Zero‑Dwell Threat Intelligence Report
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.
Extended Dwell Time Impact
For 1+ days, this malware remained undetected — a brief but concerning window that permitted the adversary to establish initial foothold, perform basic system enumeration, and potentially access immediate system resources.
Comparative Context
Industry studies report a median dwell time closer to 21–24 days. This case is significantly below that median, suggesting relatively quick detection.
Timeline
| Time (UTC) | Event | Elapsed |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-09-11 20:49:30 UTC | First VirusTotal submission | — |
| 2025-11-19 12:44:25 UTC | Latest analysis snapshot | 68 days, 15 hours, 54 minutes |
| 2025-11-20 08:34:10 UTC | Report generation time | 69 days, 11 hours, 44 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: 56. Missed: 17. Coverage: 76.7%.
Detected Vendors
- Xcitium
- +55 additional vendors (names not provided)
List includes Xcitium plus an additional 55 vendors per the provided summary.
Missed Vendors
- Acronis
- Antiy-AVL
- APEX
- Baidu
- Bkav
- ClamAV
- CMC
- google_safebrowsing
- Gridinsoft
- Jiangmin
- SUPERAntiSpyware
- TACHYON
- tehtris
- Trapmine
- VBA32
- VirIT
- Zoner
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 (72.86% 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 | 51 | 72.86% |
| Device | 6 | 8.57% |
| File System | 4 | 5.71% |
| Process | 3 | 4.29% |
| Hooking | 2 | 2.86% |
| Misc | 2 | 2.86% |
| Registry | 2 | 2.86% |
MITRE ATT&CK Mapping
- T1129 – parse PE header
- T1027 – encrypt data using Salsa20 or ChaCha
- T1027 – encrypt data using HC-128 via WolfSSL
- T1543.003 – modify service
- T1569.002 – modify service
- T1027 – encrypt data using AES via x86 extensions
- T1057 – enumerate process modules
- T1112 – delete registry value
- T1543.003 – stop service
- T1489 – stop service
- T1027 – encrypt data using speck
- T1059 – accept command line arguments
- T1497.001 – reference anti-VM strings targeting VMWare
- T1082 – get hostname
- T1129 – link many functions at runtime
- T1490 – delete volume shadow copies
- T1070.004 – delete volume shadow copies
- T1497.001 – reference anti-VM strings targeting VirtualPC
- T1027 – encode data using Base64
- T1497.001 – reference anti-VM strings targeting Xen
- T1134 – modify access privileges
- T1027 – encrypt data using RC4 PRGA
- T1007 – query service status
- T1016 – get local IPv4 addresses
- T1529 – shutdown system
- T1012 – query or enumerate registry value
- T1082 – get system information on Windows
- T1135 – enumerate network shares
- T1082 – query environment variable
- T1027.005 – contain obfuscated stackstrings
- T1082 – get MAC address on Windows
- T1033 – get session user name
- T1087 – get session user name
- T1083 – get common file path
- T1027 – encode data using XOR
- T1497.001 – reference anti-VM strings targeting Parallels
- T1007 – enumerate services
- T1222 – set file attributes
- T1082 – get disk information
- T1083 – check if file exists
- T1082 – enumerate disk volumes
- T1497.001 – reference anti-VM strings
- T1129 – link function at runtime on Windows
- T1547.001 – persist via Run registry key
- T1497.001 – reference anti-VM strings targeting VirtualBox
- T1071 – Binary file triggered multiple YARA rules
- T1106 – Guard pages use detected – possible anti-debugging.
- T1055 – Contains .tls (Thread Local Storage) section
- T1027 – The binary likely contains encrypted or compressed data
- T1027.002 – The binary likely contains encrypted or compressed data
- T1569.002 – Found PSEXEC tool (often used for remote process execution)
- T1542.003 – May use bcdedit to modify the Windows boot settings
- T1562.001 – Creates guard pages, often used to prevent reverse engineering and debugging
- T1070.004 – May delete shadow drive data (may be related to ransomware)
- T1560 – Public key (encryption) found
- T1090 – Found Tor onion address
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 | 23.200.3.27 | United States | Akamai 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 |
|---|---|
| 5isohu.com | A |
| www.msftncsi.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 | 5 | udp |
| 53 | 4 | udp |
| 3702 | 1 | udp |
UDP Packets
| Source IP | Dest IP | Sport | Dport | Time | Proto |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 192.168.56.13 | 192.168.56.255 | 137 | 137 | 3.2575478553771973 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 224.0.0.252 | 49311 | 5355 | 5.791687965393066 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 224.0.0.252 | 55150 | 5355 | 3.1737148761749268 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 224.0.0.252 | 60010 | 5355 | 5.477185010910034 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 224.0.0.252 | 62406 | 5355 | 3.178403854370117 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 224.0.0.252 | 63527 | 5355 | 4.375309944152832 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 239.255.255.250 | 52252 | 3702 | 3.189997911453247 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.4.4 | 54879 | 53 | 8.116183996200562 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.4.4 | 54881 | 53 | 7.209751844406128 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.8.8 | 54879 | 53 | 9.11603593826294 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.8.8 | 54881 | 53 | 8.210108995437622 | udp |
Hunting tip: alert on unknown binaries initiating TLS to IP‑lookup services or unusual CDN endpoints — especially early in execution.
Persistence & Policy — Registry and Services
Registry and service telemetry points to policy awareness and environment reconnaissance rather than noisy persistence. Below is a compact view of the most relevant keys and handles; expand to see the full lists where available.
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Registry Opened (Top 25)
| Key |
|---|
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\GRE_Initialize |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters\RpcCacheTimeout |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\GRE_Initialize\DisableMetaFiles |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\GRE_Initialize\DisableUmpdBufferSizeCheck |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\MUI\UILanguages\en-US |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\system\CurrentControlSet\control\NetworkProvider\HwOrder |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Wow64\x86 |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\system\CurrentControlSet\control\NetworkProvider\ProviderOrder |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Nls\CustomLocale |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\AppModel\Lookaside\user |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\OSDATA\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Segment Heap |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\OLE |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\GRE_Initialize |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WOW6432Node\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\OLEAUT |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Ole\FeatureDevelopmentProperties |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\AppModel\Lookaside\machine |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Policies\Microsoft\Cryptography\Configuration |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Ole |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\OLE\Tracing |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\tester.exe |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Disable8And16BitMitigation |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\SdbUpdates |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WOW6432Node\Policies\Microsoft\MUI\Settings |
| HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WOW6432Node\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Display |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\RestartManager |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\SdbUpdates\ManifestedMergeStubSdbs |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager |
Show all (32 total)
Registry Set (Top 25)
Services Started (Top 15)
Services Opened (Top 15)
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.
