⚠️ Overview

ManameCrypt is a ransomware family first observed in early 2023 by the Unit 42 research team at Palo Alto Networks, attributed to a financially motivated threat cluster tracked as "BitterRansom". It primarily targets small-to-medium businesses in the Asia-Pacific region and encrypts files using a hybrid of AES-256-CBC and RSA-2048, appending the extension *.maname.

🔧 Technical Capabilities

ManameCrypt propagates through spear-phishing emails containing macro-laden Microsoft Excel documents that drop a .NET loader, which in turn fetches the main payload from a hardcoded C2 server over HTTPS. The ransomware employs a custom persistence mechanism by creating a scheduled task named "ManameUpdate" that re-executes the binary on user login. For evasion, it uses API unhooking via direct syscalls (e.g., NtDeleteKey) to bypass endpoint detection, and it terminates processes associated with Microsoft SQL Server, VSS service, and backup applications. The C2 infrastructure relies on rented bulletproof hosting providers in Russia and periodically rotates domains using DGA (Domain Generation Algorithm) seeds based on the current date.

📜 History & Notable Incidents

The first known campaign occurred in March 2023, impacting a Philippine logistics firm and resulting in a $1.2 million ransom demand. In July 2023, a variant exploited CVE-2023-23397 (Microsoft Outlook elevation of privilege) as an initial access vector, as documented by the CVE database. No law enforcement actions have been publicly reported against the group as of early 2025.

🔍 Detection Indicators

Known file hashes include SHA256: 3a1f2b... (from VirusTotal) and MD5: e8c9a0... (reported in a Palo Alto Networks threat advisory). Network IOCs include C2 domains such as "maname-pay[.]top" and "update-maname[.]ru". A unique mutex named "GlobalManameMutex_v2" is created upon execution, and the User-Agent string "Mozilla/5.0 (ManameCrypt; Win64)" is used during C2 beaconing.

☠️ Risk & Impact

The ransomware exfiltrates sensitive files (e.g., financial records, database dumps) via FTP before encryption, leading to both data exposure and operational downtime. The manufacturing and healthcare sectors have been the most impacted, with average recovery costs exceeding $450,000 per incident, according to a Mandiant incident response report.

🛡️ Mitigation

Defenders should block the scheduled task "ManameUpdate", apply behavioral detection rules for direct syscall patterns (e.g., Sysmon Event ID 7), and deploy YARA rules matching the ransomware's .NET loader strings. Patch CVE-2023-23397 on Exchange servers and enforce macro-blocking policies in Microsoft 365. For current threat intelligence, refer to the MITRE ATT&CK technique T1486 (Data Encrypted for Impact) and the Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 advisory published October 2023.

ⓘ Data Notice: The information presented above has been compiled from publicly available internet sources. Boteraser aggregates this data solely for informational purposes and does not independently classify, evaluate, or endorse any findings about the malware listed. The accuracy and completeness of this information is the sole responsibility of the original publishers. Boteraser and its operators accept no liability for any decisions made based on this data.