Home Malware Programs Trojans ScarCruft

ScarCruft

Posted: July 17, 2016

Threat Metric

Threat Level: 8/10
Infected PCs: 51
First Seen: July 17, 2016
OS(es) Affected: Windows


ScarCruft, an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) developed by North Korean hackers, has enhanced its arsenal of harmful tricks by adding a Bluetooth sniffer to its portfolio recently. The malware threat still relies on widely available exploit kits and phishing attacks as primary infection vectors exclusively, yet its new modification features a code typical of another APT known as DarkHotel.

ScarCruft is a relatively old piece of malware that supposedly underwent a complete overhaul in 2018. As a result, it now sports stronger evasion mechanisms and nastier droppers, all of which aimed at hijacking Microsoft’s UAC (User Account Control) to gain admin-level rights required for further subsequent infections. The way the ScarCruft APT is built allows for a step-by-step, chain-like attack featuring a separate corrupted payload at each level. The C&C communication commences during the first stage after the first ScarCruft dropper has neutralized the Windows UAC. The second stage brings the ROKRAT – a Remote Access Trojan (RAT) capable of both retrieving personal data through a backdoor and performing a range of typical Trojan operations such as screen capturing, keylogging, and arbitrary code execution. The harvested data is then forwarded to a cloud-based service such as Dropbox, Yandex, PCloud and Box.

ScarCruft’s new Bluetooth functionality increases the scope of potential targets by including mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets. If this were not enough, the malware actors behind ScarCruft seem to have set their eyes not only on individual PC users but also on corporate players doing business with Korean companies, as well as state embassies.

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:



file.exe File name: file.exe
Size: 103.42 KB (103424 bytes)
MD5: 37c234d9100198717e9928494e476965
Detection count: 6
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: July 17, 2016
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