Backdoor_Win_C3_1

YARA-2025-1955 High general Active

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

Backdoor_Win_C3_1.yar Valid Syntax
rule Backdoor_Win_C3_1
{
    meta:
        author = "FireEye"
        date_created = "2021-05-11"
        description = "Detection to identify the Custom Command and Control (C3) binaries."
        reference = "https://www.mandiant.com/resources/shining-a-light-on-darkside-ransomware-operations"
        md5 = "7cdac4b82a7573ae825e5edb48f80be5"
    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*)))
    }

Rule Metadata

author
FireEye
date_created
2021-05-11
description
Detection to identify the Custom Command and Control (C3) binaries.
reference
https://www.mandiant.com/resources/shining-a-light-on-darkside-ransomware-operations
md5
7cdac4b82a7573ae825e5edb48f80be5

String Definitions

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

Threat Analysis

This YARA rule is designed to detect general threats.

Severity Level: High

The rule uses pattern matching to identify specific byte sequences, strings, or behavioral patterns associated with malicious activity.

Detection Capabilities

  • File-based detection for executables and documents
  • Memory scanning for running processes
  • Network traffic analysis support

Command Line Usage

# Scan a single file
yara Backdoor_Win_C3_1.yar /path/to/suspicious/file

# Scan a directory recursively
yara -r Backdoor_Win_C3_1.yar /path/to/directory/

# Scan with metadata output
yara -m Backdoor_Win_C3_1.yar target_file

# Scan process memory (Linux)
yara Backdoor_Win_C3_1.yar /proc/[pid]/exe

Integration Examples

Python (yara-python)

import yara
rules = yara.compile(filepath='Backdoor_Win_C3_1.yar')
matches = rules.match('/path/to/file')

ClamAV Integration

clamscan --yara-rules=Backdoor_Win_C3_1.yar /path/to/scan

Rule Information

YARA ID
YARA-2025-1955
Author
Created
August 19, 2025
Last Updated
August 19, 2025
Last Imported
Never

Threat Intelligence

Risk Level High
Category general
Detection Confidence Analysis Pending
False Positive Rate Not Available
Last Seen in Wild No Data

Export Options