Last updated: September 29, 2026 at 8:42 AM UTC
All 891 Vulnerability 357 Breach 144 Threat 383 Defense 7
Tag: infostealer (34 articles)Clear

ClickLock macOS malware kills apps in a loop until victims type their password

Group-IB detailed ClickLock, a macOS infostealer that coerces victims into handing over their login password. It arrives when a user is tricked into pasting a command into Terminal from a fake verification page, then shows a fake system dialog asking for the password. If the victim refuses, ClickLock begins killing core apps like Finder, the Dock, and browsers every 210 milliseconds, leaving only a password box on an unusable desktop, while also suppressing security notifications. Once the password is entered, it steals the Keychain, browser credentials, and cryptocurrency wallets and sends them to a Telegram bot. Group-IB counted at least 100 targets across 33 countries, over half in Europe.

Check
Warn Mac users never to paste Terminal commands from a website, and never enter a password to stop apps crashing; a Mac killing its own apps behind a password box is malware.
Affected
Mac users tricked into pasting a command from a fake verification page; ClickLock pressures them into entering their password by killing apps in a loop, then steals Keychain data and crypto wallets.
Fix
Only run Terminal commands you fully understand from trusted sources, treat app-killing loops and unexpected password prompts as attacks, and if infected, change passwords and wallet keys from a clean device.

CrashStealer Mac malware uses an Apple-notarized app to slip past Gatekeeper

Jamf detailed CrashStealer, a macOS infostealer delivered through a signed, Apple-notarized app called Werkbit that passes Gatekeeper, since it carried a valid developer ID before Apple revoked it. Distributed as a disk image and gated behind a meeting PIN so it is served only to targeted visitors, the malware validates the victim's login password locally, then harvests broadly from browsers, cryptocurrency wallets, password managers, and the keychain, encrypting the loot before sending it out. It persists by copying and re-signing itself. There is no zero-click stage: a victim still runs the app and enters their password, but the notarized delivery and careful targeting make it more convincing than typical Mac stealers.

Check
Remind Mac users that notarization does not guarantee an app is safe, to be cautious of apps delivered by disk image behind meeting codes, and to refuse password prompts from unexpected installers.
Affected
Mac users who download and run the notarized Werkbit app and enter their password; CrashStealer then steals browser data, crypto wallets, password-manager contents, and keychain secrets, and reinstalls itself to persist.
Fix
Install apps only from trusted sources, treat unexpected password and disk-image prompts with suspicion, keep macOS and endpoint tools updated to catch known indicators, and monitor for apps copying and re-signing themselves.

Compromised jscrambler npm releases dropped a cross-platform infostealer on install

Attackers used a stolen publishing credential to push malicious versions of the jscrambler npm package that install a Rust infostealer as soon as the package is added to a project. Socket ties five bad versions to the same actor, published over about three hours; the malware ships as native binaries for Windows, macOS, and Linux and sweeps developer machines for cloud credentials, crypto wallets, and password-manager vaults. Because jscrambler is a build-time tool used in development and CI, the stealer runs where deploy tokens, cloud keys, and source code live. Partway through, the dropper moved into the package's main code, so installing with scripts disabled does not stop it.

Check
Check lockfiles, package logs, and CI records for the malicious jscrambler versions installed since July 11, move to a clean release or pin to 8.13.0, and clear affected versions from caches.
Affected
Developers and CI pipelines that installed the malicious jscrambler versions; the infostealer captures AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud credentials, crypto wallets and seed phrases, and password-manager vaults from the build environment.
Fix
Remove the bad versions, rotate every credential exposed in affected developer and CI environments, hunt for temp-directory binaries and hidden persistence, and pin and verify dependencies rather than trusting a maintainer account.

PamStealer Mac malware poses as a clipboard app and verifies passwords through PAM

Jamf Threat Labs found a new macOS infostealer, PamStealer, that impersonates Maccy, a popular open-source clipboard manager, through a fake website. Victims download what looks like a Maccy installer but is a malicious AppleScript that quietly fetches a Rust-based stealer. Its standout trick is how it grabs the login password: it shows a native-looking prompt saying "Maccy wants to make changes" and validates whatever the user types against macOS's own Pluggable Authentication Modules, so it only keeps a confirmed-correct password and avoids the noisy process calls other stealers make. The second stage hides as Finder, encrypts its traffic, and delays its Full Disk Access request to avoid suspicion.

Check
Make sure anyone using the Maccy clipboard manager downloaded it only from maccy.app or its official GitHub, and treat unexpected admin-password prompts and Full Disk Access requests during app installs with suspicion.
Affected
Mac users who install software from fake or unofficial sites; PamStealer poses as the Maccy clipboard app, confirms the login password through macOS PAM, then steals credentials, browser data, and wallet access.
Fix
Install Mac apps only from official sites or the App Store, verify download URLs carefully, deny unexpected password and Full Disk Access prompts, and keep macOS and endpoint tools updated.

Djinn stealer harvests cloud and AI credentials through SimpleHelp RMM flaw

A new information stealer called Djinn is being used to grab cloud and AI service credentials, Dark Reading reports. Attackers deliver it by exploiting CVE-2026-48558, a critical authentication-bypass flaw in the SimpleHelp remote-management tool, then use Djinn to target the credentials that link developer and administrator environments to broader enterprise systems. The focus on cloud and AI secrets reflects where valuable access now lives: API keys and tokens for cloud platforms and AI services can unlock far more than a single machine. Organizations that run SimpleHelp, especially unpatched instances, are the immediate exposure point for this credential theft.

Check
Confirm SimpleHelp servers are patched against CVE-2026-48558, and review developer and admin systems for credential theft and any unexpected use of cloud or AI service API keys and tokens.
Affected
Organizations running SimpleHelp remote-management software vulnerable to CVE-2026-48558; Djinn specifically hunts the cloud and AI service credentials that bridge developer and admin environments to wider enterprise systems.
Fix
Patch SimpleHelp immediately, rotate cloud and AI service credentials that may have been exposed, enforce least privilege and short-lived tokens, and monitor for unusual API key usage.

DPRK macOS malware Gaslight plants fake errors to derail AI-assisted analysis

SentinelOne detailed Gaslight, a Rust-based macOS backdoor and information stealer tied with high confidence to North Korea, whose standout trick targets the analyst rather than the sandbox. The sample embeds a block of 38 fabricated "system" messages, formatted to mimic the prompt scaffolding of an AI triage assistant, that try to make an LLM-assisted analysis tool doubt its session and abort, truncate, or refuse the analysis. Beyond that, Gaslight steals browser data, Keychain secrets, and command history, using a Telegram bot for command and control and self-redacting its bot token from its own output. It is an early example of malware built to weaponize the AI tools now common in reverse engineering.

Check
If you use AI or LLM tools in malware triage, review whether sample contents are passed to the model as trusted input, and check macOS hosts for the Telegram-based persistence described.
Affected
macOS users targeted by this North Korea-linked stealer, and analysts whose AI-assisted triage pipelines can be manipulated when malicious sample text is fed to the model as if it were instructions.
Fix
Treat the contents of analyzed samples as adversarial input, never as instructions, and isolate hostile text from AI models. On endpoints, hunt for the published indicators and suspicious com.apple-style LaunchAgents.

macOS ClickFix attack uses Terminal trick to silently install Atomic Stealer

Palo Alto's Unit 42 found a new macOS campaign that uses the ClickFix trick, a fake CAPTCHA or verification page, to get users to paste a command into Terminal. The command quietly downloads a disk image, mounts it without showing it in Finder, finds the app inside, and launches it, installing the Atomic macOS Stealer (AMOS). The malware then shows a fake system password prompt and steals browser credentials and cookies from many Chromium and Firefox-based browsers, cryptocurrency wallet data, Keychain contents, messaging app data, and documents. The single-command approach is stealthier than older campaigns that relied on the victim manually opening a downloaded image.

Check
Warn Mac users never to paste website-supplied commands into Terminal to pass a CAPTCHA, and watch endpoints for unexpected hdiutil mounts and curl downloads to the /tmp folder.
Affected
macOS users tricked by fake CAPTCHA or verification pages into running a Terminal command; crypto-wallet holders and anyone with browser-stored credentials and Keychain secrets are the main targets.
Fix
Train users to recognize ClickFix lures, restrict or monitor Terminal use on managed Macs, deploy endpoint protection that detects AMOS behavior, and store crypto wallets and secrets in hardware-backed protection.

OXLOADER malvertising poses as Node.js installer to drop an infostealer

Elastic Security Labs detailed OXLOADER, a previously undocumented Windows loader that reaches victims through malicious Google Ads impersonating the Node.js download page and other developer tools. A developer searching for Node.js clicks a sponsored result, lands on a convincing fake site, and runs a script that quietly installs the loader, which then deploys an in-memory infostealer called CastleStealer to harvest credentials and other data. OXLOADER is heavily obfuscated, runs several anti-analysis checks, and skips machines set to Russian or in Russian-aligned regions, pointing to a financially motivated Russian-speaking operator. Google removed the advertiser account, but the technique of buying ads against developer searches remains widespread.

Check
Remind developers and staff not to install tools from sponsored search ads, and check endpoints for unexpected installs that began with a downloaded Node.js or developer-tool installer from a non-official site.
Affected
Developers and technical users who search for tools like Node.js and click sponsored ads leading to fake download sites; the payload is an infostealer that harvests credentials and sensitive data.
Fix
Download developer tools only from official project sites or package managers, use ad-blocking or DNS filtering to cut malvertising, and deploy endpoint detection that flags in-memory loaders and credential-stealing behavior.

Exposed database leaks 24 billion stolen credentials from infostealer logs

Cybernews researchers found an unprotected Elasticsearch database holding 24 billion records and over 8 terabytes of data, most of it infostealer logs: stolen usernames, passwords, and the services they unlock. The collection also pulls from Telegram channels and older breach dumps. Oddly, it included thousands of records tracking CVE vulnerabilities, breach news articles, and social-media posts about cyber incidents, with content as recent as 2026, suggesting the owner is actively curating and refreshing the stash with new leaks. The researchers could not determine how many records are duplicates, how old the data is, or who owns it.

Check
Check whether your email or domains appear in breach-tracking services, watch for credential-stuffing and account-takeover attempts, and look for infostealer infections on endpoints that could feed such collections.
Affected
Anyone whose credentials were captured by infostealer malware or exposed in past breaches; reused passwords are especially dangerous given the dataset's scale and the attacker's apparent effort to keep it current.
Fix
Reset reused passwords from clean devices, adopt a password manager with unique passwords, enable phishing-resistant MFA everywhere, and run endpoint scans to find and remove infostealer infections at the source.

144 Mastra AI-framework npm packages backdoored via hijacked account

Attackers hijacked the npm account of a former contributor to Mastra, a popular open-source framework for building AI applications, and in an 88-minute automated burst republished 144 packages under the @mastra scope with a hidden malicious dependency. The poisoned dependency, a fake clone of a date library, runs at install time: it disables TLS checks, downloads a second-stage cryptocurrency-stealing trojan, runs it as a detached process, and deletes itself. Because @mastra/core alone sees over 900,000 weekly downloads and the payload fires on install, anyone who installed an affected version since June 16 could be compromised before importing anything. npm has pulled the malicious versions.

Check
Check whether any developer machine, CI runner, or build system installed an @mastra package on or after June 16, and scan for the malicious easy-day-js dependency and install-time persistence artifacts.
Affected
Developers and pipelines that installed any @mastra package (including @mastra/core) on or after June 16, 2026; the malicious easy-day-js dependency ran code automatically at install time.
Fix
Roll affected packages back to pre-incident versions, treat affected hosts as compromised, rotate all credentials, tokens, and AI keys, move any crypto wallet funds from a clean device, and require signed-package installs.