Detecting USB Drive

To detect whether a program is running in a sandbox environment, malware can look for the presence of USB drives. Many sandboxes do not have USB ports or do not allow access to USB drives, and detecting the absence of USB drives can help identify whether the program is being run in a sandbox.

Technique Identifiers

U1310 B0009.016

Technique Tags

sandbox program USB drives

Evasion Categories

Sandbox Evasion

Code Snippets

Description

This code uses the GetLogicalDrives function to retrieve a bitmask of all available drives on the system, and the GetDriveTypeA function to check if each drive is removable. If a removable drive is detected, the code prints its drive letter to the console.

#include <windows.h>

int main() {
    UINT drives = GetLogicalDrives();
    for (int i = 0; i < 26; i++) {
        if ((drives & (1 << i)) && GetDriveTypeA((char)('A' + i) + ":\\") == DRIVE_REMOVABLE) {
            printf("USB drive detected: %c:\n", 'A' + i);
        }
    }
    return 0;
}

About Author Open Snippet

Author: Thomas Roccia (fr0gger) / Target Platform: Windows

Additional Resources

External Links

The resources provided below are associated links that will give you even more detailed information and research on current evasion technique. It is important to note that, while these resources may be helpful, it is important to exercise caution when following external links. As always, be careful when clicking on links from unknown sources, as they may lead to malicious content.

https://www.first.org/resources/papers/conf2017/Countering-Innovative-Sandbox-Evasion-Techniques-Used-by-Malware.pdf

Created

March 11, 2019

Last Revised

March 24, 2026