All news with #asyncrat tag

PhantomVAI Loader Delivers Multiple Infostealers Worldwide

🛡️The Unit 42 report details a multi-stage phishing campaign that leverages heavily obfuscated JavaScript/VBS and PowerShell to load a C# .NET loader named PhantomVAI, which hides DLL payloads inside image files via steganography. The loader's VAI routine performs virtual-machine detection, establishes persistence (scheduled tasks, wscript, Run keys) and retrieves payloads by process hollowing into legitimate host processes. Observed final payloads include Katz Stealer, AsyncRAT and FormBook. Palo Alto Networks' Advanced WildFire, Cortex XDR and XSIAM have updated protections and indicators of compromise.

Oversized SVG Files Deliver AsyncRAT Across Latin America

🛡️ A recent campaign in Latin America leverages oversized SVG image attachments to deliver AsyncRAT by embedding the entire malicious payload inside the XML. Victims receive convincing, urgent emails impersonating judicial services, and interacting with the >10MB SVG loads a fake portal that triggers a password-protected ZIP download containing an executable and a DLL-sideloaded payload. ESET telemetry highlights a spike in activity, notably affecting Colombia, while attackers appear to use AI to generate unique, randomized SVGs to evade detection.

Fileless AsyncRAT infection leverages in-memory loaders

🔍 Security researchers at LevelBlue Labs identified an open-source Remote Access Trojan, AsyncRAT, being deployed via a multi-stage, fileless in-memory loader that avoids writing executables to disk. Attackers gained initial access through a compromised ConnectWise ScreenConnect client, executing a VBScript which invoked PowerShell to fetch two staged .NET assemblies. The first-stage assembly decodes payloads into byte arrays and uses reflection to run the secondary assembly directly in memory, while operators disabled AMSI and tampered with ETW to evade runtime detection. Persistence was achieved with a scheduled task disguised as "Skype Update," and the RAT used an AES-256 encrypted configuration to connect to a DuckDNS-based C2.

AsyncRAT Delivery via ConnectWise ScreenConnect Abuse

⚠️ Cybersecurity researchers disclosed a campaign that abuses ConnectWise ScreenConnect remote sessions to deliver a fileless loader which ultimately executes the AsyncRAT remote-access trojan. Attackers use hands-on-keyboard activity to run a layered VBScript and PowerShell chain that loads obfuscated .NET assemblies and spawns AsyncClient.exe. Persistence is maintained via a scheduled task disguised as "Skype Updater," and stolen credentials, keystrokes, and wallet artifacts are exfiltrated to a DuckDNS command-and-control host.

Blind Eagle: Five Clusters Target Colombian Government

⚠️ Recorded Future's Insikt Group attributes five distinct activity clusters to the actor Blind Eagle (tracked as TAG-144) active between May 2024 and July 2025. The campaigns largely targeted Colombian government agencies across local, municipal, and federal levels using spear-phishing, cracked and open-source RATs (including AsyncRAT, Remcos, DCRat, and Lime RAT) and legitimate internet services for staging. Operators abused dynamic DNS, VPS and VPN services and leveraged geofencing and compromised accounts to redirect or evade detection.

QuirkyLoader Deploys Agent Tesla, AsyncRAT and Keyloggers

🛡️ Researchers disclosed a new .NET-based DLL loader named QuirkyLoader that's been used since November 2024 to deliver information stealers, keyloggers and RATs via email spam. IBM X-Force says attackers send malicious archives from both legitimate providers and self-hosted servers; each archive contains a DLL, an encrypted payload and a real executable used for DLL side-loading. The loader uses process hollowing to inject decrypted payloads into AddInProcess32.exe, InstallUtil.exe or aspnet_wp.exe. Operators compile the .NET DLL with ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation so the resulting binary resembles native C/C++ code and is harder to attribute.