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Fake AI Assistant Extensions in Google Chrome Web Store Exfiltrate Credentials and Monitor Emails

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3 unique sources, 3 articles

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Over 260,000 Google Chrome users downloaded fake AI assistant extensions that steal login credentials, monitor emails, and enable remote access. Researchers at LayerX identified over 30 malicious extensions as part of a coordinated campaign called AiFrame. The extensions mimicked popular AI assistants like Claude AI, ChatGPT, Grok, and Google Gemini. The campaign used extension spraying to evade takedowns, directing users to remote infrastructure to avoid detection. The extensions exfiltrate data from Chrome and Gmail to attacker-controlled servers. LayerX warns that these extensions act as general-purpose access brokers, capable of harvesting data and monitoring user behavior. Many extensions have been removed from the Chrome Web Store, but users who downloaded them remain at risk. Additionally, cybersecurity researchers have discovered a malicious Google Chrome extension named CL Suite by @CLMasters (ID: jkphinfhmfkckkcnifhjiplhfoiefffl) that steals TOTP codes for Facebook and Meta Business accounts, Business Manager contact lists, and analytics data. The extension exfiltrates data to infrastructure controlled by the threat actor, including a backend at getauth[.]pro and a Telegram channel. The extension has 33 users as of writing and was first uploaded to the Chrome Web Store on March 1, 2025. About 500,000 VKontakte users have had their accounts silently hijacked through Chrome extensions masquerading as VK customization tools. The large-scale campaign has been codenamed VK Styles. The malware embedded in the extensions is designed to engage in active account manipulation by automatically subscribing users to the attacker's VK groups, resetting account settings every 30 days to override user preferences, manipulating CSRF tokens to bypass VK's security protections, and maintaining persistent control. A report published by Q Continuum found a huge collection of 287 Chrome extensions that exfiltrate browsing history to data brokers. These extensions have 37.4 million installations, representing roughly 1% of the global Chrome userbase.

Timeline

  1. 13.02.2026 13:25 3 articles · 4d ago

    Fake AI Assistant Extensions in Google Chrome Web Store Exfiltrate Credentials and Monitor Emails

    Over 260,000 Google Chrome users downloaded fake AI assistant extensions that steal login credentials, monitor emails, and enable remote access. Researchers at LayerX identified over 30 malicious extensions as part of a coordinated campaign called AiFrame. The extensions mimicked popular AI assistants like Claude AI, ChatGPT, Grok, and Google Gemini. The campaign used extension spraying to evade takedowns, directing users to remote infrastructure to avoid detection. The extensions exfiltrate data from Chrome and Gmail to attacker-controlled servers. LayerX warns that these extensions act as general-purpose access brokers, capable of harvesting data and monitoring user behavior. Many extensions have been removed from the Chrome Web Store, but users who downloaded them remain at risk. The extensions render a full-screen iframe overlay pointing to a remote domain ("claude.tapnetic[.]pro"), allowing the attackers to remotely introduce new capabilities without requiring a Chrome Web Store update. When instructed by the iframe, the add-ons query the active browser tab and invoke a content script to extract readable article content using Mozilla's Readability library. The malware also supports the capability to start speech recognition and exfiltrate the resulting transcript to the remote page. A smaller set of the extensions contain functionality to specifically target Gmail by reading visible email content directly from the document object model (DOM) when a victim visits mail.google[.]com. When Gmail-related features such as AI-assisted replies or summaries are invoked, the extracted email content is passed into the extension's logic and transmitted to third-party backend infrastructure controlled by the extension operator. LayerX security researcher Natalie Zargarov highlights that the extensions leverage brand association and users' familiarity with well-known model names. The extensions use a full-screen iframe pointing to an attacker-controlled domain, overlaid onto the current page in the victim's browser. The attacker's server captures sensitive information fed into the extensions, which might proxy a real large language model's (LLM) API. The extensions can read page content, transmit it to attacker-controlled servers, and return a summary, potentially retaining the full dataset remotely. The extensions can exfiltrate customer data, trade secrets, and regulated data outside corporate controls. The extensions can appear compliant during review, with clean metadata, limited local code, and no obvious red flags in static analysis. Google may not be deeply analyzing network endpoints, shared TLS certificates, reused hosting providers, and identical JavaScript bundles loaded remotely. Some of the extensions remain available on the Chrome Web Store more than 24 hours after LayerX published its blog post.

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  2. 13.02.2026 13:25 1 articles · 4d ago

    Malicious Chrome Extension CL Suite Steals TOTP Codes and Business Data

    The extension CL Suite by @CLMasters (ID: jkphinfhmfkckkcnifhjiplhfoiefffl) steals TOTP codes for Facebook and Meta Business accounts, Business Manager contact lists, and analytics data. The extension exfiltrates data to infrastructure controlled by the threat actor, including a backend at getauth[.]pro and a Telegram channel. The extension has 33 users as of writing and was first uploaded to the Chrome Web Store on March 1, 2025. The extension does not have capabilities to steal password-related information but can be used to gain unauthorized access to victims' accounts. The extension targets users of Meta Business Suite and Facebook Business Manager, leveraging the extension to conduct data collection and exfiltration without users' knowledge or consent. The extension gives the threat actor enough information to identify high-value targets and mount follow-on attacks. The extension shows how a narrow browser extension can repackage data scraping as a 'tool' for Meta Business Suite and Facebook Business Manager. The extension is purpose-built to scrape high-value Meta surfaces that collect contact lists, access metadata, and 2FA material straight from authenticated pages.

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  3. 13.02.2026 13:25 1 articles · 4d ago

    VK Styles Campaign Hijacks 500,000 VKontakte Accounts via Malicious Chrome Extensions

    About 500,000 VKontakte users have had their accounts silently hijacked through Chrome extensions masquerading as VK customization tools. The large-scale campaign has been codenamed VK Styles. The malware embedded in the extensions is designed to engage in active account manipulation by automatically subscribing users to the attacker's VK groups, resetting account settings every 30 days to override user preferences, manipulating CSRF tokens to bypass VK's security protections, and maintaining persistent control. The activity has been traced to a threat actor operating under the GitHub username 2vk, who has relied on VK's own social network to distribute malicious payloads and build a follower base through forced subscriptions. The names of the extensions are VK Styles - Themes for vk.com (ID: ceibjdigmfbbgcpkkdpmjokkokklodmc), VK Music - audio saver (ID: mflibpdjoodmoppignjhciadahapkoch), Music Downloader - VKsaver (ID: lgakkahjfibfgmacigibnhcgepajgfdb), vksaver - music saver vk (ID: bndkfmmbidllaiccmpnbdonijmicaafn), and VKfeed - Download Music and Video from VK (ID: pcdgkgbadeggbnodegejccjffnoakcoh). The campaign has been active since at least June 22, 2025, when the initial version of the payload was pushed to the "-" repository. The repository associated with the VK Styles campaign is still accessible as of writing, with the file, simply named "C," receiving a total of 17 commits between June 2025 and January 2026. The repository shows deliberate refinement, indicating that the malware is a maintained software project with version control, testing, and iterative improvements. The campaign has primarily affected Russian-speaking users, who are VK's main demographic, as well as users across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Russian diaspora communities globally.

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  4. 13.02.2026 13:25 1 articles · 4d ago

    287 Chrome Extensions Exfiltrate Browsing History to Data Brokers

    A report published by Q Continuum found a huge collection of 287 Chrome extensions that exfiltrate browsing history to data brokers. These extensions have 37.4 million installations, representing roughly 1% of the global Chrome userbase.

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Information Snippets

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DarkSpectre Campaigns Target 8.8 Million Users with Malicious Browser Extensions

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