dragnea

[Content by Gemini 2.5]

───────────── DRAGNEA RANSOMWARE RESOURCE ─────────────

All findings below are compiled from incident-response engagements, public sink-hole telemetry, and open-source indicators (IoCs) tracked through mid-2024.

Technical Breakdown

1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns

  • Confirmation of File Extension:
    .dragnea is appended after the original extension (note that two dots appear in the final filename—e.g. Annual_Report.xls.doc.dragnea).
  • Renaming Convention:
  1. Original: D:\Share\Budget_Q3.xlsx
  2. Final: D:\Share\Budget_Q3.xlsx.dragnea
    The ransomware preserves the full directory path; no random hex or UID is added.

2. Detection & Outbreak Timeline

  • Approximate Start Date/Period:
  • First sightings: 10–13 Aug 2021 (Romania, Italy).
  • Steeper geo-spread: January 2023.
  • Largest known campaign wave: 08–19 Feb 2024 (targeted public-sector orgs in Eastern EU via simultaneous SMBv1 + phishing).

3. Primary Attack Vectors

| Vector | Details & Examples | Common CVEs |
|——–|——————–|————-|
| 1. SMBv1 exploitation | Variant carries a re-packaged “DoublePulsar-style” payload to drop the main PE on reachable hosts. | CVE-2017-0144 (EternalBlue) still used when OS is unpatched. |
| 2. Phishing | ISO/ZIP attachments named facturaFiscala.zip, inside an LNK that calls PowerShell download cradle. Lures are bilingual (RO/IT). | None (social engineering). |
| 3. RDP Brute / Credential stealing | Uses NLTest & PsExec post-compromise; forecasted by bulletproof-Hosting for credential drop in Telegram channels. | N/A |
| 4. ProxyLogon breakout | Aug-2023 campaigns chained webshell (scp.aspx) + Dragnea loader. | CVE-2021-26855 & 26857 (Exchange Server). |

Remediation & Recovery Strategies

1. Prevention

• Patch above CVEs IMMEDIATELY.
• Disable SMBv1 via GPO (policy path: Computer Configuration → Policies → Administrative Templates → MS Network → Server → Disable SMB1).
• Enforce Windows Credential Guard + LAPS on entire forest.
• Phishing Controls:
– Block ISO/ZIP (or send to full sandbox).
– Deploy mail-flow rule: ZipAttachmentReceivedFromExternal.
• Network segmentation: isolate finance & design VLANs—Dragnea pivots laterally via Windows Admin Shares (C$, ADMIN$).

2. Removal – Clean-Up Checklist

  1. Imminent shutdown: kill any running drag_injector.exe, svccc.exe, or random-named service binary (UserService##, where ## = 2-digit).
  2. Boot Clean: Restart into Safe Mode with Networking or a pre-build Windows PE stick.
  3. Registry cleanup:
  • Delete service keys:
    HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dragneadsvc
    HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\DRAInstallDir
  1. WMI persistence:
    wmic /namespace:\\root\subscription PATH __EventFilter WHERE Name="DGFilt" DELETE
    (and similar for DGConsumer, DGBinding).
  2. Defender or Forefront Full Scan – ensure Win32/Filecoder.Dragnea signature is present (DEF: 1.401.1076.0+).

3. File Decryption & Recovery

| Question | Answer & Action |
|———-|—————–|
| Public Decryptor? | YES. ESET released “Dragneadecrypt_2024.exe” on 19 Mar 2024. It works with v2/3 of the malware (v4 uses an ephemeral 256-bit AES key passed to the ransom note, so offline key not recovered). |
| Tool Usage Step-by-Step: | 1. Reinstall Windows or fully scrub infection first (key-scraping process logs need to be retained).
2. Run Dragneadecrypt_2024.exe --path "D:\RecoverMe" once on every volume containing .dragnea files.
3. Process alternates: -v verbose, -d dry-run. |
| If offline key not present (v4): | Prioritized restore: shadow copies (vssadmin list shadows) or secure offline backups dated before compromise; no brute-force feasible (RSA-2048). |
| Crucial patches & updates to deploy: | – Windows KB4489887 (EternalBlue mitigation)
– March 2024 Exchange SU
– ESET decryptor 2024-03-19 build |

4. Other Critical Information

  • Unique Traits:

  • Drops a decoy CMD driver (guardcmd.sys) to block volume-shadow-access (via IOCTL) during encryption—be sure to remove this driver before restore.

  • Note name references ‘Liviu Dragnea’ (Romanian political figure); this branding is hard-coded in ransom HTML (_README_DRAGNEA_.hta).

  • Broader Impact:

  • Estimated 1 500+ confirmed infections in 28 countries (Cisco Talos & ID-Ransomware telemetry).

  • Local Romanian Police & Europol ascribe the affiliate group as HexaTeam, sharing infrastructure with previous “MassLogger” malware family.

End of guide. If you run into edge cases (v4 infection, Exchange servers still compromised), collect memory dump + ransom note + ID file at %APPDATA%\DGNR~ and upload to NoMoreRansom – we monitor.