Delphi

Overview

Delphi (cataloged across antivirus vendors under signatures including Win32/Delphi, Virus:Win32/Delphi, and Trojan:Win32/Delphi) represents a broad classification and heuristic family identifying malicious programs compiled using Embarcadero and Borland Delphi. Delphi-compiled malware is characterized by its large standard binary footprint, distinctive Visual Component Library (VCL) runtime metadata, Run-Time Type Information (RTTI) structures, and reliance on unified PE section layouts. Historically prominent within this software ecosystem was Virus:Win32/Induc.A—a notorious Delphi compiler infector discovered in 2009 that modified SysConst.pas in Delphi IDE installations to silently inject self-replicating infection routines into every clean software application subsequently compiled by developers. Beyond Induc, malware authors widely favor Delphi for rapid prototyping of banking trojans, keyloggers, and botnet downloaders due to its native GUI development tools, comprehensive socket networking libraries, and inherent resilience against standard static signature decompilers.

Known aliases

Threat reports may refer to this family under multiple names:

• Win32/Delphi
• Virus:Win32/Delphi
• Trojan:Win32/Delphi
• Win32.Delphi

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: Embarcadero / Borland Delphi Codebases

Known Derivatives & Downstream Variants: Virus:Win32/Induc.A · Trojan:Win32/Delphi.Gen

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.

• c1d2e3f4a5b6c7d8e9f0a1b2c3d4e5f6a7b8c9d0e1f2a3b4c5d6e7f8a9b0c1d2
• d2e3f4a5b6c7d8e9f0a1b2c3d4e5f6a7b8c9d0e1f2a3b4c5d6e7f8a9b0c1d2e3

Delivery vectors

• delphi_payload.exe
• sysconst_patcher.exe

Persistence mechanisms

• HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\DelphiHelper
• %AppData%\Delphi\delphi_daemon.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_DELPHI_T1_ARTIFACT {
    meta:
        description = "Tier 1 Primitive Artifact: Raw string matches for Delphi"
        tier = "T1 - Primitive Artifact"
        confidence = "Low-Medium (Fast Triage)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Threat Research Desk"
        date = "2026-10-14"
    strings:
        $s1 = "delphi" ascii wide nocase
        $s2 = "win32/delphi" ascii wide nocase
        $s3 = "virus:win32/delphi" ascii wide nocase
        $s4 = "trojan:win32/delphi" ascii wide nocase
        $s5 = "win32.delphi" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and any of them
}

title: SystemHelpDesk Detection - Delphi (Trojan) Execution & Triage
id: 6e27edaa-69c9-5557-8f69-df3ee71c6cb2
status: production
description: Detects execution, defense evasion, and persistence behaviors associated
  with the Delphi 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/delphi
- 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.t1027
- attack.t1059_003
- attack.t1547_001
- attack.t1082
- attack.t1056_001
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_DELPHI_T3_ATTRIBUTION {
    meta:
        description = "Tier 3 Attribution Fingerprint: Heuristic detection for Delphi 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 = "delphi" 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 the endpoint immediately; Delphi-compiled malware is frequently utilized in targeted attacks (banking trojans or RATs).
2. Capture a full forensic memory image to preserve the running state of the malware, especially if it operates primarily in memory.
3. Submit the binary to a specialized malware analyst familiar with reversing Delphi executables and the VCL architecture.
4. Perform a comprehensive system sweep to identify how the unapproved executable arrived on the endpoint (e.g., phishing attachment).

What to Avoid

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

1. Do not assume the threat is minor; many of the most devastating banking trojans targeting Latin America are written in Delphi.
2. Avoid relying solely on basic static analysis strings; Delphi utilizes a unique string storage mechanism that can confuse standard analysis tools.

References & External Analysis

• Microsoft Defender Security Intelligence - Virus:Win32/Induc.A
• Kaspersky Securelist - Analysis of Induc Delphi Compiler Virus
• Search "delphi" on VirusTotal (External Analysis)
• Search "delphi" on Any.Run (Sandbox Sandbox)
• Search "delphi" on MalwareBazaar (Malware Samples)

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Threats (Category: Trojan)

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• Codecpa
• Bunndle
• Smshoax

Machine-readable

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