Search results for Windows Based Script Host | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

FireEye today released Commando VM , which according to the company, is a "first of its kind Windows-based security distribution for penetration testing and red teaming." When it comes to the best-operating systems for hackers, Kali Linux is always the first choice for penetration testers and ethical hackers. However, Kali is a Linux-based distribution, and using Linux without learning some basics is not everyone's cup of tea as like Windows or macOS operating systems. Moreover, if you are wondering why there is no popular Windows-based operating system for hackers? First, because Windows is not open-source and second, manually installing penetration testing tools on Windows is pretty problematic for most users. To help researchers and cyber security enthusiasts, cybersecurity firm FireEye today released  an automated installer called  Commando VM. But don't get confused with its name. Commando VM is not a pre-configured snapshot of a virtual machine ima...

Threat actors likely associated with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) have been observed using GitHub as command-and-control (C2) infrastructure in multi-stage attacks targeting organizations in South Korea. The attack chain, per Fortinet FortiGuard Labs , involves obfuscated Windows shortcut (LNK) files acting as the starting point to drop a decoy PDF document and a PowerShell script that sets the stage for the next phase of the attack. It's assessed that these LNK files are distributed via phishing emails. As soon as the payloads are downloaded, the victim is displayed the PDF document, while the malicious PowerShell script runs silently in the background. The PowerShell script performs checks to resist analysis by scanning for running processes related to virtual machines, debuggers, and forensic tools. If any of those processes are detected, the script immediately terminates. Otherwise, it extracts a Visual Basic Scri...

The threat actor known as Water Saci is actively evolving its tactics, switching to a sophisticated, highly layered infection chain that uses HTML Application (HTA) files and PDFs to propagate via WhatsApp a worm that deploys a banking trojan in attacks targeting users in Brazil. The latest wave is characterized by the attackers shifting from PowerShell to a Python-based variant that spreads the malware in a worm-like manner over WhatsApp Web. "Their new multi-format attack chain and possible use of artificial intelligence (AI) to convert propagation scripts from PowerShell to Python exemplifies a layered approach that has enabled Water Saci to bypass conventional security controls, exploit user trust across multiple channels, and ramp up their infection rates," Trend Micro researchers Jeffrey Francis Bonaobra, Sarah Pearl Camiling, Joe Soares, Byron Gelera, Ian Kenefick, and Emmanuel Panopio said . In these attacks, users receive messages from trusted contacts on WhatsA...

A new campaign has leveraged the ClickFix social engineering tactic as a way to distribute a previously undocumented malware loader referred to as DeepLoad . "It likely uses AI-assisted obfuscation and process injection to evade static scanning, while credential theft starts immediately and captures passwords and sessions even if the primary loader is blocked," ReliaQuest researchers Thassanai McCabe and Andrew Currie said in a report shared with The Hacker News. The starting point of the attack chain is a ClickFix lure that tricks users into running PowerShell commands by pasting the command into the Windows Run dialog under the pretext of addressing a non-existent issue. This, in turn, uses "mshta.exe," a legitimate Windows utility to download and run an obfuscated PowerShell loader. The loader, for its part, has been found to conceal its actual functionality among meaningless variable assignments, likely in an attempt to deceive security tools. It's ass...

A new malware campaign is distributing a novel Rust-based information stealer dubbed EDDIESTEALER using the popular ClickFix social engineering tactic initiated via fake CAPTCHA verification pages. "This campaign leverages deceptive CAPTCHA verification pages that trick users into executing a malicious PowerShell script, which ultimately deploys the infostealer, harvesting sensitive data such as credentials, browser information, and cryptocurrency wallet details," Elastic Security Labs researcher Jia Yu Chan said in an analysis. The attack chains begin with threat actors compromising legitimate websites with malicious JavaScript payloads that serve bogus CAPTCHA check pages, which prompt site visitors to "prove you are not [a] robot" by following a three-step process, a prevalent tactic called ClickFix . This involves instructing the potential victim to open the Windows Run dialog prompt, paste an already copied command into the "verification window"...

Threat actors have been observed leveraging the deceptive social engineering tactic known as ClickFix to deploy a versatile backdoor codenamed CORNFLAKE.V3. Google-owned Mandiant described the activity, which it tracks as UNC5518, as part of an access-as-a-service scheme that employs fake CAPTCHA pages as lures to trick users into providing initial access to their systems, which is then monetized by other threat groups. "The initial infection vector, dubbed ClickFix, involves luring users on compromised websites to copy a malicious PowerShell script and execute it via the Windows Run dialog box," Google said in a report published today. The access provided by UNC5518 is assessed to be leveraged by at least two different hacking groups, UNC5774 and UNC4108, to initiate a multi-stage infection process and drop additional payloads - UNC5774, another financially motivated group that delivers CORNFLAKE as a way to deploy various subsequent payloads UNC4108, a threat act...

Cybersecurity researchers today uncovered a sustained malicious campaign dating back to May 2018 that targets Windows machines running MS-SQL servers to deploy backdoors and other kinds of malware, including multi-functional remote access tools (RATs) and cryptominers. Named " Vollgar " after the Vollar cryptocurrency it mines and its offensive "vulgar" modus operandi, researchers at Guardicore Labs said the attack employs password brute-force to breach Microsoft SQL servers with weak credentials exposed to the Internet. Researchers claim the attackers managed to successfully infect nearly 2,000-3,000 database servers daily over the past few weeks, with potential victims belonging to healthcare, aviation, IT & telecommunications, and higher education sectors across China, India, the US, South Korea, and Turkey. Thankfully for those concerned, researchers have also released a script to let sysadmins detect if any of their Windows MS-SQL servers have been...

Microsoft has disclosed details of a Windows-based cryptocurrency clipper campaign codenamed CryptoBandits that has targeted users since February 2026 with clipboard-intercepting malware with self-spreading capabilities and using the Tor anonymity network to hide communication. "The clipper in this campaign relies on Windows Script Host and ActiveX-driven logic to launch a bundled Tor proxy and poll a hidden-service C2 [command-and-control] server," the Microsoft Defender Security Research Team said in an analysis published Tuesday. "It carries out high-frequency clipboard theft, screenshot exfiltration, and wallet-address substitution." "The execution of this clipper is notable because it does not depend on a traditional installer or exposed IP-based C2 infrastructure. Instead, it deploys a portable Tor client, routes traffic through a local SOCKS5 proxy, and blends data theft with remote code execution, turning a financially motivated stealer into a li...

A new multi-stage phishing campaign has been observed targeting users in Russia with ransomware and a remote access trojan called Amnesia RAT. "The attack begins with social engineering lures delivered via business-themed documents crafted to appear routine and benign," Fortinet FortiGuard Labs researcher Cara Lin said in a technical breakdown published this week. "These documents and accompanying scripts serve as visual distractions, diverting victims to fake tasks or status messages while malicious activity runs silently in the background." The campaign stands out for a couple of reasons. First, it uses multiple public cloud services to distribute different kinds of payloads. While GitHub is mainly used to distribute scripts, binary payloads are staged on Dropbox. This separation complicates takedown efforts, effectively improving resilience. Another "defining characteristic" of the campaign, per Fortinet, is the operational abuse of defendnot to d...

Threat actors tied to North Korea have been observed targeting the Web3 and blockchain sectors as part of twin campaigns tracked as GhostCall and GhostHire . According to Kaspersky, the campaigns are part of a broader operation called SnatchCrypto that has been underway since at least 2017. The activity is attributed to a Lazarus Group sub-cluster called BlueNoroff , which is also known as APT38, CageyChameleon, CryptoCore, Genie Spider, Nickel Gladstone, Sapphire Sleet (formerly Copernicium), and Stardust Chollima. Victims of the GhostCall campaign span several infected macOS hosts located in Japan, Italy, France, Singapore, Turkey, Spain, Sweden, India, and Hong Kong, whereas Japan and Australia have been identified as the major hunting grounds for the GhostHire campaign. "GhostCall heavily targets the macOS devices of executives at tech companies and in the venture capital sector by directly approaching targets via platforms like Telegram, and inviting potential victims t...

Security researchers revealed that series of " Watering Hole " has been conducted exploiting a IE8 zero-day vulnerability to target U.S. Government experts working on nuclear weapons research. The news is not surprising but it is very concerning, the principal targets of the attacks are various groups of research such as the components of U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Energy, the news has been confirmed by principal security firms and by Microsoft corporate. The flaw has been used in a series of "watering hole" attacks, let’s remind that "Watering Hole" is a technique of attack realized compromising legitimate websites using a “ drive-by ” exploit. The attackers restrict their audience to a individuals interested to specific content proposed by targeted website, in this way when the victim visits the page a backdoor Trojan is installed on his computer. The website compromised to exploit the IE8 zero-day is the Dep...

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a set of malicious npm packages that are designed to deliver a Windows-based remote access trojan (RAT). The list of identified packages, is below - aes-decode-runner-pro (145 downloads) postcss-minify-selector (256 downloads) postcss-minify-selector-parser (615 downloads) All the packages were published over the past month by an npm user named " abdrizak " and continue to be available for download from npm as of writing.  "Aes-decode-runner-pro and postcss-minify-selector-parser both present themselves as layered AES/custom-codec packages and depend on the legitimate postcss-selector-parser," JFrog said in an analysis. "Postcss-minify-selector presents itself as a PostCSS selector minifier and depends on postcss-minify-selector-parser." As for "postcss-minify-selector-parser," the name is a reference to " postcss-selector-parser ," a widely used npm library with more than 1...

The popular HTTP client known as Axios has suffered a supply chain attack after two newly published versions of the npm package introduced a malicious dependency that delivers a trojan capable of targeting Windows, macOS, and Linux systems. Versions 1.14.1 and 0.30.4 of Axios have been found to inject " plain-crypto-js " version 4.2.1 as a fake dependency. According to StepSecurity, the two versions were published using the compromised npm credentials of the primary Axios maintainer ("jasonsaayman"), allowing the attackers to bypass the project's GitHub Actions CI/CD pipeline. "Its sole purpose is to execute a postinstall script that acts as a cross-platform remote access trojan (RAT) dropper, targeting macOS, Windows, and Linux," security researcher Ashish Kurmi said . "The dropper contacts a live command and control server and delivers platform-specific second-stage payloads. After execution, the malware deletes itself and replaces its own...

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of an ongoing phishing campaign that leverages recruiting- and job-themed lures to deliver a Windows-based backdoor named WARMCOOKIE. "WARMCOOKIE appears to be an initial backdoor tool used to scout out victim networks and deploy additional payloads," Elastic Security Labs researcher Daniel Stepanic said in a new analysis. "Each sample is compiled with a hard-coded [command-and-control] IP address and RC4 key." The backdoor comes with capabilities to fingerprint infected machines, capture screenshots, and drop more malicious programs. The company is tracking the activity under the name REF6127. The attack chains observed since late April involve the use of email messages purporting to be from recruitment firms like Hays, Michael Page, and PageGroup, urging recipients to click on an embedded link to view details about a job opportunity. Users who end up clicking on the link are then prompted to download a docume...

Security experts have disclosed details of an active malware campaign that's exploiting a DLL side-loading vulnerability in a legitimate binary associated with the open-source c-ares library to bypass security controls and deliver a wide range of commodity trojans and stealers. "Attackers achieve evasion by pairing a malicious libcares-2.dll with any signed version of the legitimate ahost.exe (which they often rename) to execute their code," Trellix said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "This DLL side-loading technique allows the malware to bypass traditional signature-based security defenses." The campaign has been observed distributing a wide assortment of malware, such as Agent Tesla , CryptBot , Formbook , Lumma Stealer , Vidar Stealer , Remcos RAT , Quasar RAT , DCRat , and XWorm . Targets of the malicious activity include employees in finance, procurement, supply chain, and administration roles within commercial and industrial sectors like ...

Threat hunters have disclosed two different malware campaigns that have targeted vulnerabilities and misconfigurations across cloud environments to deliver cryptocurrency miners. The threat activity clusters have been codenamed Soco404 and Koske by cloud security firms Wiz and Aqua, respectively. Soco404 "targets both Linux and Windows systems, deploying platform-specific malware," Wiz researchers Maor Dokhanian, Shahar Dorfman, and Avigayil Mechtinger said . "They use process masquerading to disguise malicious activity as legitimate system processes." The activity is a reference to the fact that payloads are embedded in fake 404 HTML pages hosted on websites built using Google Sites. The bogus sites have since been taken down by Google. Wiz posited that the campaign, which has been previously observed going after Apache Tomcat services with weak credentials, as well as susceptible Apache Struts and Atlassian Confluence servers using the Sysrv botnet, is p...

The threat actor known as Tomiris has been attributed to attacks targeting foreign ministries, intergovernmental organizations, and government entities in Russia with an aim to establish remote access and deploy additional tools. "These attacks highlight a notable shift in Tomiris's tactics, namely the increased use of implants that leverage public services (e.g., Telegram and Discord) as command-and-control (C2) servers," Kaspersky researchers Oleg Kupreev and Artem Ushkov said in an analysis. "This approach likely aims to blend malicious traffic with legitimate service activity to evade detection by security tools." The cybersecurity company said more than 50% of the spear-phishing emails and decoy files used in the campaign used Russian names and contained Russian text, indicating that Russian-speaking users or entities were the primary focus. The spear-phishing emails have also targeted Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan using tailored...

Cybersecurity researchers have flagged a new multi-stage malware delivery attack chain that uses social engineering and Blogger pages to deliver an information stealer called PureLogs . The activity has been codenamed VEIL#DROP by Securonix. It's suspected that the initial payloads are distributed either via spear-phishing or a drive-by compromise , which occurs when an unsuspecting user lands on a website (legitimate or otherwise) under the attacker's control. "The infection chain begins with a deceptively named JavaScript file masquerading as a document (e.g., transcript.pdf.js), which executes through Windows Script Host and launches PowerShell with execution policy bypasses enabled," researchers Akshay Gaikwad, Shikha Sangwan, and Aaron Beardslee said in a report shared with The Hacker News. At a high level, the PowerShell script is responsible for retrieving a next-stage payload hosted on Blogger ("htlwub00klocate.blogspot[.]com"), allowing the ...

Threat actors with ties to North Korea have been observed targeting Web3 and cryptocurrency-related businesses with malware written in the Nim programming language, underscoring a constant evolution of their tactics. "Unusually for macOS malware, the threat actors employ a process injection technique and remote communications via wss, the TLS-encrypted version of the WebSocket protocol," SentinelOne researchers Phil Stokes and Raffaele Sabato said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "A novel persistence mechanism takes advantage of SIGINT/SIGTERM signal handlers to install persistence when the malware is terminated or the system rebooted." The cybersecurity company is tracking the malware components collectively under the name NimDoor. It's worth noting that some aspects of the campaign were previously documented by Huntabil.IT and later by Huntress and Validin , but with differences in the payloads deployed. The attack chains involve social enginee...