Alert !! Hackers Launching New JNEC.a Ransomware via WinRAR Exploits – Do not Pay

A brand new JNEC.a ransomware spreading via recently discovered WinRAR vulnerability exploit to compromise windows computer & demand the ransom amount.

This exploits leverage the recently discovered WinRAR ACE code injection vulnerability, since then attackers continuously exploiting the vulnerability to intrude the targeted system in various ways.

WinRAR is the worlds most popular Compression tool that used over 500 million users around the world.

The 19-year-old vulnerability was disclosed by checkpoint security researchers last week, the vulnerability resides in the WinRAR UNACEV2.DLL library.

Since the vulnerability has been already patched, attacker aiming to exploit and compromise the unpatched vulnerable systems.

JNEC.a Ransomware payload stored in the compressed RAR file archive, once the file will be decompressed by the victim, it opens up a corrupted and incomplete female picture.

Meanwhile, in the background JNEC.a Ransomware drops into the victim’s system and starts its process to encrypt the files and lock the system.

Malware Authors choosing very unusual decryption key delivery method by providing a Gmail ID, which should be used by victims to request the decryption key.

Researchers from 360 Threat Intelligence Center initially uncovered this JNEC.a Ransomware sample with the file name (vk_4221345.rar) and confirm that the ransomware spread by #WinRAR exploit (#CVE-2018-20250).

Once the system exploited successfully, the encryption routine starts to lock the file and displays the ransom notes, that contains steps to recover the decryption key.

Also Read: Ransomware Attack Response and Mitigation Checklist

Ransom note also contains a piece of detailed information about the number of encrypted files in the system and ransom demand, which needs to pay through bitcoin.

In this case, victims need to create a specific mailbox for the given Gmail ID to receive the decryption key.

Attackers claim that they will reach the victims back once the victims successfully made the payment to the bitcoin address that mentioned in the ransom notes.

Attackers demand 0.05 BTC ($198 USD) from each victim who all are infected by this JNEC.a Ransomware and attackers will contact the victims once they received the payment.

This sample is tested in VirusTotal where 28 engines detected this file as a malicious threat in various names.

Security researcher Michael Gillespie analyzed this sample and confirm that, due to the bug that exists in this ransomware, no one can decrypt the file even the ransomware developer.

All the WinRAR users are advised to update the current patched version,
WinRAR 5.70 to avoid such attacks and also avoid to open the unknown files.

IOC

MD59ebe2ee958ddd61c93400293d6903ab0

SHA-1bf9ec6fe2352faddb147ebe8369ccaa76f8c60e7

Learn: Certified Cyber Threat Intelligence Analysts courses