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A ClickFix social-engineering campaign is targeting macOS users with fake CAPTCHA or verification prompts that instruct victims to copy and paste commands into Terminal. The pasted command downloads a malicious .dmg, mounts it invisibly, and launches an app or installer that deploys Atomic macOS Stealer (AMOS). The activity relies on user manipulation rather than a software vulnerability, marking an expansion of ClickFix-style lures onto Apple systems.
Once installed, AMOS steals browser credentials, cookies, payment data, files, Apple ecosystem data, messaging-app content, and cryptocurrency wallet information from targets including Safari, Apple Notes, Apple Keychain, Telegram, Discord, and wallet-related browser extensions. Reports say the malware can also show a fake macOS authentication prompt to gain elevated access, archive stolen data into a ZIP file, and exfiltrate it to attacker-controlled servers; in some cases it also replaces legitimate Ledger Wallet and Trezor Suite applications with trojanized versions to enable further theft.
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3 events from the most recent confirmed update back to the earliest known activity.
Kaspersky reported that AMOS can replace legitimate Ledger Wallet and Trezor Suite applications with malicious versions to facilitate further theft. The reporting also highlighted the campaign's broader targeting of Safari, Apple Notes, Apple Keychain, Telegram, Discord, and crypto wallets.
One documented payload delivered through the macOS ClickFix chain is Atomic macOS Stealer (AMOS). After installation, it steals browser and Apple ecosystem data, files, messaging-app data, credentials, and cryptocurrency wallet information, then archives and exfiltrates the data to attacker-controlled servers.
A social-engineering campaign began targeting macOS users with fake CAPTCHA or verification prompts that trick victims into copying and executing malicious commands in Terminal. The command downloads a hidden DMG and launches malware without exploiting a software vulnerability.
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Attackers are increasingly compromising macOS systems through **ClickFix** and related social-engineering lures that trick users into pasting malicious commands into Terminal, often behind fake Cloudflare checks, bogus troubleshooting steps, fraudulent support messages, or compromised websites. A large campaign tied to hundreds of hacked WordPress sites served platform-specific payloads and used the **Polygon** blockchain to hide command-and-control locations, while the macOS payload ran largely in memory, harvested Keychain data, browser information, SSH keys, screenshots, and other files, then staged stolen data in `/tmp/osalogging.zip` before exfiltrating it. Researchers said the technique does not rely on a macOS software flaw, but on convincing victims to execute attacker-supplied commands themselves. Threat reporting indicates the tactic has become a dominant initial-access method against Mac users, especially cryptocurrency holders and developers, and that recent Apple paste warnings in Terminal have already been bypassed through Script Editor abuse. Separate intrusion research linked cryptocurrency-focused activity to malware families including **DEEPBREATH**, **SUGARLOADER**, and **CHROMEPUSH**, showing how post-compromise tooling on macOS can escalate from social engineering to broad credential and data theft by targeting `TCC.db`, Keychain contents, Chromium-based browsers, Telegram data, and Apple Notes. Security teams are being urged to prioritize behavioral detection, cross-platform response, and user controls that prevent unverified command execution on Macs.
Jul 16, 2026
Multiple reports highlighted **ClickFix**-style social engineering that convinces users to paste attacker-supplied commands into a terminal, leading to infostealer installation. Malwarebytes documented a macOS lure impersonating *CleanMyMac* via `cleanmymacos[.]org`, where victims are instructed to run a Terminal command that prints a reassuring message, decodes a hidden (base64) destination, and then downloads and executes a remote shell script via `zsh`. The resulting payload installs **SHub Stealer**, which targets saved passwords, browser data, Apple Keychain contents, Telegram sessions, and cryptocurrency wallets; it can also tamper with wallet applications (e.g., *Exodus*, *Atomic Wallet*, *Ledger Live*) to enable later theft of recovery phrases. Microsoft threat intelligence (as reported by The Hacker News) described a parallel **Windows** ClickFix campaign that shifts from the traditional Run-dialog paste to **Windows Terminal** (`wt.exe`) using the `Win + X → I` shortcut, exploiting the tool’s administrative legitimacy to reduce suspicion and evade detections tuned to Run-dialog abuse. In that chain, users paste a hex-encoded/XOR-compressed command that spawns additional Terminal/PowerShell stages to decode scripts, download a ZIP payload plus a legitimate-but-renamed **7-Zip** binary, extract additional components, establish persistence via **scheduled tasks**, configure **Microsoft Defender exclusions**, and ultimately deploy **Lumma Stealer** (including use of `QueueUserAPC()` for injection).
Jun 29, 2026
Researchers identified a **ClickFix-style** campaign targeting macOS users that swaps Terminal-based execution for **Script Editor** to bypass newer Apple protections. Victims are lured to fake Apple-themed pages such as “Reclaim disk space on your Mac,” which invoke the `applescript://` URL scheme and open Script Editor with a pre-filled AppleScript. If the user runs it, the script conceals a malicious shell command that decodes a URL, uses `curl` with TLS certificate validation disabled, and pipes the response directly into `zsh` for in-memory execution. The activity, discovered by **Jamf Threat Labs**, ultimately downloads and launches a Mach-O variant of **Atomic Stealer**, an infostealer built to harvest browser credentials, saved passwords, cryptocurrency wallets, and other sensitive data from macOS systems. Researchers said the campaign appears to be an adaptation to Apple’s paste-command scanning protections added in macOS 26.4 for Terminal abuse; while newer macOS versions also warn about unidentified scripts, the attack can still succeed if users follow the prompts. Reported infrastructure tied to the campaign includes `dryvecar.com`, `storage-fixes.squarespace.com`, and `cleanupmac.mssg.me`.
Jun 29, 2026