Saturday, May 24, 2025
HomeMalwareHackers Distribute Vidar Malware By Tricking Users with Fake Windows 11 Downloads

Hackers Distribute Vidar Malware By Tricking Users with Fake Windows 11 Downloads

Published on

SIEM as a Service

Follow Us on Google News

Hackers are tricking users with fake Windows 11 installers loaded with Vidar info stealer spreading through newly registered phishing domains.

The cybersecurity analysts at Zscale security firm have detected that the malicious ISO files were included on the spoofed websites to enable the downloading and installation of the Vidar info-stealer malware on the target computers.

Throat-controlling social media channels, such as Telegram and Mastodon, are used to deploy the C2 configuration of Vidar malware.

- Advertisement - Google News

Newly registered phishing domains

On 20 April, some of the fake domain names have been registered and here they are mentioned below:-

  • ms-win11[.]com
  • win11-serv[.]com
  • win11install[.]com
  • ms-teams-app[.]net

In addition to attacks against YouTubers, Vidar malware has been used previously by the threat actors to swindle VPN users before.

Vidar malware

Vidar malware is an infamous info stealer that can steal information from users and spy on what they do. While malware such as Vidar is primarily designed for the purpose of stealing sensitive information from its victims.

Fallout exploit kits are usually the source of distribution of Vidar. Here below we have mentioned the types of data stolen by Vidar:-

  • OS information
  • Online accounts credentials
  • Browser history
  • Financial info
  • Banking data
  • Cryptocurrency wallet login credentials

Distribution of Vidar info stealer

Apart from fake Windows 11 installers, the threat actors behind Vidar also spreading this malware through malicious variants of legitimate software like:-

  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Microsoft Teams

In order to avoid detection by security solutions, the ISO that contains the executable is unusually large in size (over 300MB). 

Here, Avast’s expired certificate is used by the hackers to sign the file, and it is likely that the certificate was stolen following the company’s October 2019 security breach.

To steal essential and sensitive data from the compromised systems, Vidar establishes a connection to a C2 server, and then it requests legitimate DLL files from the C2 server.

Here below we have mentioned the DLL files that are requested:-

  • sqlite3.dll
  • vcruntime140.dll

In addition to this abuse, the threat actor has also abused Mastodon and Telegram to store the C2 IP address in the description fields of vulnerable communities and accounts.

Recommendation

Here below we have mentioned a few recommendations offered by the security experts:-

  • Do not download any file or installer file from unknown sources.
  • Always be cautious before downloading any unknown attachments.
  • Avoiding using crack
  • Always use a robust Antivirus tool.
  • Do not download any crack for the paid version.

You can follow us on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook for daily Cybersecurity and hacking news updates.

Balaji
Balaji
BALAJI is an Ex-Security Researcher (Threat Research Labs) at Comodo Cybersecurity. Editor-in-Chief & Co-Founder - Cyber Security News & GBHackers On Security.

Latest articles

Zero-Trust Policy Bypass Enables Exploitation of Vulnerabilities and Manipulation of NHI Secrets

A new project has exposed a critical attack vector that exploits protocol vulnerabilities to...

Threat Actor Sells Burger King Backup System RCE Vulnerability for $4,000

A threat actor known as #LongNight has reportedly put up for sale remote code...

Chinese Nexus Hackers Exploit Ivanti Endpoint Manager Mobile Vulnerability

Ivanti disclosed two critical vulnerabilities, identified as CVE-2025-4427 and CVE-2025-4428, affecting Ivanti Endpoint Manager...

Hackers Target macOS Users with Fake Ledger Apps to Deploy Malware

Hackers are increasingly targeting macOS users with malicious clones of Ledger Live, the popular...

Resilience at Scale

Why Application Security is Non-Negotiable

The resilience of your digital infrastructure directly impacts your ability to scale. And yet, application security remains a critical weak link for most organizations.

Application Security is no longer just a defensive play—it’s the cornerstone of cyber resilience and sustainable growth. In this webinar, Karthik Krishnamoorthy (CTO of Indusface) and Phani Deepak Akella (VP of Marketing – Indusface), will share how AI-powered application security can help organizations build resilience by

Discussion points


Protecting at internet scale using AI and behavioral-based DDoS & bot mitigation.
Autonomously discovering external assets and remediating vulnerabilities within 72 hours, enabling secure, confident scaling.
Ensuring 100% application availability through platforms architected for failure resilience.
Eliminating silos with real-time correlation between attack surface and active threats for rapid, accurate mitigation

More like this

Hackers Target macOS Users with Fake Ledger Apps to Deploy Malware

Hackers are increasingly targeting macOS users with malicious clones of Ledger Live, the popular...

GenAI Assistant DIANNA Uncovers New Obfuscated Malware

Deep Instinct’s GenAI-powered assistant, DIANNA, has identified a sophisticated new malware strain dubbed BypassERWDirectSyscallShellcodeLoader. This...

New Formjacking Malware Targets E-Commerce Sites to Steal Credit Card Data

A disturbing new formjacking malware has emerged, specifically targeting WooCommerce-based e-commerce sites to steal...