YodasProtectorv1032Beta2AshkbizDanehkar

Hunt Hypothesis

This hunt hypothesis targets the presence of a specific Yodas Protector beta variant identified by the signature “YodasProtectorv1032Beta2AshkbizDanehkar,” which may indicate the deployment or compromise involving this specialized security agent within the environment. The SOC team should proactively investigate these detections in Azure Sentinel to validate whether the observed instances represent legitimate software updates or potential anomalies requiring deeper forensic analysis, given the rule’s low severity and beta status.

YARA Rule

rule YodasProtectorv1032Beta2AshkbizDanehkar
{
      meta:
		author="malware-lu"
strings:
		$a0 = { E8 03 00 00 00 EB 01 ?? BB 55 00 00 00 E8 03 00 00 00 EB 01 ?? E8 8F 00 00 00 E8 03 00 00 00 EB 01 ?? E8 82 00 00 00 E8 03 00 00 00 EB 01 ?? E8 B8 00 00 00 }

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

Here are 5 specific false positive scenarios for the YodasProtectorv1032Beta2AshkbizDanehkar detection rule, along with recommended filters and exclusions tailored for a legitimate enterprise environment:

• Scenario: Scheduled Antivirus Definition Updates via Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (MECM/SCCM)

  • Context: The rule triggers when the SCCM client service (ccmexec.exe) initiates a background update of YodasProtector signatures during off-hours. The process often spawns child processes that match the heuristic patterns defined in the Beta2 logic, mimicking suspicious behavior.
  • Filter/Exclusion: Create an exclusion based on the parent process ccmexec.exe and the specific file path C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Configuration Manager\. Additionally, filter alerts occurring between 01:00 and 05:00 UTC to align with standard maintenance windows.

• Scenario: Automated Backup Jobs Executed by Veeam Backup & Replication

  • Context: During nightly backups, the vrb.exe process interacts heavily with the file system to scan and compress data blocks. If YodasProtector is installed on the backup server or agents, its scanning engine may be triggered by the high I/O activity of Veeam, causing the rule to flag legitimate backup metadata writes as potential threats.
  • Filter/Exclusion: Exclude processes named vrb.exe and vfexec.exe from detection logic. Implement a path-based exclusion for directories containing active backup repositories (e.g., D:\Veeam\BackupRepository\).

• Scenario: Deployment of Enterprise Applications via Ansible Automation

  • Context: When the IT operations team runs an Ansible playbook to deploy new software configurations, the ansible-runner or `python.exe