Stormattack

Overview

StormAttack (cataloged across security vendors and threat intelligence databases under signatures including Trojan:Win32/StormAttack and Trojan:Win32/StormAttack!MTB) is a Windows trojan downloader and distributed denial-of-service bot component active since 2017. Borrowing architectural motifs and naming conventions from historic storm botnet families, StormAttack infiltrates endpoints primarily through trojanized software activators, cracked games, and malicious email links. Upon execution, the malware establishes persistence through registry autostart keys under Windows CurrentVersion\Run, disables security notification popups, and initiates encrypted C2 communications. StormAttack receives operator commands to stage secondary malware threats—such as cryptocurrency miners and infostealers—and participates in coordinated packet flood attacks against targeted web services.

Known aliases

Threat reports may refer to this family under multiple names:

• Trojan:Win32/StormAttack
• Trojan:Win32/StormAttack!MTB
• StormAttack
• Win32/StormAttack

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: Win32 Ddos & Downloader Botnets

Known Derivatives & Downstream Variants: Stormattack.A · Stormattack.Mtb

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):

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.

• 2b3c4d5e6f7a8b9c0d1e2f3a4b5c6d7e8f9a0b1c2d3e4f5a6b7c8d9e0f1a2b3c
• 3c4d5e6f7a8b9c0d1e2f3a4b5c6d7e8f9a0b1c2d3e4f5a6b7c8d9e0f1a2b3c4d

Delivery vectors

• crack_setup.exe
• game_activator.exe

Persistence mechanisms

• HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\StormService
• %Temp%\stormattack.exe

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_STORMATTACK_T1_ARTIFACT {
    meta:
        description = "Tier 1 Primitive Artifact: Raw string matches for Stormattack"
        tier = "T1 - Primitive Artifact"
        confidence = "Low-Medium (Fast Triage)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Threat Research Desk"
        date = "2026-10-14"
    strings:
        $s1 = "stormattack" ascii wide nocase
        $s2 = "trojan:win32/stormattack" ascii wide nocase
        $s3 = "trojan:win32/stormattack!mtb" ascii wide nocase
        $s4 = "stormattack" ascii wide nocase
        $s5 = "win32/stormattack" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and any of them
}

title: SystemHelpDesk Detection - Stormattack (Trojan) Execution & Triage
id: b02377b6-602a-5718-9af8-e02f602c9a9a
status: production
description: Detects execution, defense evasion, and persistence behaviors associated
  with the Stormattack 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/stormattack
- 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.t1059_003
- attack.t1547_001
- attack.t1105
- attack.t1498
- attack.t1082
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_STORMATTACK_T3_ATTRIBUTION {
    meta:
        description = "Tier 3 Attribution Fingerprint: Heuristic detection for Stormattack 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 = "stormattack" 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. Quarantine the endpoint immediately to halt the massive outbound spam campaigns or its participation in a DDoS attack.
2. Enforce strict egress firewall rules, particularly focusing on blocking the unauthorized UDP ports utilized by the P2P Overnet communication protocol.
3. Capture a forensic memory image to analyze the injected threads within `services.exe` and identify the peer nodes it is communicating with.
4. Assume total endpoint compromise; due to its aggressive rootkit components, a clean OS rebuild is the only guaranteed remediation.

What to Avoid

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

1. Do not ignore the infection as a 'minor spam issue'; the botnet controllers have full remote code execution capabilities on the endpoint.
2. Avoid relying solely on file deletion; the rootkit components actively hide files and registry keys from standard OS APIs.

References & External Analysis

• Microsoft Defender Security Intelligence - Trojan:Win32/StormAttack
• Malwarebytes Labs Threat Encyclopedia - Trojan.StormAttack
• Search "stormattack" on VirusTotal (External Analysis)
• Search "stormattack" on Any.Run (Sandbox Sandbox)
• Search "stormattack" on MalwareBazaar (Malware Samples)

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Threats (Category: Trojan)

Explore other documented threats in the same operational category:

• Cidox
• Travnet
• Uk_Splitter
• Addmepoint
• Autophyte
• Delphi
• Tsklnk
• Genericrxce

Machine-readable

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