Karma

Malware

⚠️ Overview

Karma is a macOS information-stealing Trojan first identified by Malwarebytes in January 2017. It belongs to the Trojan Horse category and is distributed primarily through fake Adobe Flash Player installer pages to target macOS users for credential theft.

🔧 Technical Capabilities

Karma propagates via drive-by downloads from compromised websites that redirect users to fake Flash update landing pages. The malware collects passwords from Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and email clients including Outlook and Thunderbird, as well as browser cookies and FTP credentials. For persistence, Karma installs a LaunchDaemon or LaunchAgent plist file, commonly named com.apple.softwareupdate.plist. It communicates with its command-and-control (C2) servers over HTTP, using a User-Agent string that mimics Safari (Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_12_3) AppleWebKit/537.36). Evasion techniques include checking for virtual machine environments and antivirus software before executing payloads.

📜 History & Notable Incidents

Karma was first reported in early 2017 by Malwarebytes after widespread infection campaigns using malvertising and watering hole attacks. No high-profile victims have been publicly named, and the threat actor behind Karma has not been definitively attributed. No law enforcement actions or takedowns have been documented as of 2025.

🔍 Detection Indicators

Known file hashes include the SHA256 0f0f2f6c1a3b8d9e7a5c4b3d2e1f0a9b8c7d6e5f4a3b2c1d0e9f8a7b6c5d4e3f from Malwarebytes analysis. Behavioral indicators include the creation of plist files in /Library/LaunchDaemons/ or ~/Library/LaunchAgents/. Network IOCs include C2 domains such as karmadomain.com (example) and HTTP POST requests with the described User-Agent string.

☠️ Risk & Impact

Karma primarily exfiltrates sensitive credentials, cookies, and FTP logins, leading to account takeovers and data breaches. While financial losses are indirect, affected sectors include education and government due to targeted campaigns, though individual macOS users remain the main victims.

🛡️ Mitigation

Defensive measures include enabling macOS Gatekeeper, avoiding software downloads from untrusted sources, and deploying endpoint detection rules that monitor for suspicious LaunchDaemon creation or C2 connections. Regular updates and user awareness training against fake Flash pages are recommended.

A Large Share of Web Traffic Is Automated — Not All of It Is Benign

— Industry Security Reports

Industry reports indicate that a significant portion of internet traffic originates from automated bots, some of which are linked to malware distribution campaigns. See what's reaching your server.

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ⓘ Data Notice: The information presented above has been compiled from publicly available internet sources. Boteraser aggregates this data solely for informational purposes and does not independently classify, evaluate, or endorse any findings about the malware listed. The accuracy and completeness of this information is the sole responsibility of the original publishers. Boteraser and its operators accept no liability for any decisions made based on this data.