SYMBOLCOMMON_NAMEaka. SYNONYMS
win.ironhalo (Back to overview)

IRONHALO

Actor(s): APT 16, APT16

VTCollection    

IRONHALO is a downloader that uses the HTTP protocol to retrieve a Base64 encoded payload from a hard-coded command-and-control (CnC) server and uniform resource locator (URL) path.
The encoded payload is written to a temporary file, decoded and executed in a hidden window. The encoded and decoded payloads are written to files named igfxHK[%rand%].dat and igfxHK[%rand%].exe respectively, where [%rand%] is a 4-byte hexadecimal number based on the current timestamp. It persists by copying itself to the current user’s Startup folder.

References
2019-12-12 ⋅ FireEye ⋅ Chi-en Shen, Oleg Bondarenko
Cyber Threat Landscape in Japan – Revealing Threat in the Shadow
Cerberus TSCookie Cobalt Strike Dtrack Emotet Formbook IcedID Icefog IRONHALO Loki Password Stealer (PWS) PandaBanker PLEAD POISONPLUG TrickBot BlackTech
2015-12-21 ⋅ Symantec ⋅ Kevin Savage
Downloader.Ironhalo
IRONHALO
2015-12-21 ⋅ FireEye ⋅ FireEye Threat Intelligence, Ryann Winters
The EPS Awakens - Part 2
ELMER IRONHALO EvilPost
2015-12-16 ⋅ FireEye ⋅ Dan Caselden, Genwei Jiang, Ryann Winters
The EPS Awakens
IRONHALO APT16
Yara Rules
[TLP:WHITE] win_ironhalo_auto (20260917 | Detects win.ironhalo.)
rule win_ironhalo_auto {

    meta:
        author = "Felix Bilstein - yara-signator at cocacoding dot com"
        date = "2026-09-17"
        version = "1"
        description = "Detects win.ironhalo."
        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.ironhalo"
        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 = { 0ac2 83c104 88042f 45 803c3100 0f851fffffff 5f }
            // n = 7, score = 200
            //   0ac2                 | or                  al, dl
            //   83c104               | add                 ecx, 4
            //   88042f               | mov                 byte ptr [edi + ebp], al
            //   45                   | inc                 ebp
            //   803c3100             | cmp                 byte ptr [ecx + esi], 0
            //   0f851fffffff         | jne                 0xffffff25
            //   5f                   | pop                 edi

        $sequence_1 = { 888820ce4000 eb1f 83f861 7213 83f87a }
            // n = 5, score = 200
            //   888820ce4000         | mov                 byte ptr [eax + 0x40ce20], cl
            //   eb1f                 | jmp                 0x21
            //   83f861               | cmp                 eax, 0x61
            //   7213                 | jb                  0x15
            //   83f87a               | cmp                 eax, 0x7a

        $sequence_2 = { ff15???????? 8b442408 8b35???????? 85c0 }
            // n = 4, score = 200
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   8b442408             | mov                 eax, dword ptr [esp + 8]
            //   8b35????????         |                     
            //   85c0                 | test                eax, eax

        $sequence_3 = { 881c2f 8a543103 45 80fa3d 741c }
            // n = 5, score = 200
            //   881c2f               | mov                 byte ptr [edi + ebp], bl
            //   8a543103             | mov                 dl, byte ptr [ecx + esi + 3]
            //   45                   | inc                 ebp
            //   80fa3d               | cmp                 dl, 0x3d
            //   741c                 | je                  0x1e

        $sequence_4 = { 56 e8???????? 8be8 83c410 83fdff 7509 }
            // n = 6, score = 200
            //   56                   | push                esi
            //   e8????????           |                     
            //   8be8                 | mov                 ebp, eax
            //   83c410               | add                 esp, 0x10
            //   83fdff               | cmp                 ebp, -1
            //   7509                 | jne                 0xb

        $sequence_5 = { 8d3449 2bd1 8d34b5f8c14000 832600 83c60c 4a 75f7 }
            // n = 7, score = 200
            //   8d3449               | lea                 esi, [ecx + ecx*2]
            //   2bd1                 | sub                 edx, ecx
            //   8d34b5f8c14000       | lea                 esi, [esi*4 + 0x40c1f8]
            //   832600               | and                 dword ptr [esi], 0
            //   83c60c               | add                 esi, 0xc
            //   4a                   | dec                 edx
            //   75f7                 | jne                 0xfffffff9

        $sequence_6 = { 243f c0e206 0ac2 83c104 88042f }
            // n = 5, score = 200
            //   243f                 | and                 al, 0x3f
            //   c0e206               | shl                 dl, 6
            //   0ac2                 | or                  al, dl
            //   83c104               | add                 ecx, 4
            //   88042f               | mov                 byte ptr [edi + ebp], al

        $sequence_7 = { 0ada 881c2f 8a543102 45 80fa3d }
            // n = 5, score = 200
            //   0ada                 | or                  bl, dl
            //   881c2f               | mov                 byte ptr [edi + ebp], bl
            //   8a543102             | mov                 dl, byte ptr [ecx + esi + 2]
            //   45                   | inc                 ebp
            //   80fa3d               | cmp                 dl, 0x3d

        $sequence_8 = { f3a5 ff2495286d4000 8bc7 ba03000000 }
            // n = 4, score = 200
            //   f3a5                 | rep movsd           dword ptr es:[edi], dword ptr [esi]
            //   ff2495286d4000       | jmp                 dword ptr [edx*4 + 0x406d28]
            //   8bc7                 | mov                 eax, edi
            //   ba03000000           | mov                 edx, 3

        $sequence_9 = { 3d???????? 72f1 56 8bf1 c1e603 3b9688c24000 0f851c010000 }
            // n = 7, score = 200
            //   3d????????           |                     
            //   72f1                 | jb                  0xfffffff3
            //   56                   | push                esi
            //   8bf1                 | mov                 esi, ecx
            //   c1e603               | shl                 esi, 3
            //   3b9688c24000         | cmp                 edx, dword ptr [esi + 0x40c288]
            //   0f851c010000         | jne                 0x122

    condition:
        7 of them and filesize < 131072
}
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