HWMonitor Trojanized to Deliver Multi-Stage STX RAT via DLL Sideloading

    Date: 05/14/2026

    Severity: High

    Summary

    This campaign involves a trojanized version of the legitimate HWMonitor application used to deliver the STX RAT malware. The attackers leveraged DLL sideloading to execute malicious payloads through trusted binaries, helping evade detection. The infection chain included multi-stage payload delivery, persistence mechanisms, and process injection techniques for stealthy execution. The malware also established command-and-control communication over encrypted channels to maintain remote access. The campaign highlights how threat actors abuse legitimate software and trusted Windows components to bypass traditional security controls.

    Indicators of Compromise (IOC) List

    Domain : 

    https://welcome.supp0v3.com/d/callback

    http://pub-fd67c956bf8548b7b2cc23bb3774ff0c.r2.dev/hwmonitor_1.63.zip

    Hash : 

    f19f331562052baea0114d5186bbffd4

    ab122aa36bfebf4f249c4eb617e4a6cb

    D3C186869F443B6C1BE127A59B0B5A89

    ADAB6C337E403AF0040D77A56DAF3BA0

    9BF17E6525A295FB6E5EB562DEB927AE

    C781B1B559A585BB764B10176D64486C

    Gurucul Threat Detection and Incident Response (TDIR) Queries for Detection

    Detection Query 1 :

    domainname like "https://welcome.supp0v3.com/d/callback" or url like "https://welcome.supp0v3.com/d/callback" or siteurl like "https://welcome.supp0v3.com/d/callback" or domainname like "http://pub-fd67c956bf8548b7b2cc23bb3774ff0c.r2.dev/hwmonitor_1.63.zip" or url like "http://pub-fd67c956bf8548b7b2cc23bb3774ff0c.r2.dev/hwmonitor_1.63.zip" or siteurl like "http://pub-fd67c956bf8548b7b2cc23bb3774ff0c.r2.dev/hwmonitor_1.63.zip"

    Detection Query 3 :

    md5hash IN ("f19f331562052baea0114d5186bbffd4","ADAB6C337E403AF0040D77A56DAF3BA0","C781B1B559A585BB764B10176D64486C","ab122aa36bfebf4f249c4eb617e4a6cb","D3C186869F443B6C1BE127A59B0B5A89","9BF17E6525A295FB6E5EB562DEB927AE")

    Reference:    

    https://gurucul.com/blog/hwmonitor-trojanized-to-deliver-multi-stage-stx-rat-via-dll-sideloading/ 


    Tags

    MalwareThreat ActorRATSocial EngineeringHVNCDLLSideLoading

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