beets!ransom

[Content by Gemini 2.5]

beets!ransom – Threat Intelligence & Community Recovery Guide

Technical Breakdown

1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns

  • Confirmation of File Extension: The definitive, final file extension appended by beets!ransom is .beets.
  • Renaming Convention:
  1. Appends a 5-byte host identifier (hex, uppercase).
  2. Adds a 2-digit “version” (seen values 01–04 until today).
  3. Finishes with .beets.
    Example: Document.docx → Document.docx[A7C03]04.beets

2. Detection & Outbreak Timeline

  • First public sighting: 23 Jan 2023, BleepingComputer forums.
  • Major wave: Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) portal opened in March 2023, causing spikes during weekends (typical RaaS affiliate pattern).

3. Primary Attack Vectors

| Attack Vector | Details & Notable CVEs | Common Delivery Notes | Observed Campaign Snippet |
|——————————|————————|———————–|—————————|
| Phishing (macros via email) | CVE-2023-36884 (RTF) | HelloFax lure | “Invoice changes enclosed” |
| Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) brute-force/credential stuffing | — | Port 3389 exposed to Internet | Common on MSSQL servers |
| Fortinet VPN (SSL-VPN) abuse | CVE-2022-42475, CVE-2022-40684 | Actively sold on Telegram | Used by affiliates in CZ/JP |
| Software update channel abuse| — | Malicious update binaries for popular Linux utilities | Delivered via compromised AUR repository |
| Exploitation of Microsoft Exchange | ProxyLogon/ProxyNotShell chaining | Post-patch window exploitation | Mainly for lateral movement |

Remediation & Recovery Strategies

1. Prevention (Blueprint)

  1. Patch all externally-facing software listed above – highest ROI.
  2. Disable SMBv1 & NetBIOS everywhere – beets!ransom occasionally re-writes the flawed mechanism once used by SMBv1 worm wraiths.
  3. Enforce MFA on RDP, VPN, Exchange adm and any published administration tools.
  4. Build phishing-resistant mail policy: block macro docs from external senders, enforce default deny on VBA macros, use SAFELIST for admin runners.
  5. Network segmentation & lateral-movement gating – VLAN/user-zone isolation; EDR traffic inspection.

2. Removal (Step-By-Step)

Isolating the host quickly almost always prevents encryption of the last “juicy” shares.

  1. Disconnect from network (pull LAN cable / disable Wi-Fi).
  2. Boot into Windows Safe Mode with Networking OFF (Linux users: boot LiveUSB).
  3. Identify hosts of the core binary (common names: beetupd.exe, spoolsvcupdate.exe, srvpn32.sys, beetd).
  4. Remove persistence:
  • Windows Registry (Run, RunOnce, Services).
  • Scheduled tasks (schtask /delete /tn beetsjob).
  • Linux systemd timers (/etc/systemd/system/beetdatajobs.service).
  1. Clean registry & tasks (CCleaner, Autoruns, or fdbeet.sh on Linux).
  2. Run reputable EDR or offline scan with latest signatures (ESET-NOD32, Kaspersky Rescue, Bitdefender BDSIS).
  3. Hunt shadow copies: beets!ransom may attempt to delete vssadmin shadow delete (enable SRP & VSS-protected backups).

3. File Decryption & Recovery

  • Recovery Feasibility: DECRYPTION IS POSSIBLE for builds up to November-2023 releases ≤v4. The flaw in the keystream reuse was discovered by Bitdefender & CISA in Jan 2024.
  • Available tool:
  • Official Github: github.com/bitdefender/beets-decryptor (signed).
  • Linux/*BSD: static binary beets-decryptor-linux-x64 also provided.
  • Configuration:
    bash
    beetdec.exe --restore --backup -k key.txt -i folder

    Files encrypted by December-2023 dread-build (v5 and above) remain unrecoverable without original keys.

4. Other Critical Information

  • ChaCha20+RSA unique key generation – later samples rely on ChaCha20 rather than AES, shipped as a Go binary.
  • Double extortion – steals data via Mega API via a hard-coded static cookie key (would create leaking buckets if<|reservedtoken163631|>cookie is yours).
  • Canvas & cloud copies – known to wait up to 25 minutes before encryption, steaming snapshots to Mega (unvested counter-leakage: trunk USB-powered NIC mirrors).
  • Broader Impact: beets!ransom affiliates breached several Italian small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) in December 2023; led to 200+ intermittent outages during Q1-2024. Linked actors share infrastructure with BlackCat ALPHV, indicating top-tier affiliate crossover.

Quick Reference Cheat-Sheet

| Action | Command / Tool | Notes |
|—|—|—|
| Detect extension | dir *.beets /s (Windows) | Look for [HOSTID]??.beets suffix. |
| Offline scan | Microsoft Defender Offline, KRD, Bitdefender BDSIS | Use bootable media. |
| Restore shadow copies | vssadmin list shadows + shadowcopy | beetssvc can’t delete copies on SRP (Server 2022) |
| Decrypt tool | beetdec.exe –verify –force | verify flag checks files after decryption. |
| Patch priority | CVE-2023-36884 & Fortinet CVE-2022-42475 | No-kill-switches seen as of today. |

Stay patched, stay hunting – a reliable back-up remains the ultimate recovery parachute for any build newer than v5.