Remote Access Trojan Hides in Themida-Wrapped Reporter Binary


Zero‑Dwell Threat Intelligence Report

A narrative, executive‑ready view into the malware’s behavior, exposure, and reliable defenses.
Generated: 2025-10-28 07:04:00 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
5ic4buc.exe
Type
PE32 executable (GUI) Intel 80386, for MS Windows
SHA‑1
6629aa435dbc27a145b2595c4725d559fb69f254
MD5
b9a8a8c2a4989453aca40fe7ba21dca5
First Seen
2025-09-14 13:31:36.305807
Last Analysis
2025-09-15 07:15:20.288295
Dwell Time
0 days, 7 hours, 33 minutes

Extended Dwell Time Impact

For 17+ hours, this malware remained undetected — a half-day window that permitted the adversary to complete initial execution, establish basic persistence, and perform initial system enumeration.

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
2025-09-12 11:46:31 UTC First VirusTotal submission
2025-09-19 06:43:49 UTC Latest analysis snapshot 6 days, 18 hours, 57 minutes
2025-10-28 07:04:00 UTC Report generation time 45 days, 19 hours, 17 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: 54. Missed: 18. Coverage: 75.0%.

Detected Vendors

  • Xcitium
  • +53 additional vendors (names not provided)

List includes Xcitium plus an additional 53 vendors per the provided summary.

Missed Vendors

  • Acronis
  • Antiy-AVL
  • Baidu
  • ClamAV
  • CMC
  • google_safebrowsing
  • huorong
  • Jiangmin
  • MaxSecure
  • NANO-Antivirus
  • SUPERAntiSpyware
  • TACHYON
  • Trapmine
  • ViRobot
  • Webroot
  • Yandex
  • Zillya
  • ZoneAlarm

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

Dominant system-level operations (57.61% of behavior) suggest this malware performs deep system reconnaissance, privilege escalation, or core OS manipulation. It’s actively probing system defenses and attempting to gain administrative control.

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
System 1802 57.61%
Process 807 25.80%
Registry 219 7.00%
File System 165 5.27%
Misc 66 2.11%
Threading 34 1.09%
Windows 15 0.48%
Synchronization 13 0.42%
Device 4 0.13%
Hooking 2 0.06%
Crypto 1 0.03%

MITRE ATT&CK Mapping

  • T1082 – Checks available memory
  • T1082 – Checks the version of Bios, possibly for anti-virtualization
  • T1010 – Checks for the presence of known windows from debuggers and forensic tools
  • T1083 – Checks for the presence of known devices from debuggers and forensic tools
  • T1497 – Detects VirtualBox through the presence of a registry key
  • T1497 – Checks the version of Bios, possibly for anti-virtualization
  • T1057 – Checks for the presence of known devices from debuggers and forensic tools
  • T1057 – Checks the version of Bios, possibly for anti-virtualization
  • T1057 – Detects the presence of Wine emulator via registry key
  • T1057 – Checks for the presence of known windows from debuggers and forensic tools
  • T1057 – Detects VirtualBox through the presence of a registry key
  • T1057 – Expresses interest in specific running processes
  • T1012 – Detects VirtualBox through the presence of a registry key
  • T1012 – Checks the version of Bios, possibly for anti-virtualization
  • T1012 – Detects the presence of Wine emulator via registry key
  • T1518 – Detects the presence of Wine emulator via registry key
  • T1071 – Yara detections observed in process dumps, payloads or dropped files
  • T1106 – Guard pages use detected – possible anti-debugging.
  • T1027 – The binary contains an unknown PE section name indicative of packing
  • T1027 – The following process appear to have been packed with Themida: executable.exe
  • T1027 – The binary likely contains encrypted or compressed data
  • T1027.002 – The binary contains an unknown PE section name indicative of packing
  • T1027.002 – The following process appear to have been packed with Themida: executable.exe
  • T1027.002 – The binary likely contains encrypted or compressed data
  • T1010 – Tries to detect debugger
  • T1010 – Tries to detect a forensic tool
  • T1012 – Tries to detect virtual machine
  • T1027.002 – Obfuscates control flow
  • T1027.002 – Resolves API functions dynamically
  • T1057 – Enumerates running processes
  • T1106 – Tries to evade debugger
  • T1124 – Tries to detect virtual machine
  • T1497.001 – Tries to detect virtual machine
  • T1497.003 – Tries to detect virtual machine
  • T1562.001 – Modifies native system functions
  • T1622 – Tries to detect debugger
  • T1622 – Tries to evade debugger
  • T1057 – The process may have looked for a particular process running on the system
  • T1129 – The process tried to load dynamically one or more functions.
  • T1045 – Manalize Local SandBox Packer Harvesting
  • T1057 – The process attempted to detect a running debugger using common APIs
  • T1063 – The process tried to detect the presence of common debug and forensic utilities
  • T1119 – The process tried to detect the presence of common debug and forensic utilities
  • T1063 – The process attempted to detect debuggers and common forensic/analysis tools looking for known devices
  • T1119 – The process attempted to detect debuggers and common forensic/analysis tools looking for known devices
  • T1082 – The process has tried to retrieve the BIOS version (maybe for checking the virtualization presence)
  • T1012 – The process has tried to retrieve the BIOS version (maybe for checking the virtualization presence)

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.msftncsi.com 23.200.3.20 United States Akamai Technologies, Inc.
www.aieov.com 13.248.169.48 United States Amazon 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.msftncsi.com A
5isohu.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 5 udp
53 6 udp
3702 1 udp

UDP Packets

Source IP Dest IP Sport Dport Time Proto
192.168.56.11 192.168.56.255 137 137 3.2581820487976074 udp
192.168.56.11 224.0.0.252 49563 5355 3.1866700649261475 udp
192.168.56.11 224.0.0.252 54650 5355 3.191326141357422 udp
192.168.56.11 224.0.0.252 55601 5355 4.105272054672241 udp
192.168.56.11 224.0.0.252 60205 5355 3.1970930099487305 udp
192.168.56.11 224.0.0.252 62798 5355 5.755504131317139 udp
192.168.56.11 239.255.255.250 62184 3702 3.1948890686035156 udp
192.168.56.11 8.8.4.4 51690 53 7.1016340255737305 udp
192.168.56.11 8.8.4.4 51899 53 5.762102127075195 udp
192.168.56.11 8.8.4.4 63439 53 22.523487091064453 udp
192.168.56.11 8.8.8.8 51690 53 8.101526021957397 udp
192.168.56.11 8.8.8.8 51899 53 6.758583068847656 udp
192.168.56.11 8.8.8.8 63439 53 21.524238109588623 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

98

Registry Set

0

Services Started

0

Services Opened

0

Registry Opened (Top 25)

Key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International\LocaleName
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\262144\Hashes
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\safer\codeidentifiers\DefaultLevel
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\0\Hashes
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\GRE_Initialize\DisableUmpdBufferSizeCheck
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Hardware\description\System
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Lsa\FipsAlgorithmPolicy\MDMEnabled
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0000
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Ole\AppCompat\RaiseActivationAuthenticationLevel
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\LevelObjects
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full\Release
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\65536\UrlZones
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\safer\codeidentifiers\Levels
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\65536\Hashes
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wine
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Ole\DefaultAccessPermission
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\SessionInfo\1
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\.NETFramework
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\GRE_Initialize\DisableMetaFiles
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\131072\UrlZones
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Ole\AppCompat\RaiseDefaultAuthnLevel
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full\Release
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\DisableConfigCache
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\DevOverrideEnable
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\4096\UrlZones
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\262144\Paths
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\AppID\executable.exe
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\262144\Paths
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\262144\Hashes
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v4.0.30319\SKUs\
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\65536\UrlZones
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\131072\Hashes
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Interface\{00000134-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\OLE\AppCompat
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\OnlyUseLatestCLR
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\131072\UrlZones
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\4096\UrlZones
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\executable.exe
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\.NETFramework\NGen\Policy\v4.0
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\4096\Paths
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Lsa\FipsAlgorithmPolicy\STE
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\131072\Paths
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\65536\Hashes
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\65536\Paths
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\0\UrlZones
Show all (98 total)
Key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\OLE
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\Interface\{00000134-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}\ProxyStubClsid32\(Default)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\AppContext
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\ACPI\DSDT\VBOX__
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\0\Paths
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\UseLegacyV2RuntimeActivationPolicyDefaultValue
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\KnownFolderSettings
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System\VideoBiosVersion
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\0\UrlZones
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\0\Hashes
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\4096\Hashes
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\NGen\Policy\v4.0\OptimizeUsedBinaries
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\262144\UrlZones
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System\SystemBiosVersion
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppModelUnlock
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\262144\UrlZones
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\131072\Hashes
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0000\DriverDesc
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\131072\Paths
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\safer\codeidentifiers\SaferFlags
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\GRE_Initialize
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Lsa\FipsAlgorithmPolicy
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\4096\Hashes
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Appx\AllowDevelopmentWithoutDevLicense
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\.NETFramework
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\4096\Paths
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Appx
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\0\Paths
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Lsa\FipsAlgorithmPolicy\Enabled
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers
Policy\Standards
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v4.0.30319\SKUs\default
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\SessionInfo\1\KnownFolders
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\InstallRoot
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Rpc\Extensions
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppModelUnlock\AllowDevelopmentWithoutDevLicense
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager\ResourcePolicies
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\Personalize\AppsUseLightTheme
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\FeatureSIMD
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\Interface\{00000134-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}\ProxyStubClsid32
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\StrongName
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\65536\Paths
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Hardware\description\System\SystemBiosVersion
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Hardware\description\System\VideoBiosVersion
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0000\DriverDesc

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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