AHTeamEPProtector03fakeSpalsher1x3xFEUERRADER

Hunt Hypothesis

This rule detects the presence of a specific YARA signature associated with the “AHTeamEPProtector03fakeSpalsher” artifact, which likely indicates a low-severity endpoint protection component or a benign false-positive trigger. Proactively hunting for this signature allows the SOC team to validate the integrity of their endpoint detection stack and distinguish between expected security tooling and potential masquerading malware in the Azure Sentinel environment.

YARA Rule

rule AHTeamEPProtector03fakeSpalsher1x3xFEUERRADER
{
      meta:
		author="malware-lu"
strings:
		$a0 = { 90 [46] 90 FF E0 9C 60 8B 44 24 24 E8 00 00 00 00 5D 81 ED 00 00 00 00 50 E8 ED 02 00 00 8C C0 0F 84 }

condition:
		$a0 at pe.entry_point
}

Deployment Notes

This YARA rule can be deployed in the following contexts:

• Microsoft Defender for Endpoint — Custom indicators / advanced hunting
• Email Gateway — Attachment scanning
• File Share Monitoring — Periodic scanning of shared drives
• YARA CLI — Manual threat hunting on endpoints

This rule contains 1 string patterns in its detection logic.

• Source Rule

False Positive Guidance

• Scenario: A developer or DevOps engineer is running a local build pipeline or CI/CD agent (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab Runner, or Azure DevOps) that compiles or packages a C++ application containing the specific string literals or binary patterns matched by the AHTeamEPProtector03fakeSpalsher1x3xFEUERRADER YARA rule. The rule likely targets a specific obfuscation pattern or debug symbol name that coincides with legitimate build artifacts.

  • Filter/Exclusion: Exclude processes running from standard build tool directories (e.g., C:\Program Files\Jenkins\, C:\GitLab\runner\, or C:\AzureDevOps\) or exclude files with extensions like .obj, .lib, or .dll located in temporary build folders (%TEMP%, C:\builds\).

• Scenario: An IT administrator is performing a routine patching or software deployment task using a tool like SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager) or PDQ Deploy. The deployment package includes a custom installer script or binary that embeds the specific marker string targeted by the rule, possibly as a version tag or internal identifier that matches the YARA pattern.

  • Filter/Exclusion: Exclude processes associated with known deployment tools such as ccmexec.exe (SCCM), pdqdeploy.exe, or psexec.exe when executed from administrative service accounts or standard system directories (C:\Windows\System32\, C:\Program Files\Microsoft Configuration Manager\).

• Scenario: A security team is running a vulnerability scanner or integrity checker (e.g., Tenable Nessus, Qualys, or a custom internal scanner) that creates temporary copies of application binaries or configuration files in a staging directory to analyze them. These temporary copies retain the original metadata or string patterns that trigger the rule, even