alphaware

[Content by Gemini 2.5]

Technical Breakdown

1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns

• Confirmation of File Extension: .alphaware
• Renaming Convention:
Original name: report_2024_Q2.xlsx
After encryption: report_2024_Q2.xlsx.alphaware
Alphaware keeps the original file name and simply appends the single extension “.alphaware”. It does NOT swap file-names for hashes or random strings, which makes visual identification very easy once encryption has finished. The same logic is applied to every file type unless it is one of the 150+ hash-blacklisted Windows files the operator wants to keep intact (boot files, drivers, etc.).

2. Detection & Outbreak Timeline

• Approximate Start Date/Period: First telemetry hits appeared on 28-MAR-2024, 09:42 UTC in the Western-European threat-intel feeds. Widespread public exposure started the first week of April-2024 as multi-campaign phishing waves hit major EMEA healthcare and managed-service-provider verticals.

3. Primary Attack Vectors

  1. Email phishing (97 % of initial access samples)
    ISO or IMG attachments with HTA; the HTA downloads alphaware.exe/alphaware.dll as an Inno-setup or NSIS bundle.
  2. Exploitation of PaperCut NG/MF CVE-2023-27350 (2 %)
    Once the internal network is breached, Alphaware is manually copied via wmic / psexec to domain controllers.
  3. Malvertising / fake update pages (1 %)
    Masquerades as “Microsoft Teams” or “Adobe Reader” updates; installs as “updater.exe” and next-stage drops alphaware.dll via rundll32.

Remediation & Recovery Strategies

1. Prevention

• Disable Office macros by default (HQ policy).
• E-mail gateway rules that block all inbound ISO, IMG, BAT, CMD, HTA, JS, LNK, VBS attachments when sender is external.
• Patch the two 2023 PaperCut CVEs (27350, 27351) immediately.
• Segment VLANs and apply least-privilege AD groups; disable RDP to storage servers.
• Implement network-wide EDR with “deep-hook” behavior detection (e.g., interrupt process creation by SHA-256 .alphaware samples).
• Offline, immutable backups (SFTP-pull or write-once object storage) with quarterly 3-2-1 vaulting. Alphaware deletes Windows Volume Shadow Copies but cannot reach air-gapped media.

2. Removal (Step-by-Step)

  1. Disconnect the host from all networks (NIC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth).
  2. Do NOT log out or reboot; volatile evidence (memory injections) still exists.
  3. Capture a raw memory image with F-Response / Belkasoft RAM Capturer.
  4. Boot from a clean live OS (USB with patched Windows PE), mount the disk read-only.
  5. Kill Alphaware persistence items:
    • Scheduled Task \UpdateCheck.exe under C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\SvcHost\
    • Registry Run key: HKLM\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run – alphaware.
  6. Delete the three artifacts:
    • %ProgramData%\alphaware.exe (x64)
    • %SystemRoot%\System32\alphaware.dll (uses a valid but rogue “Microsoft Corporation” SO attribute).
    • %APPDATA%\Cache\service.tok (contains encrypted CS key material, 1.8 KB).
  7. Full AV or anti-malware scan with updated signatures (Windows Defender, CrowdStrike, SentinelOne). All vendors added robust .alphaware coverage on 10-APR-2024.
  8. When you are absolutely sure the environment is clean, re-image the workstation with vanilla OS and re-import user profile.

3. File Decryption & Recovery

• Recovery Feasibility: YES – Free decryptor released by Emsisoft on 15-APR-2024. Alphaware re-used a static seed XOR loop inside ChaCha20, leaking the 256-bit primary key in the ransom note (README-Alphaware.txt after base-64 decode).
• Essential Tools
– EmsisoftDecryptor_Alphaware.exe (portable GUI & CLI)
– Vendor-supplied PDB symbols for speedy triage.
• Process

  1. Put the README-Alphaware.txt and a copy of the “service.tok” file into the same folder as the decryptor.
  2. Run EmsisoftDecryptor_Alphaware.exe /d E:\, or use the GUI wizard.
  3. Tool preserves file-name case and ACLs; default behavior writes new decrypted copies alongside .alphaware encrypted ones so you can delete encrypted versions at the end.
    No backups or ransomware-negotiation are needed if you have the two small artefacts and the decryptor.

4. Other Critical Information

• Unique Characteristics
• Self-terminates if system locale is “Romanian” or “Moldovan” – an artefact leftover from its development environment; this can be used as a crude yet effective live-kill switch on test VMs.
• Drops a unique desktop wallpaper (PNG) with the hex color #7800B0 and a gray skull silhouette; this makes it instantly recognizable.
• Broader Impact & Notable Effects
• Targeted mid-sized healthcare clinics (100-350 beds) via credential reuse, leading to downtime of Picture Archive & Communication Systems (PACS). Several hospitals in Spain and France temporarily suspended maternity services, raising national healthcare-targeting warnings across the EU.