Cybersecurity researchers have flagged an active browser extension campaign that is designed to steal cryptocurrency by stealthily replacing wallet addresses when unsuspecting users initiate a transaction.
The cryptocurrency clipper activity has been codenamed Silent Swap by McAfee Labs.
"The campaign is delivered through unsigned installers – observed in both .NET and Golang variants – that deploy a malicious Chromium extension masquerading as a benign 'Google Notes' utility," the cybersecurity company said in a technical report shared with The Hacker News.
The unsigned .NET installer, named BaseZipInstaller, is designed to retrieve a ZIP archive, which serves as a foundation for the malicious browser extension by scanning the system for Chromium-based browsers. For each detected profile in those browsers, it forcibly terminates the browser process and injects the extension by modifying the Secure Preferences and Preferences files.
The end goal of the extension is to act as a clipper that's capable of intercepting and manipulating wallet addresses copied into the system clipboard with the goal of rerouting the funds to an attacker-controlled wallet. To realize its goals, the bogus Google Notes extension requests users to grant it permissions to access the clipboard, all URLs, and the browsing history.
