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A new Google Chrome malware is reportedly locking users out of their system and preventing access to other apps. Dubbed ‘StealC’, the malware uses a new technique called “AutoIt Credential Flusher” that forces victims to enter their Google account credentials to use other apps.
Discovered by researchers at OALABS, the technique has been used in the wild since August 22 this year by traditional malware loaders and info stealing tools like Amadey.
According to the research, StealC uses Chrome’s Kiosk Mode feature, which locks the system in a fullscreen Chrome window and disables common both F11 and Esc keys. In case you are unaware, Kiosk Mode is Chrome functionality often used on public kiosks and demo terminals to limit user interaction.
In this mode, the Google Chrome interface removes browser elements like toolbars, navigation buttons or address bars. The malware uses this mode to show users a page that requires them to enter their Google account credentials if they want to do anything on their machine.
When you type in your username and password, the information is stolen by the StealC, an info stealer discovered in February last year.
If you are infected by the malware and stuck in Chrome’s Kiosk mode, the first thing to keep in mind is that the Esc and F11 won’t help you get back to windowed mode. However, you can use other keyboard shortcuts like “Alt+F4”, “Ctrl + Shift + Esc”, “Ctrl + Alt + Delete” and “Alt+Tab”. To give you a quick recap, Alt+F4 will close the current app, which is Google Chrome in this case while Alt+Tab lets you switch to a different app.
In case the Kiosk mode pops up again, try using Ctrl+Alt+Del to bring up the Windows Task Manager. When it appears, head over to the Processes tab, find and right click on Google Chrome and press the “End task” button. Alternatively, you can also use the Win+R shortcut to bring up the Run app. Here, type “cmd” and hit Enter. On the window that appears, type “taskkill ?IM chrome.exe /F” and press Enter again to run the command. This should stop Chrome and help you get back to the desktop.
If everyone fails, you can also do a hard reset by long pressing the power button and restarting the system. Once you get back, make sure to run an antivirus scan using Windows Defender or any third party security software.
