SYMBOLCOMMON_NAMEaka. SYNONYMS
win.sality (Back to overview)

Sality

Actor(s): Salty Spider

VTCollection    

F-Secure states that the Sality virus family has been circulating in the wild as early as 2003. Over the years, the malware has been developed and improved with the addition of new features, such as rootkit or backdoor functionality, and so on, keeping it an active and relevant threat despite the relative age of the malware.

Modern Sality variants also have the ability to communicate over a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, allowing an attacker to control a botnet of Sality-infected machines. The combined resources of the Sality botnet may also be used by its controller(s) to perform other malicious actions, such as attacking routers.

Infection
Sality viruses typically infect executable files on local, shared and removable drives. In earlier variants, the Sality virus simply added its own malicious code to the end of the infected (or host) file, a technique known as prepending. The viral code that Sality inserts is polymorphic, a form of complex code that is intended to make analysis more difficult.

Earlier Sality variants were regarded as technically sophisticated in that they use an Entry Point Obscuration (EPO) technique to hide their presence on the system. This technique means that the virus inserts a command somewhere in the middle of an infected file's code, so that when the system is reading the file to execute it and comes to the command, it forces the system to 'jump' to the malware's code and execute that instead. This technique was used to make discovery and disinfection of the malicious code harder.

Payload
Once installed on the computer system, Sality viruses usually also execute a malicious payload. The specific actions performed depend on the specific variant in question, but generally Sality viruses will attempt to terminate processes, particularly those related to security programs. The virus may also attempt to open connections to remote sites, download and run additional malicious files, and steal data from the infected machine.

References
2022-07-14DragosSam Hanson
The Trojan Horse Malware & Password “Cracking” Ecosystem Targeting Industrial Operators
Sality
2022-04-20CISAAustralian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS), CISA, FBI, Government Communications Security Bureau, National Crime Agency (NCA), NCSC UK, NSA
AA22-110A Joint CSA: Russian State-Sponsored and Criminal Cyber Threats to Critical Infrastructure
VPNFilter BlackEnergy DanaBot DoppelDridex Emotet EternalPetya GoldMax Industroyer Sality SmokeLoader TrickBot Triton Zloader
2022-04-20CISACISA
Alert (AA22-110A): Russian State-Sponsored and Criminal Cyber Threats to Critical Infrastructure
VPNFilter BlackEnergy DanaBot DoppelDridex Emotet EternalPetya GoldMax Industroyer Sality SmokeLoader TrickBot Triton Zloader Killnet
2021-10-27MandiantCorey Hildebrandt, Daniel Kapellmann Zafra, Ken Proska, Nathan Brubaker
Portable Executable File Infecting Malware Is Increasingly Found in OT Networks
CCleaner Backdoor Floxif neshta Ramnit Sality Virut
2020-05-24Palo Alto Networks Unit 42Ajaya Neupane, Stefan Achleitner
Using AI to Detect Malicious C2 Traffic
Emotet Sality
2017-10-29quangnh89
Sality Configuration Extractor (sality_extractor.py)
Sality
2017-05-03IEEEAlok Tongaonkar, Gaspar Modelo-Howard, Lorenzo De Carli, Ruben Torres, Somesh Jha
Botnet Protocol Inference in the Presence of Encrypted Traffic
Ramnit Sality ZeroAccess
2015-12-02BotconfPeter Kleissner
Sality: 2003 - Today
Sality
2011-07-01SymantecNicolas Falliere
Sality: Story of a Peerto-Peer Viral Network
Sality
Yara Rules
[TLP:WHITE] win_sality_auto (20230808 | Detects win.sality.)
rule win_sality_auto {

    meta:
        author = "Felix Bilstein - yara-signator at cocacoding dot com"
        date = "2023-12-06"
        version = "1"
        description = "Detects win.sality."
        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.sality"
        malpedia_rule_date = "20231130"
        malpedia_hash = "fc8a0e9f343f6d6ded9e7df1a64dac0cc68d7351"
        malpedia_version = "20230808"
        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 = { 0302 50 6878563412 e8???????? }
            // n = 4, score = 400
            //   0302                 | add                 eax, dword ptr [edx]
            //   50                   | push                eax
            //   6878563412           | push                0x12345678
            //   e8????????           |                     

        $sequence_1 = { 0255fc 8855ec 8b45ec 25ff000000 }
            // n = 4, score = 400
            //   0255fc               | add                 dl, byte ptr [ebp - 4]
            //   8855ec               | mov                 byte ptr [ebp - 0x14], dl
            //   8b45ec               | mov                 eax, dword ptr [ebp - 0x14]
            //   25ff000000           | and                 eax, 0xff

        $sequence_2 = { 02040a 8845fc 8b4dfc 81e1ff000000 }
            // n = 4, score = 400
            //   02040a               | add                 al, byte ptr [edx + ecx]
            //   8845fc               | mov                 byte ptr [ebp - 4], al
            //   8b4dfc               | mov                 ecx, dword ptr [ebp - 4]
            //   81e1ff000000         | and                 ecx, 0xff

        $sequence_3 = { 0302 50 6a00 e8???????? }
            // n = 4, score = 400
            //   0302                 | add                 eax, dword ptr [edx]
            //   50                   | push                eax
            //   6a00                 | push                0
            //   e8????????           |                     

        $sequence_4 = { 837da000 751b 8b551c 52 8b4514 50 8b4d10 }
            // n = 7, score = 400
            //   837da000             | cmp                 dword ptr [ebp - 0x60], 0
            //   751b                 | jne                 0x1d
            //   8b551c               | mov                 edx, dword ptr [ebp + 0x1c]
            //   52                   | push                edx
            //   8b4514               | mov                 eax, dword ptr [ebp + 0x14]
            //   50                   | push                eax
            //   8b4d10               | mov                 ecx, dword ptr [ebp + 0x10]

        $sequence_5 = { 02c8 884dec 8b55f0 83c201 }
            // n = 4, score = 400
            //   02c8                 | add                 cl, al
            //   884dec               | mov                 byte ptr [ebp - 0x14], cl
            //   8b55f0               | mov                 edx, dword ptr [ebp - 0x10]
            //   83c201               | add                 edx, 1

        $sequence_6 = { 0311 52 6878563412 e8???????? }
            // n = 4, score = 400
            //   0311                 | add                 edx, dword ptr [ecx]
            //   52                   | push                edx
            //   6878563412           | push                0x12345678
            //   e8????????           |                     

        $sequence_7 = { 0302 8945fc 8b4d10 8b55fc }
            // n = 4, score = 400
            //   0302                 | add                 eax, dword ptr [edx]
            //   8945fc               | mov                 dword ptr [ebp - 4], eax
            //   8b4d10               | mov                 ecx, dword ptr [ebp + 0x10]
            //   8b55fc               | mov                 edx, dword ptr [ebp - 4]

        $sequence_8 = { 52 50 ff9539154000 58 6a00 }
            // n = 5, score = 200
            //   52                   | push                edx
            //   50                   | push                eax
            //   ff9539154000         | call                dword ptr [ebp + 0x401539]
            //   58                   | pop                 eax
            //   6a00                 | push                0

        $sequence_9 = { 8b5678 0354240c 8b5a20 035c240c 33c0 8b3b }
            // n = 6, score = 200
            //   8b5678               | mov                 edx, dword ptr [esi + 0x78]
            //   0354240c             | add                 edx, dword ptr [esp + 0xc]
            //   8b5a20               | mov                 ebx, dword ptr [edx + 0x20]
            //   035c240c             | add                 ebx, dword ptr [esp + 0xc]
            //   33c0                 | xor                 eax, eax
            //   8b3b                 | mov                 edi, dword ptr [ebx]

        $sequence_10 = { 240f 3c0a 1c69 2f 8803 43 }
            // n = 6, score = 200
            //   240f                 | and                 al, 0xf
            //   3c0a                 | cmp                 al, 0xa
            //   1c69                 | sbb                 al, 0x69
            //   2f                   | das                 
            //   8803                 | mov                 byte ptr [ebx], al
            //   43                   | inc                 ebx

        $sequence_11 = { f3a6 61 7513 8bc2 83e804 8b00 }
            // n = 6, score = 200
            //   f3a6                 | repe cmpsb          byte ptr [esi], byte ptr es:[edi]
            //   61                   | popal               
            //   7513                 | jne                 0x15
            //   8bc2                 | mov                 eax, edx
            //   83e804               | sub                 eax, 4
            //   8b00                 | mov                 eax, dword ptr [eax]

        $sequence_12 = { eb0c 58 e8???????? b801000000 c3 }
            // n = 5, score = 200
            //   eb0c                 | jmp                 0xe
            //   58                   | pop                 eax
            //   e8????????           |                     
            //   b801000000           | mov                 eax, 1
            //   c3                   | ret                 

        $sequence_13 = { 7461 8bc8 48 c6857b27400000 }
            // n = 4, score = 200
            //   7461                 | je                  0x63
            //   8bc8                 | mov                 ecx, eax
            //   48                   | dec                 eax
            //   c6857b27400000       | mov                 byte ptr [ebp + 0x40277b], 0

        $sequence_14 = { 8b00 0344240c eb02 33c0 }
            // n = 4, score = 200
            //   8b00                 | mov                 eax, dword ptr [eax]
            //   0344240c             | add                 eax, dword ptr [esp + 0xc]
            //   eb02                 | jmp                 4
            //   33c0                 | xor                 eax, eax

        $sequence_15 = { ff95bc154000 85c0 7415 58 }
            // n = 4, score = 200
            //   ff95bc154000         | call                dword ptr [ebp + 0x4015bc]
            //   85c0                 | test                eax, eax
            //   7415                 | je                  0x17
            //   58                   | pop                 eax

        $sequence_16 = { 010d???????? 83c004 5f 5e }
            // n = 4, score = 100
            //   010d????????         |                     
            //   83c004               | add                 eax, 4
            //   5f                   | pop                 edi
            //   5e                   | pop                 esi

        $sequence_17 = { 0007 7307 c607ff 8ac1 }
            // n = 4, score = 100
            //   0007                 | add                 byte ptr [edi], al
            //   7307                 | jae                 9
            //   c607ff               | mov                 byte ptr [edi], 0xff
            //   8ac1                 | mov                 al, cl

        $sequence_18 = { 031e ff7608 ff7604 e8???????? }
            // n = 4, score = 100
            //   031e                 | add                 ebx, dword ptr [esi]
            //   ff7608               | push                dword ptr [esi + 8]
            //   ff7604               | push                dword ptr [esi + 4]
            //   e8????????           |                     

        $sequence_19 = { 00fb fb 804880bc 280d???????? }
            // n = 4, score = 100
            //   00fb                 | add                 bl, bh
            //   fb                   | sti                 
            //   804880bc             | or                  byte ptr [eax - 0x80], 0xbc
            //   280d????????         |                     

        $sequence_20 = { 0306 50 8d5604 e8???????? }
            // n = 4, score = 100
            //   0306                 | add                 eax, dword ptr [esi]
            //   50                   | push                eax
            //   8d5604               | lea                 edx, [esi + 4]
            //   e8????????           |                     

        $sequence_21 = { 0306 50 8b4e04 8d5608 }
            // n = 4, score = 100
            //   0306                 | add                 eax, dword ptr [esi]
            //   50                   | push                eax
            //   8b4e04               | mov                 ecx, dword ptr [esi + 4]
            //   8d5608               | lea                 edx, [esi + 8]

        $sequence_22 = { 0202 7466 0fb77202 8b7a04 }
            // n = 4, score = 100
            //   0202                 | add                 al, byte ptr [edx]
            //   7466                 | je                  0x68
            //   0fb77202             | movzx               esi, word ptr [edx + 2]
            //   8b7a04               | mov                 edi, dword ptr [edx + 4]

        $sequence_23 = { 014304 c3 53 56 }
            // n = 4, score = 100
            //   014304               | add                 dword ptr [ebx + 4], eax
            //   c3                   | ret                 
            //   53                   | push                ebx
            //   56                   | push                esi

    condition:
        7 of them and filesize < 1523712
}
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