Analysis by: Clive Fuentebella

ALIASES:

a variant of Win64/Riskware.CobaltStrike.Artifact.P.gen application (NOD32)

 PLATFORM:

Windows

 OVERALL RISK RATING:
 DAMAGE POTENTIAL:
 DISTRIBUTION POTENTIAL:
 REPORTED INFECTION:
 INFORMATION EXPOSURE:

  • Threat Type: Backdoor

  • Destructiveness: No

  • Encrypted: Yes

  • In the wild: Yes

  OVERVIEW

Infection Channel: Downloaded from the Internet

This Backdoor arrives on a system as a file dropped by other malware or as a file downloaded unknowingly by users when visiting malicious sites.

It does not have any propagation routine.

It executes commands from a remote malicious user, effectively compromising the affected system. It connects to a website to send and receive information.

  TECHNICAL DETAILS

File Size: 289,792 bytes
File Type: EXE
Memory Resident: Yes
Initial Samples Received Date: 18 Jan 2021
Payload: Connects to URLs/IPs, Steals information

Arrival Details

This Backdoor arrives on a system as a file dropped by other malware or as a file downloaded unknowingly by users when visiting malicious sites.

Propagation

This Backdoor does not have any propagation routine.

Backdoor Routine

This Backdoor executes the following commands from a remote malicious user:

  • Execute arbitrary code
  • Inject code into processes
  • Manage services
  • Manage processes
  • Manage files/directories
  • Manage named pipes
  • Manage environment variables
  • List logical drives
  • List registry entries
  • List IP addresses
  • Impersonate user tokens

It connects to the following websites to send and receive information:

  • http://{Random numbers}.ns2.{BLOCKED}s.club/_/scs/mail-static/_/js/
  • http://{Random numbers}.ns2.{BLOCKED}s.club/mail/u/0

Rootkit Capabilities

This Backdoor does not have rootkit capabilities.

Information Theft

Upon execution of the affected application, it gathers the following information:

  • User name
  • Computer name
  • OS version
  • Host name
  • IP address
  • Current process ID

Other Details

This Backdoor does the following:

  • It appends the following to the requests as additional header:
    • Cookie: OSID={Encoded stolen information}

It does not exploit any vulnerability.

  SOLUTION

Minimum Scan Engine: 9.800
FIRST VSAPI PATTERN FILE: 16.486.03
FIRST VSAPI PATTERN DATE: 19 Jan 2021
VSAPI OPR PATTERN File: 16.487.00
VSAPI OPR PATTERN Date: 20 Jan 2021

Step 1

Before doing any scans, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10 users must disable System Restore to allow full scanning of their computers.

Step 2

Identify and terminate files detected as Backdoor.Win64.COBEACON.FARC

[ Learn More ]
  1. Windows Task Manager may not display all running processes. In this case, please use a third-party process viewer, preferably Process Explorer, to terminate the malware/grayware/spyware file. You may download the said tool here.
  2. If the detected file is displayed in either Windows Task Manager or Process Explorer but you cannot delete it, restart your computer in safe mode. To do this, refer to this link for the complete steps.
  3. If the detected file is not displayed in either Windows Task Manager or Process Explorer, continue doing the next steps.

Step 3

Scan your computer with your Trend Micro product to delete files detected as Backdoor.Win64.COBEACON.FARC. If the detected files have already been cleaned, deleted, or quarantined by your Trend Micro product, no further step is required. You may opt to simply delete the quarantined files. Please check the following Trend Micro Support pages for more information:


Did this description help? Tell us how we did.