Strange File in Downloads Folder? Gootloader Malware Analysis

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[@tomasofficial.]

That was a really interesting idea, to have extra malicious code in between the "real" code. Great Video!

[@ShinigamiAnger]

Not as innovative as you believe

[@tomasofficial.]

@@ShinigamiAnger well I took a big break from coding and malware stuff so I don't know how innovative or how smart it is. Sounded pretty smart to me!

[@xcruell]

@@tomasofficial. that's pretty common, but yeah the concept is really interesting!

[@whathaveicreated1197]

I thought of this idea lol or just put the malware at the bottom

[@ShinigamiAnger]

@@whathaveicreated1197 that's even older (and worse compared to blending and distributing it into actual code)

[@KevinCrouch0]

The part you called "randomness" in PowerShell was just some simple common PowerShell deobfuscation (pulling from essentially static items, like pulling portions of text from "Microsoft Windows" to deobfuscate), and then it compiled it to a C# code etc and it ran it with IEX near the end, alias for Invoke-Expression

[@KevinCrouch0]

This really doesn't look like much except an email-style malware dropper like I have been seeing since 2014, easy

[@michaelstevenson5044]

This comment needs more likes. Thanks for the clarification!

[@gooniesfan7911]

>like pulling portions of text from "Microsoft Windows" to deobfuscate interesting, can you please explain this more to me? i think im missing it.

[@KevinCrouch0]

@@gooniesfan7911 they will pull bits of text out of these strings in order to construct words that they can then reuse to make code to create more code and import things Like they might use the "d" from "Windows" as part of "dll" Or the "i" and "o" from "Microsoft" to be part of "invoke" If they do that with enough words, then nothing is hardcoded in their code, and it makes it much more difficult to automatically scan for

[@gooniesfan7911]

@@KevinCrouch0 Thank you for such a clear answer man.

[@Counterhackingsafe]

John, you never fail to amaze me with your ability to decode and expose the malicious intentions behind these tricky scripts. Your dedication to educating and keeping us safe from cyber threats is truly commendable. Keep shining a light on the dark corners of the internet! 👨‍💻💡

[@James-ly3lc]

😮-)😊9

[@howniceofyouofficial]

You literally know every single shortcut ever, shortcuts, libraries to help you and regex, what a skill set! Keep it up man!

[@justinmarshall6953]

Hey man, I don’t usually comment, but I just want to thank you for your videos. This is the second video that has helped my analysts wrap their heads around an incident we have had. Your excitement and ability to simplify what you are explaining while still keeping it technical is so awesome. I look forward to seeing more of what you come out with. Thanks John!

[@kenough90]

when you opened up the 40MB file, the extra nonsense is usually put to basically be to large for AV's to not detect it because they choke at large files.

[@Doomsday499]

This is exactly the reason why

[@biscuit715]

Shows how shit your average AV is

[@r.pizzamonkey7379]

I just really like that at 11:52 one of the variables is called "women3". There's a bit of code that's "while(women3)". I don't know why this is so funny to me. I wonder if the variable names were randomly generated by an automatic obfuscator.

[@PEislander27]

lol, i saw the same thing, was also caught off guard by a var called "+pee"

[@apIthletIcc]

ive seen 'd01t_pusi' a few times looking at wierd code

[@atlasultimate]

This kind of stuff is really interesting to me. I don't quite have the dedication to learn all these little things and bits of knowledge, but it's always a fun watch to see someone break down how a piece of software functions. Keep it up!

[@aqniazi89niazi32]

@AtlasUltimate My Mate My Dear My Darling AAAH Just as i myself would like to phrase it.Well this kind of information technology stuff is really interesting to me. I also don't quite have the dedicationsince i myself been an Information Technology Graduate(thanks to my father decision :) to learn all these little nice technology thingys and bits of knowledge, but it's always a fun watch to see someone standup to the podium and magnificiently break down how a piece of software functions. Keep it up!

[@DarkFaken]

I love watching you parse through these sort of scripts. It always looks like so much fun

[@JaredQuackenbush-hh8gv]

I can help you to retrieve your hacked account

[@UnfiItered]

This is basically crawling through the computer to find certain file information. They're probably looking for a specific target but also gathering any useful bit of information that they can use in the future. Those web domain are probably host that will obfuscate things even more and send them somewhere else. Probably to another domain or through onions. It was pretty interesting to see it still kind of worked without a it's proper cwscript. Which it needed to grab from the first 3 web domain. Probably have it hidden in plain text and the first level of attack knows how to scrape the plain text and assemble it into a readable script while obfuscating it at the same time. I'm also talking out of my ass.

[@makal4966]

Really nice. Like how you pull this apart in an easy and understandable way. Waiting for the next one.

[@bird9188]

I did not understand a single word that was said in this video but it's very entertaining, also it makes me worried if I have any nasty malware on my pc

[@cobbil]

I am a complete novice in the software field, but listening and watching you go through this malware has been fascinating

[@jacobfurnish7450]

12:05 "At the very top, there is stuff." The only thing I understood during the whole video. Jesus this looks complicated.

[@HagalUlfr]

Very nice to see the tear down of this. There's a ton of obfuscation!

[@Jackie777]

I'm just a regular PC user and most of that went over my head real quick, but you made it sound so interesting! I'm subscribing, maybe I'll actually learn something!

[@coolfool3000]

This man could really decode dino dna himself, no dr. Wu needed. Great video, did not follow it but man a crazy trip.

[@Cicada1997]

He got me on his computer 😳 Please dont extract me… 0:00

[@Voidmourn]

That video was amazing thanks for that exploration John!

[@JrGiles911]

I understood "Control A" the rest was an alien language, when you executed the file I questioned "if I watch this will it spill over on my pc?" Wow this was entertaining, thank you Sir, AMAZING yet FREAKY.

[@Owl69699]

WOW, I came here from the interview with David Bombal and this is the first video I see. I am absolutely amazed at what is happening.

[@udittlamba]

Top notch cyber forensics content. This may not be my field of word but I enjoy watching these videos. Thanks for your work.

[@Dr1llz_]

Honestly I was expecting him to run it on a vm and title it "Downolading random files until my pc dies part 69"

[@wilsden]

the part where you said would take a long time, and how you just want to see it explode, that's the part that is actually interesting to watch.

[@stage6fan475]

Keep up the amazing work. Hope you don't get hurt by youtube's evil attempt to push shorts.

[@v01d_r34l1ty]

outside of YT's greed, shorts are a great feature imo

[@OptimusSatanas]

Evil? People who use hyperbole casually are super annoying.

[@PeIeus]

Hey John, if I wanted to work my way through your playlists to build foundational, working knowledge towards becoming a cyber security professional, where would you point me to? Your channel is 10/10 you've done incredibly well.

[@supaplextor]

Some AV tools will avoid large payloads, eg some inline firewalls with a/v security and other options may not have enough ram to look at everything.

[@S-Lomar]

That strange file is blowing my mind 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

[@unixnerd8120]

You've probably heard this a million times but I'll say it anyway: You don't need to pipe cat into grep ;)

[@samwebb7820]

Hey John, nice video and analysis as always! Just curious, did you ever go back to those UserAssist reg values to see what they were? Any persistence perhaps? I don't think the mandiant and redcanary articles mentioned them.

[@Kimera_Alternate_Realities]

This is fascinating, I understand everything you are doing, but I had no idea that what you are doing was possible , I don't even knew the software you are using existed lol

[@itstoxicqt]

These videos always inspire me. I kept getting emails that got past my Gmail spam subject just random letters etc opened it into a VM. Turns out just linked to some website that linked to a few bitcoin addresses with billions worth of coin based in Russia

[@moriakpotato]

Fascinating from both sides.

[@grogy4485]

John, I would recommand you to stop using sysinternals tools bc new malware are checking process to know if you are running sysinternals

[@ivancastillo7156]

And run what other tools in their place?

[@Kyle-uz1rp]

This is so awesome - learning so much.

[@gotdamnsoup2727]

The book you were reading was Volume 28 on Shelf 4 of Wall 1 of Hexagon: 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

[@gotdamnsoup2727]

"johnhammond

[@PlanetTapZoid]

been needing this kind of info. epic.

[@0xdisco]

Thank's john, keep it up!

[@spatrk6634]

i got randomly recommended this video, and i got to say that youtube is on to something. i didnt even realize im interested in malware, but youtube did

Great informative video. I barely understand any of this but it's still interesting how the process of analysis goes and what tools are used. I probably unconsciously learned something here. 😋

[@aspect404_]

bro knows sublime like the back of his hand jeez

[@gmodman2010]

I think the malware *posts* cookies to the websites linked. I dont know anything of code, but i do know it posts information to the websites because it only accepts POST.

[@thedude7319]

I am always of the opinion you can see and hear when someone is skilled in their abilities even if you do not speak that language, and this dude is skilled

[@m4rt_]

in patch files, the lines that start with - are the ones that got removed, and the ones starting with + are the ones that got added

[@travisholt92]

Meld is my favorite diff tool. Works great for git repositories

[@kipsangjacob270]

Interesting!!, Thanks John

[@Manavetri]

i love this kind of videos !!.. Keep going.

[@thygrrr]

Very educational for , thank you!

[@aimoncabral2887]

That was really cool to watch!

[@perryuploads776]

This is so fun! The malware developer is really good at programming. Hope he or she does something good instead only evil. Such people are valuable for the society. They can make really good programs and have extensive knowledge about Windows API. The use of Javascript, Powershell with TLS 1.2 as outbound connection. Really awesome work, thanks John!

[@degenyakuza]

I think people turn rouge because of less opportunities or personal grudges.

[@ark8876]

John post the file-hash so we can follow along if needed.

[@jenselstner5527]

Awsome as ever. But do not pipe a file into grep with cat, when you can just use grep without it. ;o)

[@serratedwarstep]

Not sure if you're aware, but piping grep to cat is redundant. You can just use your grep flags/args followed by the filename and it will do the same thing.

[@muhammadyusoffjamaluddin]

12:22 The hilarious part and I love it XD

[@TinyMeatPete]

Could you do a video about remnux? I've never heard of it and would love to know about the benefits over just using a normal Linux VM for reversing malware.

[@guilherme5094]

👍Thanks John

[@Saefo]

Great news man thanks 👍

[@Baerchenization]

Why don't you work with backup images like Acronis, if you are worried about infecting your VM? You can already have all your tools baked in to the image and flatten your testbed once you are done. Then there is no problem connecting to the internet.

[@peterwestin1874]

So good video! Impressive!!

[@YourUNKus]

Great work as usual. Probably dumb nbee question but would there be a way to set up a locally connected server with one of the domain names called out in the code to see what the exfiltrated info is and /or what other connections are established?

[@niskita]

Aside from using tcpdump and nmap?

[@thepetrarcticwar2778]

That maltebauer site is some type of movie review blog that was seemingly commandeered.

[@ikii_]

as a malware enthusiast these videos are so amazingly entertaining

[@pajeetsingh]

Are you using administrative access to Windows? How is the script able to modify registry key?

[@Calzone407]

The insane number of characters in the interactions design.js was just to bloat the file so the anti-virus didn't check it right? edit: lol nvmd I just had to get to the end of the video

[@Volvith]

I wonder if backloading that one .js file with junk code is an attempt to make the file unreadable to the average user, through either attempting to crash the text editor, or just increasing load time to a point where the average user would go "it's probably fine".

[@user-zh2wl2sl2u]

Csc.exe is the visual c command line compiler. Still wonder what it is compiling tough, maybe the random dats in the file?

[@Tholgonk]

Everyone gangsta until powershell opens itself

[@ZaviiNetStudios]

I have a feeling the randomness of the Interaction Design.js is likely because it's hosted on a platform that is unable to virus scan large files like the google platform will refuse to scan large files, The feeling I have is if it makes the file big enough it can't scan it

[@philija1233]

Which books do you prefer to read for ethical hacking those who are beginners?(except network+)

[@babahippogaming1262]

I was looking for the Jurassic Park John Hammond but this is good enough

[@CorDawgYT]

Kind of a mishap here how you "safely" convert the code on the beautifier site outside of your VM... Is there a local or open source app you can add to your image with that capability?

[@meeDamian]

Having used in-editor prettifiers for decades that just format code on a single key shortcut or on save, i can't express how much it pains me to see you use online prettifiers or doing it by hand 🙈

[@duncan3144]

I have 4gb of old viruses and malware. Analysed a few of them under DOS using debug. Burger virus, parity 411 etc.

[@FloydMaxwell]

All executable file attachments get deleted here. Same for all ZIP, RAR, MSI, CAB, etc.

[@ArtcomeCi]

Helo . Thanks for great job . I have one question is there any possibilities how I can check on laptop any since of hacking my files ? I using Guardio Protection on laptop . But anyway how I can double check or everything is fine ?

[@deilusi]

12:10 crap is likely to skip scanning by windows av. Software like that have limits to not freeze your machine while scanning your 50GB wedding video, and that's why its likely that this bs at the end is to disguise it as some file to big to be scanned.

[@alt666]

Man with how many itch games I download I could just have a zip like that sitting in my downloads folder... Time to do a check

[@LOCKET2547]

this is why we should nerf genji

[@justin-py3fw]

Seth Rogen made a guest appearance at 18:33 🤣

[@zilsys]

It also sends itself to every connected device... sigh

[@niveous5392]

Great video

[@slowandcurious6135]

Could you not edit the hosts file to add entries to a dummy local server (for the urls it visits to), that responds with 200, to keep the code going?

[@Ange1ofD4rkness]

I'm really curious how they store the code in the registry. My guess is it's arrays of hex that contain the bytes of the .exe

[@Stopinvadingmyhardware]

Yep, started watching this video, and was under attack the second it started. I think we have some bad actors that must be out of work.

[@fernandovalencia6184]

Would this diff (patches) would happen if i have my apps in a usb using bitlocker encription

[@DrHarryT]

I didn't catch the endgame of the malware? I saw it identified the names of the items on the desktop but not what it would do with anything?

[@Jdbye]

They probably padded the .js with random garbage at the end so that AVs would be less likely to scan it due to the file size.

[@Rowie_Trek]

process hacker 2 has all of these features

[@im_real_folkim]

If a file doesant delete press alt + shift + delete and then press delete

[@ubica6]

please take video some fileless persistence methods

[@friedtomatoes4946]

A lot of times that random junk that you saw is not actually junk but encrypted code.

[@galporgy]

I suspected you didn't know what you were doing when you cat | grep'ed and the rest of the video proved me right.

[@owenflaherty7516]

4:27 or, you know, you could've just run the diff... 😂

[@Omena0]

12:25 Theres alot of nonsense to maybe prevent amateurs from opening / virus scanning it. Since notepad will definitely crash..

[@dbzcollector9963]

I have a pc question, I can’t seem to turn on memory core integrity, even after restarting my system it says it’s off even tho it’s still toggled on. I’ve tried doing a roll back, and updating windows but it still says it’s off. Should I try reinstalling windows? Would it fix this issue or would I just be waisting my time?

[@bradleybrewer9576]

Can you please do a review of the malware that's coming bundled with gta5 PC mods? There is some really hard core APT stuff going on under the hood such as permanently deleting the anti virus even and time bomb wiper malware that steals your passwords I recently found some that destroyed my whole install of windows.

[@MalwareMike]

Dynamic analysis?! The easy way isn't always the best or most fun. My upcoming intermediate malware analysis course will show students how to plain text this payload in under an hour.

[@d3m0n4dayz]

I remember i looked up poop in my file search (i am a big child) because i thought it would be funny. There were some stuff like pngs from games and then there was just "poop" and internet shortcut, i have no idea where it lead to or anything about it. I left it kinda weirded out and a few weeks later i remembered it and wanted to know where it went but when i looked it up again it was just gone.

[@Paco-Prodigy]

so how do we protect ourselves from this?

[@KevinCrouch0]

You opened Task Scheduler, but you never went INTO the Task Library, you could have looked at the Scheduled Task there without messing with the dummy .exe file.

[@SteltekOne]

Was about to comment the same thing: You need to actually click the entries in the tree to see the tasks that are scheduled.