The first obtained the necessary rights through the Launch Daemon, which required a user password. However, many of the malicious applications continue to go unidentified by most vendors.Īnd such a “gift” was hidden in the distribution of a well-known “supplier” on the Pirate Bay, which also offers Photoshop and Logic Pro.Īccording to Jamf Threat Labs, this is the third version of such a mining malware. Since January 2023, a handful of vendors have detected the malware. Further investigation revealed that this malicious version of Final Cut Pro contained a modification unauthorized by Apple that was executing XMRig in the background.Īt the time of our discovery, this particular sample was not detected as malicious by any security vendors on VirusTotal. This particular instance was of interest to us as it was executed under the guise of the Apple-developed video editing software, Final Cut Pro. While XMRig is commonly used for legitimate purposes, its adaptable, open-source design has also made it a popular choice for malicious actors. Over the past few months Jamf Threat Labs has been following a family of malware that resurfaced and has been operating undetected, despite an earlier iteration being a known quantity to the security community.ĭuring routine monitoring of our threat detections in the wild, we encountered an alert indicating XMRig usage, a command-line crypto-mining tool. In one of the most popular programs for non-linear video editing from Apple, a “malware” was found that allows mining in the background, perfectly bypasses antivirus security and hides from the user. It’s hard to find a video editor who hasn’t heard of Final Cut Pro. And this time it happened with Final Cut Pro. For example, by “planting” relevant software in pirated versions of programs, which allows you to use other people’s PC (or other devices) resources for mining. Over time, cryptocurrency mining becomes an increasingly expensive process, and some criminals find ways to get “coins” using other people’s resources.

Piratebay final cut pro