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Ransom.Win32.AFRODITA.THAACBOA

January 16, 2020
 Analysis by: Joshua Paul Ignacio
 ALIASES:

Trojan-Ransom.Win32.Encoder.guf (KASPERSKY), Trojan-Ransom.Afrodita (IKARUS)

 PLATFORM:

Windows

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

  • Threat Type: Ransomware

  • Destructiveness: No

  • Encrypted:

  • In the wild: Yes

  OVERVIEW

Infection Channel:

Downloaded from the Internet, Dropped by other malware


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

It drops files as ransom note.

  TECHNICAL DETAILS

File Size:

264,192 bytes

File Type:

DLL

File Compression:

UPX

Memory Resident:

No

Initial Samples Received Date:

13 Jan 2020

Payload:

Drops files, Encrypts files, Displays message/message boxes

Arrival Details

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

Installation

This Ransomware drops the following file(s)/component(s):

  • %System%\main-public.key
  • %System%\client-encrypted-private.key
  • %System%\client-public.key

(Note: %System% is the Windows system folder, where it usually is C:\Windows\System32 on all Windows operating system versions.)

It adds the following mutexes to ensure that only one of its copies runs at any one time:

  • 835821AM3218SAZ

Other System Modifications

This Ransomware adds the following registry keys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
RestartManager\Session0000

It adds the following registry entries as part of its installation routine:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
RestartManager\Session0000
Session Hash = {Hex Values}

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
RestartManager\Session0000
Owner = {Hex Values}

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
RestartManager\Session0000
Sequence = 1

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
RestartManager\Session0000
RegFiles0000 = {FilePath}\{FileName}

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
RestartManager\Session0000
RegFileHash = {Hex Values}

Other Details

This Ransomware encrypts files with the following extensions:

  • .3DS
  • .3FR
  • .3PR
  • .7Z
  • .AB4
  • .AC2
  • .ACCDB
  • .ACCDE
  • .ACCDR
  • .ACCDT
  • .ACR
  • .ADB
  • .AGD1
  • .AI
  • .AIT
  • .AL
  • .APJ
  • .APK
  • .ARCH00
  • .ARW
  • .ASM
  • .ASP
  • .ASSET
  • .AVI
  • .AWG
  • .BACKUP
  • .BACKUPDB
  • .BAK
  • .BAR
  • .BAY
  • .BC6
  • .BC7
  • .BDB
  • .BGT
  • .BIG
  • .BIK
  • .BKF
  • .BKP
  • .BLEND
  • .BLOB
  • .BMP
  • .BPW
  • .BSA
  • .C
  • .CAS
  • .CDF
  • .CDR
  • .CDR3
  • .CDR4
  • .CDR5
  • .CDR6
  • .CDRW
  • .CDX
  • .CE1
  • .CE2
  • .CER
  • .CFP
  • .CFR
  • .CGM
  • .CIB
  • .CLASS
  • .CLS
  • .CMT
  • .CPI
  • .CPP
  • .CR2
  • .CRAW
  • .CRT
  • .CRW
  • .CSH
  • .CSL
  • .CSS
  • .CSV
  • .D3DBSP
  • .DAC
  • .DAS
  • .DAT
  • .DAZIP
  • .DB
  • .DB0
  • .DB3
  • .DBA
  • .DBF
  • .DB-JOURNAL
  • .DC2
  • .DCR
  • .DCS
  • .DDD
  • .DDOC
  • .DDRW
  • .DER
  • .DESC
  • .DESIGN
  • .DGC
  • .DJVU
  • .DMP
  • .DNG
  • .DOC
  • .DOCM
  • .DOCX
  • .DOT
  • .DOTM
  • .DOTX
  • .DRF
  • .DRW
  • .DWG
  • .DXB
  • .DXF
  • .DXG
  • .EPK
  • .EPS
  • .ERBSQL
  • .ERF
  • .ESM
  • .EXF
  • .EXIF
  • .FDB
  • .FF
  • .FFD
  • .FFF
  • .FH
  • .FHD
  • .FLV
  • .FORGE
  • .FOS
  • .FPK
  • .FPX
  • .FSH
  • .FXG
  • .GDB
  • .GHO
  • .GIF
  • .GRAY
  • .GREY
  • .GRY
  • .H
  • .HBK
  • .HKDB
  • .HKX
  • .HPLG
  • .HPP
  • .HTM
  • .HTML
  • .HVPL
  • .IBANK
  • .IBD
  • .IBZ
  • .ICXS
  • .IDX
  • .IIQ
  • .INCPAS
  • .INDD
  • .ITDB
  • .ITL
  • .ITM
  • .IWD
  • .IWI
  • .JAVA
  • .JFIF
  • .JPE
  • .JPEG
  • .JPG
  • .JS
  • .KC2
  • .KDB
  • .KDBX
  • .KDC
  • .KF
  • .KPDX
  • .LAYOUT
  • .LBF
  • .LITEMOD
  • .LRF
  • .LTX
  • .LUA
  • .LVL
  • .M2
  • .M3U
  • .M4A
  • .MAP
  • .MCMETA
  • .MDB
  • .MDBACKUP
  • .MDC
  • .MDDATA
  • .MDF
  • .MEF
  • .MENU
  • .MFW
  • .MKV
  • .MLX
  • .MMW
  • .MONEYWELL
  • .MOS
  • .MOV
  • .MP3
  • .MP4
  • .MPG
  • .MPQGE
  • .MRW
  • .MRWREF
  • .MSG
  • .MYD
  • .NCF
  • .NDD
  • .NEF
  • .NOP
  • .NRW
  • .NS2
  • .NS3
  • .NS4
  • .NSD
  • .NSF
  • .NSG
  • .NSH
  • .NTL
  • .NWB
  • .NX1
  • .NX2
  • .NYF
  • .ODB
  • .ODC
  • .ODF
  • .ODG
  • .ODM
  • .ODP
  • .ODS
  • .ODT
  • .ORF
  • .OTG
  • .OTH
  • .OTP
  • .OTS
  • .OTT
  • .P12
  • .P7B
  • .P7C
  • .PAK
  • .PAT
  • .PCD
  • .PDD
  • .PDF
  • .PEF
  • .PEM
  • .PFX
  • .PHP
  • .PKPASS
  • .PL
  • .PNG
  • .POT
  • .POTM
  • .POTX
  • .PPAM
  • .PPS
  • .PPSM
  • .PPSX
  • .PPT
  • .PPTM
  • .PPTX
  • .PS
  • .PSAFE3
  • .PSD
  • .PSK
  • .PST
  • .PTX
  • .PY
  • .QDF
  • .QIC
  • .R3D
  • .RA2
  • .RAF
  • .RAR
  • .RAW
  • .RB
  • .RDB
  • .RE4
  • .RGSS3A
  • .RIM
  • .ROFL
  • .RTF
  • .RW2
  • .RWL
  • .RWZ
  • .S3DB
  • .SAS7BDAT
  • .SAV
  • .SB
  • .SD0
  • .SD1
  • .SDA
  • .SDF
  • .SID
  • .SIDD
  • .SIDN
  • .SIE
  • .SIS
  • .SLDM
  • .SLDX
  • .SLM
  • .SLN
  • .SNX
  • .SQL
  • .SQLITE
  • .SQLITE3
  • .SQLITEDB
  • .SR2
  • .SRF
  • .SRW
  • .ST4
  • .ST5
  • .ST6
  • .ST7
  • .ST8
  • .STC
  • .STD
  • .STI
  • .STW
  • .STX
  • .SUM
  • .SVG
  • .SXC
  • .SXD
  • .SXG
  • .SXI
  • .SXM
  • .SXW
  • .SYNCDB
  • .T12
  • .T13
  • .TAX
  • .TOR
  • .TXT
  • .UPK
  • .VCF
  • .VDF
  • .VFS0
  • .VPK
  • .VPP_PC
  • .VTF
  • .W3X
  • .WALLET
  • .WB2
  • .WMA
  • .WMO
  • .WMV
  • .WOTREPLAY
  • .WPD
  • .WPS
  • .X3F
  • .XF
  • .XLA
  • .XLAM
  • .XLK
  • .XLL
  • .XLM
  • .XLS
  • .XLSB
  • .XLSM
  • .XLSX
  • .XLT
  • .XLTM
  • .XLTX
  • .XLW
  • .XXX
  • .YCBCRA
  • .ZIP
  • .ZTMP

It does the following:

  • It encrypts all files in all drives.

Ransomware Routine

This Ransomware avoids encrypting files found in the following folders:

  • All Users
  • App Data
  • Program Files
  • Program Files (x86)
  • ProgramData
  • Windows
  • $GetCurrent

It drops the following file(s) as ransom note:

  • {Encrypted Directory}\__README_RECOVERY_.txt

  SOLUTION

Minimum Scan Engine:

9.850

FIRST VSAPI PATTERN FILE:

15.620.02

FIRST VSAPI PATTERN DATE:

09 Jan 2020

VSAPI OPR PATTERN File:

15.621.00

VSAPI OPR PATTERN Date:

08 Jan 2020

Step 1

Trend Micro Predictive Machine Learning detects and blocks malware at the first sign of its existence, before it executes on your system. When enabled, your Trend Micro product detects this malware under the following machine learning name:

    • Troj.Win32.TRX.XXPE50FFF033

Step 2

Before doing any scans, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10 users must disable System Restore to allow full scanning of their computers.

Step 3

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 4

Delete this registry key

[ Learn More ]

Important: Editing the Windows Registry incorrectly can lead to irreversible system malfunction. Please do this step only if you know how or you can ask assistance from your system administrator. Else, check this Microsoft article first before modifying your computer's registry.

 
  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\RestartManager\Session0000

Step 5

Delete this registry value

[ Learn More ]

Important: Editing the Windows Registry incorrectly can lead to irreversible system malfunction. Please do this step only if you know how or you can ask assistance from your system administrator. Else, check this Microsoft article first before modifying your computer's registry.

  • In HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\RestartManager\Session0000
    • Owner = {Hex Values}
  • In HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\RestartManager\Session0000
    • SessionHash = {Hex Values}
  • In HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\RestartManager\Session0000
    • Sequence = 1
  • In HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\RestartManager\Session0000
    • RegFiles0000 = {FilePath}\{FileName}
  • In HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\RestartManager\Session0000
    • RegFilesHash = {Hex Values}

Step 6

Search and delete this file

[ Learn More ]
There may be some files that are hidden. Please make sure you check the Search Hidden Files and Folders checkbox in the "More advanced options" option to include all hidden files and folders in the search result.
  • %System%\main-public.key
  • %System%\client-encrypted-private.key
  • %System%\client-public.key
  • {Encrypted Directory}\__README_RECOVERY_.txt

Step 7

Restart in normal mode and scan your computer with your Trend Micro product for files detected as Ransom.Win32.AFRODITA.THAACBOA. 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 this Knowledge Base page for more information.

Step 8

Restore encrypted files from backup.


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