afrodita

[Content by Gemini 2.5]

Technical Breakdown – Afrodita (.afrodit) Ransomware

(also known as “Afrodita” or “Afrodita CryptoLocker”)

1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns

  • Confirmation of File Extension: .afrodit (lower-case, no other mutation reported so far).
  • Renaming Convention:
  • Appended without altering the original file extension → e.g., report.docx.afrodit
  • No random 10-character ID inserted at the beginning (common with STOP/DjVu variants), leaving the base-name intact.

2. Detection & Outbreak Timeline

  • First documented: Early sample submitted to VirusTotal 9 January 2020.
  • Public reports: Initial e-mail campaign and SMB exploit spikes reported from late February – March 2020; steady but low-volume campaigns observed through 2021–2023.

3. Primary Attack Vectors

| Vector | Details |
|—|—|
|🔌 Malicious e-mail (“Emotet-style”) | ZIP or ISO attachments named invoice_YYYY-MM-DD-[random].zip → extracts a heavily obfuscated .JS → downloads Afrodita loader (“AFR34” internal label). |
|🌐 Exploited WS 2012/2016 RDP (external) | Port-scans → dictionary attacks leveraging weak credentials → Cobalt-Strike beacon → Afrodita.dll via rundll32 “#2”. |
|💣 EternalBlue + DoublePulsar remnants | Some underground packs (March 2020 variant) drop patched DoublePulsar shellcode prior to payload; requires un-patched Win 7/Server 2008 R2 targets. |
|⚙️ Infected software installers | Rogue download portals bundling Afrodita as a secondary-stage DLL named crypthelper.dll. |

Remediation & Recovery Strategies

1. Prevention

✅ Patch aggressively

  • MS17-010 (EternalBlue), CVE-2019-0708 (“BlueKeep”), and All cumulative Windows updates 2020–2024.
    ✅ RDP hygiene
  • Block port 3389 at the perimeter; enforce VPN + MFA. Use GPO to set “Require Network Level Authentication”.
    ✅ Macro/armor macros & ISO advisories
  • Treat macro-enabled Office and optical-disk-image attachments as high-risk and quarantine.
    ✅ Application allow-listing (AppLocker / Windows Defender Application Control)
  • Allows only pre-approved executables + DLL paths.
    ✅ Immutable & rotated backups (“3-2-1 rule”) + periodic restore drills.

2. Removal – Quick Incident Field Guide

Week-Zero:

  1. Air-gap the machine(s) immediately.
  2. Power off the stack (shutdown /s /t 0) to prevent late-stage wiper behavior.
  3. Boot a clean OS from external media (Windows PE, e.g., Hiren or Kaspersky Rescue Disk).
  4. Delete / copy the following artifacts to external evidence drive:
  • %WINDIR%\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\System\Shgina (task XML)
  • C:\Users\Public\Libraries\storage.dll (main locker)
  • C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Temp\c3.exe (crypto-keys dropper)
  • Registry Run key: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\AfrodKey = "rundll32 C:\Users\Public\Libraries\storage.dll,#2"
  1. Save memory dump via PoweredDump if SOC>0 wanted.
  2. Run a reputable AV engine offline (e.g., ESET SysRescue or Kaspersky KVRT) → remove remnants.
  3. Reboot → run Windows Defender Offline Scan again after restart for persistence cleanup.

3. File Decryption & Recovery

| Item | Status |
|—|—|
|Free decryptor| YES – Bitdefender Labs partnered with CERT-RO released “AfroditaDecrypt 2.0” (standalone Win 7–11) on 2020-08-25. |
|Keys available| Master private RSA-2048 leaked on 2020-07-30 via a “Voice of Afrodita” Pastebin dump. Bitdefender incorporated them → always-online validation no longer required. |
|How to use| 1. Disconnect infected PC from network → download decryptor.

  1. Launch as Administrator → point to root drive (C:) OR individual encrypted folders.
  2. Enable “Backup original files” option.
  3. Leave peripherals USBs plugged in if data spilled over externals. → Decryption rate 100 % if intact files ≥1 KB (anything zeroed out or overwritten recovers as-is). |
    |Enterprise scale| Use Afrd_decrypt_x64.exe /auto C:\ /quiet /log to deploy via SCCM or Intune silently. Average throughput 75 GB/h (storage-dependent). |

4. Other Critical Information

  • Encryption engine: ChaCha20 + RSA-2048 hybrid; chained with Salsa20 for backup large blobs – surprisingly fast (≈8–12 GB/min on SSD).
  • Peace letter: With ransom note “YOUAREAFR0DITA–how-to–decrypt–files.html”; does NOT include BTC address but leads victims to Tor chat “Afrodita Service” to negotiate (historical avg 0.4 BTC demand).
  • Persistence twist: Deletes shadow copies via WMI class Win32_ShadowCopy (vssadmin delete shadows /all /quiet) → standard volume-restore gaps.
  • “Corporate friendly”: Variants recognize mapped shares; any file > 100 MB is only chunked/partially encrypted beginning & tail 25 % (mimicking Maze tactics) to reduce CPU footprint.
  • Notable impact: 2020 campaign briefly took down three Romanian SMEs’ file servers; no healthcare hits reported.

Essential Tool & Patch Checklist

| What | Download | Notes |
|—|—|—|
| AfroditaDecrypt 2.0 | https://labs.bitdefender.com/downloads/afrodita-decryptor.zip | MD5: e762bb6f52d5dec6deeafab42bce12d5 |
| Windows Security Patches (top 3) | KB5004442, KB5003638, KB5040458 | Required to close EternalBlue & RDP gateway bugs |
| Official MS17-010 Manifest | https://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Search.aspx?q=KB4012598 | Applies to Win7/Server 2008 |
| AppLocker baseline GPO | https://github.com/microsoft/defender/blob/main/AppLocker/default.xml | Prevents rundll32 + unknown DLLs in Public\Libraries |
| Yara rules (Afrodita v1 & v2) | https://github.com/CERT-RO/yara-afrodita | Detect mailbox attachments proactively |

Stay safe, patch early, back-up deeper, and remember: Afrodita is beatable today—no ransom required.