Zero‑Dwell Threat Intelligence Report
A narrative, executive‑ready view into the malware’s behavior, exposure, and reliable defenses.
Generated: 2025-12-04 08:20:21 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
vkp43m2w.exe
Type
Win32 Executable MS Visual C++ (generic)
SHA‑1
2d3c097231f0b94d3a7dfc120ad2ad314b4a5bea
MD5
373d6ae0a938aa638f2b9c607d5d3163
First Seen
2025-12-01 14:07:47.295387
Last Analysis
2025-12-01 21:28:46.781737
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-11-08 22:00:15 UTC | First VirusTotal submission | — |
| 2025-12-03 21:10:51 UTC | Latest analysis snapshot | 24 days, 23 hours, 10 minutes |
| 2025-12-04 08:20:21 UTC | Report generation time | 25 days, 10 hours, 20 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: 65. Missed: 7. Coverage: 90.3%.
Detected Vendors
- Xcitium
- +64 additional vendors (names not provided)
List includes Xcitium plus an additional 64 vendors per the provided summary.
Missed Vendors
- Acronis
- CMC
- google_safebrowsing
- 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
Significant process manipulation (62.82% of behavior) suggests code injection, process hollowing, or privilege escalation techniques. The malware is actively compromising running processes to hide its activities.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Process | 8238 | 62.82% |
| File System | 1706 | 13.01% |
| System | 1577 | 12.03% |
| Registry | 1337 | 10.20% |
| Threading | 135 | 1.03% |
| Device | 32 | 0.24% |
| Network | 23 | 0.18% |
| Com | 18 | 0.14% |
| Services | 17 | 0.13% |
| Misc | 16 | 0.12% |
| Synchronization | 10 | 0.08% |
| Hooking | 3 | 0.02% |
| Crypto | 1 | 0.01% |
MITRE ATT&CK Mapping
- T1543.003 – start service
- T1543.003 – create service
- T1569.002 – create service
- T1129 – link function at runtime on Windows
- T1016 – get socket status
- T1543.003 – persist via Windows service
- T1569.002 – persist via Windows service
- T1543.003 – modify service
- T1569.002 – modify service
- T1082 – get number of processors
- T1027.005 – contain obfuscated stackstrings
- 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.iuqerfsodp9ifjaposdfjhgosurijfaewrwergwff.com | 95.211.136.186 | Netherlands | LeaseWeb Netherlands B.V. |
| www.aieov.com | 76.223.54.146 | United States | Amazon.com, Inc. |
| www.msftncsi.com | 23.200.3.20 | United States | Akamai Technologies, Inc. |
Observed IPs
| IP | Country | ASN/Org |
|---|---|---|
| 224.0.0.252 | — | — |
| 239.255.255.250 | — | — |
| 8.8.4.4 | United States | Google LLC |
| 8.8.8.8 | United States | Google LLC |
DNS Queries
| Request | Type |
|---|---|
| www.iuqerfsodp9ifjaposdfjhgosurijfaewrwergwff.com | A |
| 5isohu.com | A |
| www.msftncsi.com | A |
| www.aieov.com | A |
Contacted IPs
| IP | Country | ASN/Org |
|---|---|---|
| 224.0.0.252 | — | — |
| 239.255.255.250 | — | — |
| 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 | 7 | udp |
| 53 | 18 | udp |
| 3702 | 1 | udp |
UDP Packets
| Source IP | Dest IP | Sport | Dport | Time | Proto |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 192.168.56.13 | 192.168.56.255 | 137 | 137 | 3.241389036178589 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 224.0.0.252 | 49311 | 5355 | 5.750182867050171 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 224.0.0.252 | 54879 | 5355 | 5.902482032775879 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 224.0.0.252 | 55150 | 5355 | 3.174036979675293 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 224.0.0.252 | 57310 | 5355 | 19.57417583465576 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 224.0.0.252 | 60010 | 5355 | 5.180963039398193 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 224.0.0.252 | 62406 | 5355 | 3.1823458671569824 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 224.0.0.252 | 63527 | 5355 | 4.95205283164978 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 239.255.255.250 | 52252 | 3702 | 3.1944520473480225 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.4.4 | 50554 | 53 | 80.67866802215576 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.4.4 | 54881 | 53 | 5.88732385635376 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.4.4 | 57415 | 53 | 22.866173028945923 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.4.4 | 58697 | 53 | 7.51350998878479 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.4.4 | 58920 | 53 | 37.22522497177124 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.4.4 | 60910 | 53 | 51.86604404449463 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.4.4 | 62493 | 53 | 20.553205013275146 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.4.4 | 62849 | 53 | 7.741369962692261 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.4.4 | 64801 | 53 | 66.24211597442627 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.8.8 | 50554 | 53 | 79.68484401702881 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.8.8 | 54881 | 53 | 6.881289958953857 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.8.8 | 57415 | 53 | 21.8662588596344 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.8.8 | 58697 | 53 | 8.506589889526367 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.8.8 | 58920 | 53 | 36.2258198261261 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.8.8 | 60910 | 53 | 50.87533688545227 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.8.8 | 62493 | 53 | 19.564064025878906 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.8.8 | 62849 | 53 | 8.740701913833618 | udp |
| 192.168.56.13 | 8.8.8.8 | 64801 | 53 | 65.23156499862671 | 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
0
Registry Set
26
Services Started
0
Services Opened
0
Registry Opened (Top 25)
Show all (297 total)
Registry Set (Top 25)
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\MpsSvc\Parameters\PortKeywords\DHCP\Collection | — |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\DhcpDomain | sales.local |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\DhcpNameServer | %GATEWAY% |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{b5da8633-954c-4495-ae46-0bb5b5fb1cdc}\DhcpDefaultGateway | %GATEWAY% |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{b5da8633-954c-4495-ae46-0bb5b5fb1cdc}\DhcpDomain | sales.local |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{b5da8633-954c-4495-ae46-0bb5b5fb1cdc}\DhcpNameServer | %GATEWAY% |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{b5da8633-954c-4495-ae46-0bb5b5fb1cdc}\DhcpSubnetMaskOpt | 255.255.255.0 |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\Debug\StoreLocation | %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_YKORG00LDHP6ENL4_e461ac07b1a11fd1f68d65bd785132febaefa_089bc7b1 |
| HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows Script\Settings\JITDebug | 0 |
| HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ProxyEnable | 0 |
| HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections\DefaultConnectionSettings | 46 00 00 00 06 00 00 00 09 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 90 6F 5C 15 D2 C1 D5 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 C0 A8 7D 2A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |
| HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections\SavedLegacySettings | 46 00 00 00 13 00 00 00 09 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 90 6F 5C 15 D2 C1 D5 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 C0 A8 7D 2A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |
| HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Wpad\00-22-44-66-88-fe\WpadDecision | 0 |
| HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Wpad\00-22-44-66-88-fe\WpadDecisionReason | 2 |
| HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Wpad\00-22-44-66-88-fe\WpadDecisionTime | 20 8D EA C8 9F F6 D9 01 |
| HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Wpad\00-22-44-66-88-fe\WpadDetectedUrl | — |
| HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Wpad\{9783E8AC-0768-4AC3-946B-4CA1073470E7}\WpadDecision | 0 |
| HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Wpad\{9783E8AC-0768-4AC3-946B-4CA1073470E7}\WpadDecisionReason | 2 |
| HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Wpad\{9783E8AC-0768-4AC3-946B-4CA1073470E7}\WpadDecisionTime | 20 8D EA C8 9F F6 D9 01 |
| HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Wpad\{9783E8AC-0768-4AC3-946B-4CA1073470E7}\WpadNetworkName | Network 6 |
| HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\Debug\StoreLocation | %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue\AppCrash_YKORG00LDHP6ENL4_e461ac07b1a11fd1f68d65bd785132febaefa_cab_07ffa40b |
| HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-575823232-3065301323-1442773979-1000\Software\Microsoft\SystemCertificates\Root\Certificates\0174E68C97DDF1E0EEEA415EA336A163D2B61AFD\Blob | 5C 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 00 10 00 00 04 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 0D BE 92 DE FF 7D 36 BB 48 C4 A6 B1 15 24 95 38 0F 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 20 00 00 00 53 FE B9 19 2E D4 80 F2 09 12 4A 2C 57 D7 E8 97 7A 2E 9F 39 46 1D BF 21 4D F1 12 CB 16 02 4F A2 14 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 14 00 00 00 78 B8 30 FD 63 AC 7B 89 4A 07 3B ED F6 8A 83 9C C3 52 02 65 19 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 B5 74 AF 30 C5 C1 BA 3A 69 A7 10 02 00 82 4D D0 03 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 14 00 00 00 01 74 E6 8C 97 DD F1 E0 EE EA 41 5E A3 36 A1 63 D2 B6 1A FD 20 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 F8 05 00 00 30 82 05 F4 30 82 03 DC A0 03 02 01 02 02 09 00 E0 EA 61 4C 28 56 32 64 30 0D 06 09 2A 86 48 86 F7 0D 01 01 0B 05 00 30 81 8E 31 0B 30 09 06 03 55 04 06 13 02 49 4C 31 0F 30 0D 06 03 55 04 08 0C 06 43 65 6E 74 65 72 31 0C 30 0A 06 03 55 04 07 0C 03 4C 6F 64 31 10 30 0E 06 03 55 04 0A 0C 07 47 6F 50 72 6F 78 79 31 10 30 0E 06 03 55 04 0B 0C 07 47 6F 50 72 6F 78 79 31 1A 30 18 06 03 55 04 03 0C 11 67 6F 70 72 6F 78 79 2E 67 69 74 68 75 62 2E 69 6 .. truncated |
| HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-575823232-3065301323-1442773979-1000\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ProxyEnable | 1 |
| HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-575823232-3065301323-1442773979-1000\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ProxyServer | %HTTP_PROXY%:8080 |
| HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-575823232-3065301323-1442773979-1000\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Connections\SavedLegacySettings | 46 00 00 00 04 01 00 00 03 00 00 00 14 00 00 00 65 78 74 72 61 63 74 6F 72 2E 70 72 6F 78 79 3A 38 30 38 30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 D0 5C 01 4D C1 D5 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |
| HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-575823232-3065301323-1442773979-1000\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\Debug\StoreLocation | %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_YKORG00LDHP6ENL4_e461ac07b1a11fd1f68d65bd785132febaefa_089bc7b1 |
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.