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
2022-09-26CrowdStrikeIoan 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
2022-08-12CrowdStrikeIoan 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
2021-02-28PWC UKPWC 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
2020-01-20The Vault Bloghfiref0x
Dustman APT: Art of Copy-Paste
DUSTMAN
2020-01-04Twitter (@Irfan_Asrar)Irfan Asrar
Tweet on Dustman
DUSTMAN
2019-01-01LinkedIn Irfan AsrarIrfan Asrar
Destructive Attack "Dustman" Technical Report
DUSTMAN
2019-01-01Saudi Arabia CNASaudi Arabia CNA
Destructive Attack “DUSTMAN” Technical Report
DUSTMAN
Yara Rules
[TLP:WHITE] win_dustman_auto (20251219 | Detects win.dustman.)
rule win_dustman_auto {

    meta:
        author = "Felix Bilstein - yara-signator at cocacoding dot com"
        date = "2026-01-05"
        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 = "20260105"
        malpedia_hash = "19b79e7cab4eaf532122e5b45a77dd8f6bb5cc79"
        malpedia_version = "20251219"
        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 = { 8bd9 4c8d0dedb20000 b902000000 4c8d05d9b20000 }
            // n = 4, score = 100
            //   8bd9                 | dec                 eax
            //   4c8d0dedb20000       | shl                 eax, 0x20
            //   b902000000           | dec                 esp
            //   4c8d05d9b20000       | or                  edx, eax

        $sequence_1 = { 884810 488b4d88 0fb60c01 884811 488b4d90 0fb60c01 884812 }
            // n = 7, score = 100
            //   884810               | dec                 eax
            //   488b4d88             | mov                 eax, dword ptr [esp + 0x28]
            //   0fb60c01             | dec                 eax
            //   884811               | lea                 eax, [esp + 0x28]
            //   488b4d90             | add                 ebx, edi
            //   0fb60c01             | inc                 ebp
            //   884812               | xor                 ecx, ecx

        $sequence_2 = { c3 488d055d954101 c3 488d054d954101 c3 }
            // n = 5, score = 100
            //   c3                   | sub                 ecx, edx
            //   488d055d954101       | dec                 esp
            //   c3                   | lea                 ebx, [ebp + 0x1c8]
            //   488d054d954101       | dec                 ecx
            //   c3                   | add                 ecx, ebx

        $sequence_3 = { 4c8d9db1010000 4903cb 48894d88 488bca 492bca }
            // n = 5, score = 100
            //   4c8d9db1010000       | inc                 esp
            //   4903cb               | mov                 edi, ecx
            //   48894d88             | dec                 esp
            //   488bca               | lea                 esi, [0xffff9ce6]
            //   492bca               | dec                 ebp

        $sequence_4 = { 4d8be1 498be8 4c8bea 4b8b8cfe40c80100 4c8b15???????? 4883cfff }
            // n = 6, score = 100
            //   4d8be1               | lea                 eax, [ebx + 8]
            //   498be8               | dec                 ecx
            //   4c8bea               | mov                 dword ptr [ebx - 0x30], ecx
            //   4b8b8cfe40c80100     | dec                 ecx
            //   4c8b15????????       |                     
            //   4883cfff             | mov                 dword ptr [ebx - 0x38], eax

        $sequence_5 = { 492bca 4c8d9dc4010000 4903cb 48894d20 488bca 492bca 4c8d9dc5010000 }
            // n = 7, score = 100
            //   492bca               | lea                 ebx, [ebp + 0x1b7]
            //   4c8d9dc4010000       | dec                 ecx
            //   4903cb               | add                 ecx, ebx
            //   48894d20             | dec                 eax
            //   488bca               | mov                 dword ptr [ebp - 0x48], ecx
            //   492bca               | dec                 eax
            //   4c8d9dc5010000       | mov                 ecx, edx

        $sequence_6 = { c4c173590cc1 4c8d0d05750000 c5f359c1 c5fb101d???????? c5fb102d???????? c4e2f1a91d???????? c4e2f1a92d???????? }
            // n = 7, score = 100
            //   c4c173590cc1         | mov                 edx, edx
            //   4c8d0d05750000       | dec                 ebp
            //   c5f359c1             | mov                 ecx, dword ptr [edi + eax*8 + 0x1c960]
            //   c5fb101d????????     |                     
            //   c5fb102d????????     |                     
            //   c4e2f1a91d????????     |     
            //   c4e2f1a92d????????     |     

        $sequence_7 = { 0fb68525020000 48c1e028 4c0bd0 0fb68526020000 48c1e030 4c0bd0 0fb68527020000 }
            // n = 7, score = 100
            //   0fb68525020000       | dec                 esp
            //   48c1e028             | lea                 eax, [0xec7c]
            //   4c0bd0               | and                 edx, 0x3f
            //   0fb68526020000       | dec                 eax
            //   48c1e030             | lea                 edx, [edx + edx*8]
            //   4c0bd0               | dec                 ecx
            //   0fb68527020000       | mov                 eax, dword ptr [eax + eax*8]

        $sequence_8 = { e8???????? 4883f8ff 7524 ff15???????? 488d4c2420 }
            // n = 5, score = 100
            //   e8????????           |                     
            //   4883f8ff             | dec                 ecx
            //   7524                 | sub                 ecx, edx
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   488d4c2420           | dec                 esp

        $sequence_9 = { e9???????? 4d8bb4f6d0320100 33d2 498bce 41b800080000 }
            // n = 5, score = 100
            //   e9????????           |                     
            //   4d8bb4f6d0320100     | sub                 esp, 0x20
            //   33d2                 | inc                 ecx
            //   498bce               | mov                 esi, eax
            //   41b800080000         | dec                 esp

    condition:
        7 of them and filesize < 368640
}
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