New 'Cuckoo' Persistent macOS Spyware Targeting Intel and Arm Macs
May 06, 2024
Spyware / Malware
Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a new information stealer targeting Apple macOS systems that's designed to set up persistence on the infected hosts and act as a spyware. Dubbed Cuckoo by Kandji, the malware is a universal Mach-O binary that's capable of running on both Intel- and Arm-based Macs. The exact distribution vector is currently unclear, although there are indications that the binary is hosted on sites like dumpmedia[.]com, tunesolo[.]com, fonedog[.]com, tunesfun[.]com, and tunefab[.]com that claim to offer free and paid versions of applications dedicated to ripping music from streaming services and converting it into the MP3 format. The disk image file downloaded from the websites is responsible for spawning a bash shell to gather host information and ensuring that the compromised machine is not located in Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine. The malicious binary is executed only if the locale check is successful. It also establishes persis...
