Kandji researchers uncovered and disclosed key macOS vulnerabilities over the past year. Learn how we protect customers through detection and patching.
When we discover weaknesses before attackers do, everyone wins. History has shown that vulnerabilities like Gatekeeper bypass and TCC bypass zero-days don't remain theoretical for long—both of these recent vulnerabilities were exploited in the wild by macOS malware. By investing heavily in new security research, we're helping strengthen macOS for everyone.
Once reported to Apple, the fix for these vulnerabilities is not always obvious. Depending on the complexity, it can take a few months to over a year, especially if it requires major architectural changes to the operating system. Apple’s vulnerability disclosure program has been responsive and effective.
Of course, we don't just report issues and walk away. We ensure our products can detect these vulnerabilities and protect our customers from potential exploitation while waiting for official patches.
Apple finally adds TCC events to Endpoint Security!
Since the majority of macOS malware circumvents TCC through explicit user approval, it would be incredibly helpful for any security tool to detect this — and possibly override the user’s risky decision. Until now the best (only?) option was to ingest log messages generated by the TCC subsystem. This approach was implemented in a tool dubbed Kronos, written by Calum Hall Luke Roberts (now, of Phorion fame). Unfortunately, as they note, this approach did have it drawbacks:
Key findings Proofpoint identified and named two new cybercriminal threat actors operating components of web inject campaigns, TA2726 and TA2727. Proofpoint identified a new
Since September, Check Point Research has been monitoring a new version of the Banshee macOS stealer, a malware linked to Russian-speaking cyber criminals targeting macOS users.
This new version had been undetected for over two months until the original version of Banshee Stealer was leaked on XSS forums, which resembled similarities with the malware’s core functionality.
One notable difference between the leaked source code and the version discovered by Check Point Research is the use of a string encryption algorithm. This algorithm is the same as Apple uses in its Xprotect antivirus engine for MacOS.
One method of distributing Banshee Stealer involved malicious GitHub repositories, targeting Windows users with Lumma Stealer and macOS users with Banshee Stealer.
Banshee operated as a ‘stealer-as-a-service’, priced at $3,000, and was advertised through Telegram and forums such as XSS and Exploit. On November 23, 2024, the malware’s source code was leaked, leading the author to shut down the operations the following day.
Despite shutting down the operation, threat actors continue to distribute the new version of Banshee via phishing websites.
Apple recently addressed a macOS vulnerability that allows attackers to bypass System Integrity Protection (SIP) and install malicious kernel drivers by loading third-party kernel extensions.
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We uncover macOS lateral movement tactics, such as SSH key misuse and AppleScript exploitation. Strategies to counter this attack trend are also discussed. We uncover macOS lateral movement tactics, such as SSH key misuse and AppleScript exploitation. Strategies to counter this attack trend are also discussed.
I recently realised that I still owe you guys some writeups, so since OBTSv7 is around the corner here's the one for badmalloc. I found this back in March 2023, and it got fixed in October. About the bug There's a bug in MallocStackLogging, Apple's "magical" framework that allows developers …
The Banshee Stealer macOS malware operation, which emerged earlier this year, was reportedly shut down following a source code leak.
Apple released emergency security updates to fix two zero-day vulnerabilities that were exploited in attacks on Intel-based Mac systems.
"Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited," the company said in an advisory issued on Tuesday.
The two bugs were found in the macOS Sequoia JavaScriptCore (CVE-2024-44308) and WebKit (CVE-2024-44309) components of macOS.
APT Lazarus has begun attempting to smuggle code using custom extended attributes.
Extended attributes are metadata that can be associated with files and directories in various file systems. They allow users to store additional information about a file beyond the standard attributes like file size, timestamps, and permissions.