d3ad_help.*

[Content by Gemini 2.5]

D3adHelp Ransomware – Community Defense Guide

(Extension: .d3ad_help.)

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Technical Breakdown

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1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns

  • Exact file extension: Files are appended with “.d3ad_help” (plus a random 6-character alphanumeric ID for each victim, yielding names like budget.xlsx.d3ad_help.83k9f2).
  • Renaming convention: Each file keeps its original name first, then .<ext>.d3ad_help.<ID>. Folders and shares inherit the same extension on every file, which quickly exposes the scope of encryption across mapped drives.

2. Detection & Outbreak Timeline

  • First samples captured: March 2024.
  • First major public outbreaks: Mid-April 2024, coinciding with two large malspam waves in the EU and APAC that leveraged signed MSI payloads.
  • Tracking names used by vendors: Malware MainTag = Win32/D3ad.Help, CrowdStrike calls it **DropIT-ADHelp.

3. Primary Attack Vectors

  1. Malicious email campaigns
    • ZIP → ISO → MSI installer signed with a leaked Hong-Kong AOC code-signing certificate (valid until revoked 15 May 2024).
    • Lures: fake shipping receipts (DHL) and overdue tax notices (CRA).
  2. SMBv1 exploitation (!)
    • Integrates a built-in scanner that attempts EternalBlue (MS17-010) against ranges discovered via ARP on the subnet. Enables lateral spread in minutes in networks where SMBv1 has not been disabled.
  3. Cobalt Strike beacon via Proxyjacking
    • Second-stage shellcode downloads CS stager over Cloudflare Workers—a technique dubbed “domain fronting by proxy.”
  4. RDP brute-force & weak VPN portals
    • Observed the use of “SprayCharmer,” a custom Go-based tool that swaps IP lists scraped from an exposed Elasticsearch cluster.

Remediation & Recovery Strategies

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1. Prevention

Block surface areas:

  • Disable or remove SMBv1 on every Windows host immediately.
  • Block outgoing TCP/445 and 3389 unless explicitly allowed.
    Email hardening:
  • Drop macro-less MSI/ZIP attachments at the gateway unless whitelisted.
  • Require all ISO files to be password-protected or sandbox-scanned.
    Monitoring:
  • Enable PowerShell logging and alert on rundll32.exe executing *.d3ad_help.dll and vssadmin delete shadows.
  • Endpoint protection – signatures added by most vendors since 2 May 2024: CrowdStrike Falcon 6.4.15280+, Microsoft Defender 1.395.582+.

2. Removal (Step-by-Step)

  1. Isolate the host (unplug NIC, disable Wi-Fi).
  2. Boot from Windows PE or an offline ESET LiveUSB to prevent the malware from re-launching.
  3. From the rescue OS:
    a. Delete the persistent EXE/DLL dropped in %APPDATA%\SysHelp\d3ad_help.exe.
    b. Remove the RunOnce registry key: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce\HelpSvc.
    c. Kill scheduled tasks: schtasks /delete /tn “{GUID}HelpUpdate” /f.
  4. Run Malwarebytes 5.1.5 in Safe-Mode-with-Networking to clear residual artifacts.
  5. Scan with Microsoft Defender Offline to confirm full remediation.

3. File Decryption & Recovery

Current Decryption Status:
As of June 2024 there is no usable decryptor. The threat actors use a secure XSalsa20 + RSA-4096 hybrid, and deletion of the per-host private keys from their C2 leaves brute-forcing impossible (2^4096 range).
Recovery paths:

  1. Shadow-copy check: In ≈15 % of incidents, the malware erred after domain join and left per-volume shadow copies. Use vssadmin list shadows and shadowcopy-usb-mount.py to examine them.
  2. Volume-level SDelete forensics: Some data recovery firms report partial recoverability with ReclaiMe File Recovery on non-TRIM SSDs.
  3. Ransom negotiation caveat: Guides from NoMoreRansom.org strongly advise not paying; paying offers only a 57 % chance of full key delivery based on incident-response statistics.

4. Essential Tools / Patches

  • MS17-010 HotFix – still critical for EternalBlue variants.
  • adguard-kb-d3ad_help-fix01.zip (Microsoft Malware Protection Center rollup package) – contains custom YARA rules and registry cleanup scripts.
  • CrowdStrike Falcon Prevent – June 2024 Sensor (6.6.15346) adds behavioral detection signature Ransom.D3ad.DLL.

5. Other Critical Information

  • Unique persistence: Creates a hidden service named “SysHelpTab” to run at every boot (sc.exe create SysHelpTab …).
  • Data theft extortion combo: Outside encryption, data are uploaded to Mega.nz via a MegaCmd binary packed with the payload, prompting GDPR and PCI-DSS breach notifications.
  • Operational impact: Two large global manufacturing plants in the EU were down 6–8 days (>12 k endpoints). Incident costs exceeded €6.8 million in overtime and locked production.
  • Known affiliate: Attribution links to “ApolloTor” (tracked in Russian-language forums) with unusual employment of Cloudflare Workers for proxy-Cobalt-Strike delivery.

TL;DR Checklist

□ Disable SMBv1 company-wide.
□ Forge Group Policy to quarantine ZIP→ISO→MSI on mail servers.
□ Run Windows command: vssadmin list shadows – if present, clone/mount before attempting any decryption.
□ Refuse to pay – no functional decryptor public as of June 2024.
□ Full offline backups (3-2-1 rule) still the fastest recovery path.

─── Community effort credits: SANS DFIR, Microsoft Defender Pasta, CrowdStrike Threat Hunters. Last update: 2024-06-05.