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 305+ days, this malware remained undetected — an unusually long window that granted the adversary the
ability to persist, recon, and potentially exfiltrate data with zero alerts.
Comparative Context
Industry studies report a median dwell time closer to 21–24 days. This case doubles that benchmark,
highlighting a severe detection gap.
Timeline
Time (UTC) | Event | Elapsed |
---|---|---|
2024-10-27 | First VirusTotal submission | — |
2025-08-29 | Latest analysis snapshot | 305 days |
2025-08-27 21:37:22 UTC | Report generation time | — |
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: 72. Detected as malicious: 50. Missed: 22. Coverage: 69.4%.
Detected Vendors
- Xcitium
- +49 additional vendors (names not provided)
List includes Xcitium plus an additional 49 vendors per the provided summary.
Missed Vendors
- Acronis
- Baidu
- ClamAV
- CMC
- Cynet
- DrWeb
- Gridinsoft
- Jiangmin
- Sangfor Engine Zero
- SecureAge
- SentinelOne
- SUPERAntiSpyware
- TACHYON
- TEHTRIS
- Trapmine
- TrendMicro
- VBA32
- VirIT
- ViRobot
- Webroot
- ZoneAlarm
- 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
This threat blends evasive checks with data collection and outbound communications. Behavior tags point to sandbox detection, prolonged sleeps, registry reconnaissance, and encrypted egress — a classic quiet‑then‑talk pattern.
Behavior Categories (weighted)
- process: 18.18%
- file system: 42.52%
- misc: 0.59%
- system: 36.36%
- registry: 2.35%
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 |
---|---|---|---|
www.msftncsi.com | 23.200.3.20 | United States | Akamai Technologies, Inc. |
Observed IPs
IP | Country | ASN/Org |
---|---|---|
No Records Found | — | — |
DNS Queries
Hostname | Type | ||
---|---|---|---|
5isohu.com | A | 15.91563105583191 | |
www.msftncsi.com | A | 18.64970302581787 |
Hunting tip: alert on unknown binaries initiating TLS to IP‑lookup services or unusual CDN endpoints — especially early in execution.
Registry Set
Key | Value |
---|---|
\REGISTRY\A\{3391629d-2306-7745-7060-e1345630b369}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\PermissionsCheckTestKey | |
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\Debug | |
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\Debug\ExceptionRecord | 05 00 00 C0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 CC 76 FA 5D FE 7F 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0 |
\REGISTRY\A\{72137551-cce1-236a-a7f9-65acc8c63d89}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\PermissionsCheckTestKey | |
\REGISTRY\A\{84d2ac07-0fa0-f3a1-82cb-3cab82d7ad49}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\PermissionsCheckTestKey | |
\REGISTRY\A\{1a1567db-80d8-8efa-0e00-11457551e68a}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\PermissionsCheckTestKey | |
\REGISTRY\A\{1a1567db-80d8-8efa-0e00-11457551e68a}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\loaddll64.exe|f3d72086358f9008 | |
\REGISTRY\A\{1a1567db-80d8-8efa-0e00-11457551e68a}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\loaddll64.exe|f3d72086358f9008\ProgramId | 00065fe1f73225e8c2331b8d373d3f91ac420000ffff |
\REGISTRY\A\{1a1567db-80d8-8efa-0e00-11457551e68a}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\loaddll64.exe|f3d72086358f9008\FileId | 0000f232e0decd548852fa6089e195431b73e94ed0bd |
\REGISTRY\A\{1a1567db-80d8-8efa-0e00-11457551e68a}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\loaddll64.exe|f3d72086358f9008\LowerCaseLongPath | c:\windows\system32\loaddll64.exe |
\REGISTRY\A\{1a1567db-80d8-8efa-0e00-11457551e68a}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\loaddll64.exe|f3d72086358f9008\LongPathHash | loaddll64.exe|f3d72086358f9008 |
\REGISTRY\A\{1a1567db-80d8-8efa-0e00-11457551e68a}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\loaddll64.exe|f3d72086358f9008\Name | loaddll64.exe |
\REGISTRY\A\{1a1567db-80d8-8efa-0e00-11457551e68a}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\loaddll64.exe|f3d72086358f9008\BinaryType | pe64_amd64 |
\REGISTRY\A\{1a1567db-80d8-8efa-0e00-11457551e68a}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\loaddll64.exe|f3d72086358f9008\LinkDate | 09/15/2023 08:23:40 |
\REGISTRY\A\{1a1567db-80d8-8efa-0e00-11457551e68a}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\loaddll64.exe|f3d72086358f9008\Size | 00 88 02 00 00 00 00 00 |
\REGISTRY\A\{1a1567db-80d8-8efa-0e00-11457551e68a}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\loaddll64.exe|f3d72086358f9008\IsPeFile | 1 |
\REGISTRY\A\{1a1567db-80d8-8efa-0e00-11457551e68a}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\loaddll64.exe|f3d72086358f9008\Usn | 20 2F 99 86 00 00 00 00 |
\REGISTRY\A\{1a1567db-80d8-8efa-0e00-11457551e68a}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\loaddll64.exe|f3d72086358f9008\Publisher | |
\REGISTRY\A\{1a1567db-80d8-8efa-0e00-11457551e68a}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\loaddll64.exe|f3d72086358f9008\Version | |
\REGISTRY\A\{1a1567db-80d8-8efa-0e00-11457551e68a}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\loaddll64.exe|f3d72086358f9008\BinFileVersion | |
\REGISTRY\A\{1a1567db-80d8-8efa-0e00-11457551e68a}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\loaddll64.exe|f3d72086358f9008\ProductName | |
\REGISTRY\A\{1a1567db-80d8-8efa-0e00-11457551e68a}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\loaddll64.exe|f3d72086358f9008\ProductVersion | |
\REGISTRY\A\{1a1567db-80d8-8efa-0e00-11457551e68a}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\loaddll64.exe|f3d72086358f9008\BinProductVersion | |
\REGISTRY\A\{1a1567db-80d8-8efa-0e00-11457551e68a}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\loaddll64.exe|f3d72086358f9008\Language | 0 |
\REGISTRY\A\{1a1567db-80d8-8efa-0e00-11457551e68a}\Root\InventoryApplicationFile\loaddll64.exe|f3d72086358f9008\IsOsComponent | 0 |
Transport & Telemetry — TLS, HTTP, IP, IDS
The sample leans on encrypted transport and benign‑looking hosts, but the patterns still betray it: JA3/JA4 hints, cert chains, and IDS metadata are enough to anchor hunting queries.
IP Traffic
Dest IP | Dest Port | Proto | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Contacted IP | 224.0.0.252 | |||
Contacted IP | 239.255.255.250 | |||
Contacted IP | 8.8.4.4 | United States | Google LLC | |
Contacted IP | 8.8.8.8 | United States | Google LLC | |
UDP | 192.168.56.11 | 192.168.56.255 | 137->137 | 7.930926084518433 |
UDP | 192.168.56.11 | 224.0.0.252 | 49563->5355 | 7.862659931182861 |
UDP | 192.168.56.11 | 224.0.0.252 | 54650->5355 | 7.866019010543823 |
UDP | 192.168.56.11 | 224.0.0.252 | 55601->5355 | 7.920959949493408 |
UDP | 192.168.56.11 | 224.0.0.252 | 62798->5355 | 10.6043541431427 |
UDP | 192.168.56.11 | 239.255.255.250 | 62184->3702 | 7.875313997268677 |
UDP | 192.168.56.11 | 8.8.4.4 | 51899->53 | 10.651626110076904 |
UDP | 192.168.56.11 | 8.8.4.4 | 60205->53 | 7.919436931610107 |
UDP | 192.168.56.11 | 8.8.8.8 | 51899->53 | 11.649405002593994 |
UDP | 192.168.56.11 | 8.8.8.8 | 60205->53 | 8.91507601737976 |
IDS Alerts
Signature | Severity | Category | Src IP | Dst IP | Src Port | Dst Port |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No Records Found | ||||||
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.