SYMBOLCOMMON_NAMEaka. SYNONYMS
win.aukill (Back to overview)

AuKill

aka: SophosKill
VTCollection    

According to Sophos, the AuKill tool abuses an outdated version of the driver used by version 16.32 of the Microsoft utility, Process Explorer, to disable EDR processes before deploying either a backdoor or ransomware on the target system.

References
2023-04-19 ⋅ Sophos ⋅ Andreas Klopsch
‘AuKill’ EDR killer malware abuses Process Explorer driver
AuKill
Yara Rules
[TLP:WHITE] win_aukill_auto (20260917 | Detects win.aukill.)
rule win_aukill_auto {

    meta:
        author = "Felix Bilstein - yara-signator at cocacoding dot com"
        date = "2026-09-17"
        version = "1"
        description = "Detects win.aukill."
        info = "autogenerated rule brought to you by yara-signator"
        tool = "yara-signator v0.6.0"
        signator_config = "callsandjumps;datarefs;binvalue"
        malpedia_reference = "https://malpedia.caad.fkie.fraunhofer.de/details/win.aukill"
        malpedia_rule_date = "20260916"
        malpedia_hash = "53a643781c18e08f4a50949af60172d837a0b6f6"
        malpedia_version = "20260917"
        malpedia_license = "CC BY-SA 4.0"
        malpedia_sharing = "TLP:WHITE"

    /* DISCLAIMER
     * The strings used in this rule have been automatically selected from the
     * disassembly of memory dumps and unpacked files, using YARA-Signator.
     * The code and documentation is published here:
     * https://github.com/fxb-cocacoding/yara-signator
     * As Malpedia is used as data source, please note that for a given
     * number of families, only single samples are documented.
     * This likely impacts the degree of generalization these rules will offer.
     * Take the described generation method also into consideration when you
     * apply the rules in your use cases and assign them confidence levels.
     */


    strings:
        $sequence_0 = { 84c9 740e 0fb64801 48ffc0 ffc2 }
            // n = 5, score = 200
            //   84c9                 | dec                 eax
            //   740e                 | mov                 ebx, dword ptr [esp + 0x40]
            //   0fb64801             | dec                 eax
            //   48ffc0               | mov                 esi, dword ptr [esp + 0x48]
            //   ffc2                 | dec                 eax

        $sequence_1 = { 4889442434 33c0 4889442428 c744243001000000 c744243c02000000 448d4810 4889442420 }
            // n = 7, score = 200
            //   4889442434           | lea                 ebp, [esp - 0x260]
            //   33c0                 | dec                 eax
            //   4889442428           | sub                 esp, 0x360
            //   c744243001000000     | inc                 esp
            //   c744243c02000000     | mov                 esi, ecx
            //   448d4810             | dec                 eax
            //   4889442420           | mov                 esi, edx

        $sequence_2 = { 4c8d442460 488bd3 33c9 ff15???????? 85c0 751f }
            // n = 6, score = 200
            //   4c8d442460           | jmp                 0x1ec6
            //   488bd3               | dec                 eax
            //   33c9                 | lea                 ecx, [0x3189]
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   85c0                 | xor                 eax, eax
            //   751f                 | jmp                 0x1f21

        $sequence_3 = { 8bd9 e8???????? 33c9 48895c2440 48894c2438 4c8d442440 48894c2430 }
            // n = 7, score = 200
            //   8bd9                 | lea                 ecx, [0xffffca4f]
            //   e8????????           |                     
            //   33c9                 | mov                 ebx, eax
            //   48895c2440           | test                al, al
            //   48894c2438           | je                  0xd4b
            //   4c8d442440           | xor                 edx, edx
            //   48894c2430           | dec                 eax

        $sequence_4 = { 4533c0 4889442438 48c7c102000080 4889742430 }
            // n = 4, score = 200
            //   4533c0               | inc                 ecx
            //   4889442438           | mov                 esi, eax
            //   48c7c102000080       | dec                 esp
            //   4889742430           | lea                 ecx, [0x16b23]

        $sequence_5 = { 0fb7da 8bf9 e8???????? 4c8bc8 4533c0 4489442420 453b01 }
            // n = 7, score = 200
            //   0fb7da               | push                ebx
            //   8bf9                 | dec                 eax
            //   e8????????           |                     
            //   4c8bc8               | mov                 edx, eax
            //   4533c0               | test                eax, eax
            //   4489442420           | dec                 eax
            //   453b01               | lea                 edx, [0x56db]

        $sequence_6 = { 488bd3 33c9 ff15???????? 85c0 751f }
            // n = 5, score = 200
            //   488bd3               | lea                 eax, [ebp + 0x5d0]
            //   33c9                 | mov                 edx, 0x20
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   85c0                 | jmp                 0x1260
            //   751f                 | dec                 esp

        $sequence_7 = { 488bc8 ff15???????? 4883c428 48ff25???????? }
            // n = 4, score = 200
            //   488bc8               | mov                 eax, dword ptr [eax + eax*8]
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   4883c428             | dec                 eax
            //   48ff25????????       |                     

        $sequence_8 = { c744243001000000 c744243c02000000 448d4810 4889442420 ff15???????? 85c0 751f }
            // n = 7, score = 200
            //   c744243001000000     | lea                 ecx, [0x4226]
            //   c744243c02000000     | inc                 ecx
            //   448d4810             | push                esi
            //   4889442420           | dec                 eax
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   85c0                 | lea                 ebp, [esp - 0x250]
            //   751f                 | dec                 eax

        $sequence_9 = { 48894c2420 448d4920 48894c2450 488b0d???????? 48897c2458 4889442448 ff15???????? }
            // n = 7, score = 200
            //   48894c2420           | test                eax, eax
            //   448d4920             | sete                cl
            //   48894c2450           | mov                 eax, ecx
            //   488b0d????????       |                     
            //   48897c2458           | dec                 eax
            //   4889442448           | mov                 ecx, 0x80000002
            //   ff15????????         |                     

    condition:
        7 of them and filesize < 446464
}
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