Cybersecurity researchers are warning of a brand new marketing campaign that leverages cracked variations of software program as a lure to distribute data stealers like Lumma and ACR Stealer.
The AhnLab Safety Intelligence Middle (ASEC) stated it has noticed a spike within the distribution quantity of ACR Stealer since January 2025.
A notable facet of the stealer malware is using a method known as dead drop resolver to extract the precise command-and-control (C2) server. This contains counting on authentic companies like Steam, Telegram’s Telegraph, Google Kinds, and Google Slides.
“Menace actors enter the precise C2 area in Base64 encoding on a selected web page,” ASEC said. “The malware accesses this web page, parses the string, and obtains the precise C2 area deal with to carry out malicious behaviors.”
ACR Stealer, beforehand distributed through Hijack Loader malware, is able to harvesting a variety of knowledge from compromised methods, together with information, net browser information, and cryptocurrency pockets extensions.
The event comes as ASEC revealed one other marketing campaign that makes use of information with the extension “MSC,” which could be executed by the Microsoft Administration Console (MMC), to ship the Rhadamanthys stealer malware.
“There are two sorts of MSC malware: one exploits the vulnerability of apds.dll (CVE-2024-43572), and the opposite executes the ‘command’ command utilizing Console Taskpad,” the South Korean firm said.
“The MSC file is disguised as an MS Phrase doc. “When the ‘Open’ button is clicked, it downloads and executes a PowerShell script from an exterior supply. The downloaded PowerShell script comprises an EXE file (Rhadamanthys).”
CVE-2024-43572, additionally known as GrimResource, was first documented by the Elastic Safety Labs in June 2024 as having been exploited by malicious actors as a zero-day. It was patched by Microsoft in October 2024.
Malware campaigns have additionally been observed exploiting chat assist platforms like Zendesk, masquerading as clients to trick unsuspecting assist brokers into downloading a stealer known as Zhong Stealer.
In accordance with a current report revealed by Hudson Rock, over 30,000,000 computer systems have been contaminated by data stealers within the “previous few years,” resulting in the theft of company credentials and session cookies that would then be bought by cybercriminals on underground boards to different actors for revenue.
The patrons might weaponize the entry afforded by these credentials to stage post-exploitation actions of their very own, resulting in extreme dangers. These developments serve to focus on the function performed by stealer malware as an initial access vector that gives a foothold to delicate company environments.
“For as little as $10 per log (laptop), cybercriminals can buy stolen information from staff working in categorized protection and army sectors,” Hudson Rock said. “Infostealer intelligence is not nearly detecting who’s contaminated — it is about understanding the complete community of compromised credentials and third-party dangers.”
Over the previous 12 months, menace actors have additionally been ramping up efforts to unfold a wide range of malware households, together with stealers and distant entry trojans (RATs), by way of a method known as ClickFix that always entails redirecting customers to pretend CAPTCHA verification pages instructing them to repeat and execute nefarious PowerShell instructions.
One such payload dropped is I2PRAT, which employs the I2P anonymization community to anonymize its closing C2 server.
“The malware is a complicated menace composed of a number of layers, every incorporating refined mechanisms,” Sekoia said. “Using an anonymization community complicates monitoring and hinders the identification of the menace’s magnitude and unfold within the wild.”
