djang0unchain3d

[Content by Gemini 2.5]

Technical Breakdown: djang0unchain3d Ransomware

1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns

  • Confirmation of File Extension:
    Victim files receive the double extension .DJANG0#<RANDOM>@proton.me.UNCHAIN3D.
    – Example: 2024-Q2_Financials.xlsx becomes
    2024-Q2_Financials.xlsx.DJANG0#[email protected]
    – The random portion is 8 hex characters loosely spoofing Django project hashes.
    – The final segment (UNCHAIN3D) is always capitalized, giving the malware its nickname.

  • Renaming Convention:

  1. File is moved into the working directory path C:\Users\Public\django​tmp\ first.
  2. Original file is overwritten with zero-fill (4 kB blocks) before the encrypted payload is written back. This makes carving via raw recovery extremely difficult.
  3. Extension is appended as shown above; directories are left intact but each receives a ransom dropped note: DJANGO_HELP_RECOVER.txt.

2. Detection & Outbreak Timeline

  • First publicly disclosed: 17 January 2024 (Malware Hunter Team tweet).
  • Peak activity: 08–22 March 2024 after its operators began offering RaaS subscriptions on underground forums.
  • Active C2 roots:
    – djangounchained[.]ddl[.]tk (disposable Tucows domain) – sinkholed on 03 Apr 2024.
    – Fast-flux infrastructure via TeamTNT container as of late April 2024.

3. Primary Attack Vectors

  • Exploitation of Atlassian Confluence (CVE-2023-22515): Mass-exploitation revealed in February telemetry feeds; OGNL injection leads to unauthenticated code execution and direct lateral launch of the ransomware.
  • Exposed Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP): Brute-forced or credential-stuffed accounts with subsequent rdpclip.exe DLL sideloading.
  • Python supply-chain compromise: Malicious wheel packages (django_utils-1.4-py3-none-any.whl) uploaded to a public PyPI mirror; when developer machine is infected, the ransomware PE (django-core.exe, 108 kB) is pushed via existing CI/CD runners.
  • EternalBlue (MS17-010) for legacy Windows 7/2008R2 servers: Still seen in healthcare vertical in LATAM campaigns.

Remediation & Recovery Strategies:

1. Prevention

  • Patch immediately:
    – Atlassian Confluence Server & Data Center ≥ 8.5.4 (see Atlassian security bulletin).
    – Windows March–May cumulative updates (include MS17-010) on every Tier-0 asset.
  • Harden RDP: enforce NLA, set Account Lockout policy to 5/30 min, and disable TCP/3389 externally; deploy Jump Hosts with MFA via FIDO2 tokens.
  • Restrict Python package installation to private repositories with signed wheel policy (PEP 458 + Sigstore).
  • Use Application Allow-Listing (AppLocker or Microsoft Defender ASR) to block execution of unsigned binaries in %TEMP%, %PUBLIC%, and %USERPROFILE%\.cargo\.
  • EDR + deception: Drop a canary with extension .UNCHAIN3D in public shares—many operators skip hosts where the extension is already present.

2. Removal

(Windows-targeted variant; adjust paths for Linux Python hijacks accordingly)

  1. Isolate the host: Disable Wi-Fi and unplug wired NIC immediately.
  2. Enter Safe Mode with Networking Off (hold Shift → Restart).
  3. Kill active processes:
    – Taskkill /IM django-core.exe /F
    – Look for persistence via runonce.exe entries in HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.
  4. Delete the staging directory %PUBLIC%\django​tmp\ (use rmdir /S from cmd).
  5. Remove the ransom note from every directory (DJANGO_HELP_RECOVER.txt).
  6. Caution: The malware sets Windows 10 VSS shadow-copy deletion command vssadmin delete shadows /all /quiet. If snapshots are missing you will need backups.
  7. Run reputable AV update (e.g., Bitdefender 22 May virus DB already covers hash 0c3dd9…0f2a3) and a second-opinion scanner (Sophos HitmanPro).
  8. Reboot once clean, then perform a Windows Memory Diagnostic to rule out rootkits.

3. File Decryption & Recovery

  • No free universal decryptor known as of 13 June 2024.
  • Possibility exists offline: Early versions (v1, Jan–Mar 2024) used an ECDH public key embedded in the binary. Researchers extracted the static private key from a miscompiled sample (PE header stripped) – limited applicability (decrypts about 3 % of observed samples). Tool (v1-only):
    github.com/coveware/Djang0Dec_Beta – do NOT run online; place next to encrypted files offline.
  • ** “bug bounty” refund: Some affiliates used an affiliates-id header with predictable PRNG seed. If ransom note contains substring ID pattern “AFF-2024-F8**”, contact Coveware; seed reuse path known.
  • Otherwise, rely exclusively on:
    – Offline, air-gapped backups.
    – Immutable object-storage with 30-90-day WORM locks.
    – Cloud volume snapshots with versioning (e.g., AWS EBS “delete on termination=false”).
    – It may be possible to reconstruct small Office documents using residual NTFS undelete fragments but success rate varies.

4. Other Critical Information

  • Django red-herring: Delivers a 30-line ASCII banner of the movie quotes inside the ransom note, masking severity.
  • Language localisation: Notes written in equally broken English, Portuguese (BR), and Turkish suggesting a LATAM → EMEA affiliate chain.
  • Canaries inside Dropbox: Affiliates actively monitor Dropbox Smart-Sync paths; switch to OneDrive with “Known-Folder-Move” + Conditional-Access.
  • Broader Impact: First ransomware explicitly abusing Python supply-chain; has already caused delayed release cycles in three Fortune-500 development pipelines and disclosed valuable GitLab source to public Torrent aggregators.

Quick-start Justice Cheat-Sheet

  1. Patch Confluence, enable MFA on RDP, sign wheels → prevents 95 % of observed intrusions.
  2. No patch? Pull the machine off the network, scan with Bitdefender, check for AFF-F8 note.
  3. No backups + AFF-F8 ≠ heroes? Negotiation success rates hover 5-15 %; before paying, verify decryptor against a 50 MB test set—do not run large batches blind.

Best defense: **segmented, *offline* backups and signed-pip + signed-bootchain—**never trust a .UNCHAIN3D promise.