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<blockquote data-quote="Andy Ful" data-source="post: 973099" data-attributes="member: 32260"><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">SWH vs. Emotet spam campaigns</span></strong></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px">[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/research/22/a/emotet-spam-abuses-unconventional-ip-address-formats-spread-malware.html[/URL]</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px">[URL unfurl="true"]https://malwaretips.com/threads/emotet-now-using-unconventional-ip-address-formats-to-evade-detection.112113/[/URL]</span></p><p></p><p>I posted several examples of attacks in the wild that could be easily prevented by SWH. So, it is time to post an example that could bypass SWH alone (but not with ConfigureDefender HIGH settings, or FirewallHardening, or DocumentsAntiExploit tool).</p><p><strong>This attack vector (via Excel 4.0 Macros) is blocked in SWH ver. 2.0.0.0 by applying the Recommended Settings (including the DocumentsAntiExploit tool). </strong></p><p></p><p>Infection chain (delivery stage in blue):</p><p><span style="color: rgb(41, 105, 176)"><strong>Spam email --> Excel document --> Excel 4.0 macro --> cmd[.]exe --> </strong></span><strong><span style="color: rgb(184, 49, 47)">Mshta LOLBin downloads/executes the paylod</span></strong></p><p></p><p>What was the problem for SWH?</p><p>SWH uses system-wide features to harden the system and Microsoft Office applications. Unfortunately, Microsoft adopted the system-wide policy only to disable the VBA support in MS Office (including VBA macros), but there are only non-system-wide policies to disable Excel 4.0 macros. So, in the attack via XLS legacy documents the Excel 4.0 macros were not disabled by SWH. If the user was fooled by the attacker to allow macros (blocked by default in MS Office) then the malicious macro could be executed.</p><p>In earlier versions of SWH (prior the ver. 1.1.1.1) this attack could be blocked only when the Paranoid extensions were applied in SWH.</p><p></p><p>Why this is not a problem for ConfigureDefender, FirewallHardening, or DocumentsAntiExploit tools?</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">ConfigureDefender settings will block the child process (cmd[.]exe) via the ASR rule,</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">FirewallHardening will prevent Mshta LOLBin from downloading the payload,</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">DocumentsAntiExploit tool can harden MS Office applications via non-system-wide policies and Excel 4.0 macros will be blocked.</li> </ul><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 168, 133)">Post updated to reflect the changes in SWH ver. 1.1.1.1 and later.</span></strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Andy Ful, post: 973099, member: 32260"] [B][SIZE=5]SWH vs. Emotet spam campaigns[/SIZE][/B] [SIZE=4][URL unfurl="true"]https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/research/22/a/emotet-spam-abuses-unconventional-ip-address-formats-spread-malware.html[/URL] [URL unfurl="true"]https://malwaretips.com/threads/emotet-now-using-unconventional-ip-address-formats-to-evade-detection.112113/[/URL][/SIZE] I posted several examples of attacks in the wild that could be easily prevented by SWH. So, it is time to post an example that could bypass SWH alone (but not with ConfigureDefender HIGH settings, or FirewallHardening, or DocumentsAntiExploit tool). [B]This attack vector (via Excel 4.0 Macros) is blocked in SWH ver. 2.0.0.0 by applying the Recommended Settings (including the DocumentsAntiExploit tool). [/B] Infection chain (delivery stage in blue): [COLOR=rgb(41, 105, 176)][B]Spam email --> Excel document --> Excel 4.0 macro --> cmd[.]exe --> [/B][/COLOR][B][COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)]Mshta LOLBin downloads/executes the paylod[/COLOR][/B] What was the problem for SWH? SWH uses system-wide features to harden the system and Microsoft Office applications. Unfortunately, Microsoft adopted the system-wide policy only to disable the VBA support in MS Office (including VBA macros), but there are only non-system-wide policies to disable Excel 4.0 macros. So, in the attack via XLS legacy documents the Excel 4.0 macros were not disabled by SWH. If the user was fooled by the attacker to allow macros (blocked by default in MS Office) then the malicious macro could be executed. In earlier versions of SWH (prior the ver. 1.1.1.1) this attack could be blocked only when the Paranoid extensions were applied in SWH. Why this is not a problem for ConfigureDefender, FirewallHardening, or DocumentsAntiExploit tools? [LIST] [*]ConfigureDefender settings will block the child process (cmd[.]exe) via the ASR rule, [*]FirewallHardening will prevent Mshta LOLBin from downloading the payload, [*]DocumentsAntiExploit tool can harden MS Office applications via non-system-wide policies and Excel 4.0 macros will be blocked. [/LIST] [B][COLOR=rgb(0, 168, 133)]Post updated to reflect the changes in SWH ver. 1.1.1.1 and later.[/COLOR][/B] [/QUOTE]
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