Unlike typical malware that steals certificates, BaoLoader's operators are known to register legitimate businesses in Panama and Malaysia specifically to purchase valid code-signing certificates from major certificate authorities to sign their payloads. "With these certificates, their malware appears trustworthy to both users and security tools, allowing them to operate largely undetected while being dismissed as merely potentially unwanted programs (PUPs)," ReliaQuest said. The malware, once launched, abuses "node.exe" to run malicious JavaScript for reconnaissance, in-memory command execution, and backdoor access.
A security vulnerability in the Notepad++ update mechanism has been exploited to spread malicious code. What began as a report within the Notepad++ community at the end of October was later confirmed to be a structural weakness in the updater. Analysis by BleepingComputer shows that attackers were able to execute malware via this mechanism. Notepad++ has since released a fix in version 8.8.9.