Malware is abusing car infotainment updates to install proxy software, turning Android head units into nodes for the BADBOX network. Kaspersky researchers found something in June 2026 that made them stop and look twice: an Android app with no interface at all, installed like any ordinary app but making zero effort to disguise itself as legitimate. Their report documents the first known malware infection targeting car head units, the Android-based infotainment and control systems built into many modern vehicles, spread through the vehicle’s own official update mechanism. Head units run Android for practical reasons, since manufacturers can build on existing source code and add their own custom system apps during production. That flexibility cuts both ways. Because head units are just Android devices under the hood, most apps built for smartphones can technically run on them too, including malware, even though something like a banking trojan would be wasted effort on a device nobody uses for mobile banking. Kaspersky researchers found something unusual in June 2026: an Android app with no visible interface that was installed like a normal app but did not try to look legitimate. Their report describes what they say is the first known malware infection targeting car head units, Android-based systems used for infotainment and vehicle controls, delivered through the car’s official update system. “We identified new Android malware: a multi-stage downloader whose ultimate purpose is ad fraud and creation of a proxy botnet.” reads the report published by Kaspersky. “The malware spread through the built-in updaters of Android-based automotive head unit firmware. This is the first documented case of malware found on a car head unit with an infection chain specific to that type of device.” Car head units often use Android because it is flexible and lets manufacturers add their own software. But this also creates a security risk. Since these systems are basically Android devices, many apps designed for smartphones can also run on them, including malware. The infection chain here starts inside TWCore, a completely legitimate system app responsible for analytics and firmware updates on DoFun head units. An MQTT message broker sends TWCore instructions about which APK files to download and install, and a specific configuration flag called installNotExists controls whether the app checks if something is already installed before pushing it. “TWCore only checks whether an app is already installed on the device when installNotExists = false The APK file is downloaded to <TWCore external cache dir>/push/apk/ for installation.” which means setting that flag the other way turns a routine update channel into a silent installation pipeline for anything the attackers want to push. What gets installed through that channel is a small dropper called JarService, carrying zero user interface and doing nothing but decrypting and loading the next stage. That stage is a loader that phones home to a command server, reports basic device details, and receives a download link for the actual payload, a third-stage module researchers found could be pulled in at least seven different versions simply by trying different version numbers in the download URL. That third stage turns out to be a clicker and reverse proxy component, checking in with its server every 90 minutes by default and waiting for new instructions. “In this stage, the malware sends a POST request to /cpc/api/task every 90 minutes by default, containing information about the infected device (display resolution, device model, the SSID of the connected Wi-Fi network, MAC address, and so on) along with the Trojan’s configuration version.” continues the report. “If the configuration is outdated, the C2 server returns an updated configuration containing new C2 addresses and new paths for sending HTTP requests.” The command system behind the malware is more powerful than you might expect from something running silently on a car’s dashboard. Researchers found nine commands, including ones that can change the clipboard, send HTTP requests, load web pages, and run JavaScript. In practice, attackers mainly used two: one to download and run new code, and another to send web requests. The extra module they deployed, called “zhima,” was a reverse proxy. This means the main goal was not to attack or control the car. Instead, the attackers wanted to use infected cars’ internet connections as part of a larger proxy network. Tracing the malware’s naming conventions and infrastructure led researchers to attribute the campaign, with high confidence, to MoYu Group, an actor connected to the BADBOX botnet that’s been documented previously by other researchers. A thread inside the second-stage loader carried the internal name “mosdk-host-loader,” which pointed toward malware previously found on TV set-top boxes tied to the same group, and overlapping network infrastructure independently spotted by a separate research team around the same time backed up the connection. The command system behind the malware is more powerful than you might expect from something running silently on a car’s dashboard. Researchers found nine commands, including ones that can change the clipboard, send HTTP requests, load web pages, and run JavaScript. In practice, attackers mainly used two: one to download and run new code, and another to send web requests. The extra module they deployed, called “zhima,” was a reverse proxy. This means the main goal was not to attack or control the car. Instead, the attackers wanted to use infected cars’ internet connections as part of a larger proxy network. There is also a strange detail in the network’s infrastructure. The proxy service’s admin panel allows people to create accounts if they have a valid invite code. Its copyright text and login page also look similar to those used by at least two commercial residential-proxy services. This suggests the network may be linked to a business-like proxy service, while also using infected cars to provide internet connections. BADBOX has survived several takedown attempts by researchers and law enforcement. This campaign shows why: the people behind it keep changing how they spread the malware and are moving into new types of devices. Cars are now joining smart TVs and set-top boxes as devices that can be quietly added to a botnet. As cars become more like computers, they also need the same kind of security protection. Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon Pierluigi Paganini (SecurityAffairs – hacking, Android Car)
Using the same email, phone number, payment method, and other identifiers makes it easier for data brokers and attackers to profile your activity. Anonyome Labs explains how separate digital personas can reduce correlation and limit the impact of breaches, spam, and identity theft.
Microsoft has patched a maximum-severity vulnerability in the Entra ID identity and access management (IAM) platform that has been exploited in attacks.
Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) says a cybersecurity incident exposed the personal information of some current and former employees and job applicants, stemming from a flaw in third-party software. Clinical systems and patient records were not affected. (264)
GitLab flaw CVE-2026-19478 is now under active exploitation, allowing unauthenticated attackers to modify or delete public projects. WatchTowr researchers warn of active exploitation of critical GitLab flaw CVE-2026-19478 (CVSS score of 9.4). This week, GitLab pushed out an emergency patch to address this flaw, which could let an attacker with zero credentials remotely modify or delete public projects and user data. “GitLab has remediated an issue that under certain conditions could allow an unauthenticated user to remotely modify or delete public projects and user data via a GraphQL directive.” reads the advisory. GitLab issued an emergency patch on August 17, five days after its regular update. The vulnerability impacts only self-managed installations, users should upgrade to versions 19.2.4, 19.1.6, 19.0.8, and 18.11.11. There’s a gap worth flagging for anyone still sitting on an older release. The available patches don’t cover the 18.2 through 18.10 branches, even though those versions technically fall inside the affected range. If you’re running anything in that window, staying put isn’t really an option; you’ll need to upgrade to a patched branch entirely rather than waiting for a fix that isn’t coming for your current one. hiimguardian reported the flaw through the company HackerOne bug bounty program. Organizations should urgently patch internet-facing GitLab servers. Until they can update, they should restrict unauthenticated access to /api/graphql, disable public repositories where possible, and check logs for requests containing @gl_introduced. Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon Pierluigi Paganini (SecurityAffairs – hacking, CVE-2026-19478)
Microsoft on Thursday warned of a maximum-severity security flaw in Entra ID that it said has been exploited in the wild, but noted that no customer action is required. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-69836 (CVSS score: 10.0), is a case of remote code execution impacting the tech giant's cloud-based identity and access management service. It was previously called Azure Active Directory
AI is making phishing attacks more personalized, convincing, and difficult for traditional email filters to detect. Kaseya explains how MSPs can monitor identity, email, and endpoint activity to detect and contain attacks that make it past the inbox.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned federal agencies that threat actors are now exploiting a critical MLflow vulnerability. MLflow is an open-source AI engineering platform for large language models (LLMs) and agents backed by the Linux Foundation, with over 30 million monthly downloads, used by thousands of organizations to debug, evaluate, optimize, and monitor AI applications. Tracked as CVE-2026-64849, this critical DNS-rebinding server-side request forgery (SSRF) bypass in MLflow's outbound webhook delivery was patched in version 3.15.0 and can be used by attackers without privileges to remotely access internal services or cloud metadata configurations on unpatched instances. "The default MLflow Tracking Server (mlflow server, no authentication, default SQLite backend) exposes the model-registry webhooks API unauthenticated, including a synchronous POST /api/2.0/mlflow/webhooks/{id}/test endpoint that returns the upstream response status and body to the caller," MLflow's security team says in a security advisory issued three weeks ago.
A new Android malware named Manic targeting users in multiple European countries has a fallback mechanism for exfiltrating data through nearby infected devices. The malware has been active since at least February and combines spyware, banking fraud, and remote control capabilities. It targets at least 169 banking, government/eID, payment, crypto wallet, messaging, and authenticator/2FA apps, with users in Ukraine being the primary focus. Mobile security company ThreatFabric analyzed the Manic malware and found that it uses transparent overlays on the numeric keypads of legitimate applications to capture victims' taps and reproduce them through Android Accessibility, allowing the legitimate applications to continue functioning normally. After obtaining Accessibility and notification access permissions, the malware can capture the lock PIN/password, intercept notifications and SMS messages, collect files and location data, monitor the screen, and provide remote control to operators via WebRTC sessions.
Unit 42 details how attackers exploit enterprise collaboration tools for identity phishing and credential theft. Discover key defense strategies. The post Identity Abuse Through Trusted Communication Channels appeared first on Unit 42.
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