Analysis by: Alyssa Christelle Ramos

 PLATFORM:

Linux

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

  • Threat Type: Coinminer

  • Destructiveness: No

  • Encrypted: Yes

  • In the wild: Yes

  OVERVIEW

This Coinminer arrives on a system as a file dropped by other malware or as a file downloaded unknowingly by users when visiting malicious sites. It may be downloaded from remote sites by other malware.

It uses the system's central processing unit (CPU) and/or graphical processing unit (GPU) resources to mine cryptocurrency.

  TECHNICAL DETAILS

File Size: 1,102,480 bytes
File Type: ELF
Memory Resident: Yes
Initial Samples Received Date: 12 Apr 2020

Arrival Details

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

It may be downloaded from remote site(s) by the following malware:

Other Details

This Coinminer requires the following additional components to properly run:

  • {Coinminer Directory}\config.json

It does the following:

  • It accepts the following Parameters:
    • -o, --url=URL URL of mining server
    • -a, --algo=ALGO mining algorithm https://xmrig.com/docs/algorithms
    • --coin=COIN specify coin instead of algorithm
    • -u, --user=USERNAME username for mining server
    • -p, --pass=PASSWORD password for mining server
    • -O, --userpass=U:P username:password pair for mining server
    • -x, --proxy=HOST:PORT connect through a SOCKS5 proxy
    • -k, --keepalive send keepalived packet for prevent timeout (needs pool support)
    • --nicehash enable nicehash.com support
    • --rig-id=ID rig identifier for pool-side statistics (needs pool support)
    • --daemon use daemon RPC instead of pool for solo mining
    • --daemon-poll-interval=N daemon poll interval in milliseconds (default: 1000)
    • --self-select=URL self-select block templates from URL
    • -r, --retries=N number of times to retry before switch to backup server (default: 5)
    • -R, --retry-pause=N time to pause between retries (default: 5)
    • --user-agent set custom user-agent string for pool
    • --donate-level=N donate level, default 5%% (5 minutes in 100 minutes)
    • --donate-over-proxy=N control donate over xmrig-proxy feature
    • --no-cpu disable CPU mining backend
    • -t, --threads=N number of CPU threads
    • -v, --av=N algorithm variation, 0 auto select
    • --cpu-affinity set process affinity to CPU core(s), mask 0x3 for cores 0 and 1
    • --cpu-priority set process priority (0 idle, 2 normal to 5 highest)
    • --cpu-max-threads-hint=N maximum CPU threads count (in percentage) hint for autoconfig
    • --cpu-memory-pool=N number of 2 MB pages for persistent memory pool, -1 (auto), 0 (disable)
    • --cpu-no-yield prefer maximum hashrate rather than system response/stability
    • --no-huge-pages disable huge pages support
    • --asm=ASM ASM optimizations, possible values: auto, none, intel, ryzen, bulldozer
    • --randomx-init=N threads count to initialize RandomX dataset
    • --randomx-no-numa disable NUMA support for RandomX
    • --randomx-mode=MODE RandomX mode: auto, fast, light
    • --randomx-1gb-pages use 1GB hugepages for dataset (Linux only)
    • --randomx-wrmsr=N write custom value (0-15) to Intel MSR register 0x1a4 or disable MSR mod (-1)
    • --randomx-no-rdmsr disable reverting initial MSR values on exit
    • --api-worker-id=ID custom worker-id for API
    • --api-id=ID custom instance ID for API
    • --http-host=HOST bind host for HTTP API (default: 127.0.0.1)
    • --http-port=N bind port for HTTP API
    • --http-access-token=T access token for HTTP API
    • --http-no-restricted enable full remote access to HTTP API (only if access token set)
    • --opencl enable OpenCL mining backend
    • --opencl-devices=N comma separated list of OpenCL devices to use
    • --opencl-platform=N OpenCL platform index or name
    • --opencl-loader=PATH path to OpenCL-ICD-Loader (OpenCL.dll or libOpenCL.so)
    • --opencl-no-cache disable OpenCL cache
    • --print-platforms print available OpenCL platforms and exit
    • --cuda enable CUDA mining backend
    • --cuda-loader=PATH path to CUDA plugin (xmrig-cuda.dll or libxmrig-cuda.so)
    • --cuda-devices=N comma separated list of CUDA devices to use
    • --cuda-bfactor-hint=N bfactor hint for autoconfig (0-12)
    • --cuda-bsleep-hint=N bsleep hint for autoconfig
    • --no-nvml disable NVML (NVIDIA Management Library) support
    • -S, --syslog use system log for output messages
    • -l, --log-file=FILE log all output to a file
    • --print-time=N print hashrate report every N seconds
    • --health-print-time=N print health report every N seconds
    • --no-color disable colored output
    • --verbose verbose output
    • -c, --config=FILE load a JSON-format configuration file
    • -B, --background run the miner in the background
    • -V, --version output version information and exit
    • -h, --help display this help and exit
    • --dry-run test configuration and exit
  • Supported algorithm options:
    • cryptonight/0
    • cryptonight
    • cryptonight/1
    • cryptonight/2
    • cryptonight-monerov7
    • cryptonight-monerov8
    • cryptonight/r
    • cryptonight/fast
    • cryptonight/msr
    • cryptonight/half
    • cryptonight/xao
    • cryptonight_alloy,
    • cryptonight/rto
    • cryptonight/rwz
    • cryptonight/zls
    • cryptonight/double
    • cryptonight/gpu
    • cryptonight-lite/0
    • cryptonight-lite/1
    • cryptonight-lite
    • cryptonight-light
    • cryptonight_lite
    • cryptonight-aeonv7
    • cryptonight_lite_v7
    • cryptonight-heavy/0
    • cryptonight-heavy
    • cryptonight_heavy
    • cryptonight-heavy/xhv
    • cryptonight_haven
    • cryptonight-heavy/tube
    • cryptonight-bittube2
    • cryptonight-pico
    • cryptonight-pico/trtl
    • cryptonight-turtle
    • cryptonight-ultralite
    • cryptonight_turtle
    • randomx/test
    • RandomX
    • RandomWOW
    • RandomXL
    • randomx/arq
    • RandomARQ
    • randomx/loki
    • randomx/wow
    • randomx/0
    • RandomSFX
    • argon2/chukwa
    • argon2/wrkz
    • astrobowt/dero
  • Supported coin options:
    • monero
    • arqma

It uses the system's central processing unit (CPU) and/or graphical processing unit (GPU) resources to mine cryptocurrency. This behavior makes the system run abnormally slow.

  SOLUTION

Minimum Scan Engine: 9.850
FIRST VSAPI PATTERN FILE: 15.802.03
FIRST VSAPI PATTERN DATE: 13 Apr 2020
VSAPI OPR PATTERN File: 15.803.00
VSAPI OPR PATTERN Date: 14 Apr 2020

Step 1

Scan your computer with your Trend Micro product to delete files detected as Coinminer.Linux.MALXMR.UWEKM. 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:

Step 2

Remove the malware/grayware file dropped/downloaded by Coinminer.Linux.MALXMR.UWEKM. (Note: Please skip this step if the threat(s) listed below have already been removed.)


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