ee55070e70a4f76f7c033659bbace379971fae97


Zero‑Dwell Threat Intelligence Report

A narrative, executive‑ready view into the malware’s behavior, exposure, and reliable defenses.
Generated: 2025-09-05 10:25:23 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
velma
Type
PE32+ executable (GUI) x86-64, for MS Windows
SHA‑1
ee55070e70a4f76f7c033659bbace379971fae97
MD5
aa7aa0cc5644baa0a4238c9c80ba3198
First Seen
2025-08-26 03:11:38.353892
Last Analysis
2025-08-26 11:53:14.222649
Dwell Time
0 days, 8 hours, 41 minutes

Extended Dwell Time Impact

For 8+ hours, this malware remained undetected — a several-hour window that allowed the adversary to complete initial compromise and begin early-stage persistence establishment.

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
2025-03-15 03:42:09 UTC First VirusTotal submission
2025-08-29 09:07:41 UTC Latest analysis snapshot 167 days, 5 hours, 25 minutes
2025-09-05 10:25:23 UTC Report generation time 174 days, 6 hours, 43 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: 12. Missed: 59. Coverage: 16.9%.

Detected Vendors

  • Xcitium
  • +11 additional vendors (names not provided)

List includes Xcitium plus an additional 11 vendors per the provided summary.

Missed Vendors

  • Acronis
  • AhnLab-V3
  • Alibaba
  • ALYac
  • Antiy-AVL
  • APEX
  • Arcabit
  • Avast
  • AVG
  • Avira
  • Baidu
  • BitDefender
  • ClamAV
  • CMC
  • CrowdStrike
  • CTX
  • Cynet
  • DrWeb
  • Elastic
  • Emsisoft
  • F-Secure
  • GData
  • google_safebrowsing
  • Gridinsoft
  • huorong
  • Jiangmin
  • K7AntiVirus
  • K7GW
  • Kaspersky
  • Kingsoft
  • Lionic
  • Malwarebytes
  • MaxSecure
  • McAfeeD
  • Microsoft
  • MicroWorld-eScan
  • NANO-Antivirus
  • Paloalto
  • Panda
  • Sangfor
  • SentinelOne
  • Sophos
  • SUPERAntiSpyware
  • Symantec
  • TACHYON
  • tehtris
  • Tencent
  • Trapmine
  • TrendMicro
  • TrendMicro-HouseCall
  • Varist
  • VBA32
  • VIPRE
  • ViRobot
  • Webroot
  • Yandex
  • Zillya
  • 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.

MITRE ATT&CK Mapping

  • T1071 – Adversaries may communicate using application layer protocols to avoid detection/network filtering by blending in with existing traffic.
  • T1027 – Adversaries may attempt to make an executable or file difficult to discover or analyze by encrypting, encoding, or otherwise obfuscating its contents on the system or in transit.
  • T1027.002 – Adversaries may perform software packing or virtual machine software protection to conceal their code.
  • T1574.002 – Tries to load missing DLLs
  • T1082 – Reads software policies

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.

Observed IPs

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

DNS Queries

Request Type
5isohu.com A

Contacted IPs

IP Country ASN/Org
224.0.0.252
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 3 udp
53 2 udp

UDP Packets

Source IP Dest IP Sport Dport Time Proto
192.168.56.14 192.168.56.255 137 137 6.865864038467407 udp
192.168.56.14 224.0.0.252 51209 5355 6.796298027038574 udp
192.168.56.14 224.0.0.252 55094 5355 9.39686894416809 udp
192.168.56.14 224.0.0.252 55848 5355 6.835899114608765 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 53401 53 7.0066750049591064 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 53401 53 8.017926931381226 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.

Registry Opened

6

Registry Set

0

Services Started

0

Services Opened

0

Registry Opened (Top 25)

Key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SideBySide\AssemblyStorageRoots
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Segment Heap
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders
Show all (6 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.

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