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New OXLOADER Loader Uses Malicious Google Ads to Deliver CastleStealer

Thehackernews •[email protected] (The Hacker News) • June 22, 2026

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This article is one source in a clustered incident — the cluster page carries the summary, timeline and every other outlet covering it.

OXLOADER Malware Loader Delivers CASTLESTEALER via Malicious Google Ads A new Windows loader named OXLOADER is delivering the CASTLESTEALER infostealer through malicious Google Ads. This previously undocumented malware employs advanced obfuscation techniques and abuses the Windows .reloc section to evade detection. Victims searching for Node.js were redirected to a fake landing page, leading to a batch script hosted on Storj that executed OXLOADER. The threat actor is believed to be a financially motivated Russian-speaking group, with the campaign targeting users in the CIS region. The malicious ads were removed from Google on May 14, 2026, but the threat remains active. The loader uses multiple anti-VM checks and sophisticated code-hiding techniques to avoid detection by security tools. 3 sources 71

Extracted Entities

New OXLOADER Loader Uses Malicious Google Ads to Deliver CastleStealer

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Extracted Entities

Attack Types (1)

Malware (2)

Platforms (1)