SYMBOLCOMMON_NAMEaka. SYNONYMS
win.hawkball (Back to overview)

HAWKBALL

VTCollection    

HAWKBALL is a backdoor that attackers can use to collect information from the victim, as well as to deliver payloads. HAWKBALL is capable of surveying the host, creating a named pipe to execute native Windows commands, terminating processes, creating, deleting and uploading files, searching for files, and enumerating drives.

References
2019-06-05FireEyeSwapnil Patil
Government Sector in Central Asia Targeted With New HAWKBALL Backdoor Delivered via Microsoft Office Vulnerabilities
HAWKBALL
Yara Rules
[TLP:WHITE] win_hawkball_auto (20260504 | Detects win.hawkball.)
rule win_hawkball_auto {

    meta:
        author = "Felix Bilstein - yara-signator at cocacoding dot com"
        date = "2026-05-04"
        version = "1"
        description = "Detects win.hawkball."
        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.hawkball"
        malpedia_rule_date = "20260422"
        malpedia_hash = "a182e35da64e6d71cb55f125c4d4225196523f14"
        malpedia_version = "20260504"
        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 = { 50 8d45b4 50 ff15???????? 8d85e4fcffff 50 }
            // n = 6, score = 200
            //   50                   | push                eax
            //   8d45b4               | lea                 eax, [ebp - 0x4c]
            //   50                   | push                eax
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   8d85e4fcffff         | lea                 eax, [ebp - 0x31c]
            //   50                   | push                eax

        $sequence_1 = { ff15???????? 8d48fe 83f902 775d 8806 8d45f8 }
            // n = 6, score = 200
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   8d48fe               | lea                 ecx, [eax - 2]
            //   83f902               | cmp                 ecx, 2
            //   775d                 | ja                  0x5f
            //   8806                 | mov                 byte ptr [esi], al
            //   8d45f8               | lea                 eax, [ebp - 8]

        $sequence_2 = { 85c0 740e 894344 8d4324 }
            // n = 4, score = 200
            //   85c0                 | test                eax, eax
            //   740e                 | je                  0x10
            //   894344               | mov                 dword ptr [ebx + 0x44], eax
            //   8d4324               | lea                 eax, [ebx + 0x24]

        $sequence_3 = { 57 8b3d???????? 85ff 7468 ff37 }
            // n = 5, score = 200
            //   57                   | push                edi
            //   8b3d????????         |                     
            //   85ff                 | test                edi, edi
            //   7468                 | je                  0x6a
            //   ff37                 | push                dword ptr [edi]

        $sequence_4 = { e8???????? 85c0 74c1 6a0a 8d55fc e8???????? 8bd8 }
            // n = 7, score = 200
            //   e8????????           |                     
            //   85c0                 | test                eax, eax
            //   74c1                 | je                  0xffffffc3
            //   6a0a                 | push                0xa
            //   8d55fc               | lea                 edx, [ebp - 4]
            //   e8????????           |                     
            //   8bd8                 | mov                 ebx, eax

        $sequence_5 = { ff15???????? 8bf0 53 895e05 8d4e09 8b5df8 }
            // n = 6, score = 200
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   8bf0                 | mov                 esi, eax
            //   53                   | push                ebx
            //   895e05               | mov                 dword ptr [esi + 5], ebx
            //   8d4e09               | lea                 ecx, [esi + 9]
            //   8b5df8               | mov                 ebx, dword ptr [ebp - 8]

        $sequence_6 = { f7d8 5b 8be5 5d c3 5e 5f }
            // n = 7, score = 200
            //   f7d8                 | neg                 eax
            //   5b                   | pop                 ebx
            //   8be5                 | mov                 esp, ebp
            //   5d                   | pop                 ebp
            //   c3                   | ret                 
            //   5e                   | pop                 esi
            //   5f                   | pop                 edi

        $sequence_7 = { 837dfc00 751d 33d2 b943000000 e8???????? 8b4df8 e8???????? }
            // n = 7, score = 200
            //   837dfc00             | cmp                 dword ptr [ebp - 4], 0
            //   751d                 | jne                 0x1f
            //   33d2                 | xor                 edx, edx
            //   b943000000           | mov                 ecx, 0x43
            //   e8????????           |                     
            //   8b4df8               | mov                 ecx, dword ptr [ebp - 8]
            //   e8????????           |                     

        $sequence_8 = { 50 ff15???????? 8b55f8 8b4dfc }
            // n = 4, score = 200
            //   50                   | push                eax
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   8b55f8               | mov                 edx, dword ptr [ebp - 8]
            //   8b4dfc               | mov                 ecx, dword ptr [ebp - 4]

        $sequence_9 = { 8be5 5d c3 6a59 ff15???????? 85c0 }
            // n = 6, score = 200
            //   8be5                 | mov                 esp, ebp
            //   5d                   | pop                 ebp
            //   c3                   | ret                 
            //   6a59                 | push                0x59
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   85c0                 | test                eax, eax

    condition:
        7 of them and filesize < 229376
}
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