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21
Global rank
36 infographic chevron month
Month rank
41 infographic chevron week
Week rank
0
IOCs

AZORult can steal banking information, including passwords and credit card details, as well as cryptocurrency. This constantly updated information stealer malware should not be taken lightly, as it continues to be an active threat.

Stealer
Type
ex-USSR
Origin
1 January, 2016
First seen
20 October, 2024
Last seen
Also known as
PuffStealer
Rultazo

How to analyze Azorult with ANY.RUN

Type
ex-USSR
Origin
1 January, 2016
First seen
20 October, 2024
Last seen

IOCs

IP addresses
172.67.152.15
162.240.230.249
23.229.191.64
192.119.110.244
185.43.220.19
203.159.80.136
172.86.120.238
185.28.39.18
185.178.45.193
54.38.108.51
185.79.156.23
31.210.20.167
185.244.150.165
185.79.156.15
185.29.9.113
45.63.60.194
5.8.88.191
5.188.232.211
23.227.193.33
45.137.22.102
Hashes
bc1722809baae20c024e8e9c71c0ff81f6af06989f15518c573fcf2d5a8218df
e6bd46f02b26c3670dbe7af7baa83411c793f7765994bf40ada869a81a4d340a
7580b583ccf57526e5a5ca40651ec5a95abe64b77a7c223f037443e480fbe185
4fd53497235133a2acd181b38ee684ce33a2d91183174021181abc3185ba0ace
5b9a53e8380980e8ccdfadc3fca91b0bbd2eed5a051b8782340a892f44294008
603ecc649a2beb1e7c9ae57e9ff5d67e97b827c2afccb7b6253ee0a2e0c81dd2
4a4a4c441355bbf90def9ab2aec89335f93237487e670df04b3d63c65b5be25a
60ad58a938752fff5d6e9442d529fe21b5ecca6166ba78f68ec5c810f6285649
49b28ac31bb63eebecd5a7d793684d63b2bda4b71d8ed1393b927ad43f2e5a6c
11de2e64e56eabd12e361f5aece2e38db23521c62b4fd7a6b48a14912b7aff7d
d4ff533cf4e83a677480d564c5dcb10387f8ab9a5440660edadfa8be93154b79
9531e1fdf2c1295296c4eacb8e06f8063ea846a53e1b4d29f626fe640d3ecda8
de4e562c74f0e15ff99add8883953ad5fae2856be71f2f6b5988bffd314ac6e7
3733c0d21fd6a6e1ef819f4b98fbf38757051e7431c743a11bd0c7e91f4d76ac
52096d0caa1615d72bb961b6c7503c430627b2a9a9873efb3da51cd5c55caf89
d9d149954cd130fcab001db9a191bac89c5cebe94744cc8a7ef64b9f1a8a81a8
ae09977c2be42c2f7634696e4fcf25ea91fe939996c30fbd8f7b785f839b65c2
6950e762e655de299bce3dd06e0d7c70496e962ff41752b5741142dbedfcfba7
d8c4fb5e1c854c9362c4129efbaa6b72435b8e93df66fd418f288650d360ff22
5629a3ae6193f39e3d63b927f028e1e06cde3a1e7fd1c11a1bd22859db3be241
Domains
mikeservers.eu
jma-go.jp
corpcougar.in
modcloudserver.eu
scat.cf
lyashkolove.info
redmoscow.info
granuphos-tn.com
worldatdoor.in
hjkg456hfg.ru
sylvaclouds.eu
binnatto.de
evaglobal.eu
modexcommunications.eu
quecik.com
emedtutor.com
kitchenraja.in
corpcougar.com
venzatechi.online
dgkhj.ru
URLs
http://0x21.in:8000/_az/
http://dsye.shop/DS341/index.php
http://gigaload.click/1210776429.php
http://h8m5b.shop/ML341/index.php
http://195.245.112.115/index.php
http://5gw4d.xyz/PL341/index.php
http://l0h5.shop/CM341/index.php
http://d4hk.shop/DL341/index.php
http://82.165.119.177/index.php
http://129.146.140.127/index.php
http://ehzwq.shop/RT341/index.php
http://bshd1.shop/OP341/index.php
http://prepepe.ac.ug/msvcp140.dll
http://prepepe.ac.ug/sqlite3.dll
http://prepepe.ac.ug/mozglue.dll
http://prepepe.ac.ug/freebl3.dll
http://prepepe.ac.ug/vcruntime140.dll
http://prepepe.ac.ug/nss3.dll
http://prepepe.ac.ug/softokn3.dll
http://pretorian.ac.ug/index.php
Last Seen at

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What is AZORult malware?

AZORult is an information stealer malware that is targeted at stealing credentials and accounts. Updated multiple times over the years, AZORult continues to be an active concern for the users, stealing information such as banking passwords, credit card details, browser histories, and even cryptocurrency.

AZORult stealer was discovered, analyzed, and documented for the first time on July 26, 2016, by Proofpoint researchers. At the time, the virus was distributed together with another trojan called Chthonic. However, subsequent spam email campaigns started distributing AZORult as the main payload while Hermes and Aurora ransomware were added as additional payloads. A new strain of the stealer Trojan was documented In July 2018. The analysis revealed that it brought several upgrades to the functions of both the stealer and the loader of the virus, additionally allowing to distribute AZORult with the RIG exploit kit. The latest recorded version of the malware is v3.3. This strain was first documented in October 2018. Most notably, this strain updated a way of encrypting the C&C domain string and improved crypto-stealing function.

General description of AZORult malware

A trojan type malware originated in one of the ex-USSR countries. AZORult spyware searches for useful information on the affected computer and sends it to the C2 server to potentially steal the victim’s bank account data. AZORult can steal cookies, browser autofill information, desktop files, chat history, and more.

Interestingly, to get into a machine, the virus, in some cases, requires secondary malware like HawkEye or Seamless. Notably, after every bit of useful data is obtained in campaigns with Hermes and Aurora, user files are encrypted, and a ransom is requested to restore the lost data.

One of the interesting features of AZORult is that after execution, the malware is removed from the system due to the lack of a persistence mechanism.

Malware analysis of AZORult

ANY.RUN displays the execution process of AZORult in an interactive virtual environment. As shown by the sandbox simulation, the virus launches the following process during its execution:

  • Firstly, a Microsoft Office file opened, and WINWORD.EXE with enable macros is executed;
  • The malware runs EQNEDT32.EXE and downloads a malicious executable through the exploitation of the CVE-2017-11882 Microsoft Office Equation Editor vulnerability;
  • A kendriknk8523.exe file is then launched, which after a sleep create child process with same name;
  • A child process then proceeds to steal the personal data and connect to the CnC server.

The execution process of AZORult can be viewed in more detail in the video provided by ANY.RUN sandbox.

azorult execution process tree

Figure 1: Illustrates the life cycle of malware. Process tree generated by ANY.RUN

How to avoid infection by AZORult?

AZORult is distributed mainly using spam email campaigns or via the RIG exploit kit. Notably, a major AZORult distribution campaign was observed on July 18, 2018, targeting North America.

Spam emails that the attackers sent carried largely employment-related subjects and included an infected and password-protected resume file that triggered the download of the virus.

AZORult malware execution process

text report of the azorult malware analysis

Figure 2: A text report generated by ANY.RUN

AZORult stealer uses a clever technique to trick various antivirus engines. Particularly, the version of the stealer Trojan distributed in the July 2018 spam campaign was activated after unlocking a password-protected document. Since a password protected the document that was attached to the email, antiviruses had not been able to scan it and determine whether it was malicious or not. For the virus to become active, the victim had to unlock and enable macros for the document. In this particular campaign, the malware was distributed with two payloads embedded in the main binary. Both payloads were dropped to the disk and executed, with the first executable payload being the information gatherer – AZORult itself and then the secondary ransomware.

It should be noted that in aforecited ANY.RUN simulation AZORult uses an exploit when a Microsoft Office file is opened, allowing to embed several malicious OLE objects into a document and executes arbitrary code on a machine, and even download any file from a remote server and execute it.

How to share your AZORult malware analysis with others?

If you want to share your virus analysis with others, you can create a text report and send it to anyone you want. Just click the "Text report" button. You can save it by using a printer icon in the upper-right corner of the report, or using your browser function by clicking the "Save page as..." or "Print..." buttons. You can also download or share other malware investigations, for example Adwind or Remcos. Note that you can choose that information section in your report you want to print or save into a file using the "Print..." button by clicking in the checkbox "Add for printing" on the right side of the sections. On the illustration below, the second section won't be included in the report.

text report for azorult Figure 3: Text report

Conclusion

AZORult remains to be a hazardous trojan. The stealer Trojan has been upgraded throughout its lifespan and currently poses even more dangers than during the first days of its lifespan. Particularly, most recent versions of AZORult are distributed in bundles with ransomware and can steal cryptocurrency from the victims.

AZORult's distribution in clever email campaigns makes becoming a victim of the stealer Trojan by accident relatively easy. The interactive sandbox analysis provided by services like ANY.RUN is a great way to learn more about the threat and greatly increase cybersecurity.

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