ASProtectvIfyouknowthisversionpostonPEiDboardh2

Hunt Hypothesis

This detection identifies the presence of a specific version of the ASProtect executable protection tool, which is frequently utilized by threat actors to obfuscate malware and evade static analysis. A proactive hunt for this indicator in Azure Sentinel allows the SOC team to uncover potentially protected malicious binaries that may bypass standard signature-based defenses due to their packed nature.

YARA Rule

rule ASProtectvIfyouknowthisversionpostonPEiDboardh2
{
      meta:
		author="malware-lu"
strings:
		$a0 = { 90 60 E8 03 00 00 00 E9 EB 04 5D 45 55 C3 E8 01 00 00 00 EB 5D BB ED FF FF FF 03 DD 81 EB 00 [2] 00 80 7D 4D 01 75 0C 8B 74 24 28 83 FE 01 89 5D 4E 75 31 8D 45 53 50 53 FF B5 DD 09 00 00 8D 45 35 50 E9 82 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 }

condition:
		$a0
}

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

Here are 5 specific false positive scenarios for the ASProtect detection rule (ASProtectvIfyouknowthisversionpostonPEiDboardh2), along with targeted filters and exclusions:

• Scenario: Deployment of Licensed Enterprise Software via SCCM/Intune

  • Context: System administrators deploy protected applications (e.g., specialized CAD tools, tax software like Sage or QuickBooks Enterprise) using Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (SCCM) or Intune. The installation executable is wrapped in ASProtect to prevent tampering and unauthorized redistribution.
  • Filter/Exclusion: Create a process exclusion for the deployment service accounts (NT SERVICE\CcmExec or Microsoft.Windows.IntuneManagementAgent) running on specific file paths within the C:\Program Files\ directory that match known vendor hashes (e.g., Sage, QuickBooks).

• Scenario: Scheduled Antivirus Database Updates

  • Context: The organization uses a security suite (such as Symantec Endpoint Protection or McAfee) where the update agent itself is protected by ASProtect to ensure integrity during the download and installation of virus definition signatures. This triggers the rule every time the nightly scheduled job runs.
  • Filter/Exclusion: Exclude processes named Symantec Antivirus Update Service (or equivalent vendor process names like McAfeeHostAgent) when executing from their default installation directories, specifically filtering out events occurring during the defined maintenance window (e.g., 02:00–04:00 UTC).

• Scenario: Execution of Protected Digital Rights Management (DRM) Components

  • Context: Users launch media players or document viewers (such as Adobe Acrobat Pro with DRM features or specialized video conferencing clients like Zoom Enterprise) that utilize ASProtect to secure proprietary licensing modules and prevent reverse engineering of the client binary.