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IOCs

Quasar is a very popular RAT in the world thanks to its code being available in open-source. This malware can be used to control the victim’s computer remotely.

Trojan
Type
Unknown
Origin
1 January, 2015
First seen
14 October, 2024
Last seen

How to analyze Quasar RAT with ANY.RUN

Type
Unknown
Origin
1 January, 2015
First seen
14 October, 2024
Last seen

IOCs

IP addresses
5.8.88.191
165.227.31.192
190.188.26.213
147.185.221.22
51.79.73.224
147.185.221.23
24.152.39.227
147.185.221.17
147.185.221.16
185.29.120.90
185.29.120.42
3.141.29.186
147.185.221.20
193.161.193.99
45.152.161.204
147.185.221.18
165.22.194.189
147.185.221.21
87.120.115.35
37.120.233.226
Hashes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jarredsteven-56944.portmap.host
sockartek.icu
0.tcp.eu.ngrok.io
utrvxh6.localto.net
4.tcp.eu.ngrok.io
7.tcp.eu.ngrok.io
xetodek460-30424.portmap.io
4.tcp.us-cal-1.ngrok.io
syndicate234-56655.portmap.host
andrewtechsystem-55917.portmap.host
0.tcp.ngrok.io
23.ip.gl.ply.gg
web-yukon.gl.at.ply.gg
misterzeee-21127.portmap.host
saberkraft.com
teknoseyir.com
miguel2024.kozow.com
rath3r.xyz
shoppingmss.ddns.net
rick63.publicvm.com
URLs
tcp://0.tcp.eu.ngrok.io:15869/
http://telize.com/geoip
http://binance.com/
http://1.199.158.213.in-addr.arpa:49669/
tcp://0.tcp.ap.ngrok.io:16495/
http://18.134.234.207/update/ping
http://18.134.234.207/update/error
http://18.134.234.207/update/report
tcp://6.tcp.eu.ngrok.io:16451/
http://church-apr.gl.at.ply.gg/:31194
https://discordinit.ddns.net:4782/
http://www.telize.com/geoip
tcp://6.tcp.eu.ngrok.io:16457/
tcp://2.tcp.eu.ngrok.io:14336/
tcp://6.tcp.eu.ngrok.io:10324/
https://gofile.io/d/v2kHnq:8080
http://impact-eventually.at.playit.gg/tcp:60550
tcp://EdgyxNatexx-23830.portmap.io:23830/
tcp://6.tcp.ngrok.io:14412/
tcp://6.tcp.ngrok.io:4782/
Last Seen at

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What is Quasar RAT?

Quasar is a remote access trojan is used by attackers to take remote control of infected machines. It is written using the .NET programming language and is available to a wide public as an open-source project for Microsoft Windows operating systems, making it a popular RAT featured in many attacks.

General description of Quasar RAT

Quasar RAT was first discovered in 2015 by security researchers, who, at the time, speculated that an in-house development team wrote this RAT after performing the analysis of a sample. However, Quasar is an evolution of an older malware called xRAT, and some of its samples can carry out as many as 16 malicious actions.

Over the course of its lifetime, the malware has been updated several times, improving its overall functionality. The last version of the malware, which the original author developed, is v. 1.3.0.0. It was released in 2016. Since then, several third parties have adapted the RAT and issued their own version, both minor and major, with the last major version being v. 2.0.0.1.

The RAT we are reviewing today consists of two main components – the server-side component and the Quasar client-side component. The server is equipped with a graphical user interface, and it is used for managing connections with the client-side programs. The Quasar client-server architecture is also utilized to build malware samples which are eventually delivered to potential victims. Malware users can select attributes and customize the executable to fit the attacker's needs. The Quasar client and server run on different OSs including all Windows versions.

The functionality of the resulting malware includes remote file management on the infected machine, registry alterations, recording the actions of the victim, establishing remote desktop connections, and more. All of the data including requests are sent to the host server with the user-agent strings.

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It should be noted that Quasar's execution can unfold completely silently. Thus, once the victim downloads and launches the Quasar client, usually delivered in a document via email, it can stay active for a long period of time, stealing data and giving the hacker control over the infected PC. The malware does generate a process that can be discovered using the Windows Task Manager or a similar application, but active user actions are required to discover Quasar trojan's presence on a machine.

As far as creators of this malware are concerned, the group of people or a person behind the original version of this malware managed to remain anonymous. As a result, the little-known information that we do have does not go beyond the name of the GitHub page author, which states “quasar.”

As evident from the description on the “official” Quasar GitHub page, this malware is presented as a legitimate remote administration program, which is clearly misleading. In fact, Quasar was featured in an attack aimed at the US government early in 2017. Later the same year, another wave of attacks using this malware occurred, targeting the private sector.

Quasar RAT malware analysis

The execution process of this malware can be viewed in a video recorded in the ANY.RUN malware hunting service, allowing to perform analysis of how the contamination process unfolds.

process graph of the quasar stealer execution Figure 1: Displays the lifecycle of Quasar in a visual form, as shown on the graph generated by ANY.RUN.

text report of quasar analysis Figure 2: Shows a customizable text report generated by the ANY.RUN malware hunting service.

Quasar RAT execution process

Based on the analysis, Quasar execution is pretty straightforward but can vary in minor details from sample to sample. The RAT's user-agent strings fake various processes such as a browser running on Windows. In the given example, Quasar was dropped from a Microsoft Office file. Then, the dropped file changed the registry value to run with every operating system start, checked for external IP, and copied itself at another location. After all these steps, the malware started the main malicious activity - collecting information about the operating system and waiting for commands from the C2 server. Quasar allows malware users to collect host system data.

How to avoid infection by Quasar?

Quasar trojan writes itself into scheduled tasks and uses registry keys to achieve persistence, allowing the malware the run every time a machine is started. The persistence method is chosen based on user privileges. If the user has admin rights, the malware uses schtasks to create a scheduled task that launches after a user logs on with the highest run level. If admin rights are lacking, then the scheduled task can only go as far as adding a registry value configured in the client builder and added to the current path as the startup program. The best way to avoid infection is for cybersecurity specialists gt to know various user-agent strings that exist in their network, and identify suspicious user-agent strings.

Distribution of Quasar RAT

Like most other RATs, for example Crimson RAT or Orcus RAT, Quasar is distributed in email spam campaigns that carry the malware’s loader. The loader is embedded in a malicious file attachment which usually carries a name designed to trick the user into thinking that they are receiving some sort of a document. Sometimes these files will have a double extension such as docx.exe. Again, this is done to trick the victim into thinking that the attached file is harmless. Of course, once opened, such files start a command prompt rather than Microsoft Office.

How to detect Quasar RAT using ANY.RUN?

ANY.RUN uses Suricata IDS rule sets, so if malware tries to communicate with C&C servers, it will be detected. To look at what threats were detected, just click on the "Threats" section of the "Network" tab.

quasar network threats Figure 3: Quasar network threats

Conclusion

Quasar trojan is a powerful open-source malware equipped with a robust persistence mechanism and a complete feature set of malicious capabilities. Being available to anybody with programming knowledge, Quasar became a widely used RAT which was even featured in an attack targeted at the American government.

However, unlike other more advanced Trojans, Quasar RAT does not have extremely sophisticated anti-analysis features, which makes setting up robust cyber-defense an easier task, especially when using malware hunting services like ANY.RUN to simplify and streamline the research process.

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