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For example, threat actors have been known to insert Chinese- or Russian-language strings into executables in an attempt at misdirection. Can we blame the Chinese government?ДЄttribution is hard, and itвЂ™s very difficult to say where a particular malware sample originated without a lot of corroborating data. Then again, perhaps the similarities in usage donвЂ™t actually indicate anything at all.

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Perhaps itвЂ™s part of a plan to change the code periodically as a means of avoiding detection.

Perhaps both were run concurrently to see which performed better. Perhaps there was some dissatisfaction with the CDDS code, so new malware was written. Why there would be a need for two different pieces of malware is unclear. The most likely scenario is that this is Chinese government malware, being used for the purpose of tracking democracy advocates. However, since both were distributed through the same two macOS vulnerabilities, through pro-democracy websites in China, itвЂ™s highly likely these are made by the same folks. Thus, thereвЂ™s little doubt that these are distinctly different malware, written from different code bases.

#FREE MALWAREBYTES FOR MAC OS INSTALL#

CDDS, for example, distributes multiple executable files across a couple different folders, while the DazzleSpy payload is a single, smaller file (which may optionally also install the open-source KeySteal exploit on older systems, in order to steal keychain data). TheyвЂ™re also very different in terms of what gets installed. The code is very different, and the capabilities are different. These two pieces of malware are quite different. Although the DazzleSpy implant doesnвЂ™t directly support taking screenshots, for example, thatвЂ™s not hard to do via the screencapture command in the shell.

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The full list of capabilities is a bit different than what Google described for CDDS, but itвЂ™s important to keep in mind that arbitrary shell command execution is an extremely powerful capability. That payload is a very full-featured backdoor, providing the attacker the capability to run any arbitrary command on the infected Mac, start a remote screen viewing session, download files from the Mac, steal the keychain, send synthetic mouse clicks, etc. With this high level of privileges, the malware drops its payload onto the machine. This led to the in-memory execution of native Mac code, which exploits CVE-2021-30869 to gain root privileges. The new malware got a foothold via CVE-2021-1789, exploited via a JavaScript file named mac.js loaded by the malicious site. Now, if this sounds familiar, itвЂ™s because youвЂ™ve been paying attention-this is exactly the same technique as that used by the CDDS (aka Macma) malware that was described by Google in November, even down to spreading through Chinese pro-democracy sites. It infected machines using a combination of two vulnerabilities, one in WebKit (the framework that powers Safari) and one in macOS (a privilege escalation vulnerability).

DazzleSpy, a piece of malware that attacks macOS, was discovered last fall by researchers at ESET, and now those researchers have released more detailed findings.ДazzleSpy, according to the researchers at ESET, was being spread via watering hole attacks via pro-democracy websites in China.

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