Threat actors are distributing the DarkTortilla downloader via phishing websites designed to mimic popular vendors such as Cisco and Grammarly.
The threat actors are delivering links via phishing emails as well as webpage advertisements, should the unsuspecting user fall for the lure and click the malicious link the fake Grammarly site delivers a malicious Grammarly installer contained in an archive file.
Upon execution of the installer executable, a .Net file is dropped and used to retrieve an encrypted png file that is decrypted and loaded into memory to perform additional malicious tasks.
From the site masquerading as a Cisco site the user is served a malicious TeamViewer executable which contains encrypted content that is moved to the memory stack using several MOV commands and is eventually decrypted to retrieve a PE file that is executed via PowerShell commands assembled with the same MOV techniques.
Upon successful compromise the malicious files will create tasks via the task scheduler and retrieve a file named COROTIA.DLL that is the actual DarkTortilla malware used to further infect the system by retrieving addition remote access malware.