UPX-Compressed Loader Executes HeavensGate Switch and Drops Payloads


Zero‑Dwell Threat Intelligence Report

A narrative, executive‑ready view into the malware’s behavior, exposure, and reliable defenses.
Generated: 2025-11-11 23:21:47 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
6bvhgx6.exe
Type
PE32 executable (GUI) Intel 80386, for MS Windows, UPX compressed
SHA‑1
db74e6326008697a388b0df2992f521b8b3391c5
MD5
8eaa0c704ca5f50492dc1dbf802bb53f
First Seen
2025-10-05 13:25:16.075787
Last Analysis
2025-10-06 12:55:18.482166
Dwell Time
0 days, 7 hours, 33 minutes

Extended Dwell Time Impact

For 23+ 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
2025-09-21 17:18:44 UTC First VirusTotal submission
2025-10-08 14:13:05 UTC Latest analysis snapshot 16 days, 20 hours, 54 minutes
2025-11-11 23:21:47 UTC Report generation time 44 days, 13 hours, 55 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: 62. Missed: 10. Coverage: 86.1%.

Detected Vendors

  • Xcitium
  • +61 additional vendors (names not provided)

List includes Xcitium plus an additional 61 vendors per the provided summary.

Missed Vendors

  • Acronis
  • APEX
  • Baidu
  • CMC
  • google_safebrowsing
  • SUPERAntiSpyware
  • TACHYON
  • tehtris
  • Yandex
  • 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.

Behavioral Storyline — How the Malware Operates

Intensive file system activity (48.44% 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 239035 48.44%
Synchronization 174757 35.41%
System 71629 14.52%
Registry 5275 1.07%
Misc 1444 0.29%
Process 444 0.09%
Com 354 0.07%
Device 212 0.04%
Threading 204 0.04%
Services 62 0.01%
Crypto 28 0.01%
Network 12 0.00%
Hooking 10 0.00%
Windows 5 0.00%

MITRE ATT&CK Mapping

  • T1027.002 – packed with generic packer
  • T1027 – reference Base64 string
  • T1027 – encode data using XOR
  • T1027.002 – packed with UPX

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 13.248.169.48 United States Amazon Technologies Inc.

Observed IPs

IP Country ASN/Org
114.114.114.114 China NanJing XinFeng Information Technologies, Inc.
Room 207, Building 53, XiongMao Group, No.168 LongPanZhong Road
Xuanwu District, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
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
down.nugong.asia A
www.aieov.com A

Contacted IPs

IP Country ASN/Org
114.114.114.114 China NanJing XinFeng Information Technologies, Inc.
Room 207, Building 53, XiongMao Group, No.168 LongPanZhong Road
Xuanwu District, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
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
138 1 udp
5355 4 udp
53 56 udp

UDP Packets

Source IP Dest IP Sport Dport Time Proto
192.168.56.14 114.114.114.114 52816 53 7.160109043121338 udp
192.168.56.14 114.114.114.114 62113 53 43.04985499382019 udp
192.168.56.14 192.168.56.255 137 137 3.0815980434417725 udp
192.168.56.14 192.168.56.255 138 138 9.0782470703125 udp
192.168.56.14 224.0.0.252 51209 5355 3.025247097015381 udp
192.168.56.14 224.0.0.252 53401 5355 4.116924047470093 udp
192.168.56.14 224.0.0.252 55094 5355 5.579218149185181 udp
192.168.56.14 224.0.0.252 55848 5355 3.0254650115966797 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 49916 53 98.37465810775757 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 50180 53 145.71908903121948 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 50710 53 65.60931515693665 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 50870 53 328.95338320732117 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 50914 53 253.2659330368042 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 51262 53 314.5941619873047 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 51614 53 525.6560781002045 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 52556 53 511.3022871017456 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 52815 53 6.684808015823364 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 53449 53 357.5627200603485 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 54579 53 51.18721914291382 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 54683 53 206.3050570487976 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 55827 53 267.6252110004425 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 55914 53 127.21892309188843 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 56399 53 174.76549410820007 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 57742 53 371.9216492176056 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 59068 53 343.20334100723267 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 60117 53 80.01599502563477 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 60713 53 281.98443603515625 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 62022 53 160.18772315979004 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 62112 53 36.437955141067505 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 62548 53 235.0153751373291 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 62800 53 300.23419713974 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 63205 53 220.65608716011047 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 64452 53 540.0159320831299 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 64753 53 112.79675316810608 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.4.4 65148 53 22.03131604194641 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 49916 53 97.37921714782715 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 50180 53 144.72624516487122 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 50710 53 64.60977005958557 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 50870 53 327.95332312583923 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 50914 53 252.2666530609131 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 51262 53 313.5940361022949 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 51614 53 524.6568140983582 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 52556 53 510.30440616607666 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 52815 53 7.672260999679565 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 53449 53 356.56388211250305 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 54579 53 50.188618183135986 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 54683 53 205.30816912651062 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 55827 53 266.6252751350403 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 55914 53 126.22298312187195 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 56399 53 173.77954006195068 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 57742 53 370.9224171638489 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 59068 53 342.204626083374 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 60117 53 79.01697301864624 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 60713 53 280.986515045166 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 62022 53 159.19428420066833 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 62112 53 35.43825817108154 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 62548 53 234.01651811599731 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 62800 53 299.2348861694336 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 63205 53 219.65674710273743 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 64452 53 539.0165951251984 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 64753 53 111.80451011657715 udp
192.168.56.14 8.8.8.8 65148 53 21.03289818763733 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

21

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_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 03 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 20 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 10 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 02 00 00 00 17 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 D0 5C 32 00 00 00 00 00 D0 5C 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 F0 5C 32 00 00 00 00 00 F0 5C 32 00 00 00 00 00 70 5B 32 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 84 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 2A 00 00 2A DD 9B 00 00 02 00 00 00 C0 A8 7D 02 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 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 C0 5D 32 00 00 00 00 00
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Wpad\ba-4f-94-a6-ad-fb\WpadDecision 0
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Wpad\ba-4f-94-a6-ad-fb\WpadDecisionReason 2
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Wpad\ba-4f-94-a6-ad-fb\WpadDecisionTime 20 E3 7F 4A C6 24 DC 01
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Wpad\{3B9488E8-510E-454F-A7C4-71B65C4AB66E}\WpadDecision 0
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Wpad\{3B9488E8-510E-454F-A7C4-71B65C4AB66E}\WpadDecisionReason 2
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Wpad\{3B9488E8-510E-454F-A7C4-71B65C4AB66E}\WpadDecisionTime 20 E3 7F 4A C6 24 DC 01
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-18\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Wpad\{3B9488E8-510E-454F-A7C4-71B65C4AB66E}\WpadNetworkName Network 6
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 07 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

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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