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Mallory
MalwareUsed by 2 actors

KillDisk

Also known asWin32/KillDisk.NBBWin32/KillDisk.NBCWin32/KillDisk.NBDWin32/KillDisk.NBHWin32/KillDisk.NBI

KillDisk is destructive malware, commonly described as a disk/file wiper, that has been closely associated with the BlackEnergy intrusion set and the Russian GRU-linked Sandworm/Seashell Blizzard/TeleBots activity. In the December 2015 Ukraine electric power grid attack, BlackEnergy was used to steal credentials and gain access, while KillDisk was deployed on Windows systems to wipe files, corrupt the master boot record, and render infected computers unbootable or inoperable. Multiple sources in the content state it was used at the conclusion of the intrusion to hinder restoration and operator recovery rather than being the direct mechanism that opened breakers. The same reporting links KillDisk to attacks on Ukrainian government and critical infrastructure, including the Ministry of Finance and State Treasury Service, and to later attacks against high-value financial targets in Ukraine in December 2016. ESET also reported a Linux variant of KillDisk linked to attacks on core infrastructure in Ukraine and later used against Ukrainian financial targets, and another variant was observed hitting financial institutions in Latin America. The malware is described as erasing selected files, damaging files, corrupting the MBR, and overwriting the first sector of the MBR with 0x00, making systems unbootable. The content also notes a ransomware-capable variant that encrypts files with AES and protects the AES key with RSA-1028. KillDisk appears in reporting and indictments tied to Sandworm GRU Unit 74455, including U.S. government attribution for destructive operations in Ukraine, and is repeatedly referenced alongside BlackEnergy, Industroyer, and NotPetya as part of Sandworm’s destructive toolkit.

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THREAT ACTORS

Groups observed using it

2 distinct threat actors attributed by public researchers. Open in Mallory to see the full evidence chain and overlapping campaigns.

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Sandworm

These GRU hackers and their co-conspirators engaged in computer intrusions and attacks... including: KillDisk and Industroyer, which each caused blackouts in Ukraine... Ukrainian Government & Critical Infrastructure: December 2015 through December 2016 destructive malware attacks against Ukraine’s electric power grid, Ministry of Finance, and State Treasury Service, using malware known as BlackEnergy, Industroyer, and KillDisk.

via us department of justicejustice.gov
Lazarus

The final payload is a RAT module, with TCP communications and its commands indexed by 32-bit integers, cf. KillDisk in Central America.

via eset welivesecurity blogwelivesecurity.com
MITRE ATT&CK

Techniques & procedures

19 distinct techniques documented for this family, organized by ATT&CK tactic.

Initial Access

2 techniques
T1133External Remote ServicesEvidence1

the defendants and their co-conspirators deployed destructive malware and took other disruptive actions, for the strategic benefit of Russia, through unauthorized access to victim computers (hacking).

T1566PhishingEvidence1

"Distributed through phishing campaigns targeting both Windows and Linux"; "The malware is contained in phishing emails which appear to be from job applicants"

Execution

2 techniques
T1129Shared ModulesEvidence1

Astaroth uses the LoadLibraryExW() function to load additional modules. Attor's dispatcher can execute additional plugins by loading the respective DLLs. ... LightSpy's main executable and module .dylib binaries are loaded using ... dlopen() ... dlsym() ... RotaJakiro uses ... .so files ... using dlopen() and dlsym().

T1574Hijack Execution FlowEvidence1

...uses the LoadLibraryExW() function to load additional modules... execute additional plugins by loading the respective DLLs... loaded and executed DLLs in memory during runtime... loads a dynamic library (.dylib file) using dlopen() and obtains a function pointer... using dlopen() and dlsym()... calls LoadLibrary then executes exports from a DLL.

Persistence

1 technique
T1133External Remote ServicesEvidence1

the defendants and their co-conspirators deployed destructive malware and took other disruptive actions, for the strategic benefit of Russia, through unauthorized access to victim computers (hacking).

Stealth

6 techniques
T1027Obfuscated Files or InformationEvidence5

The content repeatedly describes malware and threat actors using obfuscated code, encrypted strings, Base64/XOR/RC4/AES encoding, VMProtect/ConfuserEx/SmartAssembly, stack strings, control-flow flattening, opaque predicates, and hidden payloads to evade analysis and detection.

T1027.002Software PackingEvidence2

APT41 used VMProtected binaries in multiple intrusions. BackdoorDiplomacy has obfuscated tools and malware it uses with VMProtect. KillDisk uses VMProtect to make reverse engineering the malware more difficult. Turian can use VMProtect for obfuscation.

T1036MasqueradingEvidence1

"created using Nullsoft Scriptable Install System (NSIS)... purposely named it 'MBR Killer.'"

T1070.001Clear Windows Event LogsEvidence1

“APT28 has cleared event logs, including by using the commands wevtutil cl System and wevtutil cl Security …” / “APT38 clears Window Event logs and Sysmon logs …” / “BlackCat can clear Windows event logs using wevtutil.exe …” / “NotPetya uses wevtutil to clear the Windows event logs …”

T1070.004File DeletionEvidence6

Examples include "Cryptoistic can scan a directory to identify files for deletion" and "KillDisk has used the FindNextFile command as part of its file deletion process."

T1574Hijack Execution FlowEvidence1

...uses the LoadLibraryExW() function to load additional modules... execute additional plugins by loading the respective DLLs... loaded and executed DLLs in memory during runtime... loads a dynamic library (.dylib file) using dlopen() and obtains a function pointer... using dlopen() and dlsym()... calls LoadLibrary then executes exports from a DLL.

Discovery

3 techniques
T1057Process DiscoveryEvidence2

The content repeatedly describes malware and threat actors obtaining lists of running processes, using utilities such as tasklist, ps, WMI, Get-Process, CreateToolhelp32Snapshot, EnumProcesses, and similar APIs/commands to enumerate active processes on victim systems.

T1082System Information DiscoveryEvidence2

"admin@338 actors used the following commands after exploiting a machine with LOWBALL malware to obtain information about the OS: ver >> %temp%\download systeminfo >> %temp%\download"; "ADVSTORESHELL can run Systeminfo to gather information about the victim."; "Kimsuky has enumerated drives, OS type, OS version, and other information using a script or the 'systeminfo' command."

T1083File and Directory DiscoveryEvidence3

The content repeatedly describes malware and threat actors listing files and directories, enumerating drives, searching for files by extension/name/path, retrieving file metadata, and browsing file systems (for example: "APT28 has used Forfiles to locate PDF, Excel, and Word documents during collection" and "cmd can be used to find files and directories with native functionality such as dir commands").

Command and Control

1 technique
T1105Ingress Tool TransferEvidence1

BlackEnergy is a modular backdoor that can be used for several purposes, like espionage and downloading of destructive components... BlackEnergy used its modular architecture that supports several plugins to download and keep running both a variant of Dropbear SSH backdoor and a new destructive plugin called KillDisk.

Impact

6 techniques
T1485Data DestructionEvidence11

Overwrites all ICS configuration files across the hard drives and all mapped network drives specifically targeting ABB PCM600 configuration files in this sample

T1486Data Encrypted for ImpactEvidence2

Ukrainian Government & Critical Infrastructure: December 2015 through December 2016 destructive malware attacks against Ukraine’s electric power grid, Ministry of Finance, and State Treasury Service, using malware known as BlackEnergy, Industroyer, and KillDisk

T1490Inhibit System RecoveryEvidence4

The attackers didn’t just open breakers. They deployed KillDisk malware to prevent system restoration.

T1529System Shutdown/RebootEvidence2

"AcidPour includes functionality to reboot the victim system following wiping actions..."; "AcidRain reboots the target system once the various wiping processes are complete"; "Apostle reboots the victim machine following wiping"; "APT37 ... issue the command shutdown /r /t 1 to reboot a system after wiping its MBR"; "APT38 ... BOOTWRECK ... initiate a system reboot after wiping the victim's MBR"; "Black Basta ... used ShellExecuteA to shut down and restart"; "DarkGate ... used the shutdown command"; "HermeticWiper can initiate a system shutdown"; "NotPetya will reboot the system one hour after infection"; "Shamoon will reboot the infected system once the wiping functionality has been completed"; "WhisperGate can shutdown ... through ... ExitWindowsEx"

T1561Disk WipeEvidence2

The KillDisk malware erases selected files on target systems and corrupts the master boot record, rendering systems inoperable.

T1561.001Disk Content WipeEvidence2

using malware that altered industrial equipment (BlackEnergy in 2015 and Industroyer in 2016) or wiped hard drives (KillDisk).

INDICATORS OF COMPROMISE

IOCs tracked for this family

2 indicators attributed across vendor reports, sandbox runs, and researcher write-ups. Full values are available in Mallory.

View more in app
Hashes
2 tracked

File hashes (MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256) from samples and reports.

TypeValueLatest sighting
hash.sha256●●●●●●●●●●●●View more in app8 years ago
hash.sha256●●●●●●●●●●●●View more in app8 years ago
What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

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IOC matching2

Match every observed IP, domain, and hash against your live telemetry.

Threat actor attribution2

Named campaigns wielding this family, with evidence pinned to each claim.

Exploited vulnerabilities

CVEs this family uses for access and lateral movement.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

MITRE ATT&CK mapping19

Every documented technique, ranked by evidence weight.

Researcher chatter

Reddit, Mastodon, and CTI community discussion around this family.