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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
19 May, 2024
Last seen

How to analyze Quasar RAT with ANY.RUN

Type
Unknown
Origin
1 January, 2015
First seen
19 May, 2024
Last seen

IOCs

IP addresses
91.92.254.40
193.161.193.99
5.8.88.191
85.23.109.34
85.23.24.170
51.79.171.174
79.132.193.215
193.124.33.141
147.185.221.19
167.71.56.116
1.199.158.213
213.158.199.1
88.177.79.24
93.123.85.108
93.123.85.108
185.196.10.233
37.120.210.219
168.75.105.185
94.156.8.44
77.232.132.25
Hashes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piraja2832-61225.portmap.host
skbidiooiilet-31205.portmap.host
tue-jake.gl.at.ply.gg
0.tcp.eu.ngrok.io
nahchris-49021.portmap.host
7.tcp.eu.ngrok.io
sockartek.icu
even-lemon.gl.at.ply.gg
peurnick24.bumbleshrimp.com
bideo.duckdns.org
win32updates.duckdns.org
4.tcp.eu.ngrok.io
espinyskibidi-29823.portmap.host
19.ip.gl.ply.gg
new2024q.ddns.net
6.tcp.eu.ngrok.io
1.199.158.213.in-addr.arpa
ns1-a.era.pl
0.tcp.in.ngrok.io
5.tcp.eu.ngrok.io
URLs
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
http://telize.com/geoip
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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