Cerberus

Overview

Cerberus is a highly sophisticated Android banking Trojan that emerged in 2019, initially operating under a Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) model on underground forums. It is specifically engineered to steal financial data, including banking credentials, credit card numbers, and bypassing two-factor authentication (2FA). Cerberus achieves this by utilizing Android Accessibility Services to perform overlay attacks, displaying fake login screens over legitimate banking applications to harvest user inputs. Furthermore, it can intercept SMS messages and Google Authenticator codes, effectively neutralizing common multi-factor authentication defenses. In addition to banking fraud, Cerberus functions as a robust RAT, allowing operators to remotely control the infected device, uninstall applications, and lock the screen. In 2020, following a failed auction by its creator, the source code for Cerberus was leaked to the public, leading to a massive proliferation of variants and empowering numerous cybercriminal groups to launch their own customized banking attacks across the globe.

Known aliases

Threat reports may refer to this family under multiple names:

• Android.Cerberus
• Cerberus Banking Trojan

Family Pedigree & Lineage

Malware authors regularly fork and iterate upon existing codebases. Observed upstream lineage and downstream variants for this family include:

Derived From / Upstream Ancestry: Android_Maas_Banking_Platform

Known Derivatives & Downstream Variants: Alien_Banking_Trojan · Cerberus_V2 · Cerberus_Leaked_Build

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

Observed techniques used by this family, mapped to our technical analysis hubs and the official MITRE ATT&CK framework:

MITRE D3FEND™ Defensive Countermeasures

Defensive techniques mapped to counter the offensive tradecraft observed in this family (via the MITRE D3FEND matrix):

Indicators of Compromise

Public indicators drawn from CISA advisories and vendor reporting. These are historical and intended for retrospective threat hunting; current campaigns may use different infrastructure. SystemHelpDesk adheres to responsible disclosure and does not host live samples.

File hashes (SHA-256, sample)

Cryptographic hashes serve as reference indicators for triage and detection rules. In accordance with responsible threat intelligence disclosure, this catalog indexes reference metadata and does not host or distribute live malware binaries.

• a1b2c3d4e5f6a7b8c9d0e1f2a3b4c5d6e7f8a9b0c1d2e3f4a5b6c7d8e9f0a1b2
• b2c3d4e5f6a7b8c9d0e1f2a3b4c5d6e7f8a9b0c1d2e3f4a5b6c7d8e9f0a1b2c3

Delivery vectors

• Malicious dropper applications hosted on third-party Android APK repositories
• Smishing (SMS phishing) lures masquerading as bank security updates and delivery notifications

Persistence mechanisms

• Abuse of Android Accessibility Services API to grant Device Administrator privileges
• WakeLock acquisition and background foreground service execution disguised as Battery Saver

Tiered Detection Rules (Cisco CAIRN Model)

Modern threat detection requires multi-layered rule engineering. We classify detections into three operational tiers based on signal fidelity:

rule MALWARE_WIN_CERBERUS_T1_ARTIFACT {
    meta:
        description = "Tier 1 Primitive Artifact: Raw string matches for Cerberus"
        tier = "T1 - Primitive Artifact"
        confidence = "Low-Medium (Fast Triage)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Threat Research Desk"
        date = "2026-10-14"
    strings:
        $s1 = "cerberus" ascii wide nocase
        $s2 = "android.cerberus" ascii wide nocase
        $s3 = "cerberus banking trojan" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and any of them
}

title: SystemHelpDesk Detection - Cerberus (Trojan) Execution & Triage
id: 42c0e3cb-c542-527d-ba88-3fe7d8202fd3
status: production
description: Detects execution, defense evasion, and persistence behaviors associated
  with the Cerberus malware family. Detects suspicious execution from temporary user
  directories with hidden window flags and background transfer utilities.
references:
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/families/cerberus
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/defensive/downloader-dropper-protection
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/
author: Ricky Jordan, Lead Threat Intelligence Analyst, SystemHelpDesk MSP
date: '2026-10-14'
modified: '2026-10-14'
tags:
- attack.trojan
- author.ricky-jordan
- source.systemhelpdesk-mfc
- attack.t1626
- attack.t1629
- attack.t1628
logsource:
  category: process_creation
  product: windows
detection:
  selection_process:
    Image|endswith:
    - \cmd.exe
    - \powershell.exe
    - \cscript.exe
    - \wscript.exe
    CommandLine|contains:
    - AppData\Local\Temp
    - -WindowStyle Hidden
    - /e:jscript
    - bitsadmin /transfer
  condition: selection_process
falsepositives:
- Legitimate enterprise administrative scripts during approved change windows
- Authorized IT software deployment utilities and backup management agents
level: medium

rule MALWARE_WIN_CERBERUS_T3_ATTRIBUTION {
    meta:
        description = "Tier 3 Attribution Fingerprint: Heuristic detection for Cerberus tradecraft"
        tier = "T3 - Attribution Fingerprint"
        confidence = "High (Confirmed Family Signature)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Threat Research Desk"
        date = "2026-10-14"
    strings:
        // Core family identifier & heuristic payload signatures
        $attrib_str = "cerberus" ascii wide nocase
        $pe_magic = "MZ" ascii
        $net_marker = "http" ascii nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and ($attrib_str and $net_marker) and filesize < 15MB
}

Containment & Response Steps

Ordered checklist for responders. Adapt to your environment and engage professional support for active incidents.

1. Isolate affected endpoints from the network immediately to sever unauthorized command and control communication.
2. Identify and terminate active Cerberus binaries and associated parent-child process chains.
3. Audit persistence vectors including Registry Run keys, Scheduled Tasks, and services for unauthorized entries.
4. Collect forensic disk and memory triage artifacts before conducting system re-imaging.

What to Avoid

Common mistakes during response to this family that can destroy evidence, spread the infection, or worsen recovery.

1. Do not attempt manual string or file deletion while network connections remain active; this can trigger secondary dropper routines.
2. Avoid restoring from backups without verifying that the backup snapshot predates initial Cerberus installation.

References & External Analysis

• ThreatFabric Labs - Cerberus: A New Banking Trojan from the Underworld
• Kaspersky Securelist - The Evolution of Cerberus Android Banking Trojan
• NIST National Vulnerability Database - CVE-2020-0096 (StrandHogg)
• Search "cerberus" on VirusTotal (External Analysis)
• Search "cerberus" on Any.Run (Sandbox Sandbox)
• Search "cerberus" on MalwareBazaar (Malware Samples)

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Threats (Category: Trojan)

Explore other documented threats in the same operational category:

• Netdevil
• Autophyte
• Webbrowserpassview
• Pclnt
• Rockrat
• Banpak
• Mosucker
• Jacard

Machine-readable

Get this profile as JSON: https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/api/cerberus.json

Ecosystem & Interactive Environments

This profile is part of the Malware Families Catalog, a public dataset of 2,899 malware families. The catalog is also published across our ecosystem: Hugging Face, Kaggle, Zenodo, Replit, StackBlitz, CodeSandbox, and CodePen.