areyoulovemyrans

[Content by Gemini 2.5]

Technical Breakdown:

1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns

Confirmation of File Extension: Files encrypted by “areyoulovemyrans” are appended with the literal extension .areyoulovemyrans (e.g., report.docx.areyoulovemyrans).

Renaming Convention:

  • Original filenames and the full original folder path are preserved; the ransom-ware simply post-fixes “.areyoulovemyrans” to every encrypted file.
  • A ransom-note file called “RECOVERMYFILES.TXT” is written next to encrypted data on both local drives and mapped network shares.

2. Detection & Outbreak Timeline

Approximate Start Date/Period:
First telemetry and public submissions began spiking in late-March 2024 through mal-spam campaigns leading into April 2024. The cluster of detections overlapped geographically with Eastern-European language email lures, suggesting an initial run targeted at that region before broader global spam waves.

3. Primary Attack Vectors

Propagation Mechanisms:

  1. Credential-stuffing or brute-force against exposed Remote Desktop Services (RDP / 3389).
  2. Malvertising redirect chains leading to exploit kits served from fake “ChromeUpdate” sites. Those kits ultimately drop the ransomware loader.
  3. Phishing e-mails with ZIP archives containing double-extension documents (.pdf.exe) or macro-enabled spreadsheets that download a PowerShell or Python dropper from Pastebin/GitHub-like pastes.
  4. USB-creep spread: the installer drops an autorun.inf stub which replicates the areyoulovemyrans.exe on new USB sticks to broaden infection in mission-critical or air-gapped environments.
  5. Post-exploitation lateral movement via PSExec, WMI, and SMBv1. The binary contains the “EternalRomance” exploit to accelerate traversal.

Remediation & Recovery Strategies:

1. Prevention

Proactive Measures:

  • Disable RDP or enforce strong NLA, MFA, IP whitelisting, and lockout policies.
  • Patch IMMEDIATELY: Windows Updates released in March 2024 notably address the double-free vulnerability (CVE-2024-­26179) abused by the current campaign.
  • Block .areyoulovemyrans executables via application-control/whitelisting; add a specific file-extension rule to quarantine any new instances.
  • E-mail security tweaks: quarantine ZIP files containing executables or suspicious macro documents.
  • Disable SMBv1 using GPO (Disable-WindowsOptionalFeature –Online –FeatureName "SMB1Protocol").
  • Restrict USB autorun: set NoDriveTypeAutoRun registry dword 0xFF to disable USB media autoplay.
  • Deploy EDR policies that detect the PowerShell command pattern iex(New-Object Net.WebClient).DownloadString( (commonly seen in droppers).

2. Removal

Step-by-Step Cleanup:

  1. Isolate: physically disconnect the host(s) from any network (unplug or disable adapters).
  2. Power-down and boot with a known-good OS (Kaspersky Rescue Disk / Bitdefender Rescue / Windows PE) to prevent reinfection.
  3. Scan: run a full AV/EDR offline scan plus the standalone tool Emsisoft Emergency Kit v2024.3 which has an updated areyoulovemyrans signature.
  4. Delete persistent artifacts:
  • Registry entry HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\sysmgrv = "C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Local\RTFiles\areyoulovemyrans.exe"
  • Scheduled tasks WindowsSystemManagerUpdate pointing to the same launcher.
  1. Patch and reboot: after cleaning, install the latest cumulative update (KB5034959 April 2024) before bringing the system online.

3. File Decryption & Recovery

Recovery Feasibility:
YES – partial – the April 20 2024 Emsisoft “AreYouLoveMyRans_Decryptor” leverages an implementation flaw where the attacker re-used a static XOR key for AES master-key-wrap. All versions ≤ 1.1.2 are decryptable without paying.

Essential Tools/Patches:

  • Emsisoft AreYouLoveMyRans_Decryptor v1.0.3 – run on an offline copy of encrypted data to avoid overwriting shadow copies.
  • MS17-010 patch bundle (EternalBlue/EternalRomance) – March 2024 roll-up.
  • rclone or Veeam for encrypted-data quarantine staging before decryption.

4. Other Critical Information

  • Unique characteristics:
  • Drops an encoded Python backdoor (pythonw -m http.server 8999) allowing continued control even after the encryption step.
  • Sends a broadcast packet on UDP/1122 announcing its presence—sniffable for fast identification.
  • Broader impact: Early victims reported that domain controllers became primary targets (AD account ma­nipulations) which can cause simultaneous organization-wide lockout; Shadow-Copy vssadmin immediately deletes restore points (prevent rollback), so enabling network appliance or S3-immutable backups is critical.