Babuk

How Babuk typically operates, as attributed by MITRE ATT&CK v19.2. Attributed via Babuk.

1. T1059.003 Windows Command Shell Execution

   What they do: Babuk has the ability to use the command line to control execution on compromised hosts.

   What that means: Adversaries may abuse the Windows command shell for execution.

2. T1106 Native API Execution

   What they do: Babuk can use multiple Windows API calls for actions on compromised hosts including discovery and execution.

   What that means: Adversaries may interact with the native OS application programming interface (API) to execute behaviors.

3. T1027.002 Software Packing Stealth

   What they do: Versions of Babuk have been packed.

   What that means: Adversaries may perform software packing or virtual machine software protection to conceal their code.

4. T1140 Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information Stealth

   What they do: Babuk has the ability to unpack itself into memory using XOR.

   What that means: Adversaries may use Obfuscated Files or Information to hide artifacts of an intrusion from analysis.

5. T1685 Disable or Modify Tools Defense Impairment

   What they do: Babuk can stop anti-virus services on a compromised host.

   What that means: Adversaries may disable, degrade, or tamper with security tools or applications (e.g., endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools, intrusion detection systems (IDS), antivirus, logging agents, sensors, etc.) to impair or reduce visibility of defensive capabilities.

6. T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery

   What they do: Babuk can enumerate all services running on a compromised host.

   What that means: Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.

7. T1049 System Network Connections Discovery Discovery

   What they do: Babuk can use “WNetOpenEnumW” and “WNetEnumResourceW” to enumerate files in network resources for encryption.

   What that means: Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of network connections to or from the compromised system they are currently accessing or from remote systems by querying for information over the network.

8. T1057 Process Discovery Discovery

   What they do: Babuk has the ability to check running processes on a targeted system.

   What that means: Adversaries may attempt to get information about running processes on a system.

9. T1083 File and Directory Discovery Discovery

   What they do: Babuk has the ability to enumerate files on a targeted system.

   What that means: Adversaries may enumerate files and directories or may search in specific locations of a host or network share for certain information within a file system.

10. T1135 Network Share Discovery Discovery

    What they do: Babuk has the ability to enumerate network shares.

    What that means: Adversaries may look for folders and drives shared on remote systems as a means of identifying sources of information to gather as a precursor for Collection and to identify potential systems of interest for Lateral Movement.

11. T1680 Local Storage Discovery Discovery

    What they do: Babuk can enumerate disk volumes, get disk information, and query service status.

    What that means: Adversaries may enumerate local drives, disks, and/or volumes and their attributes like total or free space and volume serial number.

12. T1486 Data Encrypted for Impact Impact

    What they do: Babuk can use ChaCha8 and ECDH to encrypt data.

    What that means: Adversaries may encrypt data on target systems or on large numbers of systems in a network to interrupt availability to system and network resources.

13. T1489 Service Stop Impact

    What they do: Babuk can stop specific services related to backups.

    What that means: Adversaries may stop or disable services on a system to render those services unavailable to legitimate users.

14. T1490 Inhibit System Recovery Impact

    What they do: Babuk has the ability to delete shadow volumes using vssadmin.exe delete shadows /all /quiet.

    What that means: Adversaries may delete or remove built-in data and turn off services designed to aid in the recovery of a corrupted system to prevent recovery.

Software Babuk has been seen using, grouped by what it is used for. Legitimate administration tools appear here because these actors routinely abuse them — presence in this list is not itself malicious.

Tool data from Ransomware Tool Matrix by BushidoUK, licensed CC BY 4.0. Grouped by purpose and matched to this group by Breach House.