{
  "family": "vmpbad",
  "sample_count": 14,
  "category": "ransomware",
  "description": "Vmpbad (classified across antimalware research as Trojan:Win32/Vmpbad and Ransom:Win32/Vmpbad) is a heavily packed and armored trojan loader and crypto-ransomware family. Protected by commercial and custom VMProtect virtualization wrappers (hence the designation Vmpbad), it obfuscates code flow into virtual bytecode instructions to defeat reverse engineering and static signature detection. Upon execution, Vmpbad unpacks its in-memory payload, verifies absence of hypervisor debugging hooks, and executes an aggressive cryptographic locking routine targeting enterprise documents, databases, and system archives with AES-256 encryption. It appends custom extensions, leaves ransom notes in traversed directories, and purges Volume Shadow Copies.",
  "cta": "Published by the SystemHelpdesk Threat Intelligence Team.",
  "aliases": [
    "Trojan:Win32/Vmpbad",
    "Ransom:Win32/Vmpbad",
    "TrojanDownloader:Win32/Vmpbad",
    "Win32/Vmpbad",
    "Vmpbad Ransomware"
  ],
  "enrichment_level": "curated_sourced",
  "faq": [
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What is Ransom:Win32/Vmpbad?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Vmpbad is a virtualization-packed crypto-ransomware family that encrypts files using AES-256 while evading reverse engineering."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "Why is Vmpbad protected with VMProtect wrappers?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Virtualization packing transforms x86 instructions into randomized bytecode, blinding static antivirus signatures and disassemblers."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "How does Vmpbad evade sandbox analysis?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "It checks for hypervisor hooks, timing discrepancies, and sandbox-specific registry keys before executing."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "How does Vmpbad obstruct file recovery?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "It executes vssadmin commands to purge Volume Shadow Copies and uses bcdedit to disable startup recovery."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What should organizations do when encountering Vmpbad?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Isolate the infected endpoints, collect memory dumps for unpack analysis, and restore files from isolated offline backups."
      }
    }
  ],
  "faq_count": 5,
  "mitre_attack": [
    "T1027.002",
    "T1486",
    "T1497.001",
    "T1490",
    "T1083",
    "T1059.003"
  ],
  "cisa_advisory": null,
  "last_updated": "2026-10-15",
  "mitre_attack_detail": [
    {
      "id": "T1027.002",
      "name": "Obfuscated Files or Information: Software Packing (Virtualization)",
      "tactic": "Defense Evasion"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1497.001",
      "name": "Virtualization/Sandbox Evasion: System Checks",
      "tactic": "Defense Evasion"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1620",
      "name": "Reflective Code Loading",
      "tactic": "Defense Evasion"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1486",
      "name": "Data Encrypted for Impact (Typical Payload)",
      "tactic": "Impact"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1055",
      "name": "Process Injection",
      "tactic": "Defense Evasion"
    }
  ],
  "containment_steps": [
    "Isolate the endpoint immediately; the successful execution of a Vmpbad file usually results in an active ransomware or trojan infection.",
    "Capture a live memory image (RAM dump); this is often the only way to recover the unvirtualized payload for reverse engineering and IoC extraction.",
    "Utilize EDR telemetry to trace the origin of the packed executable to identify the initial infection vector (e.g., a phishing email or drive-by download).",
    "Do not rely on standard AV scans to clean the machine, as the unpacked payload may have established secondary persistence mechanisms."
  ],
  "what_to_avoid": [
    "Avoid assuming an executable is safe just because it passes a static antivirus scan; VMProtect is designed specifically to bypass static signatures.",
    "Do not attempt to manually reverse engineer the VMProtect stub without highly specialized de-virtualization tools; it is an incredibly complex endeavor."
  ],
  "target_industries": [
    "Healthcare",
    "Critical Infrastructure",
    "Enterprise"
  ],
  "motivation": "Financial Extortion",
  "threat_actors": [
    "Unknown / Cybercriminal"
  ],
  "target_geographies": [
    "Global"
  ],
  "attack_stage": [
    "defense_evasion",
    "impact"
  ],
  "ecosystem": [
    "windows_pe"
  ],
  "is_emerging": false,
  "sources": [
    {
      "name": "Microsoft Defender Threat Encyclopedia - Trojan:Win32/Vmpbad",
      "url": "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/threats/malware-encyclopedia-description?Name=Trojan:Win32/Vmpbad"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kaspersky Threat Intelligence - Trojan-Ransom Overview",
      "url": "https://threats.kaspersky.com/en/threat/Trojan-Ransom.Win32/"
    },
    {
      "name": "MITRE ATT&CK - Obfuscated Files or Information: Software Packing (T1027.002)",
      "url": "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1027/002/"
    }
  ],
  "target_platforms": [
    "Windows 11",
    "Windows 10",
    "Windows Server 2022",
    "Windows Server 2019"
  ]
}