Zero‑Dwell Threat Intelligence Report
A narrative, executive‑ready view into the malware’s behavior, exposure, and reliable defenses.
Generated: 2026-06-08 08:11:10 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
ai4t81.exe
Type
Win64 Executable (generic)
SHA‑1
1ae8a59b1fa5fe0fac04b5f8b3d7ff84aced2d71
MD5
c0738cfa4f1488956ef4aef054c3144a
First Seen
2026-06-05 11:41:37.527438
Last Analysis
2026-06-05 17:27:52.813573
Dwell Time
5 hours 46 minutes
Extended Dwell Time Impact
For 5+ 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-03-09 10:44:42 UTC | First VirusTotal submission | — |
| 2026-06-05 19:01:46 UTC | Latest analysis snapshot | 88 days, 8 hours, 17 minutes |
| 2026-06-08 08:11:10 UTC | Report generation time | 90 days, 21 hours, 26 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: 71. Detected as malicious: 47. Missed: 24. Coverage: 66.2%.
Detected Vendors
- Xcitium
- +46 additional vendors (names not provided)
List includes Xcitium plus an additional 18 vendors per the provided summary.
Missed Vendors
- Acronis
- APEX
- Bkav
- CAT-QuickHeal
- ClamAV
- CMC
- Cylance
- DeepInstinct
- DrWeb
- Gridinsoft
- huorong
- Jiangmin
- NANO-Antivirus
- SentinelOne
- SUPERAntiSpyware
- TACHYON
- tehtris
- Trapmine
- VBA32
- VirIT
- Webroot
- Xcitium
- Yandex
- 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.
MITRE ATT&CK Mapping
- T1129 – access PEB ldr_data
- T1497.001 – check for Windows sandbox via process name
- T1033 – get session user name
- T1087 – get session user name
- T1057 – enumerate processes
- T1518 – enumerate processes
- T1129 – link function at runtime on Windows
- T1547.001 – persist via Run registry key
- T1129 – get ntdll base address
- T1082 – query environment variable
- T1497.001 – check for Windows sandbox via registry
- T1012 – query or enumerate registry value
- T1497.001 – check for Windows sandbox via genuine state
- T1497 – check for sandbox username or hostname
- T1497.001 – check for Windows sandbox via dns suffix
- T1027 – encode data using XOR
- T1016 – get local IPv4 addresses
- T1083 – enumerate files on Windows
- T1129 – Drops a binary and executes it
- T1071 – Yara detections observed in process dumps, payloads or dropped files
- T1027 – The binary contains an unknown PE section name indicative of packing
- T1027.002 – The binary contains an unknown PE section name indicative of packing
- T1045 – Software Packing
- T1045 – Manalize Local SandBox Packer Harvesting
- T1063 – It Tries to detect injection methods
- T1620 – SetUnhandledExceptionFilter detected: superseding the top-level exception handler of each thread of a process is a common anti-debug technique.
- T1620 – Manalize Local SandBox Strings
- T1036 – Creates files inside the user directory
- T1218.011 – Runs a DLL by calling functions
- T1070.006 – Binary contains a suspicious time stamp
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.
Registry Opened
29
Registry Set
0
Services Started
0
Services Opened
0
Registry Opened (Top 25)
| Key |
|---|
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\GRE_Initialize\DisableUmpdBufferSizeCheck |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\GRE_Initialize |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\GRE_Initialize\DisableMetaFiles |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\rundll32.exe |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Ole\FeatureDevelopmentProperties |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\AppModel\Lookaside\machine |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\OLE\Tracing |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Wow64\x86\xtajit |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\SdbUpdates\ManifestedMergeStubSdbs |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Ole |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SideBySide |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Display |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\MUI\Settings |
| HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\cmd.exe |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\OLE |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\SdbUpdates |
| HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\OSDATA\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\AppModel\Lookaside\user |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Segment Heap |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\loaddll64.exe |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options |
| HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\LanguageOverlay\OverlayPackages\en-US |