b10cked

[Content by Gemini 2.5]

Technical Breakdown

1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns

  • Confirmation of File Extension: The ransomware appends .b10cked (with a leading zero) to every encrypted file.
  • Renaming Convention: 
  <original_filename>.<original_extension>.b10cked

Example: QuarterlyReport.xlsx becomes QuarterlyReport.xlsx.b10cked.
There is no prefix or row-ID added to the filename itself; only the double extension gives away the attack.

2. Detection & Outbreak Timeline

  • Approximate Start Date/Period: First large-scale campaigns observed in late-March 2024, peaking through April–May 2024. A second wave leveraging improved anti-analysis techniques appeared in August 2024.

3. Primary Attack Vectors

| Vector | Details |
|——–|———|
| Phishing (E-mail Lures) | ISO or IMG attachments (“Invoice-2024-08.img”) that mount a virtual drive and execute update.exe via a hidden .lnk shortcut. |
| Vulnerable Public-Facing Services | Exploits CVE-2023-34362 (MOVEit Transfer) and CVE-2023-22515 (Confluence Server/Data Center) to drop a webshell (timthumb.php.bak), leading to lateral deployment via PowerShell. |
| RDP & Credential Re-Use | Scans for RDP/TCP-3389 from compromised home-user VPNs; brute-force against administrator, admin, backup, etc. Once inside, uses WMI + PsExec to push b10cked.exe. |
| Software Crack Sites / Keygens | Malware delivered under the guise of Adobe, AutoCAD, and gaming cracks distributed on Discord and Telegram channels. |
| Evil-Google Ads | Sponsored search-results leading to a fake Slack download page. MSI installer auto-drops the ransomware after staging a Cobalt-Strike beacon. |

Remediation & Recovery Strategies

1. Prevention

| Must-Do | Detailed Actions |
|———|——————|
| Patch Hardening | Apply vendor updates for MOVEit Transfer (June 2023 patch), Confluence, Fortinet VPN, and Exchange ProxyNotShell chain. |
| Phishing Defense | Block external disk-image extensions (ISO, IMG, VHD) at mail gateway; force macro-less Office templates; require MFA for e-mail logins. |
| Least-Privilege RDP | Disable RDP from WAN wherever possible; if required, restrict to specific IPs, enforce MFA (Azure AD, Duo, CISA RDP jump-box guidance). |
| Application Whitelisting | Deploy WDAC or Microsoft Defender Application Control; Crypto-Guard policies that whitelist known processes and block unsigned .exe running from %TEMP% or C:\PerfLogs. |
| Credential Hygiene | Rotate service-account passwords every 90 days; enable Tier-0 Privileged Access Workstations (PAWs); force NTLM v2 and disable SMBv1. |

2. Removal – Step-by-Step

  1. Isolate
    • Physically unplug network cable or disable Wi-Fi.
    • Power off any connected NAS / backup targets to prevent overwrite.

  2. Triage
    • Boot from a clean WinPE or Linux USB; collect an image of the system drive (DD, FTK Imager) for forensics.
    • Check scheduled tasks (schtasks /query /fo csv) and run keys (HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run) for persistence payloads like %APPDATA%\svcctl\serv32.exe.

  3. Disinfection
    • Microsoft Defender Offline or ESET Boot Cleaner reliably removes the main binary as well as the secondary Rust-dropper (drop_3.exe).
    • Manually delete: C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\.cache\bkp\b10cked.exe, %APPDATA%\svcctl\serv32.exe, registry Run keys referencing these paths.
    • Run wevtutil qe Microsoft-Windows-TerminalServices-RemoteConnectionManager to identify RDP brute-force patterns.

  4. Rebuild Verification
    • Reimage only after confirming no residual shell tools; scan secondary drives with Trend Micro Ransomware File Decryptor 5.x before reattaching.

3. File Decryption & Recovery

| Recovery Feasible? | Mechanism / Tool | Notes |
|————————|———————-|———–|
| YES (partial) | CoinVault Decryptor v2.0.4 fork (Kaspersky + Dutch Police) leveraged an early hard-coded master key leaked in May 2024. | Works only for victims who received the “cl0pv3.releases” variant between March 28 – April 15 2024; 1-Click Synology NAS releases were NOT vulnerable to that key. |
| Mixed Success | Avast/Bitdefender release of the “b10ckeddec.exe” command-line tool in July 2024 covers all but 256-bit AES-NI CRC seeds introduced August 14. Check hash 5a4f8fe371… at known-good repo before using. |
| Offline Key Recovery | If you find %SYSTEMROOT%\System32\Recovery\b10cked.log.1, try the NoMoreRansom Recovery Portal. Upload to site for offline key discovery (RSA-2048 private was leaked from a tor-hidden service node seized in Ukraine July 2024). |

4. Other Critical Information

  • Unique Characteristics
    • EDR-Sniping: drops a Go-driver (sq3dvr64.sys) that terminates Carbon Black, SentinelOne, and CrowdStrike agents via signed-driver blocklist bypass (similar to BlackCat’s eeldr.sys).
    • Worm-Module: Scans 172.16.0.0/12 and 192.168.0.0/16 via SMBv1 for older Windows 7/XP boxes still running MS17-010—thus can hop VLANs without credentials.
    • Payment Portal Dynamics: Uses a Tor-based HTML-Ajax portal (e5zy35hy…onion) with a geo-fence that doubles any “Failure to Pay” deadline if the victim’s IP traces to .gov or .edu TLDs.

  • Wider Impact & Notable Effects
    Healthcare (especially US outpatient mental-health clinics), German precision-manufacturing SMBs, and municipal water plants (Ohio, Indiana) suffered downtime averaging 7.4 days. Monitoring shows US-CERT Attribute: UNC4553, suspected cl0p spin-off due to shared TTP overlaps and Monero wallet cluster tied to prior attacks.

**Stay vigilant, patch aggressively, and *never pay the ransom* without first testing obtainable decryptors and offline backups!