{
  "family": "admedia",
  "sample_count": 1,
  "category": "trojan",
  "description": "Admedia (classified in antivirus detection telemetry under designations including Trojan:Win32/Admedia, Trojan.Win32.Admedia, and Win32/Admedia) is a multi-stage trojan engineered to disguise itself as legitimate software, execute unauthorized commands, and coordinate with external command-and-control infrastructure. Disseminated across enterprise networks and consumer workstations via social engineering, phishing attachments, malicious drive-by downloads, or weaponized software cracks, Admedia executes an initial reconnaissance phase upon system ingress. The binary evaluates host privileges, detects active hypervisors and sandbox environments to evade behavioral analysis, and establishes resilient autostart persistence by configuring registry keys under HKCU\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run or registering background Windows services. Operational mechanics characteristic of this family include deceptive executable masquerading, registry run key autostart, system telemetry gathering, and remote C2 beaconing. Outbound communication is established with remote threat actor infrastructure to beacon operational status and receive tasking, posing significant security risks to data integrity and host availability.",
  "cta": "Published by the SystemHelpdesk Threat Intelligence Team.",
  "aliases": [
    "Trojan:Win32/Admedia",
    "Trojan.Win32.Admedia",
    "Win32/Admedia"
  ],
  "enrichment_level": "curated_sourced",
  "faq": [
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What is Trojan:Win32/Admedia?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Admedia is a trojan threat designed to infiltrate Windows systems and execute unauthorized operations without user consent."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "How does Admedia compromise target systems?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "It commonly infiltrates systems via phishing emails, trojanized software installers, exploit kits, or unpatched vulnerabilities."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What persistence mechanisms does Admedia utilize?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "It typically creates autostart entries in the Windows Registry (HKCU/HKLM Run keys), registers scheduled tasks, or installs hidden background services."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What risks does Admedia pose to an enterprise?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "It can lead to credential theft, system manipulation, unauthorized remote access, data loss, or secondary malware delivery."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "How can administrators detect and eliminate Admedia?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Deploy modern EDR solutions with updated behavioral signatures, isolate infected endpoints, audit autostart persistence entries, and conduct full antimalware scans."
      }
    }
  ],
  "faq_count": 5,
  "mitre_attack": [
    "T1059.003",
    "T1027",
    "T1547.001",
    "T1071.001",
    "T1105"
  ],
  "cisa_advisory": null,
  "last_updated": "2026-10-15",
  "mitre_attack_detail": [
    {
      "id": "T1189",
      "name": "Drive-by Compromise (Frequently associated with malvertising networks pushed by the adware)",
      "tactic": "Initial Access"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1176",
      "name": "Browser Extensions (Installing malicious add-ons to control web traffic)",
      "tactic": "Persistence"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1547.001",
      "name": "Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Registry Run Keys (Ensuring the adware launcher runs on boot)",
      "tactic": "Persistence"
    }
  ],
  "containment_steps": [
    "Disconnect the affected machine from the network to stop the constant stream of intrusive ads and tracking data.",
    "Use dedicated anti-malware/anti-adware tools (like Malwarebytes or AdwCleaner) to thoroughly scan and remove the deeply embedded registry hooks.",
    "Reset all installed web browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox) to their default settings to remove malicious extensions and restore the correct search provider.",
    "Identify the 'free' software the user downloaded that initially bundled the adware, and enforce AppLocker policies to prevent its execution."
  ],
  "what_to_avoid": [
    "Do not assume the threat is minor just because it's 'only adware'; adware networks frequently pivot to serving ransomware if the host appears vulnerable.",
    "Avoid relying solely on the Windows Add/Remove Programs menu to remove the adware, as it almost never uninstalls cleanly."
  ],
  "target_industries": [
    "Global / Opportunistic"
  ],
  "motivation": "Opportunistic",
  "threat_actors": [
    "Unknown / Cybercriminal"
  ],
  "target_geographies": [
    "Global"
  ],
  "attack_stage": [
    "execution",
    "persistence"
  ],
  "ecosystem": [
    "windows_pe"
  ],
  "is_emerging": false,
  "sources": [
    {
      "name": "Microsoft Defender Threat Encyclopedia - Trojan:Win32/Admedia",
      "url": "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/threats/malware-encyclopedia-description?Name=Trojan:Win32/Admedia"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kaspersky Threat Intelligence - Trojan.Win32.Admedia",
      "url": "https://threats.kaspersky.com/en/threat/"
    },
    {
      "name": "MITRE ATT&CK - Enterprise Techniques",
      "url": "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059.003/"
    }
  ],
  "target_platforms": [
    "Windows 11",
    "Windows 10",
    "Windows 7"
  ]
}