SYMBOLCOMMON_NAMEaka. SYNONYMS
win.mistpen (Back to overview)

MISTPEN

Actor(s): UNC2970

VTCollection    

According to Mandiant, MISTPEN is a lightweight backdoor written in C whose main functionality is to download and execute Portable Executable (PE) files. The backdoor is a modification of the open-source Notepad++ binhex plugin v2.0.0.1 where the creation of a thread that executes the malicious code has been added to the DllMain function.

References
2026-08-11 ⋅ Check Point Research ⋅ Check Point Research
Shattering the Dream - When a Job Offer Becomes a Zero-Day Attack
ForestTiger FudModule MISTPEN
2025-11-20 ⋅ Orange Cyberdefense ⋅ Alexis Bonnefoi, Marine PICHON
A Pain in the Mist: Navigating Operation DreamJob’s arsenal
BURNBOOK MISTPEN
2024-12-19 ⋅ Kaspersky Labs ⋅ Sojun Ryu, Vasily Berdnikov
Lazarus group evolves its infection chain with old and new malware
MISTPEN
2024-09-17 ⋅ Mandiant ⋅ Mandiant
An Offer You Can Refuse: UNC2970 Backdoor Deployment Using Trojanized PDF Reader
BURNBOOK MISTPEN
Yara Rules
[TLP:WHITE] win_mistpen_auto (20260917 | Detects win.mistpen.)
rule win_mistpen_auto {

    meta:
        author = "Felix Bilstein - yara-signator at cocacoding dot com"
        date = "2026-09-17"
        version = "1"
        description = "Detects win.mistpen."
        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.mistpen"
        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 = { c745d46b6c6d6e c745d86f707172 c745dc73747576 c745e07778797a }
            // n = 4, score = 200
            //   c745d46b6c6d6e       | dec                 ecx
            //   c745d86f707172       | cmp                 dword ptr [edi + ebx*8], edi
            //   c745dc73747576       | je                  0xb3f
            //   c745e07778797a       | jmp                 0xb61

        $sequence_1 = { 89442420 e8???????? 4885db 7409 }
            // n = 4, score = 200
            //   89442420             | dec                 ecx
            //   e8????????           |                     
            //   4885db               | add                 ecx, 3
            //   7409                 | dec                 eax

        $sequence_2 = { c745cc63646566 c745d06768696a c745d46b6c6d6e c745d86f707172 c745dc73747576 c745e07778797a c745e430313233 }
            // n = 7, score = 200
            //   c745cc63646566       | mov                 ecx, esi
            //   c745d06768696a       | test                eax, eax
            //   c745d46b6c6d6e       | jne                 0x426
            //   c745d86f707172       | dec                 eax
            //   c745dc73747576       | mov                 eax, 0xffffffff
            //   c745e07778797a       | dec                 eax
            //   c745e430313233       | mov                 ecx, esi

        $sequence_3 = { 03d1 8d0c92 f7eb 442bc1 }
            // n = 4, score = 200
            //   03d1                 | inc                 ecx
            //   8d0c92               | shl                 esp, 0x1e
            //   f7eb                 | inc                 ecx
            //   442bc1               | shr                 edx, 2

        $sequence_4 = { 33d2 488d8d10030000 41b808020000 e8???????? }
            // n = 4, score = 200
            //   33d2                 | jl                  0x28c
            //   488d8d10030000       | mov                 eax, 1
            //   41b808020000         | movzx               ecx, word ptr [edx + 6]
            //   e8????????           |                     

        $sequence_5 = { 8b442440 41b812270000 89442420 e8???????? 4885db 7409 }
            // n = 6, score = 200
            //   8b442440             | dec                 eax
            //   41b812270000         | mov                 dword ptr [esp + 0x28], eax
            //   89442420             | dec                 eax
            //   e8????????           |                     
            //   4885db               | lea                 ecx, [ebp - 0x80]
            //   7409                 | dec                 eax

        $sequence_6 = { 41b908000000 c7459038000000 4533c0 448965bc }
            // n = 4, score = 200
            //   41b908000000         | xor                 ebx, dword ptr [esp + eax*4 + 0x29290]
            //   c7459038000000       | inc                 ecx
            //   4533c0               | mov                 eax, ebx
            //   448965bc             | inc                 ecx

        $sequence_7 = { 41b812270000 89442420 e8???????? 4885db 7409 488bcb ff15???????? }
            // n = 7, score = 200
            //   41b812270000         | test                eax, eax
            //   89442420             | jne                 0xafa
            //   e8????????           |                     
            //   4885db               | mov                 ecx, 0x715
            //   7409                 | jmp                 0xabc
            //   488bcb               | mov                 eax, dword ptr [eax + 4]
            //   ff15????????         |                     

        $sequence_8 = { c1e91f 03d1 8d0c92 f7eb 442bc1 }
            // n = 5, score = 200
            //   c1e91f               | dec                 eax
            //   03d1                 | lea                 ecx, [ebp - 0x49]
            //   8d0c92               | dec                 eax
            //   f7eb                 | lea                 esi, [ebp - 0x49]
            //   442bc1               | dec                 eax

        $sequence_9 = { ff15???????? 488bf8 ff15???????? 8bc8 }
            // n = 4, score = 200
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   488bf8               | mov                 eax, ebx
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   8bc8                 | dec                 eax

    condition:
        7 of them and filesize < 458752
}
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