Microsoft Warns of WhatsApp-Delivered VBS Malware Hijacking Windows via UAC Bypass
Microsoft is calling attention to a new campaign that has leveraged WhatsApp messages to distribute malicious Visual Basic Script (VBS) files.
The activity, beginning in late February 2026, leverages these scripts to initiate a multi-stage infection chain for establishing persistence and enabling remote access. It's currently not known what lures the threat actors use to trick users into executing the scripts.
"The campaign relies on a combination of social engineering and living-off-the-land techniques," the Microsoft Defender Security Research Team said. "It uses renamed Windows utilities to blend into normal system activity, retrieves payloads from trusted cloud services such as AWS, Tencent Cloud, and Backblaze B2, and installs malicious Microsoft Installer (MSI) packages to maintain control of the system."
