SYMBOLCOMMON_NAMEaka. SYNONYMS
win.goldenspy (Back to overview)

GoldenSpy

VTCollection    

According securityweek, GoldenSpy, the malware was observed as part of a campaign that supposedly started in April 2020, but some of the identified samples suggest the threat has been around since at least December 2016.

One of the compromised organizations, a global technology vendor that conducts government business in the US, Australia and UK, and which recently opened offices in China, became infected after installing “Intelligent Tax,” a piece of software from the Golden Tax Department of Aisino Corporation, which a local bank required for paying local taxes.

Although it worked as advertised, the software was found to install a hidden backdoor to provide remote operators with the possibility to execute Windows commands or upload and run files.

References
2022-12-07 ⋅ ANSSI ⋅ ANSSI
INTEGRATION OF UNTRUSTED SOFTWARE - THE CASE OF GOLDENSPY
GoldenHelper GoldenSpy
2022-11-23 ⋅ ⋅ ANSSI ⋅ ANSSI
ILLUSTRATION OF THE PROBLEMS RELATED TO THE INTEGRATION OF UNCONTROLLED SOFTWARE - THE CASE OF GOLDENSPY
GoldenSpy
2020-08-24 ⋅ FBI ⋅ FBI
AC-000131-MW: Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures Associated with Malware within Chinese Government-Mandated Tax Software
GoldenSpy
2020-08-23 ⋅ FBI ⋅ FBI
AC-000129-TT: Chinese Government-Mandated Tax Software Contains Malware, Enabling Backdoor Access
GoldenSpy
2020-08-21 ⋅ ⋅ Bundeskriminalamt ⋅ Bundeskriminalamt
Mögliche Cyberspionage mittels der Schadsoftware GOLDENSPY
GoldenSpy
2020-07-29 ⋅ Atlantic Council ⋅ June Lee, Stewart Scott, Trey Herr, William Loomis
BREAKING TRUST: Shades of Crisis Across an Insecure Software Supply Chain
EternalPetya GoldenSpy Kwampirs Stuxnet
2020-07-14 ⋅ Trustwave ⋅ Brian Hussey
GoldenSpy Chapter 4: GoldenHelper Malware Embedded in Official Golden Tax Software
GoldenHelper GoldenSpy
2020-07-02 ⋅ Trustwave ⋅ Brian Hussey
GoldenSpy Chapter 3: New and Improved Uninstaller
GoldenSpy
2020-06-30 ⋅ Trustwave ⋅ Brian Hussey
GoldenSpy: Chapter Two - The Uninstaller
GoldenSpy
2020-06-25 ⋅ Trustwave ⋅ Brian Hussey
The Golden Tax Department and the Emergence of GoldenSpy Malware
GoldenSpy
2020-06-25 ⋅ Trustwave ⋅ Trustwave SpiderLabs
The Golden Tax Department and Emergence of GoldenSpy Malware
GoldenSpy
Yara Rules
[TLP:WHITE] win_goldenspy_auto (20260917 | Detects win.goldenspy.)
rule win_goldenspy_auto {

    meta:
        author = "Felix Bilstein - yara-signator at cocacoding dot com"
        date = "2026-09-17"
        version = "1"
        description = "Detects win.goldenspy."
        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.goldenspy"
        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 = { c78584feffff0f000000 c68570feffff00 c645fc00 e8???????? 8bb5bcfdffff 46 89b5bcfdffff }
            // n = 7, score = 100
            //   c78584feffff0f000000     | mov    dword ptr [ebp - 0x17c], 0xf
            //   c68570feffff00       | mov                 byte ptr [ebp - 0x190], 0
            //   c645fc00             | mov                 byte ptr [ebp - 4], 0
            //   e8????????           |                     
            //   8bb5bcfdffff         | mov                 esi, dword ptr [ebp - 0x244]
            //   46                   | inc                 esi
            //   89b5bcfdffff         | mov                 dword ptr [ebp - 0x244], esi

        $sequence_1 = { 0f1f8000000000 8b0b 8bfe 8b4610 85c9 7508 8b36 }
            // n = 7, score = 100
            //   0f1f8000000000       | nop                 dword ptr [eax]
            //   8b0b                 | mov                 ecx, dword ptr [ebx]
            //   8bfe                 | mov                 edi, esi
            //   8b4610               | mov                 eax, dword ptr [esi + 0x10]
            //   85c9                 | test                ecx, ecx
            //   7508                 | jne                 0xa
            //   8b36                 | mov                 esi, dword ptr [esi]

        $sequence_2 = { 3c23 0f849b000000 8845fc 90 84c0 0f848b000000 }
            // n = 6, score = 100
            //   3c23                 | cmp                 al, 0x23
            //   0f849b000000         | je                  0xa1
            //   8845fc               | mov                 byte ptr [ebp - 4], al
            //   90                   | nop                 
            //   84c0                 | test                al, al
            //   0f848b000000         | je                  0x91

        $sequence_3 = { 8d45b0 50 e8???????? 8b0e ff700c 8b4904 ff7008 }
            // n = 7, score = 100
            //   8d45b0               | lea                 eax, [ebp - 0x50]
            //   50                   | push                eax
            //   e8????????           |                     
            //   8b0e                 | mov                 ecx, dword ptr [esi]
            //   ff700c               | push                dword ptr [eax + 0xc]
            //   8b4904               | mov                 ecx, dword ptr [ecx + 4]
            //   ff7008               | push                dword ptr [eax + 8]

        $sequence_4 = { 68???????? e9???????? 8b4614 85c0 7445 803800 7440 }
            // n = 7, score = 100
            //   68????????           |                     
            //   e9????????           |                     
            //   8b4614               | mov                 eax, dword ptr [esi + 0x14]
            //   85c0                 | test                eax, eax
            //   7445                 | je                  0x47
            //   803800               | cmp                 byte ptr [eax], 0
            //   7440                 | je                  0x42

        $sequence_5 = { 85c0 7428 68e8030000 ffd7 68???????? 81c6e8030000 ffd3 }
            // n = 7, score = 100
            //   85c0                 | test                eax, eax
            //   7428                 | je                  0x2a
            //   68e8030000           | push                0x3e8
            //   ffd7                 | call                edi
            //   68????????           |                     
            //   81c6e8030000         | add                 esi, 0x3e8
            //   ffd3                 | call                ebx

        $sequence_6 = { 0fb63485f7f94500 8bf9 8985a4f8ffff c1e702 57 8d0431 89858cfaffff }
            // n = 7, score = 100
            //   0fb63485f7f94500     | movzx               esi, byte ptr [eax*4 + 0x45f9f7]
            //   8bf9                 | mov                 edi, ecx
            //   8985a4f8ffff         | mov                 dword ptr [ebp - 0x75c], eax
            //   c1e702               | shl                 edi, 2
            //   57                   | push                edi
            //   8d0431               | lea                 eax, [ecx + esi]
            //   89858cfaffff         | mov                 dword ptr [ebp - 0x574], eax

        $sequence_7 = { 6a02 53 899d88d7ffff ffd6 85c0 0f8466070000 }
            // n = 6, score = 100
            //   6a02                 | push                2
            //   53                   | push                ebx
            //   899d88d7ffff         | mov                 dword ptr [ebp - 0x2878], ebx
            //   ffd6                 | call                esi
            //   85c0                 | test                eax, eax
            //   0f8466070000         | je                  0x76c

        $sequence_8 = { 6a00 ff15???????? 8d85f8feffff 50 56 68???????? }
            // n = 6, score = 100
            //   6a00                 | push                0
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   8d85f8feffff         | lea                 eax, [ebp - 0x108]
            //   50                   | push                eax
            //   56                   | push                esi
            //   68????????           |                     

        $sequence_9 = { 0f8400030000 90 8d8d34feffff c745b800000000 c745bc0f000000 8d5101 c645a800 }
            // n = 7, score = 100
            //   0f8400030000         | je                  0x306
            //   90                   | nop                 
            //   8d8d34feffff         | lea                 ecx, [ebp - 0x1cc]
            //   c745b800000000       | mov                 dword ptr [ebp - 0x48], 0
            //   c745bc0f000000       | mov                 dword ptr [ebp - 0x44], 0xf
            //   8d5101               | lea                 edx, [ecx + 1]
            //   c645a800             | mov                 byte ptr [ebp - 0x58], 0

    condition:
        7 of them and filesize < 1081344
}
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