QuantLoader

Posted: November 29, 2016

Threat Metric

The Threat Meter is a malware assessment that SpywareRemove.com's research team is able to give every identifiable malware threat. Our Threat Meter includes several criteria based off of specific malware threats to value their severity, reach and volume. The Threat Meter is able to give you a numerical breakdown of each threat's initial Threat Level, Detection Count, Volume Count, Trend Path and Percentage Impact. The overall ranking of each threat in the Threat Meter is a basic breakdown of how all threats are ranked within our own extensive malware database. The scoring for each specific malware threat can be easily compared to other emerging threats to draw a contrast in its particular severity. The Threat Meter is a useful tool in the endeavor of seeking a solution to remove a threat or pursue additional analytical research for all types of computer users.

The following fields listed on the Threat Meter containing a specific value, are explained in detail below:

Threat Level: The threat level scale goes from 1 to 10 where 10 is the highest level of severity and 1 is the lowest level of severity. Each specific level is relative to the threat's consistent assessed behaviors collected from SpyHunter's risk assessment model.

Detection Count: The collective number of confirmed and suspected cases of a particular malware threat. The detection count is calculated from infected PCs retrieved from diagnostic and scan log reports generated by SpyHunter.

Volume Count: Similar to the detection count, the Volume Count is specifically based on the number of confirmed and suspected threats infecting systems on a daily basis. High volume counts usually represent a popular threat but may or may not have infected a large number of systems. High detection count threats could lay dormant and have a low volume count. Criteria for Volume Count is relative to a daily detection count.

Trend Path: The Trend Path, utilizing an up arrow, down arrow or equal symbol, represents the level of recent movement of a particular threat. Up arrows represent an increase, down arrows represent a decline and the equal symbol represent no change to a threat's recent movement.

% Impact (Last 7 Days): This demonstrates a 7-day period change in the frequency of a malware threat infecting PCs. The percentage impact correlates directly to the current Trend Path to determine a rise or decline in the percentage.

Threat Level:	8/10
Infected PCs:	7,181

First Seen:	November 29, 2016
Last Seen:	August 16, 2022
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

QuantLoader is a Trojan downloader that may install a variety of different threats on your computer without requiring your consent or awareness. This Trojan is likely of dropping spyware-related threats like FormBook that may collect information from your computer. Many aspects of this program are stealth-related, and users should depend on their automated anti-malware protection for finding or removing QuantLoader.

Helping Spyware to Go Quantum

The RIG Exploit Kit is forming the basis of even more campaigns for infecting apparently random PCs with new, data-exfiltrating threats. One of the middlemen functionaries in this infection strategy, QuantLoader, is relatively new although its attacks employ orthodox downloading exploits. Since QuantLoader operates as a background process, any users without passive security features may not notice its attacks at all.

The infection process begins with the Web-surfer exposing themselves to compromised advertising networks, which include transparent, iFrame elements that load one of several, unsafe domains. The domains load the Rig Exploit Kit, which uses any of several, compatible vulnerabilities for installing QuantLoader. As usual, malware experts find QuantLoader concealing itself with the use of the Windows 'Svchost' process.

QuantLoader features generic, file-downloading and executing features, through which a threat actor may use it to install other threats. Right now, QuantLoader's payload delivers FormBook: a spyware suite with keylogging, browser session extraction, clipboard monitoring, and a Keylogger ZeuS-based module that targets financial Web activity for Paypal, eBay, Amazon and similar sites. The overall result of QuantLoader's current payload is the immediate loss of informational privacy and security, in particular, related to the user's financial transactions.

Unloading the Trojan Gifts that You Didn't Want

Although QuantLoader is a dedicated Trojan downloader, its threat actors also may use its admin panel for modifying its behavior from the results noted above. Malware experts can recommend checking for minor symptoms, such as changes to your Windows Firewall policy, and monitoring your network traffic for any unusual activity. However, both this Trojan's installation strategy and its running technique emphasize a bare minimum of signaling the user via any visible changes.

Any other characteristics of QuantLoader infections may vary with the type of additional threats that its admins choose to install with it. Always-on, passive anti-malware security features should detect this threat's activities and remove QuantLoader before it drops anything else. Although the rates of detection are, overall, positive among the AV industry, malware experts recommend updating all security software for increasing those chances as much as possible.

The increased Web traffic of the holidays also means more advertisements, which means more opportunities for the RIG Exploit Kit and related threats to load themselves. Rather than taking a risk with elastic consequences, like a QuantLoader infection, users should be conservative with their Web-browsing safety settings.

Technical Details

File System Modifications

Tutorials: If you wish to learn how to remove malware components manually, you can read the tutorials on how to find malware, kill unwanted processes, remove malicious DLLs and delete other harmful files. Always be sure to back up your PC before making any changes.

The following files were created in the system:

C:\Windows.old.000\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp\KB00070886.exe

File name: KB00070886.exe
Size: 108.54 KB (108544 bytes)
MD5: 99cf0779b0cbe5c0ef0a64a34ec9a1d7
Detection count: 230
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\Windows.old.000\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp\KB00070886.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: August 16, 2022

C:\Windows.old.000\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp\KB111085160.exe

File name: KB111085160.exe
Size: 147.96 KB (147968 bytes)
MD5: 9170fa2a0be53ea751da37cc9e789cd2
Detection count: 96
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\Windows.old.000\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp\KB111085160.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: August 16, 2022

%APPDATA%\41005967\svchost.exe

File name: svchost.exe
Size: 190.97 KB (190976 bytes)
MD5: 9ab808d61fd5bb2347b7e3823af0262e
Detection count: 96
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %APPDATA%\41005967
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: October 11, 2017

file.exe

File name: file.exe
Size: 73.21 KB (73216 bytes)
MD5: cc674b2ac227a658d7f4dc8252990c32
Detection count: 83
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: November 29, 2016

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp\FC00.tmp.exe

File name: FC00.tmp.exe
Size: 184.83 KB (184836 bytes)
MD5: f40b6b4bdf5854bc3d2028c1591b5148
Detection count: 75
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp\FC00.tmp.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: January 26, 2022

C:\Windows.old.000\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp\KB02698052.exe

File name: KB02698052.exe
Size: 114.17 KB (114176 bytes)
MD5: 011384cbeaf833f26c7c47bba4d68cd1
Detection count: 56
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\Windows.old.000\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp\KB02698052.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: August 16, 2022

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