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VectraRAT Malware-as-a-Service Lets Hackers Bypass UAC and Hijack Windows Systemsnew
New VectraRAT malware-as-a-service at $250/month combines RAT capabilities, credential theft, clipboard hijacking, and a UACME-based UAC bypass; 38 victims observed.
VectraRAT is a previously undocumented MaaS platform with a Go-based VectraHub Linux C2 server embedding a Vue3 operator panel and a C++ Windows implant, rented from $250/month and linked to the aliases Vectra and Nyxel. It communicates over TCP port 3308 via a proprietary MessagePack protocol, steals browser and file-based credentials, and abuses UACME method 41 with debug-object handle hijacking via winver.exe and computerdefaults.exe. SOCRadar identified 38 live victim sessions in one week, 48% on corporate Windows editions, with delivery via the Amadey loader and ClickFix pages impersonating TurboTax.
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HVNC Backdoor Targets LATAM Organizations with Fake Tax and DocuSign Lures
A custom HVNC backdoor is targeting Latin American financial organizations via fake DocuSign and NFe tax-document lures, giving attackers hidden persistent remote access.
ANY.RUN researchers analyzed a multi-stage phishing campaign delivering a custom HVNC backdoor to banking and financial organizations in Latin America. The chain starts with fake DocuSign and NFe tax-document pages that serve per-visitor ZIP archives, followed by an LNK dropper, an NSIS loader, and a 64-bit backdoor masquerading as Windows Update Assistant. The implant provides hidden remote desktop control, keystroke monitoring, Firefox data theft, Startup-folder persistence, and EDR-aware behavior, communicating over TCP/27015.
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KREMLIN Banking Malware Infects Over 1,500 Systems With Malicious Chrome Extension
Elastic tracks KREMLIN banking malware that used fake Brazilian bank JavaScript lures to deploy malicious Chrome and Edge extensions on 1,515 systems.
Elastic researchers tracked the KREMLIN banking malware operation across seven campaigns over 15 months, infecting 1,515 systems, 98.75% of them in Brazil. Portuguese-language lures posing as bank records and invoices deploy a hostile 'AVSync' extension into Chrome and Edge profiles that harvests passwords, session cookies, keystrokes and screenshots. Loaders check for sandboxes, create scheduled tasks and fetch fresh infrastructure from an Ethereum smart contract; a network canary takeover temporarily disrupted infections.
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Hackers Abuse YouTube Gaming Channels and SEO Poisoning to Deploy RATs and Chrome Hijacker
Unit 42 exposed CL-CRI-1171, a pay-per-install operation using YouTube gaming channels and SEO poisoning to deliver RATs and a Chrome hijacker.
Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 identified over 10,000 OfferLoader samples and 11 YouTube channels pushing trojanized installers via gaming lures and SEO-poisoned searches for tools like WinDirStat and Bluetooth drivers. Trojanized Inno Setup installers spawn three payload branches: Insomnia RAT (dual Node.js/Python backdoor that disables Microsoft Defender), ARKTunnel (undocumented RAT hiding its payload in a bitmap image and tunneling TCP/UDP), and Docro Hijacker (alters Chrome protected preferences to hijack search and affiliate links). The pay-per-install model sells each infection to multiple buyers, reaching gamers as well as corporate and government endpoints.
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North Korean Job Fraud Expands Beyond IT Into Healthcare and Sales
North Korea's IT worker scheme (Famous Chollima/PurpleDelta) has expanded from IT into healthcare, sales, and financial services roles worldwide.
Huntress and Recorded Future documented DPRK-linked fraudulent workers landing remote jobs beyond IT, including at an Australian healthcare company, a financial services firm, and a sales hire with a stolen identity. The scheme, tracked as Famous Chollima, Jasper Sleet, Nickel Tapestry, PurpleDelta, UNC5267, and Wagemole, uses forged identity documents, VPNs, proxies, and laptop farms with PiKVM and capture cards to fund Pyongyang's weapons programs. Recorded Future found the PurpleDelta cluster applied to 1,100+ companies between late 2024 and early 2025 with 22 fabricated personas, some AI-generated, using ChatGPT and AI transcription during interviews. Analysts assess the activity is ongoing and likely to expand in scale and sophistication.
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ThreatsDay: Gogs 10.0 RCE, n8n Workflow-to-RCE, $10M Reward, GLM
Hacker News ThreatsDay roundup: Defender BTR.sys driver abuse, DoJ charges 17 Mabna Institute members over IRGC-linked intrusions, Grandoreiro sideloading, OpenAI monitoring.
Check Point researchers showed Microsoft's signed Defender Boot-Time Removal driver (BTR.sys) can be repurposed as a universal kernel operation engine to bypass endpoint security without BYOVD. The DoJ charged 17 members of Iran's Mabna Institute, which on behalf of the IRGC stole over 31 TB of academic data from 144 US universities and compromised roughly 8,000 of 100,000 targeted professor accounts; the State Department offered a $10 million reward for five defendants. Separately, Acronis tracked a Grandoreiro campaign abusing DLL sideloading in the Duplicate Files Finder app across Latin America and Spain, while ErrTraffic ClickFix campaigns deliver Cruciferra (BYOVD) and Remus Stealer. OpenAI also previewed Private Safety Processing, a privacy-centric approach to monitoring model misuse without retaining customer content.
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AVEVA Pipeline Integrity Monitor
CISA advisory details four flaws in AVEVA Pipeline Integrity Monitor <=2025_SP1_P1, allowing information disclosure, weak-hash admin elevation, and cross-site scripting.
CISA published ICSA-26-253-01 covering AVEVA Pipeline Integrity Monitor versions <=2025_SP1_P1_build_7.1.9580.8513. CVE-2026-81821 (hard-coded cryptographic key, CWE-321) lets a user with read access decrypt PIMBoards project files, and CVE-2026-81822 (CWE-327) allows brute-forcing weak password hashes to elevate to PIMBoards administrator; both score 8.4 HIGH (CVSS v3.1). CVE-2026-81823 (CWE-862) permits unauthenticated read operations, and CVE-2026-81824 (CWE-79) enables arbitrary JavaScript execution via socially engineered links. CISA reports no known public exploitation and recommends limiting network exposure of control system devices.
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MantaxOtax Android Malware Combines Ransomware With Spyware
Zimperium analyzed MantaxOtax Android malware combining AES file encryption with extensive spying, linked to Indonesian actors and distributed via sideloading.
Zimperium's zLabs published a technical analysis of MantaxOtax, an Android malware family that combines ransomware-style file encryption with comprehensive spyware, linked to Indonesian threat actors and distributed via sideloaded APKs on a third-party file-sharing service. The malware requests device administrator, SMS, contacts, storage and Accessibility permissions, resolves its C2 domain dynamically from a GitHub repository, and encrypts files with AES using per-device keys derived from the Android ID on Android 9 and earlier. It steals WhatsApp messages, Telegram credentials, OTPs and other data, and uses MediaProjection for screenshots and screen recording staged on Catbox; a second variant adds WebSocket C2 with persistent screen locking and app blocking.
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