Article
ClickFix Campaign Delivers Custom RAT
Arete Analysis
Security researchers identified a sophisticated evolution of the ClickFix campaign that aims to compromise legitimate websites before delivering a five-stage malware chain, culminating in the deployment of MIMICRAT. MIMICRAT is a custom remote access trojan (RAT) written in the C/C++ programming language that offers various capabilities early in the attack lifecycle. The attack begins with victims visiting compromised websites, where JavaScript plugins load a fake Cloudflare verification that tricks users into executing a malicious PowerShell script, further displaying the prominence and effectiveness of ClickFix and its user interaction techniques.
Not Your Average RAT
MIMICRAT displays above-average defense evasion and sophistication, including:
A five-stage PowerShell sequence beginning with Event Tracing for Windows and Anti-Malware Scan Interface bypasses, which are commonly used in red teaming for evading detection by EDR and AV toolsets.
The malware later uses a lightweight scripting language that is scripted into memory, allowing malicious actions without files that could easily be detected by an EDR tool.
MIMICRAT uses malleable Command and Control profiles, allowing for a constantly changing communication infrastructure.
The campaign uses legitimate compromised infrastructure, rather than attacker-owned tools, and is prepped to use 17 different languages, which increases global reach and defense evasion.
Analyst Comments
The ClickFix social engineering technique remains an effective means for threat actors to obtain compromised credentials and initial access to victim environments, enabling them to deploy first-stage malware. Coupled with the sophisticated MIMICRAT RAT, the effectiveness of this campaign could increase. Arete will continue monitoring for changes to the ClickFix techniques, the deployment of MIMICRAT in other campaigns, and other pertinent information relating to the ongoing campaign.
Sources
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CMS Vulnerability Leads to ClickFix Campaign
Threat actors compromised at least 700 education and technology websites in a recent ClickFix campaign by exploiting a critical SQL injection flaw (CVE-2026-26980) in the Ghost content management system (CMS). Adversaries combined the vulnerability with the ClickFix social engineering tactic to steal admin keys and inject a malicious JavaScript that delivers a fake Cloudflare or CAPTCHA verification pop-up, tricking victims into copying and pasting a malicious command into their systems.
What’s Notable and Unique
Rather than targeting the end user first, this campaign is unique in its initial exploitation of the system, followed by social engineering attempts. This hybrid attack style is likely being leveraged to bypass traditional defenses.
This recent campaign also highlights how trusted web properties can be weaponized at scale and coupled with unpatched CMS vulnerabilities. Rather than using the CMS compromise to perpetrate a single attack, threat actors turned it into a supply-chain attack that ultimately affected over 700 trusted websites.
Analyst Comments
As network defenders and their tools enhance threat detection capabilities, adversaries increasingly seek methods to bypass these defenses. By combining vulnerability exploitation, social engineering techniques, and staging for ancillary attacks, this campaign successfully bypassed traditional defenses and inflicted significant impact. Defending against hybrid cyberattacks requires comprehensive security controls beyond simply patching vulnerabilities. Organizations should focus on limiting movement within the environment, detecting abuse of trusted applications, and preventing end-user manipulation.
Sources
700+ education and tech websites hijacked in huge ClickFix malware campaign
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Ghost CMS Vulnerability Exploited to Infect 700 Sites With ClickFix Malware
Article
Threat Actors Leverage Fake JPEG Files for Initial Access
In a recent campaign, researchers observed threat actors using fake JPEG image files as a delivery mechanism to initiate the deployment of additional malicious components. The false JPEG files are typically distributed via phishing emails or other social engineering-based lures, and are actually PowerShell-based malware that deploys a trojanized version of ConnectWise ScreenConnect to establish and maintain persistence in the compromised environment.
What’s Notable and Unique
This campaign leverages JPEG images as the initial lure, where the images are not merely decoys but part of the infection workflow. Victims are typically led to download or open an image that triggers hidden execution logic or redirects them to a payload-delivery sequence that initiates later stages of the intrusion chain.
The attack chain is designed to blend into legitimate environments, making detection more difficult. Execution typically relies on scripted or native Windows components, often including PowerShell or other living-off-the-land binaries, enabling fileless or near-fileless execution and reducing forensic artifacts on disk.
The multistage design ensures that the initial JPEG does not directly contain the full payload but instead triggers retrieval or decryption steps that progressively assemble the final malicious components in memory.
Analyst Comments
This campaign illustrates how threat actors continue to blur the line between legitimate file handling and malicious execution chains, indicating potential overlap with remote management or administrative tooling. The use of JPEG-based staging combined with script-based execution reflects a broader evolution toward a stealth-first intrusion design, in which file formats serve as triggers rather than payload containers.
Sources
OPERATION SILENTCANVAS : JPEG BASED MULTISTAGE POWERSHELL INTRUSION
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