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Sinowal is a Windows bootkit and spyware family, identified in the content as a bootkit that infects the master boot record (MBR) so its malicious code executes before the operating system starts. In the described 2008 campaign, victims were infected after visiting compromised legitimate websites where attackers had substituted malicious links for legitimate ones. Clicking the substituted link led to exploit infrastructure using Neosploit to fingerprint the victim and deliver tailored exploits against vulnerable components including PDF, SWF, QuickTime, Acrobat Reader, and RealPlayer-related software, with listed exploited vulnerabilities including CVE-2007-5659, CVE-2006-0003, CVE-2006-5820, CVE-2007-5779, CVE-2008-1472, CVE-2007-0018, CVE-2006-4777, CVE-2006-3730, CVE-2008-0624, CVE-2007-2222, CVE-2006-0005, and CVE-2007-0015. After exploitation, a Trojan dropper installed the bootkit by modifying the MBR, storing the main malware body in hard disk sectors, and forcing a reboot. After reboot, Sinowal hooked system functions, hid itself before the OS loaded, and joined a botnet.
The content states that Sinowal communicated with a command-and-control infrastructure that migrated across domains multiple times per day and could generate .com, .net, and .biz domains when current servers were unreachable. Once connected, it downloaded an encrypted DLL larger than 200 KB directly into memory without writing it to disk. That hidden DLL was assessed as identical to Trojan-Spy.Win32.Sinowal. The spyware component stole passwords from many applications, intercepted banking traffic, supported man-in-the-middle attacks, redirected users to phishing pages, and exfiltrated encrypted stolen data to dedicated servers. The campaign is described as large-scale, with over 200,000 U.S. visits to five exploit servers in 24 hours and a botnet approaching 100,000 U.S. bots. The report notes Russian traces in domain registration data, although the registration details were believed to be false, and assesses that multiple cooperating criminal groups were likely involved rather than a single actor.
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17 distinct techniques documented for this family, organized by ATT&CK tactic.
This technique is known as a “drive-by download”; when a user views the infected site, malicious code will be installed to the victim machine without the user’s knowledge or consent.
Once the machine has rebooted, the bootkit hooks a range of system functions and starts to run fully in the system – hiding its own presence and functioning as a bot within a zombie network.
Depending on the ID assigned to the user, the server will generate an obfuscation key which will be used to encrypt the appropriate exploit.
Just like Sinowal, TDL-4 is a bootkit, which means that it infects the MBR in order to launch itself, thus ensuring that malicious code will run prior to operating system start.
The module has almost all functions of a spy program, ranging from the banal interception of data entered via the keyboard...
The malicious program creates a specially crafted network packet using the ID of the infected computer and attempts to send it to the command and control server... As soon as one of the domains appears to be “correct” ... the bot will connect to it as a botnet client and starts encrypting communication with the command and control centre.
4 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
Referenced as another bootkit malware family that infects the MBR to execute before the operating system starts.
Sinowal is the classification given to the bootkit and associated spy DLL. It steals passwords, intercepts network traffic, targets banking sessions and website administration credentials, and can support man-in-the-middle and phishing-style interception.
Referenced as a modern bootkit example using similar relocation techniques to Stoned.
Win32/Sinowal [[URL_b3187638_468]] 2006 年 9 月 (1.20)
Match every observed IP, domain, and hash against your live telemetry.
Named campaigns wielding this family, with evidence pinned to each claim.
CVEs this family uses for access and lateral movement.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Every documented technique, ranked by evidence weight.
Reddit, Mastodon, and CTI community discussion around this family.