New browser attack lets hackers run bad code even after users leave a web page

[Mohammad.Poorya]

Academics from Greece have devised a new browser-based attack that can allow hackers to run malicious code inside users' browsers even after users have closed or navigated away from the web page on which they got infected.

This new attack, called MarioNet, opens the door for assembling giant botnets from users' browsers. These botnets can be used for in-browser crypto-mining (cryptojacking), DDoS attacks, malicious files hosting/sharing, distributed password cracking, creating proxy networks, advertising click-fraud, and traffic stats boosting, researchers said.
In their research paper, the research crew also describes methods through which MarioNet could avoid detected by anti-malware browser extensions and anti-mining countermeasures, and also puts forward several mitigations that browser makers could take.

The MarioNet attack will be presented today at the NDSS 2019 conference in San Diego, USA. More details about MarioNet are available in an accompanying research paper entitled "Master of Web Puppets: Abusing Web Browsers for Persistent and Stealthy Computation," available for download in PDF format from here.