. Rather than launching it from within Office, we turned it into a drive-by download attack. The animation below shows...

Out of character: Homograph attacks explained

In April, Xudong Zheng, a security enthusiast based in New York, found a flaw in some modern browsers in the way they handle domain names. While Chrome, Firefox, and Opera already have security measures in place to cue users that they might be visiting a destination they thought was legitimate, a...

Realtek-based routers, smart devices are being gobbled up by a voracious botnet

A few weeks ago we blogged about a vulnerability in home routers that was weaponized by the Mirai botnet just two days after disclosure. Mirai hoovers up vulnerable Internet of Things IoT devices and adds them to its network of zombie devices, which can then be used to launch huge Distributed...

The Malwarebytes 2021 State of Malware report: Lock and Code S02E04

This week on Lock and Code, we discuss the top security headlines generated right here on Labs. In addition, we tune in to a special presentation from Adam Kujawa about the 2021 State of Malware report, which analyzed the top cybercrime goals of 2020 amidst the global pandemic. If you just pay...

How to solve the Malwarebytes CrackMe: a step-by-step tutorial

The topic of this post is a Malwarebytes CrackMe—an exercise in malware analysis that I recently created. First, the challenge was created to serve internal purposes, but then it was released to the community on Twitter and triggered a lot of positive response. Thanks to all of you who sent in yo...

US Facebook users can now claim Cambridge Analytica settlement cash

US-based Facebook users can now claim a piece of the enormous settlement payment by Meta, Facebook's parent company, over the Cambridge Analytica scandal. This news follows Meta agreeing to pay $725 million in December 2022 to settle the longstanding class action lawsuit filed by Lauren Price in...

Threat profile: RansomHouse makes extortion work without ransomware

Cybersecurity is an industry known for many hats: white hats, black hats, and grey hats. White hats refer to "the good people" in the industry for those who are not in the know. They are malware analysts, security researchers, and penetration testers. Black hats are the opposite of white hats, an...

Adware and PUPs families add push notifications as an attack vector

Some existing families of potentially unwanted programs and adware have added browser push notifications to their weapons arsenal. Offering themselves up as browser extensions on Chrome and Firefox, these threats pose as useful plugins then haggle users with notifications. A family of search...

Compromising vital infrastructure: communication

Have you ever been witness to a Wi-Fi failure in a household with school-aged children? If so, I don’t have to convince you that communication qualifies as vital infrastructure. For the doubters: when you see people risking their lives in traffic just to check their phone, you'll understand why...

Hacking with AWS: incorporating leaky buckets into your OSINT workflow

Penetration testing is often conducted by security researchers to help organizations identify holes in their security and fix them, before cybercriminals have the chance. While there's no malicious intent for the researcher, part of his job is to think and act like a cybercriminal would when...

Steer clear of Bitcoin Cash generators

Here’s an interesting evolution on a well-worn scam, taking one profit generating fakeout and turning it into something else entirely. For years, gamers have been stuck navigating the treacherous waters of fake video game giveaways. With so many actual genuine gaming giveaways around, you’re neve...

What is a honeypot? How they are used in cybersecurity

Cybersecurity experts strive to enhance the security and privacy of computer systems. Quietly observing threat actors in action can help them understand what they have to defend against. A honeypot is one such tool that enables security professionals to catch bad actors in the act and gather data...