16
Global rank
35
Month rank
23
Week rank
490
IOCs

Pony is a malware with two main functions — stealing information and dropping other viruses with different tasks on infected machines. It has been around since 2011, and it still actively attacks users in Europe and America.

Stealer
Type
Unknown
Origin
1 January, 2011
First seen
24 September, 2023
Last seen
Also known as
Fareit
Siplog

How to analyze Pony with ANY.RUN

Stealer
Type
Unknown
Origin
1 January, 2011
First seen
24 September, 2023
Last seen

IOCs

Hashes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http://reservehost.com/path/gate.php
http://mainserver.com/gate.php
http://talentos.clicken1.com:81/ponyb/gate.php
http://v-kolgotkah.ru/gate.php
http://top.thisispw.com/keys7369921/gate.php
http://t00lz.sourceforge.net/pony/gate.php
http://estherlu.webuda.com/update/gate.php
http://londonpaerl.co.uk/yesup/gate.php
http://gruzdom.ru/api/
http://skid.com/path/gate.php
http://magic-skid.com/gate.php
http://63.251.20.180/pony/gate.php
http://luxluggage.com/forum/viewtopic.php
http://www.oldhorse.info/
http://oldhorse.info/a.php
http://98.158.129.17:8080/pony/gate.php
http://4.pianetapollo.com/forum/viewtopic.php
http://91.121.84.204:8080/pony/gate.php
http://davesclassics.com.au/tmp/file2.exe
http://globalofficesolution.net/tmp/file2.exe
Last Seen at

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What is Pony malware?

Pony, also known as Fareit or Siplog, is an information stealer and loader – a malware used to collect data from infected machines and install other malicious programs. This particular virus was First Spotted in the wild in 2011. It is known to attack users primarily in Europe and North America.

The earliest discovered version of Pony stealer is 1.7, and the latest updated known version is 2.2. Though being regularly updated, the malware did not gain groundbreakingly new features since the time of its first discovery by Microsoft. In addition to the core functionality, Pony can also steal cryptocurrency wallet credentials, FTP clients, and autofill values from the browsers.

In contrast to the majority of botnets, Pony stealer does not require a centralized C&C server or a group of C&C servers to carry out its attacks. Instead, each attacker can set up their own custom control server or purchase a server that was previously set up by another criminal, instantly gaining access to infrastructure that provides reports about the stolen data. In addition, the malware itself can be divided into two modules, the builder, which is used to construct clients that are then have to be downloaded on the victim’s machine to collect data, and the bot itself – the final payload.

General description of Pony malware

The robust functionality of Pony trojan helped this malware to keep its position as the most popular password stealer through 5 years. Apart from being able to steal credentials the same as RedLine, malware can disable certain antivirus and windows security features and run in the background completely hidden from the user, who may not have a clue that his or her PC is, in fact, infected. When activated, Pony stealer can use the infected PC to take part in botnet attacks, for example, using a hijacked machine to send spam emails. Pony can also download other malware to the victim’s machine and send harvested personal data to a destination specified by the attacker.

What’s more, Pony has been mentioned by multiple “hacker celebrities” as the backbone of many attack campaigns. For instance, the author of the infamous Andromeda botnet has referred to Pony as the “titanic work of the author of miracle (Fareit Bot),” further stating that the loader was incorporated in the Andromeda botnet attacks as a plug-in.

Part of the malware’s popularity is because the source code of multiple Pony loader versions has been leaked and is available for download on the darknet. Particularly, the source code of Pony builder and loader versions 1.9 and 2.0 are available for download on several underground forums.

The Pony stealer builder is a program that attackers can use to construct custom Pony bots with pre-programmed C&C addresses, where stolen data can be sent. The Pony Bot is the actual program that is used for information stealing. According to the analysis, the Bot is written primarily in assembly language. A peculiar feature of this malware that separates it from the rest of the pack is its unique decoding technique. The Bot itself does not come equipped with a decoding algorithm, instead of using just simple functions that are programmed to send encrypted information to the control server, where stolen passwords and other data are decrypted.

Even though the core feature-set of Pony trojan has not changed drastically over the course of its lifespan, newer versions of the malware gained several anti-detection features designed to prevent research and disassembly of the malware. As such, in addition to standard anti-evasion and debugging techniques, each attacker has the ability to implement various packers, including custom ones, to avoid detection by antivirus software.

With the use of Packers, the malware gains a Russian “matryoshka” nesting-doll like-design. While the payload is inactive when the package containing Pony stealer is analyzed, the final payload cannot be detected by antivirus signatures since it is hidden in the innermost and smallest package. However, once activated, the Pony loader has to unpack itself, thus revealing its presence.

Pony malware analysis

A video of a simulation recorded in ANY.RUN malware hunting service helps us to perform the analysis of the behavior of Pony in-depth.

process graph of the pony execution Figure 1: A process graph generated by ANY.RUN enables to examine the lifecycle of Pony in a visual form

text report of a Pony analysis Figure 2: Customizable text reports provided by ANY.RUN gives more opportunities for research or sharing of study results

Pony malware execution process

In the case of our simulation, after the user ran the malicious file, the malware launched itself. Next, the malicious executable file connected to the C2 server and started stealing information from the infected system. It should be noted that in some cases, Pony is known to download other malware to the victim’s machine.

Distribution of Pony malware

Based on the analysis, Pony is distributed in multiple ways, including email spam campaigns, exploit kits and DNS poisoning. Also, Pony can be hidden within free downloadable online programs and can mimic legitimate software. For example, malicious emails usually include either a Microsoft Word archive or a JavaScript file. As soon as the document is downloaded and opened, Pony injects the victim’s PC and starts execution.

Another attack vector of Pony is through a compromised DNS server which is infected by another malware. In this case, the victim is redirected to a malicious website from where Pony downloads itself onto the users’ PC.

How to detect Pony stealer using ANY.RUN?

Analysts can perform an analysis of what changes the malware made in the registry. Just click on the process and then on the button "More Info" in the appeared window. Then, in the "Advanced details of process" window, switch to the "Registry changes" tab. Note that you can switch between the friendly and raw display of changes. You can also try this method while analyzing GootKit or Danabot.

pony fareit registry changes Figure 3: Registry changes made by Pony

Conclusion

Availability and robust feature set helped make Pony stealer one of the most widely used information stealers. In fact, this malware is regularly being used in attacks targeting Europe and North America. The danger of Pony attacks is further enhanced by its nesting-doll-like design, where the final payload hides within a layered package, allowing to avoid easy detection. Interactive malware hunting service ANY.RUN gives researchers the ability to take a look at how this dangerous malware functions and examine its behavior in action in a safe environment.

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