Smoke Loader
Smoke Loader is a malicious bot application that can be used to load other malware.Smoke Loader has been seen in the wild since at least 2011 and has included a number of different payloads. It is notorious for its use of deception and self-protection. It also comes with several plug-ins. [1] [2]
Associated Software Descriptions
Techniques Used
| Domain | ID | Name | Use | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise | T1071 | .001 | Application Layer Protocol: Web Protocols |
Smoke Loader uses HTTP for C2.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1547 | .001 | Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder |
Smoke Loader adds a Registry Run key for persistence and adds a script in the Startup folder to deploy the payload.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1059 | .005 | Command and Scripting Interpreter: Visual Basic |
Smoke Loader adds a Visual Basic script in the Startup folder to deploy the payload.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1555 | .003 | Credentials from Password Stores: Credentials from Web Browsers |
Smoke Loader searches for credentials stored from web browsers.[3] |
| Enterprise | T1140 | Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information |
Smoke Loader deobfuscates its code.[3] |
|
| Enterprise | T1114 | .001 | Email Collection: Local Email Collection |
Smoke Loader searches through Outlook files and directories (e.g., inbox, sent, templates, drafts, archives, etc.).[3] |
| Enterprise | T1083 | File and Directory Discovery |
Smoke Loader recursively searches through directories for files.[3] |
|
| Enterprise | T1105 | Ingress Tool Transfer |
Smoke Loader downloads a new version of itself once it has installed. It also downloads additional plugins.[1] |
|
| Enterprise | T1027 | .013 | Obfuscated Files or Information: Encrypted/Encoded File |
Smoke Loader uses a simple one-byte XOR method to obfuscate values in the malware.[1][3] |
| Enterprise | T1055 | Process Injection |
Smoke Loader injects into the Internet Explorer process.[3] |
|
| .012 | Process Hollowing |
Smoke Loader spawns a new copy of c:\windows\syswow64\explorer.exe and then replaces the executable code in memory with malware.[1][2] |
||
| Enterprise | T1053 | .005 | Scheduled Task/Job: Scheduled Task |
Smoke Loader launches a scheduled task.[3] |
| Enterprise | T1552 | .001 | Unsecured Credentials: Credentials In Files |
Smoke Loader searches for files named logins.json to parse for credentials.[3] |
| Enterprise | T1497 | .001 | Virtualization/Sandbox Evasion: System Checks |
Smoke Loader scans processes to perform anti-VM checks. [3] |