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Zero‑Dwell Threat Intelligence Report

A narrative, executive‑ready view into the malware’s behavior, exposure, and reliable defenses.
Generated: 2025-11-14 22:21:49 UTC

Executive Overview — What We’re Dealing With

This specimen has persisted long enough to matter. Human experts classified it as Malware, and the telemetry confirms a capable, evasive Trojan with real impact potential.

File
p2zsux0.exe
Type
PE32 executable (GUI) Intel 80386, for MS Windows
SHA‑1
995a47bae877e16708220c61a32deaee076f86ea
MD5
be8cb58cccc4650768072dfff8071ef9
First Seen
2025-10-06 08:37:08.100439
Last Analysis
2025-10-06 13:34:33.699145
Dwell Time
0 days, 7 hours, 33 minutes

Extended Dwell Time Impact

For 4+ hours, this malware remained undetected — a limited but sufficient window for the adversary to complete initial execution and establish basic system access.

Comparative Context

Industry studies report a median dwell time closer to 21–24 days. This case represents rapid detection and containment within hours rather than days.

Timeline

Time (UTC) Event Elapsed
2025-10-06 05:21:25 UTC First VirusTotal submission
2025-10-08 14:03:00 UTC Latest analysis snapshot 2 days, 8 hours, 41 minutes
2025-11-05 07:21:49 UTC Report generation time 30 days, 2 hours, 0 minutes

Why It Matters

Every additional day of dwell time is not just an abstract number — it is attacker opportunity. Each day equates to more time for lateral movement, stealth persistence, and intelligence gathering.

Global Detection Posture — Who Caught It, Who Missed It

VirusTotal engines: 73. Detected as malicious: 67. Missed: 6. Coverage: 91.8%.

Detected Vendors

  • Xcitium
  • +66 additional vendors (names not provided)

List includes Xcitium plus an additional 66 vendors per the provided summary.

Missed Vendors

  • Bkav
  • CMC
  • Paloalto
  • TACHYON
  • TrendMicro
  • Yandex

Why it matters: if any endpoint relies solely on a missed engine, this malware can operate with zero alerts. Prevention‑first controls close that gap regardless of signature lag.

Behavioral Storyline — How the Malware Operates

Dominant system-level operations (40.15% of behavior) suggest this malware performs deep system reconnaissance, privilege escalation, or core OS manipulation. It’s actively probing system defenses and attempting to gain administrative control.

Behavior Categories (weighted)

Weight values represent the frequency and intensity of malware interactions with specific system components. Higher weights indicate more aggressive targeting of that category. Each operation (registry access, file modification, network connection, etc.) contributes to the category’s total weight, providing a quantitative measure of the malware’s behavioral focus.

Category Weight Percentage
System 267 40.15%
Registry 266 40.00%
File System 45 6.77%
Process 34 5.11%
Device 22 3.31%
Windows 13 1.95%
Synchronization 8 1.20%
Com 6 0.90%
Misc 4 0.60%

MITRE ATT&CK Mapping

  • T1027 – encrypt data using RC4 PRGA
  • T1059 – accept command line arguments
  • T1564.003 – hide graphical window

Following the Trail — Network & DNS Activity

Outbound activity leans on reputable infrastructure (e.g., CDNs, cloud endpoints) to blend in. TLS sessions and
HTTP calls show routine beaconing and IP‑lookup behavior that can masquerade as normal browsing.

Contacted Domains

Domain IP Country ASN/Org
www.msftncsi.com 2.18.67.72 Europe Akamai Technologies
www.aieov.com 13.248.169.48 United States Amazon Technologies Inc.

Observed IPs

IP Country ASN/Org
224.0.0.252
239.255.255.250
8.8.4.4 United States Google LLC
8.8.8.8 United States Google LLC

DNS Queries

Request Type
www.msftncsi.com A
5isohu.com A
www.aieov.com A

Contacted IPs

IP Country ASN/Org
224.0.0.252
239.255.255.250
8.8.4.4 United States Google LLC
8.8.8.8 United States Google LLC

Port Distribution

Port Count Protocols
137 1 udp
5355 4 udp
53 8 udp
3702 1 udp

UDP Packets

Source IP Dest IP Sport Dport Time Proto
192.168.56.13 192.168.56.255 137 137 7.233143091201782 udp
192.168.56.13 224.0.0.252 55150 5355 7.082610130310059 udp
192.168.56.13 224.0.0.252 60010 5355 10.169663906097412 udp
192.168.56.13 224.0.0.252 62406 5355 7.560671091079712 udp
192.168.56.13 224.0.0.252 63527 5355 8.311630964279175 udp
192.168.56.13 239.255.255.250 52252 3702 8.185245990753174 udp
192.168.56.13 8.8.4.4 49311 53 10.920520067214966 udp
192.168.56.13 8.8.4.4 54879 53 26.434627056121826 udp
192.168.56.13 8.8.4.4 54881 53 10.984218120574951 udp
192.168.56.13 8.8.4.4 58697 53 40.8097140789032 udp
192.168.56.13 8.8.8.8 49311 53 11.919652938842773 udp
192.168.56.13 8.8.8.8 54879 53 25.435336112976074 udp
192.168.56.13 8.8.8.8 54881 53 11.982080936431885 udp
192.168.56.13 8.8.8.8 58697 53 39.810665130615234 udp

Hunting tip: alert on unknown binaries initiating TLS to IP‑lookup services or unusual CDN endpoints — especially early in execution.

What To Do Now — Practical Defense Playbook

  • Contain unknowns: block first‑run binaries by default — signatures catch up, containment works now.
  • EDR controls: alert on keyboard hooks, screen capture APIs, VM/sandbox checks, and command‑shell launches.
  • Registry watch: flag queries/sets under policy paths (e.g., …\FipsAlgorithmPolicy\*).
  • Network rules: inspect outbound TLS to IP‑lookup services and unexpected CDN endpoints.
  • Hunt broadly: sweep endpoints for the indicators above and quarantine positives immediately.

Dwell time equals attacker opportunity. Reducing execution privileges and egress shrinks that window even when vendors disagree.

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