Analysis by: Paul Steven Nadera

ALIASES:

W32/Poison.NSQ!tr (Fortinet); Win32/Poison.NSQ trojan (NOD32)

 PLATFORM:

Windows

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

  • Threat Type: Trojan

  • Destructiveness: No

  • Encrypted: Yes

  • In the wild: Yes

  OVERVIEW

This Trojan may arrive bundled with malware packages as a malware component. It arrives on a system as a file dropped by other malware or as a file downloaded unknowingly by users when visiting malicious sites.

It connects to certain websites to send and receive information.

  TECHNICAL DETAILS

File Size: 66,048 bytes
File Type: EXE
Memory Resident: Yes
Initial Samples Received Date: 29 Dec 2020

Arrival Details

This Trojan may arrive bundled with malware packages as a malware component.

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

Installation

This Trojan adds the following mutexes to ensure that only one of its copies runs at any one time:

  • NqAy33HYQ

Autostart Technique

This Trojan adds the following registry entries to enable its automatic execution at every system startup:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
(defau1t) = "{malware file path}\{malware file name}.exe"

Information Theft

This Trojan gathers the following data:

  • Host Name (used to generate Cookie id value)

Other Details

This Trojan connects to the following website to send and receive information:

  • http://{BLOCKED}.{BLOCKED}.131.29:443/{random}
  • http://{BLOCKED}.{BLOCKED}.131.29:8080/{random}

It does the following:

  • Decrypts and executes malicious shellcode in its resource section named "BIN"

  SOLUTION

Minimum Scan Engine: 9.800
FIRST VSAPI PATTERN FILE: 16.446.08
FIRST VSAPI PATTERN DATE: 30 Dec 2020
VSAPI OPR PATTERN File: 16.447.00
VSAPI OPR PATTERN Date: 31 Dec 2020

Step 1

Trend Micro Predictive Machine Learning detects and blocks malware at the first sign of its existence, before it executes on your system. When enabled, your Trend Micro product detects this malware under the following machine learning name:

     
    • Troj.Win32.TRX.XXPE50FFF039

Step 2

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 3

Note that not all files, folders, and registry keys and entries are installed on your computer during this malware's/spyware's/grayware's execution. This may be due to incomplete installation or other operating system conditions. If you do not find the same files/folders/registry information, please proceed to the next step.

Step 4

Identify and terminate files detected as Trojan.Win32.POISONIVY.YPAL-C

[ 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 5

Delete this registry value

[ Learn More ]

Important: Editing the Windows Registry incorrectly can lead to irreversible system malfunction. Please do this step only if you know how or you can ask assistance from your system administrator. Else, check this Microsoft article first before modifying your computer's registry.

  • In HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
    • (defau1t) = "{malware file path}\{malware file name}.exe"

Step 6

Scan your computer with your Trend Micro product to delete files detected as Trojan.Win32.POISONIVY.YPAL-C. 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.