Skip to content

YARA · Signature Base (Florian Roth / Nextron)

SIGNATURE_BASE_MAL_Backdoor_Win_C3_1

Detection to identify the Custom Command and Control (C3) binaries.

MalwareSignature Base (Florian Roth / Nextron)Detection Rule License 1.1Compiles with YARA-X (with warnings)
Author
FireEye
Date
2021-05-11
Modified
2023-12-05
Score / Quality
75 / 79

What this rule detects

Detection to identify the Custom Command and Control (C3) binaries.

Targets: Windows PE.

It defines 8 patterns (5 text, 3 hex, 0 regex).

YARA-X says: warning[text_as_hex]: hex pattern could be written as text literal

Summary generated from the rule's metadata and condition.

Rule source

mal-backdoor-win-c3-1.yarDetection Rule License 1.1
rule SIGNATURE_BASE_MAL_Backdoor_Win_C3_1 : FILE
{
	meta:
		description = "Detection to identify the Custom Command and Control (C3) binaries."
		author = "FireEye"
		id = "60eb022e-6f4e-5c7d-9ddf-b458a593071e"
		date = "2021-05-11"
		modified = "2023-12-05"
		reference = "https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2021/05/shining-a-light-on-darkside-ransomware-operations.html"
		source_url = "https://github.com/Neo23x0/signature-base/blob/94a1c48d7ab499879287ff611dfe7f9c56376030/yara/crime_ransom_darkside.yar#L58-L77"
		license_url = "https://github.com/Neo23x0/signature-base/blob/94a1c48d7ab499879287ff611dfe7f9c56376030/LICENSE"
		hash = "7cdac4b82a7573ae825e5edb48f80be5"
		logic_hash = "369c54b9426edb449004466d30e1010ecefe8cfbea106306eb8eb90b27610dbf"
		score = 75
		quality = 79
		tags = "FILE"

	strings:
		$dropboxAPI = "Dropbox-API-Arg"
		$knownDLLs1 = "WINHTTP.dll" fullword
		$knownDLLs2 = "SHLWAPI.dll" fullword
		$knownDLLs3 = "NETAPI32.dll" fullword
		$knownDLLs4 = "ODBC32.dll" fullword
		$tokenString1 = { 5B 78 5D 20 65 72 72 6F 72 20 73 65 74 74 69 6E 67 20 74 6F 6B 65 6E }
		$tokenString2 = { 5B 78 5D 20 65 72 72 6F 72 20 63 72 65 61 74 69 6E 67 20 54 6F 6B 65 6E }
		$tokenString3 = { 5B 78 5D 20 65 72 72 6F 72 20 64 75 70 6C 69 63 61 74 69 6E 67 20 74 6F 6B 65 6E }

	condition:
		filesize < 5MB and uint16( 0 ) == 0x5A4D and uint32( uint32( 0x3C ) ) == 0x00004550 and ( ( ( all of ( $knownDLLs* ) ) and ( $dropboxAPI or ( 1 of ( $tokenString* ) ) ) ) or ( all of ( $tokenString* ) ) )
}

Strings (8 patterns)

IdentifierTypeValueModifiers
$dropboxAPItext"Dropbox-API-Arg"
$knownDLLs1text"WINHTTP.dll"fullword
$knownDLLs2text"SHLWAPI.dll"fullword
$knownDLLs3text"NETAPI32.dll"fullword
$knownDLLs4text"ODBC32.dll"fullword
$tokenString1hex{ 5B 78 5D 20 65 72 72 6F 72 20 73 65 74 74 69 6E 67 20 74 6F 6B 65 6E }
$tokenString2hex{ 5B 78 5D 20 65 72 72 6F 72 20 63 72 65 61 74 69 6E 67 20 54 6F 6B 65 6E }
$tokenString3hex{ 5B 78 5D 20 65 72 72 6F 72 20 64 75 70 6C 69 63 61 74 69 6E 67 20 74 6F 6B 65 6E }

Condition

filesize < 5MB and uint16( 0 ) == 0x5A4D and uint32( uint32( 0x3C ) ) == 0x00004550 and ( ( ( all of ( $knownDLLs* ) ) and ( $dropboxAPI or ( 1 of ( $tokenString* ) ) ) ) or ( all of ( $tokenString* ) ) )

In plain words (Heuristic)

  • The file must start with “MZ” — a Windows executable (PE).
  • The file must be smaller than 5MB (a cheap guard that skips large files).
  • All patterns in ( $knownDLLs* ) must match.
  • All patterns in ( $tokenString* ) must match.
  • At least 1 patterns in ( $tokenString* ) must match.
  • Pattern $dropboxAPI must be present.

Test this rule in your browser

Drop a file to scan it with this rule using YARA-X compiled to WebAssembly. Nothing is uploaded.

Drop a file here or click to chooseScanned locally with YARA-X. Files up to 200 MB.

Open in editor

References

Sample hashes

Hashes of samples the author lists in the rule's meta (look them up in your threat-intelligence platform).

  • 7cdac4b82a7573ae825e5edb48f80be5

Licence & attribution

Author: FireEye

Source repository: Signature Base (Florian Roth / Nextron) @ 94a1c48d7a

Licence: Detection Rule License 1.1 (repository licence)

Original rule

Mirrored via YARA Forge 20260927, which prefixes rule names with the source and adds normalised meta fields.

Rule id: 60eb022e-6f4e-5c7d-9ddf-b458a593071e

Tags:FILE