SYMBOLCOMMON_NAMEaka. SYNONYMS
win.zeroaccess (Back to overview)

ZeroAccess

aka: Max++, Sirefef, Smiscer, ZAccess
VTCollection    

ZeroAccess is a modular botnet that was primarily active around 2012. It has been observed selling fake antivirus software to infected users, performing click fraud and deploying bitcoin miners.
It utilizes both peer-to-peer networking and a centralized C&C, spoofing the HTTP Host header with fake DGA-generated domains to confuse researchers.
While there is no evidence that the DGA-generated domains were ever intentonally contacted by the malware, faulty middleboxes still caused some requests to be sent to the DGA domains.

References
2017-05-03 ⋅ IEEE ⋅ Alok Tongaonkar, Gaspar Modelo-Howard, Lorenzo De Carli, Ruben Torres, Somesh Jha
Botnet Protocol Inference in the Presence of Encrypted Traffic
Ramnit Sality ZeroAccess
2016-01-01 ⋅ Virus Bulletin ⋅ Jaromír Hořejší, Peter Kálnai
Notes on click fraud: American story
Alureon ZeroAccess
2013-10-04 ⋅ Symantec ⋅ Alan Neville, Ross Gibb
ZeroAccess Indepth
ZeroAccess
2013-08-01 ⋅ Malwarebytes ⋅ Joshua Cannell
Sophos Discovers ZeroAccess Using RLO
ZeroAccess
2013-07-25 ⋅ Malwarebytes ⋅ Joshua Cannell
ZeroAccess uses Self-Debugging
ZeroAccess
2012-12-26 ⋅ Contagio Dump ⋅ Mila Parkour
ZeroAccess / Sirefef Rootkit - 5 fresh samples
ZeroAccess
2011-07-09 ⋅ Prevx ⋅ Marco Giuliani
ZeroAccess – an advanced kernel mode rootkit
ZeroAccess
2011-02-24 ⋅ Contagiodump Blog ⋅ Mila Parkour
ZeroAccess / Max++ / Smiscer Crimeware Rootkit sample for Step-by-Step Reverse Engineering by Giuseppe Bonfa - << (Update 2011 version available)
ZeroAccess
2010-11-20 ⋅ InfoSec Institute ⋅ Giuseppe Bonfa
The Kernel-Mode Device Driver Stealth Rootkit
ZeroAccess
2010-11-16 ⋅ Giuseppe Bonfa
ZEROACCESS MALWARE - PART 3: The Device Driver Process Injection Rootkit
ZeroAccess
2010-11-15 ⋅ Infosec ⋅ Giuseppe Bonfa
Tracing the Crimeware Origins by Reversing Injected Code
ZeroAccess
2010-11-01 ⋅ InfoSec Institute ⋅ Giuseppe Bonfa
ZEROACCESS MALWARE - PART 1: De-Obfuscating and Reversing the User-Mode Agent Dropper
ZeroAccess
Yara Rules
[TLP:WHITE] win_zeroaccess_auto (20260917 | Detects win.zeroaccess.)
rule win_zeroaccess_auto {

    meta:
        author = "Felix Bilstein - yara-signator at cocacoding dot com"
        date = "2026-09-17"
        version = "1"
        description = "Detects win.zeroaccess."
        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.zeroaccess"
        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 = { 85c0 7408 ff15???????? eb02 }
            // n = 4, score = 400
            //   85c0                 | test                eax, eax
            //   7408                 | je                  0xa
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   eb02                 | jmp                 4

        $sequence_1 = { ff7308 ff15???????? 85c0 7408 }
            // n = 4, score = 300
            //   ff7308               | push                dword ptr [ebx + 8]
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   85c0                 | test                eax, eax
            //   7408                 | je                  0xa

        $sequence_2 = { 6a04 68???????? 6a10 68???????? 68060000c8 ff7708 ff15???????? }
            // n = 7, score = 300
            //   6a04                 | push                4
            //   68????????           |                     
            //   6a10                 | push                0x10
            //   68????????           |                     
            //   68060000c8           | push                0xc8000006
            //   ff7708               | push                dword ptr [edi + 8]
            //   ff15????????         |                     

        $sequence_3 = { 50 6a01 8d45f4 50 ff7308 }
            // n = 5, score = 300
            //   50                   | push                eax
            //   6a01                 | push                1
            //   8d45f4               | lea                 eax, [ebp - 0xc]
            //   50                   | push                eax
            //   ff7308               | push                dword ptr [ebx + 8]

        $sequence_4 = { 56 68???????? 50 8d460c 50 ff15???????? 85c0 }
            // n = 7, score = 300
            //   56                   | push                esi
            //   68????????           |                     
            //   50                   | push                eax
            //   8d460c               | lea                 eax, [esi + 0xc]
            //   50                   | push                eax
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   85c0                 | test                eax, eax

        $sequence_5 = { 33c0 48 83c9ff c744242804000000 48 }
            // n = 5, score = 300
            //   33c0                 | xor                 eax, eax
            //   48                   | dec                 eax
            //   83c9ff               | or                  ecx, 0xffffffff
            //   c744242804000000     | mov                 dword ptr [esp + 0x28], 4
            //   48                   | dec                 eax

        $sequence_6 = { 6a01 8d45f8 50 57 ff15???????? 84c0 }
            // n = 6, score = 300
            //   6a01                 | push                1
            //   8d45f8               | lea                 eax, [ebp - 8]
            //   50                   | push                eax
            //   57                   | push                edi
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   84c0                 | test                al, al

        $sequence_7 = { 56 8d45f8 50 ff15???????? 6a01 8d45f8 50 }
            // n = 7, score = 300
            //   56                   | push                esi
            //   8d45f8               | lea                 eax, [ebp - 8]
            //   50                   | push                eax
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   6a01                 | push                1
            //   8d45f8               | lea                 eax, [ebp - 8]
            //   50                   | push                eax

        $sequence_8 = { 740c bf03000040 eb05 bf010000c0 85ff }
            // n = 5, score = 200
            //   740c                 | je                  0xe
            //   bf03000040           | mov                 edi, 0x40000003
            //   eb05                 | jmp                 7
            //   bf010000c0           | mov                 edi, 0xc0000001
            //   85ff                 | test                edi, edi

        $sequence_9 = { 3bc1 7604 83c8ff c3 }
            // n = 4, score = 200
            //   3bc1                 | cmp                 eax, ecx
            //   7604                 | jbe                 6
            //   83c8ff               | or                  eax, 0xffffffff
            //   c3                   | ret                 

        $sequence_10 = { ff15???????? 85c0 7407 b8e3030000 }
            // n = 4, score = 200
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   85c0                 | test                eax, eax
            //   7407                 | je                  9
            //   b8e3030000           | mov                 eax, 0x3e3

        $sequence_11 = { 49 8b8080000000 49 8941f4 41 }
            // n = 5, score = 100
            //   49                   | dec                 ecx
            //   8b8080000000         | mov                 eax, dword ptr [eax + 0x80]
            //   49                   | dec                 ecx
            //   8941f4               | mov                 dword ptr [ecx - 0xc], eax
            //   41                   | inc                 ecx

        $sequence_12 = { 6548 891c25???????? 8bf0 ff15???????? 48 8d542470 48 }
            // n = 7, score = 100
            //   6548                 | dec                 eax
            //   891c25????????       |                     
            //   8bf0                 | mov                 esi, eax
            //   ff15????????         |                     
            //   48                   | dec                 eax
            //   8d542470             | lea                 edx, [esp + 0x70]
            //   48                   | dec                 eax

        $sequence_13 = { 44 0fb61d???????? 0fb61d???????? 0fb63d???????? 0fb635???????? 0fb72d???????? 44 }
            // n = 7, score = 100
            //   44                   | inc                 esp
            //   0fb61d????????       |                     
            //   0fb61d????????       |                     
            //   0fb63d????????       |                     
            //   0fb635????????       |                     
            //   0fb72d????????       |                     
            //   44                   | inc                 esp

    condition:
        7 of them and filesize < 464896
}
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