Apple PCs, running macOS operating system, were, and still are, vulnerable to a sophisticated malware campaign. Experts strongly believe the sneaky macOS.OSAMiner or OSAMiner has been successfully exploiting Mac PCs for as many as five years.
Distributed through pirated software, the OSAMiner has been stealthily exploiting the computer processing resources for at least five years. The primary purpose of the Apple macOS malware was to mine cryptocurrency.
OSAMiner sneaked in through pirated software and ran cryptocurrency mining clandestinely for five years:
Apple macOS, the primary operating system for Apple Computers, known as Macs, was the target of OSAMiner. It used a clever trick to avoid detection.
The OSAMiner hijacked the hardware resources of infected users to mine cryptocurrency. The creators of the malware used processes that were specifically designed to evade detection and analysis by security researchers.
SentinelOne's @philofishal 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 https://t.co/dzecTZNs1b pic.twitter.com/TqIAl8Qcmr
— Virus Bulletin (@virusbtn) January 12, 2021
According 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 distribution is active since at least 2015, indicated security firm SentinelOne in a report published this week.
“OSAMiner has been active for a long time and has evolved in recent months. From what data we have it appears to be mostly targeted at Chinese/Asia-Pacific communities.”
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.
via @ZDNet https://t.co/hylu2XdaIl
— Red Siege Information Security (@RedSiege) January 12, 2021
Incidentally, security researchers weren’t able to retrieve the malware’s entire code when they had sensed its activities back in 2018. This was because the malware used nested run-only AppleScript files to retrieve its malicious code across different stages.
AppleScripts arrive in a compiled state. Hence these are essentially “run-only”. In other words, the source code isn’t human-readable. Although a heightened security measure, this makes analysis a lot harder for external or third-party security researchers.
How did the malware infect and spread on an Apple macOS computer?
As mentioned earlier, the OSAMiner malware creators depended heavily on the distribution, download, and widespread use of illegally obtained and cracked software. As piracy is common in Southeast Asia, the malware was quite active in these regions.
It seems the creators of the malware obtained different variants of pirated software and injected the malware inside. Incidentally, the malware’s initial size was quite small. This was intentional to evade detection.
Mac malware OSAMiner has released a variant that uses multiple 'run-only' AppleScripts, making it difficult to detect and analyze.https://t.co/4M0Daagzxo
— Milton Security (@MiltonSecurity) January 11, 2021
As users installed the pirated software, the malware installer would silently download and run a run-only AppleScript. This script would silently download and run a second run-only AppleScript, and then another final third run-only AppleScript. Apparently, the third AppleScript contained the actual OSAMiner malware or “payload”.
SentinelOne macOS malware researcher Phil Stokes has published a detailed report. It reveals the full-chain of this attack, along with Indicators Of Compromise (IOCs) of past and newer OSAMiner campaigns. However, it is quite clear that using pirated software will ensure the malware continues to have vulnerable Apple macOS computers.