{
  "family": "cookiesstealer",
  "sample_count": 1,
  "category": "trojan",
  "description": "<h3>Executive Summary</h3>\n\"CookiesStealer\" is a broad classification (often seen as Trojan.CookiesStealer or Spyware.CookieStealer) rather than a single, distinct malware family. It refers to highly specialized info-stealer malware engineered specifically to target and extract authentication tokens and session cookies from web browsers. By stealing these active sessions, attackers can completely bypass Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and seamlessly hijack a user's authenticated sessions for cloud services, email, and financial portals.\n\n<h3>Infection Vector and Technical Capabilities</h3>\nCookie stealers are frequently deployed as secondary payloads by initial access brokers (via loaders like Emotet or TrickBot) or distributed directly via spear-phishing and malicious software cracks.\n\nOnce executed, the malware focuses its capabilities on rapid, targeted extraction:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Browser Profiling:</strong> The malware scans the local file system to locate the profile directories of all popular web browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Brave). It targets the SQLite databases where the browser stores sensitive data (e.g., `Cookies`, `Login Data`, `Web Data`).</li>\n<li><strong>Decryption and Extraction:</strong> Modern browsers encrypt stored cookies using cryptographic APIs tied to the user's Windows logon session (e.g., DPAPI). The CookieStealer executes with the victim's privileges to seamlessly call the DPAPI decryption functions (`CryptUnprotectData`), retrieving the plaintext session cookies.</li>\n<li><strong>Exfiltration:</strong> The decrypted cookies, along with browser history and saved passwords, are quickly archived into a ZIP file and exfiltrated to the attacker's C2 server, often via HTTP POST requests or Telegram bots.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<h3>Threat Assessment</h3>\nA CookiesStealer infection is a catastrophic security event. The theft of session cookies (particularly \"Pass-the-Cookie\" attacks) allows an attacker to immediately access the victim's M365 environment, AWS consoles, or webmail *without* needing the password or triggering an MFA prompt, making detection via traditional identity monitoring extremely difficult.\n\n<h3>Incident Response and Remediation</h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Immediate Session Revocation:</strong> Assume total compromise of the user's digital identity. You must forcefully revoke all active tokens and sessions for the affected user across all identity providers (Azure AD, Okta, Google Workspace). Simply changing the password is insufficient, as the stolen cookies may still be valid.</li>\n<li><strong>Endpoint Isolation:</strong> Isolate the compromised host to prevent the stealer from harvesting newly generated cookies if the user logs back in.</li>\n<li><strong>Continuous Authentication Monitoring:</strong> Implement \"Continuous Access Evaluation\" (CAE) policies that can invalidate session cookies if anomalous behavior (e.g., an Impossible Travel alert triggered by the attacker using the stolen cookie from a foreign IP) is detected.</li>\n</ul>",
  "cta": "Published by the SystemHelpdesk team.",
  "aliases": [
    "Trojan.CookiesStealer",
    "Spyware.CookieStealer",
    "PWS.Win32.Cookies"
  ],
  "enrichment_level": "insufficient_information",
  "faq": [],
  "faq_count": 0,
  "mitre_attack": [
    "T1539",
    "T1552.001",
    "T1003",
    "T1048"
  ],
  "cisa_advisory": null,
  "last_updated": "2026-07-01T16:57:26Z",
  "type": "Info-stealer / Spyware",
  "target_industries": [
    "Global / Opportunistic"
  ],
  "motivation": "Opportunistic",
  "threat_actors": [
    "Unknown / Cybercriminal"
  ],
  "target_geographies": [
    "Global"
  ]
}