T1140 Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information — ATT&CK Technique

Adversaries may use Obfuscated Files or Information to hide artifacts of an intrusion from analysis. They may require separate mechanisms to decode or deobfuscate that information depending on how they intend to use it. Methods for doing that include built-in functionality of malware or by using utilities present on the system. One such example is the use of certutil to decode a remote access tool portable executable file that has been hidden inside a certificate file. Another example is using the Windows copy /b or type command to reassemble binary fragments into a malicious payload. Sometimes a user's action may be required to open it for deobfuscation or decryption as part of User Execution. The user may also be required to input a password to open a password protected compressed/encrypted file that was provided by the adversary.

Detection coverage (20)

Potential BlackByte Ransomware Activity high
UNC4841 - SSL Certificate Exfiltration Via Openssl high
UNC4841 - Download Compressed Files From Temp.sh Using Wget high
UNC4841 - Download Tar File From Untrusted Direct IP Via Wget high
Payload Decoded and Decrypted via Built-in Utilities medium
Suspicious Inbox Manipulation Rules high
Suspicious XOR Encoded PowerShell Command medium
Linux Base64 Encoded Pipe to Shell medium
Linux Base64 Encoded Shebang In CLI medium
Linux Shell Pipe to Shell medium
Potential Base64 Decoded From Images high
PowerShell Decompress Commands informational
MSHTA Execution with Suspicious File Extensions high
Ping Hex IP high
PowerShell Base64 Encoded FromBase64String Cmdlet high
Base64 Encoded PowerShell Command Detected high
Potential Commandline Obfuscation Using Escape Characters medium
DNS-over-HTTPS Enabled by Registry medium
CertUtil With Decode Argument
Linux Auditd Base64 Decode Files

Malware using this technique

Threat actors using this technique

Read the full analysis on IntelFusions