SYMBOLCOMMON_NAMEaka. SYNONYMS
win.dustman (Back to overview)

DUSTMAN

VTCollection    

In 2019, multiple destructive attacks were observed targeting entities within the Middle East. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a part of the National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA), detected a new malware named "DUSTMAN" that was detonated on December 29, 2019. Based on analyzed evidence and artifacts found on machines in a victim’s network that were not wiped by the malware. NCSC assess that the threat actor behind the attack had some kind of urgency on executing the files on the date of the attack due to multiple OPSEC failures observed on the infected network. NCSC is calling the malware used in this attack "DUSTMAN" after the filename and string embedded in the malware. "DUSTMAN" can be considered as a new variant of "ZeroCleare" malware,
published in December 2019.

References
2022-09-26 ⋅ CrowdStrike ⋅ Ioan Iacob, Iulian Madalin Ionita
The Anatomy of Wiper Malware, Part 3: Input/Output Controls
CaddyWiper DEADWOOD DistTrack DoubleZero DUSTMAN HermeticWiper IsaacWiper Meteor Petya Sierra(Alfa,Bravo, ...) StoneDrill WhisperGate ZeroCleare
2022-08-12 ⋅ CrowdStrike ⋅ Ioan Iacob, Iulian Madalin Ionita
The Anatomy of Wiper Malware, Part 1: Common Techniques
Apostle CaddyWiper DEADWOOD DistTrack DoubleZero DUSTMAN HermeticWiper IsaacWiper IsraBye KillDisk Meteor Olympic Destroyer Ordinypt Petya Sierra(Alfa,Bravo, ...) StoneDrill WhisperGate ZeroCleare
2021-02-28 ⋅ PWC UK ⋅ PWC UK
Cyber Threats 2020: A Year in Retrospect
elf.wellmess FlowerPower PowGoop 8.t Dropper Agent.BTZ Agent Tesla Appleseed Ave Maria Bankshot BazarBackdoor BLINDINGCAN Chinoxy Conti Cotx RAT Crimson RAT DUSTMAN Emotet FriedEx FunnyDream Hakbit Mailto Maze METALJACK Nefilim Oblique RAT Pay2Key PlugX QakBot REvil Ryuk StoneDrill StrongPity SUNBURST SUPERNOVA TrickBot TurlaRPC Turla SilentMoon WastedLocker WellMess Winnti ZeroCleare APT10 APT23 APT27 APT31 APT41 BlackTech BRONZE EDGEWOOD Inception Framework MUSTANG PANDA Red Charon Red Nue Sea Turtle Tonto Team
2020-01-20 ⋅ The Vault Blog ⋅ hfiref0x
Dustman APT: Art of Copy-Paste
DUSTMAN
2020-01-04 ⋅ Twitter (@Irfan_Asrar) ⋅ Irfan Asrar
Tweet on Dustman
DUSTMAN
2019-01-01 ⋅ LinkedIn Irfan Asrar ⋅ Irfan Asrar
Destructive Attack "Dustman" Technical Report
DUSTMAN
2019-01-01 ⋅ Saudi Arabia CNA ⋅ Saudi Arabia CNA
Destructive Attack “DUSTMAN” Technical Report
DUSTMAN
Yara Rules
[TLP:WHITE] win_dustman_auto (20260917 | Detects win.dustman.)
rule win_dustman_auto {

    meta:
        author = "Felix Bilstein - yara-signator at cocacoding dot com"
        date = "2026-09-17"
        version = "1"
        description = "Detects win.dustman."
        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.dustman"
        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 = { 488d4c2420 e8???????? 488d05beec0000 488903 488bc3 4883c430 }
            // n = 6, score = 100
            //   488d4c2420           | mov                 eax, 0x1400000
            //   e8????????           |                     
            //   488d05beec0000       | div                 ecx
            //   488903               | mov                 esi, eax
            //   488bc3               | mov                 edx, 0x3e8
            //   4883c430             | dec                 eax

        $sequence_1 = { 66390549d5ffff 7579 4863057cd5ffff 488d1539d5ffff 488d0c10 813950450000 755f }
            // n = 7, score = 100
            //   66390549d5ffff       | shl                 eax, 8
            //   7579                 | dec                 eax
            //   4863057cd5ffff       | or                  ebx, eax
            //   488d1539d5ffff       | movzx               eax, byte ptr [ebp + 0x22a]
            //   488d0c10             | dec                 eax
            //   813950450000         | shl                 eax, 0x10
            //   755f                 | dec                 eax

        $sequence_2 = { 837b1000 75dd 488d056be30000 483bd8 }
            // n = 4, score = 100
            //   837b1000             | lea                 edx, [0x132f5]
            //   75dd                 | inc                 ebp
            //   488d056be30000       | xor                 eax, eax
            //   483bd8               | dec                 eax

        $sequence_3 = { 884807 420fb60c10 884808 420fb60c18 884809 }
            // n = 5, score = 100
            //   884807               | dec                 eax
            //   420fb60c10           | sub                 esp, 0x20
            //   884808               | mov                 edi, edx
            //   420fb60c18           | dec                 esp
            //   884809               | lea                 ecx, [0x82f1]

        $sequence_4 = { eb03 498bf7 48895f18 488d150d620100 4b8d1c36 4c897710 }
            // n = 6, score = 100
            //   eb03                 | lea                 ebx, [ebp + 0x1de]
            //   498bf7               | dec                 ecx
            //   48895f18             | add                 ecx, ebx
            //   488d150d620100       | dec                 eax
            //   4b8d1c36             | mov                 dword ptr [ebp + 0xf0], ecx
            //   4c897710             | dec                 eax

        $sequence_5 = { 741c 488d05a8600000 483bc8 7410 b801000000 f00fc1815c010000 }
            // n = 6, score = 100
            //   741c                 | add                 ebp, eax
            //   488d05a8600000       | dec                 ecx
            //   483bc8               | mov                 esi, eax
            //   7410                 | inc                 ecx
            //   b801000000           | mov                 esi, eax
            //   f00fc1815c010000     | dec                 esp

        $sequence_6 = { 4c8d9de4010000 4903cb 48898d20010000 488bca 492bca 4c8d9de5010000 4903cb }
            // n = 7, score = 100
            //   4c8d9de4010000       | lea                 edi, [0x11180]
            //   4903cb               | jmp                 0x7f7
            //   48898d20010000       | dec                 eax
            //   488bca               | lea                 edi, [0x1115f]
            //   492bca               | jmp                 0x816
            //   4c8d9de5010000       | dec                 eax
            //   4903cb               | lea                 eax, [0x1328b]

        $sequence_7 = { 480f438580010000 0fb74808 e8???????? 410fbecd 33d2 }
            // n = 5, score = 100
            //   480f438580010000     | mov                 edx, dword ptr [ebp + 0x508]
            //   0fb74808             | dec                 eax
            //   e8????????           |                     
            //   410fbecd             | lea                 eax, [0xd9ac]
            //   33d2                 | movups              xmm0, xmmword ptr [eax]

        $sequence_8 = { 48833d????????00 741e 488d0daccc0000 e8???????? }
            // n = 4, score = 100
            //   48833d????????00     |                     
            //   741e                 | dec                 eax
            //   488d0daccc0000       | mov                 ecx, dword ptr [esp + 0x50]
            //   e8????????           |                     

        $sequence_9 = { 884825 488b4d30 0fb60c01 884826 488b4d38 }
            // n = 5, score = 100
            //   884825               | dec                 eax
            //   488b4d30             | lea                 ecx, [esp + 0x20]
            //   0fb60c01             | dec                 eax
            //   884826               | sub                 esp, 0x48
            //   488b4d38             | dec                 eax

    condition:
        7 of them and filesize < 368640
}
Download all Yara Rules