High-Severity WannaCry Variant Triggering Sixty-Plus Engine Detections


Zero‑Dwell Threat Intelligence Report

A narrative, executive‑ready view into the malware’s behavior, exposure, and reliable defenses.
Generated: 2025-12-04 08:33:12 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
rq97ae.exe
Type
Win32 Executable MS Visual C++ (generic)
SHA‑1
e26a237ffc28a31f10f2b17056cc060e3fbabf93
MD5
999e1a3cf10862c20fbbe1185b13ba90
First Seen
2025-12-02 11:33:16.229110
Last Analysis
2025-12-02 18:55:58.365064
Dwell Time
0 days, 7 hours, 33 minutes

Extended Dwell Time Impact

For 7+ 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
2025-11-23 00:32:17 UTC First VirusTotal submission
2025-12-03 21:10:17 UTC Latest analysis snapshot 10 days, 20 hours, 38 minutes
2025-12-04 08:33:12 UTC Report generation time 11 days, 8 hours, 0 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: 72. Detected as malicious: 66. Missed: 6. Coverage: 91.7%.

Detected Vendors

  • Xcitium
  • +65 additional vendors (names not provided)

List includes Xcitium plus an additional 65 vendors per the provided summary.

Missed Vendors

  • Acronis
  • CMC
  • Google
  • SUPERAntiSpyware
  • TACHYON
  • tehtris

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

Intensive file system activity (47.77% of behavior) indicates data harvesting, file encryption, or dropper behavior. The threat is actively searching for and manipulating files across the system.

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
File System 117626 47.77%
Synchronization 91010 36.96%
System 30724 12.48%
Registry 4955 2.01%
Misc 599 0.24%
Process 451 0.18%
Com 415 0.17%
Device 185 0.08%
Threading 156 0.06%
Services 65 0.03%
Crypto 28 0.01%
Network 26 0.01%
Hooking 6 0.00%
Windows 3 0.00%

MITRE ATT&CK Mapping

  • T1129 – link function at runtime on Windows
  • T1497.001 – reference anti-VM strings
  • T1027.005 – contain obfuscated stackstrings
  • T1543.003 – create service
  • T1569.002 – create service
  • T1016 – get socket status
  • T1543.003 – modify service
  • T1569.002 – modify service
  • T1543.003 – persist via Windows service
  • T1569.002 – persist via Windows service
  • T1082 – get number of processors
  • T1543.003 – start service
  • T1083 – get file size

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.aieov.com 76.223.54.146 United States Amazon.com, Inc.
www.iuqerfsodp9ifjaposdfjhgosurijfaewrwergwea.com 104.16.167.228 United States Cloudflare, Inc.

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
www.iuqerfsodp9ifjaposdfjhgosurijfaewrwergwea.com A
5isohu.com A
www.aieov.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 6 udp
53 52 udp

UDP Packets

Source IP Dest IP Sport Dport Time Proto
192.168.56.14 192.168.56.255 137 137 6.987816095352173 udp
192.168.56.14 224.0.0.252 50710 5355 20.899189949035645 udp
192.168.56.14 224.0.0.252 51209 5355 6.946484088897705 udp
192.168.56.14 224.0.0.252 52815 5355 7.615895986557007 udp
192.168.56.14 224.0.0.252 53401 5355 7.366841077804565 udp
192.168.56.14 224.0.0.252 55848 5355 6.9491260051727295 udp
192.168.56.14 224.0.0.252 65148 5355 9.503055095672607 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 49916 53 39.658628940582275 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 50180 53 83.1122031211853 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 50870 53 274.5336811542511 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 50914 53 178.22155094146729 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 51262 53 260.1741750240326 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 51614 53 354.00264501571655 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 52556 53 339.56533694267273 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 53449 53 307.1430809497833 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 54579 53 20.889069080352783 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 54683 53 130.9715850353241 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 55094 53 7.599347114562988 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 55827 53 213.20955801010132 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 55914 53 68.72103810310364 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 56399 53 116.54928708076477 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 57742 53 321.50251293182373 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 59068 53 288.89319109916687 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 60117 53 25.283944129943848 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 60713 53 227.5654010772705 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 62022 53 102.09642314910889 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 62112 53 9.930700063705444 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 62548 53 163.65850710868835 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 62800 53 241.9245309829712 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 63205 53 149.28326606750488 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 64452 53 368.3616509437561 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 64753 53 54.34618902206421 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 65283 53 382.72109603881836 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 49916 53 38.660423040390015 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 50180 53 82.1234610080719 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 50870 53 273.53415393829346 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 50914 53 177.22798013687134 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 51262 53 259.1747510433197 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 51614 53 353.00925302505493 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 52556 53 338.56527614593506 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 53449 53 306.1436560153961 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 54579 53 21.87770414352417 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 54683 53 129.97144603729248 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 55094 53 8.596140146255493 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 55827 53 212.2078709602356 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 55914 53 67.72536516189575 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 56399 53 115.56077814102173 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 57742 53 320.5032169818878 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 59068 53 287.8935799598694 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 60117 53 24.283797025680542 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 60713 53 226.56488609313965 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 62022 53 101.10550904273987 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 62112 53 10.92453408241272 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 62548 53 162.6699981689453 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 62800 53 240.92645502090454 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 63205 53 148.28844594955444 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 64452 53 367.36212396621704 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 64753 53 53.357187032699585 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 65283 53 381.7216579914093 udp

Hunting tip: alert on unknown binaries initiating TLS to IP‑lookup services or unusual CDN endpoints — especially early in execution.

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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