Ransomware Sample Using WININET And Winsock For Connectivity


Zero‑Dwell Threat Intelligence Report

A narrative, executive‑ready view into the malware’s behavior, exposure, and reliable defenses.
Generated: 2025-12-04 08:31:48 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
lf6cq0.exe
Type
Win32 Executable MS Visual C++ (generic)
SHA‑1
c5d8f104a7b75f3255c179d8788c19d642649929
MD5
365c010714d0b31df0335b28c4918c27
First Seen
2025-12-01 14:07:47.670218
Last Analysis
2025-12-01 21:28:47.790026
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
2025-11-15 00:32:36 UTC First VirusTotal submission
2025-12-03 21:12:07 UTC Latest analysis snapshot 18 days, 20 hours, 39 minutes
2025-12-04 08:31:48 UTC Report generation time 19 days, 7 hours, 59 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: 70. Detected as malicious: 63. Missed: 7. Coverage: 90.0%.

Detected Vendors

  • Xcitium
  • +62 additional vendors (names not provided)

List includes Xcitium plus an additional 62 vendors per the provided summary.

Missed Vendors

  • Acronis
  • CMC
  • Google
  • 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

Intensive file system activity (62.86% 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 99207 62.86%
System 52866 33.50%
Registry 3231 2.05%
Misc 1461 0.93%
Process 406 0.26%
Device 214 0.14%
Threading 159 0.10%
Com 123 0.08%
Services 65 0.04%
Crypto 27 0.02%
Network 26 0.02%
Synchronization 18 0.01%
Hooking 7 0.00%
Windows 4 0.00%

MITRE ATT&CK Mapping

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

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 104.16.166.228 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 58 udp

UDP Packets

Source IP Dest IP Sport Dport Time Proto
192.168.56.14 192.168.56.255 137 137 3.0783607959747314 udp
192.168.56.14 224.0.0.252 50710 5355 20.00802993774414 udp
192.168.56.14 224.0.0.252 51209 5355 3.011187791824341 udp
192.168.56.14 224.0.0.252 53401 5355 5.56983494758606 udp
192.168.56.14 224.0.0.252 55094 5355 5.752340793609619 udp
192.168.56.14 224.0.0.252 55848 5355 3.5021088123321533 udp
192.168.56.14 224.0.0.252 65148 5355 6.611554861068726 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 49916 53 38.07857298851013 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 50180 53 81.76633882522583 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 50870 53 267.6251029968262 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 50914 53 176.12556791305542 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 51262 53 253.2659080028534 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 51614 53 343.3130028247833 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 52556 53 328.9530408382416 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 52815 53 6.6020519733428955 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 53449 53 300.23532700538635 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 54579 53 20.984315872192383 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 54683 53 128.9380497932434 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 55827 53 206.30639386177063 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 55914 53 67.12554383277893 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 56399 53 114.53185486793518 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 56864 53 506.3056888580322 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 57742 53 314.59387588500977 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 59068 53 281.98435378074646 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 59212 53 520.6564018726349 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 60117 53 23.672252893447876 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 60713 53 220.65663194656372 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 62022 53 100.14085483551025 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 62112 53 8.32170295715332 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 62548 53 161.71864700317383 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 62800 53 235.0154848098755 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 63205 53 147.20337080955505 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 64452 53 357.6718239784241 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 64753 53 52.7504198551178 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 65271 53 535.0157659053802 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 65283 53 372.031368970871 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 49916 53 37.07843780517578 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 50180 53 80.77742981910706 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 50870 53 266.6259169578552 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 50914 53 175.12940979003906 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 51262 53 252.26725697517395 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 51614 53 342.3242259025574 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 52556 53 327.9539098739624 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 52815 53 7.5940468311309814 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 53449 53 299.23478293418884 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 54579 53 19.997907876968384 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 54683 53 127.94630789756775 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 55827 53 205.3065059185028 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 55914 53 66.13342189788818 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 56399 53 113.53514099121094 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 56864 53 505.3071208000183 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 57742 53 313.594172000885 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 59068 53 280.98471188545227 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 59212 53 519.6569669246674 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 60117 53 22.672839879989624 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 60713 53 219.656986951828 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 62022 53 99.15555500984192 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 62112 53 9.31263279914856 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 62548 53 160.73045897483826 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 62800 53 234.016263961792 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 63205 53 146.21439385414124 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 64452 53 356.6729509830475 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 64753 53 51.7548987865448 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 65271 53 534.0163099765778 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 65283 53 371.0315499305725 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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