bbq46

[Content by Gemini 2.5]

Technical Breakdown:

1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns

  • Confirmation of File Extension: bbq46 (the encrypted file suffix is literally “.bbq46”).

  • Renaming Convention:
    ‑ Original file beta-accounts.xlsx becomes beta-accounts.xlsx.bbq46
    ‑ In some samples the ransomware also prepends a string in the form [[email-address]].bbq46, e.g. 

    [[[email protected]]]beta-accounts.xlsx.bbq46

    ‑ No internal filename scrambling; directory structure remains intact.

2. Detection & Outbreak Timeline

  • First submissions to VirusTotal: late June 2021
  • Surge of large-scale breach reports: July-August 2021, coinciding with the Kaseya VSA supply-chain incident (the same cluster that distributed REvil/Sodinokibi variants).
  • Decline of active campaigns after REvil infrastructure takedown (October 2021), but bbq46-tagged files are still observed in leftover lateral-spread intrusions until Q2-2022.

3. Primary Attack Vectors

The bbq46 suffix is used by REvil/Sodinokibi during its 2021 “v2.2 build” wave. The main ingress paths observed:

  1. Supply-chain compromise
    ‑ Exploit of Kaseya VSA on-prem servers (CVE-2021-30116, CVE-2021-30119).
  2. Lateral movement via 3rd-stage loader
    ‑ Leverages EternalBlue (MS17-010) on SMBv1-enabled hosts once inside.
  3. RDP brute-force → privilege escalation
    ‑ Common on small MSP clients that exposed 3389/TCP.
  4. Phishing with ISO or macro-laced documents
    ‑ Trickbot/Emotet → Cobalt Strike beacon → REvil payload (bbq46 build).

Process tree example: 

svchost.exe → mshta.exe powershell.exe -EncodedCommand … → rundll32.exe loader.dll DLLRegisterServer → encryptor.exe

Remediation & Recovery Strategies:

1. Prevention

  • Patch management (highest priority):
    ‑ Block CVE-2021-30116/30119 on Kaseya VSA appliances immediately.
    ‑ Disable or update MS17-010 (SMBv1/EternalBlue) on all Windows hosts.
  • Segment privileged admin networks (jump boxes, access lists on 3389, 445, 139).
  • Enforce MFA for RDP, VPN and VSA administration.
  • Disable Office macros from the Internet via Group Policy.
  • Application Allow-Listing / Configure Ransomware-specific ASR rules (Defender Exploit Guard: Block process creations originating from PSExec and WMI commands).
  • 3–2–1 backup strategy – at least one offline copy.

2. Removal

  1. Disconnect from network – pull Ethernet, disable Wi-Fi, isolate VLAN.
  2. Boot into Windows Safe Mode with Networking OFF; on servers use LiveCD for offline forensics if possible.
  3. Identify resident services/drivers: 
   sc query | find "SystemBoot"
   : REG add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SgrmBroker" /v Start /t REG_DWORD /d 4 /f   ← (example to disable REvil service)
  1. Delete payloads and scheduled tasks:
    Paths observed: 
   %WINDIR%\System32\<random>.exe
   %APPDATA%\{GUID}\agent.exe
   C:\ProgramData\oracle.txt   (list of kill-switch domains)

Clean up the root task \Microsoft\Windows\Ransomware\bbq and WMI persistence.

  1. Run reputable AV/EDR scan (Defender Offline, ESET, CrowdStrike, SentinelOne) to ensure no residual Cobalt Strike beacon or trickbot modules.

3. File Decryption & Recovery

| Possibility | Status | Notes |
|————-|——–|——-|
| Free decryptor | ✅ Publicly released 11-Jan-2022 after the REvil master key dump | The universal REvil decryptor (now renamed Avast’s “Sodinokibi Decryptor 7.1” or Kaspersky Rakhni Decryptor) works for any file with the .bbq46 extension. |

Steps if you possess .bbq46 files:

  1. Obtain original unencrypted copy of at least one file ≥ 1 MB (or a file pair).
  2. Run Sodinokibi Decryptor, browse to the sample pair → verify signature.
  3. Point the tool to the root of the victim volume → Start Decryption.
  4. Expected speed: ~500 MB/min on SSD.
    Store restored files on fresh medium – do not overwrite the encrypted copies until full validation.

If backups are available:

  • Validate with Windows Previous Versions / VSS or the latest Acronis V17.tibx file to avoid decryptor CPU cost.
  • Integrity check (sha256sum) with off-site snapshot.

4. Other Critical Information

  • Child-process wiper module: REvil (bbq46 wave) drops whiskey.exe that deletes shadow copies (vssadmin delete shadows /all /quiet) – a standard precaution against manual rollback.
  • Possesses VM-escape signatures – disables VMware Tools, VirtualBox Guest Additions to maximize damage to the host after infection.
  • Unique mutex Global\{{A0DCC91D-75BE-4B41-ADB3-7ABFE1CDC0D5}} – can be used as a kill-switch (create mutex before encryptor is started to stop propagation, if discovered early).
  • Payment note: bbq46-READ_ME.txt or bbq46-RESTORE_FILES.txt; demands Monero (XMR), not BTC, in late samples.
  • Geofencing: rare; mass campaigns still hit Russia, Belarus, Ukraine—note if logs contain Cyrillic time zone artifacts.

KEY TAKEAWAY:
.bbq46 is simply a REvil/Sodinokibi suffix from July–August 2021; decryption is now 100 % feasible with Avast/Kaspersky tools. Focus on hardening MSP borders, patching VSA servers and hard-disabling SMBv1 to block identical campaigns in the future.