driver exploitation

Tech Optimizer
January 22, 2026
A large-scale campaign is exploiting the truesight.sys Windows security driver from Adlice Software’s RogueKiller antivirus to disable endpoint detection and response (EDR) and antivirus solutions, facilitating the deployment of ransomware and remote access malware. This attack utilizes over 2,500 validly signed variants of the driver, allowing attackers to manipulate legacy driver signing rules to load pre-2015 signed drivers on Windows 11 machines. The vulnerable TrueSight driver exposes an IOCTL command that enables attackers to terminate security processes, providing them with kernel-level access to bypass user-mode protections. The infection chain typically starts with phishing emails or compromised sites, leading to the installation of a downloader that retrieves additional malicious components. The malware establishes persistence and deploys an EDR killer module targeting nearly 200 security products. Once defenses are disabled, the final payload, often a remote access trojan or ransomware, executes with minimal visibility, completing the attack in as little as 30 minutes.
Winsage
August 30, 2025
In mid-2025, a campaign attributed to the Silver Fox Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) began exploiting a vulnerable Microsoft-signed WatchDog Antimalware driver (amsdk.sys, version 1.0.600) to compromise modern Windows environments. The attackers use the driver's arbitrary process termination capability to bypass endpoint detection and antivirus protections on fully patched Windows 10 and 11 systems. The attack starts with a loader that checks for virtual machines and sandboxes before dropping two drivers into a new directory. These drivers are registered as kernel services, and the loader ensures persistence. The campaign's logic then terminates security service processes by exploiting the driver's vulnerabilities, allowing the injection of a ValleyRAT downloader module that connects to Chinese-hosted C2 servers. After the vulnerability was disclosed, a patched driver (wamsdk.sys, version 1.1.100) was released, but Silver Fox adapted by modifying the driver's signature timestamp to evade detection while maintaining the signature's validity.
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