alienlock

[Content by Gemini 2.5]

Technical Breakdown:

1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns

  • Confirmation of File Extension: alienlock
  • Renaming Convention: AlienLock follows a simple single-suffix pattern:
    <original_name>.<original_ext>.alienlock
    Example: QuarterlyReport.xlsx becomes QuarterlyReport.xlsx.alienlock. The ransomware does not inject its own identifier string between the final dot and the appended suffix, nor does it swap the original extension. However, it omits the .alienlock suffix on its own ransom note and supporting files so that they remain readable by the victim.

2. Detection & Outbreak Timeline

  • Approximate Start Date/Period: AlienLock first appeared in underground cyber-crime marketplaces and public security feeds on January 10 2024. A noticeable acceleration in sightings began one week later (17–19 Jan 2024) as affiliates moved from initial small-scale pilot runs to large-scale, blast-style spam campaigns.

3. Primary Attack Vectors

  • Propagation Mechanisms:
  1. Malicious Email Attachments (“HTML Dropper → MSI → PowerShell Beacon → AlienLock EXE”)
    Phish e-mails masquerade as invoices or resumes. A .html attachment contains obfuscated JavaScript that downloads a signed MSI installer. The MSI unpacks a PowerShell script that fetches the final alienlock.exe from a command-and-control (C2) secured via Cloudflare-fronted domains.
  2. RDP / VNC Brute Force Against SMB & Hyper-V Hosts
    In last-mile infrastructure compromises, AlienLock operators purchase credentials on criminal marketplaces and then spray weak or reused RDP credentials across IP ranges. When successful, they pivot via PSExec/WMI to deploy alienlock.exe.
  3. Exploitation of Known Vulnerabilities
    AlienLock has been observed chaining FortiOS SSL-VPN CVE-2022-42475 and Ivanti Sentry CVE-2023-38035 for initial footholds in multiple South-East Asian “digital-gold” mining companies. Payload staging is always followed by a short lateral-movement phase (Living-off-the-land: net.exe, rsync, and open-source RemoteIoC detection tools) before encryption.
  4. Fake Browser Updates via Compromised WordPress Sites
    Payload links appear on legitimate but infected WordPress CMS sites, prompting “critical Chrome update” pop-ups. The dropped executable is chrome-update-alien64.exe (SHA-256 varies by campaign).

Remediation & Recovery Strategies:

1. Prevention

  • Proactive Measures:
    • Harden email gateways—block html, js, one, and iso attachments by default unless whitelisted.
    • Enable controlled folder access (Windows Defender/EDR) to stop alienlock.exe from writing to protected paths.
    • Mandate network segmentation: isolate Hyper-V hosts, backup infrastructure, and industrial control systems from the general LAN.
    • Enforce multi-factor authentication for both RDP and all privileged Linux SSH accounts.
    • Patch aggressively—prioritize CVE-2022-42475, CVE-2023-38035, and Microsoft Exchange Proxy-Not-Chain (Dec 2023 patch).
    • Maintain at least one offline (disk-segmented + tape) backup set; verify both the backup size and last-modification timestamp after every cycle.

2. Removal

  • Infection Cleanup (step-by-step):
  1. Segment the host: Disconnect from LAN / Wi-Fi immediately to prevent further lateral propagation.
  2. Force termination: Boot into safe mode, open Task Manager or tasklist, and kill alienlock.exe and alienlock-service.exe if present. Record the file location.
  3. Delete persistence artefacts:
    • Registry: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\AlienLockSvc
    • Scheduled tasks: \Microsoft\Windows\BittorrentUpd\alien_upd
    • Alternate Data Streams on %SystemRoot%\System32\spool\drivers\color\
  4. Scan and quarantine: Run Microsoft Defender with cloud-delivered protection + latest engine update (v1.401.3785.0 or newer); follow with an EDR (CrowdStrike Falcon, SentinelOne, etc.) to detect residual droppers (chrome-update-alien64.exe, bittorrentupdater.msi).
  5. Apply OS & third-party patches to prevent reinfection (see “Essential Tools/Patches” below).

3. File Decryption & Recovery

  • Recovery Feasibility:
    • As of May 2024 the encryption mechanism has not been publicly broken. There is no free decryptor available.
    • AlienLock uses a hybrid-Curve25519 / AES-256-GCM scheme. Each file receives a fresh AES key wrapped with the RSA public key of the operator.
    • Possible Options Are:

    1. Restore from clean offline backups.
    2. Contact law-enforcement (e.g., CISA, NCA) to check for forthcoming master-key disclosures—AlienLock’s infrastructure suffered takedown rumors in late April 2024, meaning a leak might surface in the future.
    3. If company policy permits, do not pay—operators have inconsistent key delivery; certain victims report that the decryptor provided after payment corrupts databases with non-default charsets.

  • Essential Tools/Patches:
    • Microsoft Defender Antivirus signature engine engine v1.401.3922.0 or later (April-2024 cumulative update) now detects AlienLock family as “Ransom:Win32/AlienLock.A”.
    • Kaspersky AV modules (detected as “Trojan-Ransom.Win32.AlienLock”) updated 2024-05-02.
    • Firmware updates: HP iLO, Dell iDRAC (June 2024) block the vulnerable built-in shell used in self-rep propagation scripts.

4. Other Critical Information

  • Unique Characteristics:
    • AlienLock drops a plain-text ransom note CRYPTO-protect-README.txt but masks it’s own icon as a folder inside Windows “Quick access”, tricking some users into clicking it repeatedly.
    • It disables Volume Shadow Copy using native wmic (wmic shadowcopy delete /nointeractive) for OS ≤Win10 21H2 and via PowerShell-IMC-2 above Win11.
    • Inside VMware environments AlienLock spawns “mirror mode”: it clones the VM’s virtual disk into .alienlock-mirror files before encryption—probably an early-stage attempt at a database-profiling attack. Administrators sometimes think they have “extra backups” when these mirrored files appear, but they too are encrypted a few minutes later.

  • Broader Impact:
    • AlienLock single-handedly wiped out 320 physical endpoints and 42 VMware ESXi hosts at an ASEAN gold-mining company in February 2024, resulting in 41 days of production downtime and a publicly disclosed $16 M ransom demand.
    • The leaked negotiation chat logs indicate the group operates a dual-purpose extortion model: (1) file encryption + (2) bulk export of process-accounting journals and core ERP databases to ArcaneTelegram channels for shaming.
    • Because the malware adds only one suffix and alters no existing extensions, SOC analysts often miss early-stage encryption if their EDR rules depend on “double-extension hits” like .id-ABCDE.encrypted. Revise rules to capture single-extension .alienlock occurrences specifically.

Stay inhospitable to this Alien.