Wdjiange

Overview

Wdjiange (classified in threat research telemetry under signatures Ransom:Win32/Wdjiange, Trojan-Ransom.Win32.Wdjiange, and Win32/Wdjiange) is an aggressive Windows ransomware family active in opportunistic and targeted extortion campaigns. Delivered via malicious spam attachments, cracked software utilities, and exploit kits, Wdjiange verifies administrative execution privileges before enumerating local disk partitions, external media, and SMB network shares. It encrypts targeted data files—including documents, databases, code repositories, and archives—using AES-256 encryption wrapped with an asymmetric public key. Wdjiange deletes Volume Shadow Copies via vssadmin, modifies boot configurations using bcdedit to prevent recovery, and deposits extortion notes demanding cryptocurrency payment for a decryption tool.

Known aliases

Threat reports may refer to this family under multiple names:

• Ransom:Win32/Wdjiange
• Trojan-Ransom.Win32.Wdjiange
• Win32/Wdjiange
• Ransom.Wdjiange
• Ransom:Win32/Wdjiange.A

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

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

Tactical Mitigations

Based on the techniques used by this family, consider the following defensive strategies:

• T1566.001: Scan email attachments for malicious macros, scripts, or suspicious archive files.

MITRE D3FEND™ Defensive Countermeasures

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

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_WDJIANGE_T1_ARTIFACT {
    meta:
        description = "Tier 1 Primitive Artifact: Raw string matches for Wdjiange"
        tier = "T1 - Primitive Artifact"
        confidence = "Low-Medium (Fast Triage)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Threat Research Desk"
        date = "2026-10-14"
    strings:
        $s1 = "wdjiange" ascii wide nocase
        $s2 = "ransom:win32/wdjiange" ascii wide nocase
        $s3 = "trojan-ransom.win32.wdjiange" ascii wide nocase
        $s4 = "win32/wdjiange" ascii wide nocase
        $s5 = "ransom.wdjiange" ascii wide nocase
        $s6 = "ransom:win32/wdjiange.a" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and any of them
}

title: SystemHelpDesk Detection - Wdjiange (Ransomware) Execution & Triage
id: bf792542-2abf-5aa6-8b80-2389fef164c0
status: production
description: Detects execution, defense evasion, and persistence behaviors associated
  with the Wdjiange malware family. Detects volume shadow copy deletion, boot status
  tampering, and recovery inhibition characteristic of modern ransomware operations.
references:
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/families/wdjiange
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/defensive/ransomware-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.ransomware
- author.ricky-jordan
- source.systemhelpdesk-mfc
- attack.t1486
- attack.t1490
- attack.t1566_001
- attack.t1083
- attack.t1070_004
logsource:
  category: process_creation
  product: windows
detection:
  selection_process:
    Image|endswith:
    - \vssadmin.exe
    - \wmic.exe
    - \wbadmin.exe
    - \bcdedit.exe
    CommandLine|contains:
    - delete shadows
    - shadowcopy delete
    - resize shadowstorage
    - recoveryenabled no
    - ignoreallfailures
  condition: selection_process
falsepositives:
- Legitimate enterprise administrative scripts during approved change windows
- Authorized IT software deployment utilities and backup management agents
level: critical

rule MALWARE_WIN_WDJIANGE_T3_ATTRIBUTION {
    meta:
        description = "Tier 3 Attribution Fingerprint: Heuristic detection for Wdjiange 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 = "wdjiange" 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. Disconnect the affected endpoint from LAN, WAN, and Wi-Fi networks immediately to stop encryption spreading.
2. Kill active ransomware processes via Windows Task Manager or elevated PowerShell commands.
3. Capture volatile physical memory and file samples for cryptographic inspection.
4. Block delivery domains and malicious sender email addresses at perimeter security gateways.
5. Reimage compromised workstations and restore business data from immutable offline backups.

What to Avoid

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

1. Do not pay the cryptocurrency extortion fee, as it does not guarantee decryption key recovery.
2. Do not connect clean backup drives to the infected system before confirming complete remediation.

References & External Analysis

• Microsoft Defender Threat Encyclopedia - Ransom:Win32/Wdjiange
• Trend Micro Threat Encyclopedia - Ransom_Wdjiange
• Kaspersky Threat Intelligence Portal - Trojan-Ransom.Win32.Wdjiange
• Search "wdjiange" on VirusTotal (External Analysis)
• Search "wdjiange" on Any.Run (Sandbox Sandbox)
• Search "wdjiange" on MalwareBazaar (Malware Samples)

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Threats (Category: Ransomware)

Explore other documented threats in the same operational category:

• Pcbooster
• Capsfin
• Psyokym
• Jimmy
• Delfiles
• Redlonam
• Darkneuron
• Genericrxef

Machine-readable

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