According to Trend Micro, this is a custom loader for win.cobalt_strike, used by Earth Longzhi (a subgroup of APT41).
rule win_croxloader_auto { meta: author = "Felix Bilstein - yara-signator at cocacoding dot com" date = "2026-09-17" version = "1" description = "Detects win.croxloader." 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.croxloader" 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 = { 4803ce 488bd7 e8???????? 4533db 498bd3 4c8d051f66ffff 4b8b8ce010970100 } // n = 7, score = 100 // 4803ce | lea ecx, [0x159d0] // 488bd7 | dec eax // e8???????? | // 4533db | ror edx, cl // 498bd3 | dec ecx // 4c8d051f66ffff | xor edx, eax // 4b8b8ce010970100 | dec ebx $sequence_1 = { 488d442450 48897c2448 41b940000000 4889442420 48c7c1ffffffff } // n = 5, score = 100 // 488d442450 | dec ebp // 48897c2448 | mov ecx, dword ptr [edi + eax*8 + 0x19710] // 41b940000000 | dec ecx // 4889442420 | mov esi, ebx // 48c7c1ffffffff | jne 0x207 $sequence_2 = { 7542 8d58b0 498bce 448bc3 488d1520750000 e8???????? } // n = 6, score = 100 // 7542 | dec ebp // 8d58b0 | test eax, eax // 498bce | jle 0x3b9 // 448bc3 | dec eax // 488d1520750000 | sub edi, esi // e8???????? | $sequence_3 = { e8???????? 4c8d05dd880100 badab3f10d b95595db6d } // n = 4, score = 100 // e8???????? | // 4c8d05dd880100 | mov eax, edx // badab3f10d | dec esp // b95595db6d | add ebx, ebx $sequence_4 = { 488d05be1c0100 483bc8 7405 e8???????? c70301000000 488bcb 488b4530 } // n = 7, score = 100 // 488d05be1c0100 | dec eax // 483bc8 | mov eax, edx // 7405 | dec eax // e8???????? | // c70301000000 | sar eax, 6 // 488bcb | jae 0xfb // 488b4530 | dec eax $sequence_5 = { 4053 4883ec20 8bd9 4c8d0db1ad0000 b902000000 } // n = 5, score = 100 // 4053 | mov edx, ebx // 4883ec20 | dec ebp // 8bd9 | mov ecx, dword ptr [edi + eax*8 + 0x19710] // 4c8d0db1ad0000 | dec ecx // b902000000 | mov esi, ebx $sequence_6 = { 0f1f440000 4d8b5a60 bb05150000 450fb74a58 498bc3 440fb600 } // n = 6, score = 100 // 0f1f440000 | mov ecx, 0x16 // 4d8b5a60 | dec esp // bb05150000 | lea eax, [0x7abb] // 450fb74a58 | dec eax // 498bc3 | mov ebx, ecx // 440fb600 | dec eax $sequence_7 = { b906000000 4c8d05277c0000 e8???????? 488bd3 8bcf } // n = 5, score = 100 // b906000000 | cmp edi, edx // 4c8d05277c0000 | dec eax // e8???????? | // 488bd3 | mov dword ptr [eax], ecx // 8bcf | dec eax $sequence_8 = { 0f8ee0000000 4b8b84e710970100 4c8b45af 4c2bc7 420fb64cf03e } // n = 5, score = 100 // 0f8ee0000000 | dec eax // 4b8b84e710970100 | mov edx, edi // 4c8b45af | dec eax // 4c2bc7 | mov ecx, ebx // 420fb64cf03e | dec esp $sequence_9 = { 0f8ee0000000 4b8b84e710970100 4c8b45af 4c2bc7 420fb64cf03e 460fbebc39c0880100 41ffc7 } // n = 7, score = 100 // 0f8ee0000000 | lea ecx, [0xbc2b] // 4b8b84e710970100 | test eax, eax // 4c8b45af | jne 0x3c3 // 4c2bc7 | test al, al // 420fb64cf03e | dec eax // 460fbebc39c0880100 | lea ecx, [0x17339] // 41ffc7 | dec eax condition: 7 of them and filesize < 241664 }
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