Malware

Cobian RAT

Cobian RAT is a Windows remote access trojan publicly advertised in underground forums and notable for having been distributed as a backdoored builder. It has been described as broadly similar to njRAT and H-Worm, providing operators with remote control and surveillance functions on infected systems. Documented capabilities include keylogging, screen capture, webcam access, voice recording, remote command shell execution, and execution of attacker-supplied code. It also establishes persistence through a Windows autostart Registry entry and obfuscates command-and-control communications with Base64 encoding.

A distinctive aspect of Cobian RAT is that the builder itself contained a concealed malicious component controlled by the original author. That hidden functionality enabled the author to seize control of systems infected by downstream operators using the builder, effectively backdooring the malware-as-distributed. Reporting has indicated this mechanism allowed the original author to appropriate infected hosts and potentially deny access to the operators who initially deployed the RAT, consistent with an attempt to aggregate a larger botnet through other criminals’ distribution efforts.

Cobian RAT is therefore best understood as both a commodity surveillance-oriented RAT and a supply-chain-style betrayal within the criminal ecosystem, combining standard remote administration and collection features with covert author-controlled takeover of victim machines infected by secondary actors.

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MITRE ATT&CK

Techniques & procedures

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

Execution

2 techniques

T1059Command and Scripting InterpreterEvidence1

it implements common spying features such as keylogger, webcam hijacker, screen capturing and of course the ability to execute attackers’ code on the victim’s system.

T1059.003Windows Command ShellEvidence4

Numerous entries state malware can create a remote shell or reverse shell, for example 4H RAT, BLACKCOFFEE, DarkComet, PlugX, QuasarRAT, and others. | The content repeatedly describes threat actors and malware using cmd.exe, the Windows command shell, to execute commands, launch payloads, run batch files, and automate actions on compromised hosts.

Persistence

1 technique

T1547.001Registry Run Keys / Startup FolderEvidence7

ADVSTORESHELL achieves persistence by adding itself to the HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run Registry key... APT28 has deployed malware that has copied itself to the startup directory for persistence... FIN7 malware has created Registry Run and RunOnce keys to establish persistence, and has also added items to the Startup folder.

Privilege Escalation

1 technique

T1547.001Registry Run Keys / Startup FolderEvidence7

Credential Access

1 technique

T1056.001KeyloggingEvidence3

The content is a catalog of malware families and threat actors that 'can perform keylogging,' 'log keystrokes,' 'capture keystrokes,' or use 'keylogger' modules/tools.

Collection

4 techniques

T1056.001KeyloggingEvidence3

The content is a catalog of malware families and threat actors that 'can perform keylogging,' 'log keystrokes,' 'capture keystrokes,' or use 'keylogger' modules/tools.

T1113Screen CaptureEvidence5

The content is a MITRE ATT&CK-style listing of malware and threat actors that "can capture screenshots," "take screenshots," "perform screen captures," or "watch the victim's screen." It ends with references to "CopyFromScreen" and "xwd."

T1123Audio CaptureEvidence1

T1125Video CaptureEvidence3

it implements common spying features such as keylogger, webcam hijacker, screen capturing

Command and Control

7 techniques

T1001Data ObfuscationEvidence1

Cobian RAT obfuscates communications with the C2 server using Base64 encoding... Daserf uses custom base64 encoding to obfuscate HTTP traffic... Pikabot uses base64 encoding in conjunction with symmetric encryption mechanisms to obfuscate command and control communications.

T1071Application Layer ProtocolEvidence1

the backdoor module hidden in the Cobian builder kit communicates with a preset page on Pastebin

T1071.004DNSEvidence1

T1132Data EncodingEvidence3

ADVSTORESHELL C2 traffic is encrypted, then encoded with Base64 encoding. APT19 HTTP malware variant used Base64 to encode communications to the C2 server. APT33 has used base64 to encode command and control traffic.

T1132.001Standard EncodingEvidence1

T1219Remote Access ToolsEvidence1

researchers from Zscaler have spotted a remote access trojan dubbed Cobian remote RAT ... it implements common spying features such as keylogger, webcam hijacker, screen capturing and of course the ability to execute attackers’ code on the victim’s system.

T1568Dynamic ResolutionEvidence1

the backdoor module hidden in the Cobian builder kit communicates with a preset page on Pastebin that was managed by the original author. In this way, the malware gets the current address of the command and control servers run by the original writer

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

19 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

19 SOURCESView more in app

mitre attack websiteNews

Oct 21, 2021

Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder, Sub-technique T1547.001 - Enterprise | MITRE ATT&CK®

Remote access trojan that ensures persistence via an autostart Registry key.

mitre attack websiteNews

Oct 21, 2021

Data Encoding: Standard Encoding, Sub-technique T1132.001 - Enterprise | MITRE ATT&CK®

Remote access trojan that obfuscates command-and-control communications with Base64.

mitre attack websiteNews

Oct 21, 2021

Screen Capture, Technique T1113 - Enterprise | MITRE ATT&CK®

Remote access trojan with screen capture functionality.

mitre attack websiteNews

Jan 1, 2021

Screen Capture, Technique T1113 - Enterprise | MITRE ATT&CK®

Remote access trojan with screen capture functionality.

+15 more in the timeline

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IOC matching

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

Threat actor attribution

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 mapping14

Every documented technique, ranked by evidence weight.

Researcher chatter

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

Cobian RAT