Escargot01byueMeat

Hunt Hypothesis

This YARA rule targets specific memory patterns or code structures associated with the Escargot malware family, indicating potential in-memory execution or obfuscated payload deployment. Proactively hunting for these signatures allows the SOC team to identify low-severity, stealthy intrusions that may evade traditional network-based detections before they progress to lateral movement or data exfiltration.

YARA Rule

rule Escargot01byueMeat
{
      meta:
		author="malware-lu"
strings:
		$a0 = { EB 08 28 65 73 63 30 2E 31 29 60 68 2B [3] 64 FF 35 00 00 00 00 64 89 25 00 00 00 00 B8 5C [3] 8B 00 FF D0 50 BE 00 10 [2] B9 00 [2] 00 EB 05 49 80 34 31 40 0B C9 75 F7 58 0B C0 74 08 33 C0 C7 00 DE C0 AD 0B BE [4] E9 AC 00 00 00 8B 46 0C BB 00 00 [2] 03 C3 50 50 B8 54 [3] 8B 00 FF D0 5F 80 3F 00 74 06 C6 07 00 47 EB F5 33 FF 8B 16 0B D2 75 03 8B 56 10 03 D3 03 D7 8B 0A C7 02 00 00 00 00 0B C9 74 4B F7 C1 00 00 00 80 74 14 81 E1 FF FF 00 00 50 51 50 B8 50 }

condition:
		$a0
}

Deployment Notes

This YARA rule can be deployed in the following contexts:

• Microsoft Defender for Endpoint — Custom indicators / advanced hunting
• Email Gateway — Attachment scanning
• File Share Monitoring — Periodic scanning of shared drives
• YARA CLI — Manual threat hunting on endpoints

This rule contains 1 string patterns in its detection logic.

• Source Rule

False Positive Guidance

• Scenario: A legacy Java application server (e.g., Tomcat or WildFly) is running a custom build that includes a specific bytecode pattern or obfuscated library named Escargot01byueMeat as part of its internal module structure.
  • Filter/Exclusion: Exclude files located in the application’s lib/ or modules/ directories, or exclude processes where the parent process is java.exe and the file path matches C:\Program Files\Java\*.
• Scenario: A developer is using a specialized IDE plugin or a custom build tool (e.g., a modified version of Maven or Gradle) that generates a temporary JAR or class file with this specific identifier during the compilation or packaging phase.
  • Filter/Exclusion: Exclude files in temporary build directories such as C:\Users\<User>\.m2\repository\ or C:\Users\<User>\.gradle\caches\, or exclude files with a .jar extension created within the last 15 minutes in a known development workspace.
• Scenario: An automated backup or snapshot agent (e.g., Veeam, Commvault, or Windows Server Backup) creates a shadow copy or temporary archive file that inherits the name Escargot01byueMeat from a source file or metadata tag.
  • Filter/Exclusion: Exclude files in backup-specific directories like C:\ProgramData\Veeam\Backup\ or C:\Windows\Temp\ where the parent process is a known backup service executable (e.g., vscan.exe, cvp.exe).
• Scenario: A third-party middleware component or ESB (Enterprise Service Bus) like MuleSoft or Apache Camel uses a custom connector or plugin jar named Escargot01byueMeat.jar