A previously undocumented Windows-based information stealer called
ThirdEye has been discovered in the wild with capabilities to harvest sensitive data from infected hosts.
Fortinet FortiGuard Labs, which
made the discovery, said it found the malware in an executable that masqueraded as a
PDF file with a Russian name "CMK Правила оформления больничных листов.pdf.exe," which translates to "CMK Rules for issuing sick leaves.pdf.exe."
The arrival vector for the malware is presently unknown, although the nature of the lure points to it being used in a phishing campaign. The very
first ThirdEye sample was uploaded to VirusTotal on April 4, 2023, with relatively fewer features.
The evolving stealer, like other malware families of its kind, is equipped to gather system metadata, including BIOS release date and vendor, total/free disk space on the C drive, currently running processes, register usernames, and volume information. The amassed details are then transmitted to a command-and-control (C2) server. A notable trait of the malware is that it uses the string "3rd_eye" to beacon its presence to the C2 server.
There are no signs to suggest that ThirdEye has been utilized in the wild. That having said, given that a majority of the stealer artifacts were uploaded to VirusTotal from Russia, it's likely that the malicious activity is aimed at Russian-speaking organizations.
"While this malware is not considered sophisticated, it's designed to steal various information from compromised machines that can be used as stepping-stones for future attacks," Fortinet researchers said, adding the collected data is "valuable for understanding and narrowing down potential targets."
