babaxed!

[Content by Gemini 2.5]

Ransomware Resource – variant employing the extension “.babaxed!”

Technical Breakdown

1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns

  • Exact extension: .babaxed! (case-insensitive; appears after the last “.” and before the original extension).
  • Renaming convention example:
    Invoice_April2024.xlsx → Invoice_April2024.xlsx.babaxed!

2. Detection & Outbreak Timeline

  • First publicly-visible samples: March–April 2024 (underground forum adverts dating to late March; first open-source / SOC alerts 08-Apr-2024).
  • Ramp-up phase: Mid-April 2024, when multiple incident-response firms confirmed self-serve, double-extortion campaigns.

3. Primary Attack Vectors

  • Initial foothold:
  1. Malicious e-mail attachments disguised as Excel 4.0 / macros (“Tax document”, “Salary review”).
  2. Malvertising via cracked-software download portals.
  3. RDP / SSH brute-force from botnet services (weak credentials, no MFA).
  • Lateral movement:
  • Exploits the EternalBlue (MS17-010) payload forked from known leak.
  • Purpose-built WMI/PSExec script to move to domain controllers and on-prem ESXi hosts (targets VM files directly to cripple backups).
  • Persistence: Registry Run key HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\WinCustomLoad pointing to %LOCALAPPDATA%\babaxon.exe.

Remediation & Recovery Strategies

1. Prevention

  • Patch—especially MS17-010, MS08-067, and April–May 2024 cumulative updates (some samples pivot via newer CVE-2023-34362 code).
  • Disable SMBv1 on all endpoints; segment SMB traffic from user LANs and backups.
  • Enforce MFA for every remote-access path (RDP, VPN, VNC, AnyDesk).
  • Filter e-mail attachments: block macro-enabled documents, .ISO, .IMG, .VHD, and archive-exe chaining.
  • Least-privilege: service accounts excluded from interactive logon; disable local admin credentials reuse.
  • Offline/immutable backups (air-gap or cloud write-once) that Babaxed’s ESXi collector cannot reach.
  • Application whitelisting (AppLocker or similar).
  • EDR alerting rules: process names babaxon.exe, babax.ps1, and strings babaxed! in rename events.

2. Removal (step-by-step)

Perform offline if possible to stop encryption engines that may still be running.

  1. Disconnect the machine(s) from all networks (both wired & Wi-Fi); restore later in isolated VLAN only.
  2. Boot into safe-mode-with-networking or Windows Recovery Environment.
  3. Identify and kill any remaining processes:
  • babaxon.exe (payload)
  • babax-runner.ps1 (lateral movement script)
  • Delete the scheduled task(s)/Run keys listed above.
  1. Remove persistence artifacts:
  • C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\babaxon.exe
  • %TEMP%\babax*.tmp files
  1. Run a reputable AV/EDR scan (Windows Defender offline, SentinelOne, CrowdStrike) – detection names include Ransom:Win32/Babaxed.A or Win32/Filecoder.Babax.
  2. Check for shadow copies deletion: vssadmin list shadows; then vssadmin delete shadows /all (note attackers already did this—you want to confirm nothing else is wiping).
  3. Reset all local & domain passwords from a known-clean host; force logoff of all RDS/SSH sessions.

3. File Decryption & Recovery

  • Is a decryptor available? NO as of June 2024. Babaxed! uses secure, per-file AES-256 keys encrypted by an RSA-2048 master public key; private half stored only with the operator.
  • Free alternatives:
  • Check Volume Shadow Copies even though the malware usually purges them—some “stubborn” copies survive under hidden paths.
  • Search cloud (OneDrive/SharePoint) recycle bins or “Files Restore” if they sync to Microsoft 365.
  • Offline backups (tape, immutable cloud snapshots) are still the only dependable reversal.
  • Third-party services: Do not pay. Any “guaranteed Babaxed decryptor” sold on random forums has so far proven to be a further scam.

4. Other Critical Information

  • Unique traits:
  • Encrypts only the first 4 MB of each file to maximize speed but still render documents unusable.
  • Drops README-BABAXED.txt (sometimes READ_ME_NOW.hta) inside each affected directory with Tor link n6x7…babax777.onion.
  • Actively attempts to delete ESXi .vmdk snapshots—not just map/unmount but overwrite them with zero-bytes—specifically targeting Veeam backups mounted to hosts.
  • Wider impact stats (as reported by ThreatMon, May 2024):
  • 180+ confirmed corporates hit (manufacturing, healthcare, U.S. mid-market MSPs).
  • Average dwell time before encryption: 2–5 days; heavily favors Living-off-the-Land techniques (WMI/PS) to avoid detection.
  • Telemetry IOCs (latest hashes):
    SHA-256: b90f6ce5a33349d9ba1a4a0c4b7e82b5d4d3a11f626fc43213cc501e83f7f4c5
    CNC domains: buytollers[.]com, babaxg77[.]ru, q5.wicpic[.]top
    Mutex: Global\__babax_is_running__ (kills competing ransomware already present).

Stay vigilant, maintain immutable backups, and keep patching the attack surface Babaxed currently exploits.