Raspberry Robin

Raspberry Robin is initial access malware first identified in September 2021, and active through early 2024. The malware is notable for spreading via infected USB devices containing a malicious LNK object that, on execution, retrieves remote hosted payloads for installation. Raspberry Robin has been widely used against various industries and geographies, and as a precursor to information stealer, ransomware, and other payloads such as SocGholish, Cobalt Strike, IcedID, and Bumblebee.^[1]^[2]^[3] The DLL componenet in the Raspberry Robin infection chain is also referred to as "Roshtyak."^[4] The name "Raspberry Robin" is used to refer to both the malware as well as the threat actor associated with its use, although the Raspberry Robin operators are also tracked as Storm-0856 by some vendors.^[5]

ID: S1130

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Type: MALWARE

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Platforms: Windows

Contributors: Swachchhanda Shrawan Poudel

Version: 1.0

Created: 17 May 2024

Last Modified: 23 July 2024

Version Permalink

Live Version

Techniques Used

Domain	ID		Name	Use
Enterprise	T1548		Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism	Raspberry Robin implements a variation of the `ucmDccwCOMMethod` technique abusing the Windows AutoElevate backdoor to bypass UAC while elevating privileges.^[1]
		.002	Bypass User Account Control	Raspberry Robin will use the legitimate Windows utility fodhelper.exe to run processes at elevated privileges without requiring a User Account Control prompt.^[2]
Enterprise	T1583	.001	Acquire Infrastructure: Domains	Raspberry Robin uses newly-registered domains containing only a few characters for command and controll purposes, such as "`v0[.]cx`".^[2]
		.008	Acquire Infrastructure: Malvertising	Raspberry Robin variants have been delivered via malicious advertising items that, when interacted with, download a malicious archive file containing the initial payload, hosted on services such as Discord.^[3]
Enterprise	T1071		Application Layer Protocol	Raspberry Robin is capable of contacting the TOR network for delivering second-stage payloads.^[2]^[1]^[3]
		.001	Web Protocols	Raspberry Robin uses outbound HTTP requests containing victim information for retrieving second stage payloads.^[2] Variants of Raspberry Robin can download archive files (such as 7-Zip files) via the victim web browser for second stage execution.^[3]
Enterprise	T1547	.001	Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder	Raspberry Robin will use a Registry key to achieve persistence through reboot, setting a RunOnce key such as: `HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce{random value name} = "rundll32 shell32 ShellExec_RunDLLA REGSVR /u /s "{dropped copy path and file name}""`.^[1]
Enterprise	T1059		Command and Scripting Interpreter	Raspberry Robin variants can be delivered via highly obfuscated Windows Script Files (WSF) for initial execution.^[3]
		.003	Windows Command Shell	Raspberry Robin uses cmd.exe to read and execute a file stored on an infected USB device as part of initial installation.^[2]
Enterprise	T1622		Debugger Evasion	Raspberry Robin leverages anti-debugging mechanisms through the use of `ThreadHideFromDebugger`.^[1]
Enterprise	T1140		Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information	Raspberry Robin contains several layers of obfuscation to hide malicious code from detection and analysis.^[1]
Enterprise	T1480		Execution Guardrails	Raspberry Robin will check for the presence of several security products on victim machines and will avoid UAC bypass mechanisms if they are identified.^[1] Raspberry Robin can use specific cookie values in HTTP requests to command and control infrastructure to validate that requests for second stage payloads originate from the initial downloader script.^[3]
Enterprise	T1083		File and Directory Discovery	Raspberry Robin will check to see if the initial executing script is located on the user's Desktop as an anti-analysis check.^[3]
Enterprise	T1574		Hijack Execution Flow	Raspberry Robin will drop a copy of itself to a subfolder in `%Program Data%` or `%Program Data%\Microsoft\` to attempt privilege elevation and defense evasion if not running in Session 0.^[1]
		.002	DLL Side-Loading	Raspberry Robin can use legitimate, signed EXE files paired with malicious DLL files to load and run malicious payloads while bypassing defenses.^[3]
Enterprise	T1562	.001	Impair Defenses: Disable or Modify Tools	Raspberry Robin can add an exception to Microsoft Defender that excludes the entire main drive from anti-malware scanning to evade detection.^[3]
Enterprise	T1070	.004	Indicator Removal: File Deletion	Raspberry Robin can delete its initial delivery script from disk during execution.^[3]
		.009	Indicator Removal: Clear Persistence	Raspberry Robin uses a `RunOnce` Registry key for persistence, where the key is removed after its use on reboot then re-added by the malware after it resumes execution.^[5]
Enterprise	T1105		Ingress Tool Transfer	Raspberry Robin retrieves its second stage payload in a variety of ways such as through msiexec.exe abuse, or running the curl command to download the payload to the victim's `%AppData%` folder.^[3]^[2]
Enterprise	T1559		Inter-Process Communication	Raspberry Robin contains an embedded custom Tor network client that communicates with the primary payload via shared process memory.^[1]
		.001	Component Object Model	Raspberry Robin creates an elevated COM object for `CMLuaUtil` and uses this to set a registry value that points to the malicious LNK file during execution.^[1]
Enterprise	T1036	.004	Masquerading: Masquerade Task or Service	Raspberry Robin will execute its payload prior to initializing command and control traffic by impersonating one of several legitimate program names such as dllhost.exe, regsvr32.exe, or rundll32.exe.^[1]
		.008	Masquerading: Masquerade File Type	Raspberry Robin has historically been delivered via infected USB drives containing a malicious LNK object masquerading as a legitimate folder.^[2]
Enterprise	T1571		Non-Standard Port	Raspberry Robin will communicate via HTTP over port 8080 for command and control traffic.^[2]
Enterprise	T1027		Obfuscated Files or Information	Raspberry Robin uses mixed-case letters for filenames and commands to evade detection.^[2]
		.002	Software Packing	Raspberry Robin contains multiple payloads that are packed for defense evasion purposes and unpacked on runtime.^[1]
Enterprise	T1057		Process Discovery	Raspberry Robin can identify processes running on the victim machine, such as security software, during execution.^[1]^[3]
Enterprise	T1055	.012	Process Injection: Process Hollowing	Raspberry Robin will execute a legitimate process, then suspend it to inject code for a Tor client into the process, followed by resumption of the process to enable Tor client execution.^[1]
Enterprise	T1091		Replication Through Removable Media	Raspberry Robin has historically used infected USB media to spread to new victims.^[1]^[2]
Enterprise	T1518	.001	Software Discovery: Security Software Discovery	Raspberry Robin attempts to identify security software running on the victim machine, such as BitDefender, Avast, and Kaspersky.^[1]^[3]
Enterprise	T1218	.007	System Binary Proxy Execution: Msiexec	Raspberry Robin uses msiexec.exe for post-installation communication to command and control infrastructure.^[2] Msiexec.exe is executed referencing a remote resource for second-stage payload retrieval and execution.^[1]
		.008	System Binary Proxy Execution: Odbcconf	Raspberry Robin uses the Windows utility odbcconf.exe to execute malicious commands, using the `regsvr` flag to execute DLLs and bypass application control mechanisms that are not monitoring for odbcconf.exe abuse.^[2]
		.010	System Binary Proxy Execution: Regsvr32	Raspberry Robin uses regsvr32.exe execution without any command line parameters for command and control requests to IP addresses associated with Tor nodes.^[2]
		.011	System Binary Proxy Execution: Rundll32	Raspberry Robin uses rundll32 execution without any command line parameters to contact command and control infrastructure, such as IP addresses associated with Tor nodes.^[2]
Enterprise	T1082		System Information Discovery	Raspberry Robin performs several system checks as part of anti-analysis mechanisms, including querying the operating system build number, processor vendor and type, video controller, and CPU temperature.^[3]
Enterprise	T1033		System Owner/User Discovery	Raspberry Robin determines whether it is successfully running on a victim system by querying the running account information to determine if it is running in Session 0, indicating running with elevated privileges.^[1]
Enterprise	T1204		User Execution	Raspberry Robin execution can rely on users directly interacting with malicious LNK files.^[5]
Enterprise	T1497		Virtualization/Sandbox Evasion	Raspberry Robin contains real and fake second-stage payloads following initial execution, with the real payload only delivered if the malware determines it is not running in a virtualized environment.^[1]
		.001	System Checks	Raspberry Robin performs a variety of system environment checks to determine if it is running in a virtualized or sandboxed environment, such as querying CPU temperature information and network card MAC address information.^[3]
Enterprise	T1102		Web Service	Raspberry Robin second stage payloads can be hosted as RAR files, containing a malicious EXE and DLL, on Discord servers.^[3]
Enterprise	T1047		Windows Management Instrumentation	Raspberry Robin can execute via LNK containing a command to run a legitimate executable, such as wmic.exe, to download a malicious Windows Installer (MSI) package.^[1]

Raspberry Robin

Enterprise Layer

Techniques Used

References