- #PROCESS EXPLORER INSTALL#
- #PROCESS EXPLORER DRIVERS#
- #PROCESS EXPLORER DRIVER#
- #PROCESS EXPLORER SOFTWARE#
We have found multiple similarities between the open-source tool Backstab and AuKill. Through analysis and threat hunting, Sophos has collected six different variants of the AuKill malware.
#PROCESS EXPLORER DRIVER#
Three months later, Sentinel One published a report about a tool they called MalVirt, which uses the same Process Explorer driver to disable security products before deploying the final payload on the target machine. Last November, for example, Sophos X-Ops reported that a threat actor working for the LockBit ransomware group used Backstab to disable EDR processes on an infected machine. In fact, Sophos and other security vendors have previously reported on multiple incidents where either Backstab, or a version of this driver, was used for malicious purposes.
The method of abusing the Process Explorer driver to bypass EDR systems isn’t new it was implemented in the open-source tool Backstab, first published in June 2021. This technique is commonly referred to as a “bring your own vulnerable driver” (BYOVD) attack. In contrast, the AuKill tool abused a legitimate, but out-of-date and exploitable, driver.
#PROCESS EXPLORER DRIVERS#
In December 2022, Sophos, Microsoft, Mandiant, and SentinelOne reported that a number of attackers had used custom-built drivers to disable EDR products.
#PROCESS EXPLORER SOFTWARE#
This is not the first time we and other vendors reported on multiple threat groups simultaneously deploying software designed to kill EDR agents that protect computers. The tool was used during at least three ransomware incidents since the beginning of 2023 to sabotage the target’s protection and deploy the ransomware: In January and February, attackers deployed Medusa Locker ransomware after using the tool in February, an attacker used AuKill just prior to deploying Lockbit ransomware. The AuKill tool abuses an outdated version of the driver used by version 16.32 of the Microsoft utility, Process Explorer, to disable EDR processes before deploying either a backdoor or ransomware on the target system. So those are a couple of simple and easy ways to learn more about the svchost.exe process and what is running inside each one.Over the past several months, Sophos X-Ops has investigated multiple incidents where attackers attempted to disable EDR clients with a new defense evasion tool we’ve dubbed AuKill. Go ahead and hover your mouse over any process and it will show you the services that are associated with that process.
#PROCESS EXPLORER INSTALL#
There is no need to install anything, which is convenient.Ĭlick on the header for the Process column to sort the list of processes and then scroll down till you see svchost.exe. Just download it, unzip it and run the EXE file. If it’s easier, you can change the path to something else like C:\Users\username\Documents.įinally, you can use a third-party program from Microsoft called Process Explorer. Note that in order to output to the root of the C drive, you’ll need to open an Administrator command prompt (Start, type cmd, right-click on command prompt and choose Run as Administrator).
If you want to output this to a text file, use the following command: tasklist /svc | find "svchost.exe" > c:\tasklist.txt
This will generate a list of all running processes, pass that list to the find command and filter to only show the svchost.exe processes.
To do this, simply open a command prompt by clicking on Start and typing in cmd.Īt the command prompt, go ahead and copy/paste the following command: tasklist /svc | find "svchost.exe" On any version of Windows, you can use the command line to generate a list of all the svchost.exe processes along with the service that is running inside each. If you are running Windows 7 or earlier, read on about other methods. This is by far the easiest way to accomplish this task, but it requires Windows 10. Now we can see that the DHCP Client service is running inside svchost.exe with a process ID of 1504. This will automatically bring you to the Details tab and it will automatically select the line that corresponds to that process.
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