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Scrape Timestamp (UTC): 2025-10-19 18:31:37.882
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TikTok videos continue to push infostealers in ClickFix attacks. Cybercriminals are using TikTok videos disguised as free activation guides for popular software like Windows, Spotify, and Netflix to spread information-stealing malware. ISC Handler Xavier Mertens spotted the ongoing campaign, which is largely the same as the one observed by Trend Micro in May The TikTok videos seen by BleepingComputer pretend to offer instructions on how to activate legitimate products like Windows, Microsoft 365, Adobe Premiere, Photoshop, CapCut Pro, and Discord Nitro, as well as made-up services such as Netflix and Spotify Premium. The videos are performing a ClickFix attack, which is a social engineering technique that provides what appears to be legitimate "fixes" or instructions that trick users into executing malicious PowerShell commands or other scripts that infect their computers with malware. Each video displays a short one-line command and tells viewers to run it as an administrator in PowerShell: It should be noted that the program name in the URL is different depending on the program that is being impersonated. For example, in the fake Windows activation videos, instead of the URL containing photoshop, it would include windows. In this campaign, when the command is executed, PowerShell connects to the remote site slmgr[.]win to retrieve and execute another PowerShell script. This script downloads two executables from Cloudflare pages, with the first executable downloaded from https://file-epq[.]pages[.]dev/updater.exe [VirusTotal]. This executable is a variant of the Aura Stealer info-stealing malware. Aura Stealer collects saved credentials from browsers, authentication cookies, cryptocurrency wallets, and credentials from other applications and uploads them to the attackers, giving them access to your accounts. Mertens says that an additional payload will be downloaded, named source.exe [VirusTotal], which is used to self-compile code using .NET's built-in Visual C# Compiler (csc.exe). This code is then injected and launched in memory. The purpose of the additional payload remains unclear. Users who perform these steps should consider all of their credentials compromised and immediately reset their passwords on all sites they visit. ClickFix attacks have become very popular over the past year, used to distribute various malware strains in ransomware and cryptocurrency theft campaigns. As a general rule, users should never copy text from a website and run it in an operating system dialog box, including within the File Explorer address bar, command prompt, PowerShell prompts, macOS terminal, and Linux shells. Picus Blue Report 2025 is Here: 2X increase in password cracking 46% of environments had passwords cracked, nearly doubling from 25% last year. Get the Picus Blue Report 2025 now for a comprehensive look at more findings on prevention, detection, and data exfiltration trends.
Daily Brief Summary
Cybercriminals are leveraging TikTok to distribute infostealers by disguising videos as activation guides for software like Windows, Spotify, and Netflix.
The campaign, identified by ISC Handler Xavier Mertens, uses social engineering tactics to execute malicious PowerShell commands on users' systems.
Users are tricked into running commands that connect to remote sites, downloading malware such as Aura Stealer, which harvests credentials and sensitive data.
Aura Stealer targets saved browser credentials, authentication cookies, and cryptocurrency wallets, posing significant risks of account compromise.
An additional payload, source.exe, is downloaded and executed in memory, though its exact purpose remains unknown.
Victims are advised to reset all passwords immediately, as their credentials are likely compromised.
ClickFix attacks have surged in popularity, often linked to ransomware and cryptocurrency theft campaigns.
Users should avoid executing commands from untrusted sources to mitigate the risk of such malware infections.