Apple's macOS has been under siege in 2024 as malware-as-a-service platforms and AI-driven threats make the year a turning point for Mac security.

A deep dive into macOS malware this year.

Cado Security Labs details the discovery of a new cross-platform information stealer malware dubbed "Meeten" targeting macOS and Windows users.

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.

Kandji's Threat Research team performed an audit on the macOS diskarbitrationd & storagekitd system daemons, uncovering several (now fixed) vulnerabilities

North Korean hackers are targeting crypto-related businesses with phishing emails and novel macOS-specific malware.

SentinelLabs has observed a suspected DPRK threat actor targeting Crypto-related businesses with novel multi-stage malware.

A New Era of macOS Sandbox Escapes: Diving into an Overlooked Attack Surface and Uncovering 10+ New Vulnerabilities
This is a blog post for my presentation at the conference POC2024. The slides are uploaded here.

In the macOS system, most processes are running in a restricted sandbox environment, whether they are Apple’s own services or third-party applications. Consequently, once an attacker gains Remote Code Execution (RCE) from these processes, their capabilities are constrained. The next step for the attacker is to circumvent the sandbox to gain enhanced execution capabilities and broader file access permissions.

But how to discover sandbox escape vulnerabilities? Upon reviewing the existing issues, I unearthed a significant overlooked attack surface and a novel attack technique. This led to the discovery of multiple new sandbox escape vulnerabilities: CVE-2023-27944, CVE-2023-32414, CVE-2023-32404, CVE-2023-41077, CVE-2023-42961, CVE-2024-27864, CVE-2023-42977, and more.

Apple has issued patches for several of its operating systems. The ones for iOS and iPadOS deserve your immediate attention.

An unknown threat actor is developing ransomware to lock files and steal data on macOS, and it's not LockBit.

It lets attackers control Macs remotely.

I found a zero-click vulnerability in macOS Calendar, which allows an attacker to add or delete arbitrary files inside the Calendar sandbox environment. This could lead to many bad things including malicious code execution which can be combined with security protection evasion with Photos to compromise users’ sensitive Photos iCloud Photos data. Apple has fixed all of the vulnerabilities between October 2022 and September 2023.

The popular Docker-OSX project has been removed from Docker Hub after Apple filed a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown request, alleging that it violated its copyright.

Kaspersky experts discovered a macOS version of the HZ Rat backdoor, which collects user data from WeChat and DingTalk messengers.

In today’s post, We’ll explore the process of designing and developing malware for macOS, which is a Unix-based operating system. We’ll use a classic approach to understanding Apple’s internals. To follow along, you should have a basic understanding of exploitation, as well as knowledge of C and Python programming, and some familiarity with low-level assembly language. While the topics may be advanced, I’ll do my best to present them smoothly.

Researchers have discovered another data-seizing macOS malware, with "Cthulhu Stealer" sold to online criminals for just $500 a month.