New RatHat Android malware uses AI to automate device control
Zimperium discovered RatHat, an AI-assisted Android banking trojan linked to Chinese actors, stealing credentials via overlays and intercepting SMS one-time passwords.
Zimperium zLabs identified RatHat, a new Android banking malware whose AI subsystem serializes the live Accessibility tree to XML and queries a popular AI assistant for navigation instructions such as SCROLL_DOWN. It is distributed via malvertising, SMS, and phishing sites pushing sideloaded APKs, then abuses Accessibility permissions to enable Wireless Debugging and gain ADB shell privileges without a PC, similar to ToxicPanda and RedHook. A Go-based agent (liblocal-service.so) maintains mutual persistence with the malware, while libmedia_codec.so acts as an FRP reverse-proxy tunnel; HTML overlays capture banking and crypto credentials, SMS OTPs, and lock-screen PINs. Zimperium links it to Chinese-speaking operators based on Chinese-language LLM prompts and notes anti-analysis tricks including a 61MB manifest and invalid DEX pseudo instructions.
- Uses an AI assistant to convert Accessibility tree XML into navigation commands, adapting beyond scripted automation.
- Enables Developer Options and Wireless Debugging for local ADB shell execution, similar to ToxicPanda and RedHook.
- Malware and Go agent liblocal-service.so restore each other to maintain persistence.
- Overlays target banking and crypto apps, capturing credentials, SMS OTPs, and lock-screen PINs.
- Anti-analysis includes a 61MB manifest, APK container tampering, and invalid DEX pseudo instructions.
- ATT&CK
- T1566.002 Spearphishing LinkT1059 Command and Scripting InterpreterT1056.001 KeyloggingT1056.002 GUI Input Capture
- Products
- Google PlayAndroid
- Threat actors
- RatHat operators (suspected Chinese)
- Malware
- RatHatToxicPandaRedHook
- Organizations
- Zimperium
- Countries
- China
From the original article
2 min read at bleepingcomputer.com
A new Android malware called RatHat has been discovered, targeting users with an AI-powered subsystem that helps operators remotely navigate compromised devices. [...]
By Bill Toulas · bleepingcomputer.com
A short excerpt; the article and its images belong to the publisher. Summary, key facts and assessment above are AI-written from the article and can be wrong.