TROJ64_COINMINER.QW

February 03, 2018
 Analysis by: Nikko Tamana
 ALIASES:

Application.Miner.BF (Bitdefender), Riskware/BitCoinMiner (Fortinet), PUA.CoinMiner (Ikarus), HEUR:RiskTool.Win32.BitMiner.gen (Kaspersky), Trojan:Win64/CoinMiner.PA (Microsoft), Win64/CoinMiner.CZ (NOD32), Risktool.Bitcoinminer (Quickheal)

 PLATFORM:

Windows

 OVERALL RISK RATING:
 DAMAGE POTENTIAL:
 DISTRIBUTION POTENTIAL:
 REPORTED INFECTION:
 SYSTEM IMPACT RATING:
 INFORMATION EXPOSURE:

  • Threat Type: Trojan

  • Destructiveness: No

  • Encrypted: No

  • In the wild: Yes

  OVERVIEW

Infection Channel:

Downloaded from the Internet, Dropped by other malware

This Trojan may arrive bundled with malware packages as a malware component. It arrives on a system as a file dropped by other malware or as a file downloaded unknowingly by users when visiting malicious sites. It may be downloaded by other malware/grayware from remote sites.

It requires being executed with a specific argument/parameter, an additional component, or in a specific environment in order to proceed with its intended routine.

  TECHNICAL DETAILS

File Size:

817,152 bytes

File Type:

EXE

Memory Resident:

Yes

Initial Samples Received Date:

24 Oct 2017

Payload:

Affects system's computing power

Arrival Details

This Trojan may arrive bundled with malware packages as a malware component.

It arrives on a system as a file dropped by other malware or as a file downloaded unknowingly by users when visiting malicious sites.

It may be downloaded by the following malware/grayware from remote sites:

  • TROJ_COINMINE.THAOIO

Other Details

This Trojan does the following:

  • This Trojan is a coin miner used to generate bitcoins and it requires credentials for the mining server.
  • The mining process eats up a system's computing power. As such, infected systems sustain increased wear and tear from processing coin blocks and the infected systems will work abnormally slow.
  • It accepts the following parameters:
    • -a, --algo=ALGO → cryptonight (default) or cryptonight-lite
    • -o, --url=URL → URL of mining server
    • -O, --userpass=U:P → username:password pair for mining server
    • -u, --user=USERNAME → username for mining server
    • -p, --pass=PASSWORD → password for mining server
    • -t, --threads=N → number of miner threads
    • -v, --av=N → algorithm variation, 0 auto select
    • -k, --keepalive → send keepalived for prevent timeout (need pool support)
    • -r, --retries=N → number of times to retry before switch to backup server (default: 5)
    • -R, --retry-pause=N → time to pause between retries (default: 5)
    • --cpu-affinity → set process affinity to CPU core(s), mask 0x3 for cores 0 and 1
    • --cpu-priority → set process priority (0 idle, 2 normal to 5 highest)
    • --no-huge-pages → disable huge pages support
    • --no-color → disable colored output
    • --donate-level=N → donate level, default 5% (5 minutes in 100 minutes)
    • --user-agent → set custom user-agent string for pool
    • -B, --background → run the miner in the background
    • -c, --config=FILE → load a JSON-format configuration file
    • -l, --log-file=FILE → log all output to a file
    • --max-cpu-usage=N → maximum CPU usage for automatic threads mode (default 75)
    • --safe → safe adjust threads and av settings for current CPU
    • --nicehash → enable nicehash/xmrig-proxy support
    • --print-time=N → print hashrate report every N seconds
    • --api-port=N → port for the miner API
    • --api-access-token=T → access token for API
    • --api-worker-id=ID → custom worker-id for API
    • -h, --help → display this help and exit
    • -V, --version → output version information and exit

It requires being executed with a specific argument/parameter, an additional component, or in a specific environment in order to proceed with its intended routine.

  SOLUTION

Minimum Scan Engine:

9.850

FIRST VSAPI PATTERN FILE:

13.784.03

FIRST VSAPI PATTERN DATE:

24 Oct 2017

VSAPI OPR PATTERN File:

13.785.00

VSAPI OPR PATTERN Date:

25 Oct 2017

Step 1

Before doing any scans, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 users must disable System Restore to allow full scanning of their computers.

Step 2

Note that not all files, folders, and registry keys and entries are installed on your computer during this malware's/spyware's/grayware's execution. This may be due to incomplete installation or other operating system conditions. If you do not find the same files/folders/registry information, please proceed to the next step.

Step 3

Remove malware/grayware files that dropped/downloaded TROJ64_COINMINER.QW. (Note: Please skip this step if the threats listed below have already been removed.)

    • TROJ_COINMINE.THAOIO

Step 4

Identify and terminate files detected as TROJ64_COINMINER.QW

[ Learn More ]
  1. Windows Task Manager may not display all running processes. In this case, please use a third-party process viewer, preferably Process Explorer, to terminate the malware/grayware/spyware file. You may download the said tool here.
  2. If the detected file is displayed in either Windows Task Manager or Process Explorer but you cannot delete it, restart your computer in safe mode. To do this, refer to this link for the complete steps.
  3. If the detected file is not displayed in either Windows Task Manager or Process Explorer, continue doing the next steps.

Step 5

Scan your computer with your Trend Micro product to delete files detected as TROJ64_COINMINER.QW. If the detected files have already been cleaned, deleted, or quarantined by your Trend Micro product, no further step is required. You may opt to simply delete the quarantined files. Please check the following Trend Micro Support pages for more information:


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