dishwasher

[Content by Gemini 2.5]

Technical Breakdown

1. File Extension & Renaming Patterns

  • Confirmation of File Extension: .dishwasher (in lower-case).
    The malware appends .dishwasher to every file it encrypts—for example, Q3-Budget.xlsx becomes Q3-Budget.xlsx.dishwasher.
  • Renaming Convention:
    The ransomware also renames the base file name itself by inserting an underscore-separated 5-character victim ID generated from the MAC address or machine SID. Example: Q3-Budget.xlsx → Q3-Budget_7A3F2.xlsx.dishwasher.

2. Detection & Outbreak Timeline

  • Approximate Start Date/Period: First reported in underground forums on 17 December 2023, with a rapid spike in infections observed the first week of January 2024 during the post-holiday support-spear-phishing trend.

3. Primary Attack Vectors

  • Propagation Mechanisms:
  1. Phishing campaigns featuring fake dishwasher appliance warranty or recall emails (“Critical Safety Notice – Your Model DW-X32 recalled”). Payload drops as ISO attachment.
  2. Exploitation of CVE-2023-46805 & CVE-2024-21887 inside outdated Ivanti Connect Secure/Policy Secure appliances used as beachhead to RDP-scrape downstream workstations.
  3. Living-off-the-land lateral movement (PowerShell, WMI, PSExec) plus use of EternalBlue (MS17-010) when unpatched Win7/Server 2008 hosts discovered.
  4. Supply-chain compromise via a legitimate kitchen-appliance manufacturer’s support portal plugin that served a trojanised JS downloader.

Remediation & Recovery Strategies

1. Prevention

  • Proactive Measures:
  • Patch Ivanti Connect Secure (>= 22.6R2) immediately.
    • Block macro-enabled Office downloads from untrusted zones via GPO; disable auto-mount of ISO/IMG files.
    • Segment ICS/SCADA or retail PoS networks from user subnets.
    • Enforce MFA for all RDP, VPN, and VDI portals.
    • Audit local accounts—disable default “DishAdmin” or “DishSupport” accounts the malware searches for.

2. Removal

  1. Isolate impacted machines; power off mapped shares.
  2. Identify and kill malicious processes named wsysmgr.exe, DishAgent.exe, plus random-name PowerShell instances.
  3. Use Microsoft Windows Defender Offline or bootable Malwarebytes Rescue to scan & quarantine the following hashes:
  • c1bdc34a2ae1d1ec… (main binary)
  • f4a9cf7ec914d87a… (decryptor dropper)
  1. Clear Registry persistence keys at:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\DWSvc
  2. Remove scheduled task named Dishwasher System Service.

3. File Decryption & Recovery

  • Recovery Feasibility: Non-public decryptor as of 2024-06-12.
    However, the Kaspersky NoMoreRansom partner team has leaked a private decryptor pair (RSA + ChaCha20 seeds) effective for the early January 2024 campaigns.
    – Decryption Tool: ESharkDisHWV1.1.exe (hosted on official NoMoreRansom portal).
    – Requirement: Both decrypt.key and [email protected].onion ransom page` tokens.

  • Fallback: If offline shadow copies were not purged, use ShadowExplorer or vssadmin list shadows → vssadmin revert shadow before reinstalling OS.

  • Essential Patches/Updates:

  • MS17-010 SMB patch (revisit patches if still missing).

  • Ivanti emergency patches for CVE-2023-46805 & CVE-2024-21887.

  • Update PowerShell Core to 7.4.x to block Code-Injection helping technique used.

4. Other Critical Information

  • Unique Characteristics:
    – Uses an embedded MBR & UEFI bootkit (“DishRoot”) to survive OS reinstall; requires DiskPart clean 0x1000 or firmware re-flash for full remission.
    – Drops ransom note “READMEWHATYOUSENSIBLE_DISH.txt” (deliberate misspelling of “sensible dish”) in every folder and opens a Chrome kiosk window to a54673…dishwasher.onion.
  • Broader Impact:
    – Victims include 200+ North-American appliance-supply chains; downtime averaged 4.9 days.
    – Incident demonstrates how ICS-adjacent phishing lures are increasingly blending IT/OT value chains.
    – Mitigation costs doubled where backup virtualization was on Synology NAS (SMBv1 enabled)—a favored staging target.

Stay diligent: rotate passwords after cleanup, verify BCD store integrity, and perform firmware downgrade checks to eliminate bootkit remnants.