Cybercriminals aren’t always loud and obvious. Sometimes, they play it quiet and smart. One of the tricks of making the rounds is called ClickFix. It doesn’t break down doors. Instead, it politely waits for you to open them.
What makes ClickFix concerning for businesses is how perfectly it blends into everyday digital experiences. The malware hides behind familiar elements like CAPTCHA forms or pop-up messages, tricking employees into triggering malware without realizing it.
Let’s unpack how ClickFix works, why it poses a serious risk to companies, and what security teams can do to detect and stop it before it causes any damage.
What’s ClickFix? Turning Routine Clicks into Risks for Business
Instead of deploying malware right away, attackers create convincing decoys like CAPTCHA forms, pop-ups, or login prompts. The real danger starts the moment someone clicks.
That single click, something as simple as “verifying” access, silently triggers a command or download that launches the attack. And because the malware stays dormant until a real user engages, most traditional security tools don’t flag it. To them, it looks like someone just followed a normal prompt.
Why this technique bypasses most defences:
- Human-triggered execution: No payload is delivered until there’s a real click, automated scanners don’t simulate that.
- Blends into daily routines: CAPTCHA clicks, browser pop-ups, or login prompts don’t raise alarms on their own.
- Staggered behaviour: By delaying the malicious activity, ClickFix avoids matching the usual malware patterns that detection tools are trained to spot.
Spotting ClickFix: Why You Need to Click to Catch It
ClickFix isn’t easy to spot. That’s because it doesn’t do anything until you do something first. Most security tools aren’t built to handle that kind of behaviour. If nothing looks suspicious right away, they assume everything’s fine.
But that’s exactly the problem.
To catch ClickFix, the phishing page needs to be tested in an environment where someone can actually interact with it, just like a real user would. That’s why interactive sandboxes are so effective here.
Unlike automated tools that only watch from the outside, sandboxes that allow manual interaction can trigger hidden behaviour and show exactly how the malware unfolds.
A Real-World Malware Case Triggered by ClickFix
Let’s take a look at how ClickFix behaves in a real-world scenario when analyzed in an interactive sandbox environment.
In this ANY.RUN analysis session, the malware disguises itself behind a fake CAPTCHA page. At first glance, it looks like a harmless verification step, something users see all the time. But once the user starts interacting, the trap is set.
The page instructs the user to:
- Press Windows + R
- Paste the command from the clipboard (which was automatically copied when they checked the fake CAPTCHA) into the Run dialogue
- Hit Enter
What seems like a normal process actually triggers a hidden PowerShell script. If the user follows these steps, the malware is quietly executed in the background, giving the attacker access to the system or downloading additional payloads.
This behaviour was fully revealed inside ANY.RUN’s interactive sandbox, where analysts could replicate the exact steps a user might take. As the sandbox allowed full interaction, the fake CAPTCHA page responded and moved the infection process forward, exposing the malware’s logic and payload.
Without that interaction, the malware would’ve remained dormant and undetected; a key reason why techniques like ClickFix are so difficult to catch using automated or passive analysis tools.
Techniques ClickFix Uses to Trick Users
The interactive nature of the sandbox makes it possible to detect how ClickFix operates in different scenarios, all designed to make users do the work for the attacker.
Here are some of the ways this technique has been observed in action, using ANY.RUN’s sandbox:
- Fake CAPTCHA pages – Users are asked to complete a CAPTCHA, then instructed to open the Run dialogue and paste a PowerShell command. Once executed, the malware runs in the background.
- Fake “Account Verification” prompts – After entering fake login details, users are guided to run a script manually to “verify” their account, which actually launches the malicious payload.
- Fake security warnings – Popups pretending to be from Windows or antivirus software tell users to press Windows + R and run a command to “fix” an issue. The command is malicious.
- Fake software activation pages – Attackers offer a fake trial or activation step, asking users to copy a script into the terminal or Run dialogue, unknowingly executing malware.
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Don’t Let Clicks Turn into Compromises
ClickFix shows just how far attackers will go to stay hidden, using everyday interactions to deliver dangerous payloads.
To protect against threats like this, businesses need more than surface-level detection. They need the ability to interact, observe, and understand how malware behaves in real scenarios. That’s exactly what an interactive sandbox provides.
Don’t wait for an incident to reveal the gaps, get ahead of tactics like ClickFix before they slip through.
Disclosure: This article was provided by ANY.RUN. The information and analysis presented are based on their research and findings.