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 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.
6
0
0
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.