26 Mar, 2025

New FinalDraft malware abuses Outlook mail service for stealthy comms

A new malware called FinalDraft has been using Outlook email drafts for command-and-control communication in attacks against a ministry in a South American country. The attacks were discovered by Elastic Security Labs and rely on a complete toolset that includes a custom malware loader named PathLoader, the FinalDraft backdoor, and multiple post-exploitation utilities. The abuse of Outlook, […]

3 mins read

QR codes bypass browser isolation for malicious C2 communication

Mandiant has identified a novel method to bypass browser isolation technology and achieve command-and-control operations through QR codes. Browser isolation is an increasingly popular security technology that routes all local web browser requests through remote web browsers hosted in a cloud environment or virtual machines. Any scripts or content on the visited web page is executed […]

4 mins read

New Specula tool uses Outlook for remote code execution in Windows

Microsoft Outlook can be turned into a C2 beacon to remotely execute code, as demonstrated by a new red team post-exploitation framework named “Specula,” released today by cybersecurity firm TrustedSec. This C2 framework works by creating a custom Outlook Home Page using WebView by exploiting CVE-2017-11774, an Outlook security feature bypass vulnerability patched in October 2017. “In […]

3 mins read