Users can manage the inter-application approvals in the Privacy tab of the Security & Privacy preference pane. A given process can only send events to a different process with user approval. Since macOS Mojave, the Security and Privacy controls restricts sending and receiving AppleEvents. It could even use script-enabled apps like Mail to create and send email in your name. Up to macOS 10.13 High Sierra, any non-sandboxed app could use AppleScript and AppleEvents to gather all kinds of personal and private data from various script-enabled apps and services. If you are in any way security and privacy minded this should raise your hairs. With AppleScript, you may even be able to create and change data in the target applications. With AppleEvents (or AppleScript commands) you can often retrieve valuable information from other applications that would be difficult or even impossible, to get any other way. Because of this it should be a part of your ‘MacAdmin Toolbelt.’ĪppleScript’s strength lies in inter-application communication. Even though it probably is not (and shouldn’t be) the first tool of choice for many tasks, there are some tasks that AppleScript makes very simple. However, it is quite clear that using pirated software will ensure the malware continues to have vulnerable Apple macOS computers.AppleScript on macOS is a useful tool for pro users and administrators alike. It reveals the full-chain of this attack, along with Indicators Of Compromise (IOCs) of past and newer OSAMiner campaigns. SentinelOne macOS malware researcher Phil Stokes has published a detailed report. Apparently, the third AppleScript contained the actual OSAMiner malware or “payload”. This script would silently download and run a second run-only AppleScript, and then another final third run-only AppleScript. Īs users installed the pirated software, the malware installer would silently download and run a run-only AppleScript. Mac malware OSAMiner has released a variant that uses multiple 'run-only' AppleScripts, making it difficult to detect and analyze. Incidentally, the malware’s initial size was quite small. It seems the creators of the malware obtained different variants of pirated software and injected the malware inside. As piracy is common in Southeast Asia, the malware was quite active in these regions. How did the malware infect and spread on an Apple macOS computer?Īs mentioned earlier, the OSAMiner malware creators depended heavily on the distribution, download, and widespread use of illegally obtained and cracked software. Although a heightened security measure, this makes analysis a lot harder for external or third-party security researchers. In other words, the source code isn’t human-readable. This was because the malware used nested run-only AppleScript files to retrieve its malicious code across different stages.ĪppleScripts arrive in a compiled state. Incidentally, security researchers weren’t able to retrieve the malware’s entire code when they had sensed its activities back in 2018. Red Siege Information Security January 12, 2021 Named OSAMiner, the malware has been distributed in the wild since at least 2015 disguised in pirated (cracked) games and software such as League of Legends and Microsoft Office for Mac. From what data we have it appears to be mostly targeted at Chinese/Asia-Pacific communities.” “OSAMiner has been active for a long time and has evolved in recent months. The distribution is active since at least 2015, indicated security firm SentinelOne in a report published this week. SentinelOne's analyses the OSAMiner macOS cryptocurrency-mining malware that, thanks to its use of run-only AppleScripts, stayed under the radar for a long time also open sources the AEVT decompiler tool /TqIAl8QcmrĪccording to security researchers, the OSAMiner malware was distributed inside pirated (cracked) games and software such as League of Legends and Microsoft Office for Mac. The creators of the malware used processes that were specifically designed to evade detection and analysis by security researchers. The OSAMiner hijacked the hardware resources of infected users to mine cryptocurrency.
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