Description of Campaign
McAfee Labs has discovered a new technique that downloads and executes malicious DLLs (Zloader) without any malicious code present in the initial spammed attachment macro. In the last few years, Microsoft Office macro malware using social engineering as a means for malware infection has been a dominant part of the threat landscape. Malware authors continue to evolve their techniques to evade detection. These techniques involve utilizing macro obfuscation, DDE, living off the land tools (LOLBIN), and even utilizing legacy supported XLS formats.
The McAfee Enterprise ATR Team gathers and analyzes information from multiple open and closed sources before disseminating intelligence reports.
This campaign was researched by McAfee Labs and shared publicly.
How to use this article:
- If a Threat Hunting table has been created, use the rules contained to search for malware related to this campaign.
- Review the product detection table and confirm that your environment is at least on the specified content version.
To download the latest content versions, go to the Security Updates page.
- Scroll down and review the "Product Countermeasures" section of this article. Consider implementing them if they are not already in place.
- Review KB91836 - Countermeasures for entry vector threats, which contains countermeasures.
- Review KB87843 - List of and best practices for Endpoint Security Dynamic Application Containment rules.
- Review KB82925 - Identify what rule corresponds to an Adaptive Threat Protection and Threat Intelligence Exchange event.
This Knowledge Base article discusses a specific threat that is being tracked. The list of IOCs will change over time; check MVISION Insights for the latest IOCs.
Campaign IOC
| Type |
Value |
| SHA256 |
210F12D1282E90AADB532E7E891CBE4F089EF4F3EC0568DC459FB5D546C95EAF |
| SHA256 |
C55A25514C0D860980E5F13B138AE846B36A783A0FDB52041E3A8C6A22C6F5E2 |
| URL |
http://heavenlygem.com/11.php |
| URL |
http://heavenlygem.com/22.php?5PH8Z |
Minimum Content Versions:
| Content Type |
Version |
| V2 DAT (VirusScan Enterprise) |
9878 |
| V3 DAT (Endpoint Security) |
4330 |
Detection Summary
| IOC |
Scanner |
Detection |
| 210F12D1282E90AADB532E7E891CBE4F089EF4F3EC0568DC459FB5D546C95EAF |
AVEngine V2 |
W97M/Dropper.hc |
| AVEngine V3 |
W97M/Dropper.hc |
| JTI (ATP Rules) |
- |
| RP Static |
- |
| RP Dynamic |
- |
| IOC |
Scanner |
Detection |
| C55A25514C0D860980E5F13B138AE846B36A783A0FDB52041E3A8C6A22C6F5E2 |
AVEngine V2 |
Zloader-FCVP!BB1272E0E328 |
| AVEngine V3 |
Zloader-FCVP!BB1272E0E328 |
| JTI (ATP Rules) |
JTI/Suspect.196612!bb1272e0e328 |
| RP Static |
- |
| RP Dynamic |
- |
Minimum set of Manual Rules to improve protection to block this campaign
IMPORTANT: Always follow best practices when you enable new rules and signatures.
When you implement new rules or signatures, always set them to Report mode first and check the alerts generated. Resolve any issues that arise and then set the rules to Block. This step mitigates against triggering false positives and allows you to refine your configuration.
For more information, see KB87843 - List of and best practices for Endpoint Security Dynamic Application Containment rules.
Endpoint Security - Advanced Threat Protection:
Rule ID: 4 Use GTI file reputation to identify trusted or malicious files
Endpoint Security - Exploit Prevention:
Rule ID: 2844 Microsoft Word WordPerfect5 Converter Module Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
Host Intrusion Prevention:
Rule ID: 2844 Microsoft Word WordPerfect5 Converter Module Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
Aggressive set of Manual Rules to improve protection to block this campaign
IMPORTANT: Always follow best practices when you enable new rules and signatures.
When you implement new rules or signatures, always set them to Report mode first and check the alerts generated. Resolve any issues that arise and then set the rules to Block. This step mitigates against triggering false positives and allows you to refine your configuration.
For more information, see KB87843 - List of and best practices for Endpoint Security Dynamic Application Containment rules.
Host Intrusion Prevention:
Rule ID: 6010 Generic Application Hooking Protection
Rule ID: 6011 Generic Application Invocation Protection
Rule ID: 1020 Windows Agent Shielding - File Access
Rule ID: 1148 CMD Tool Access by a Network Aware Application
