{
  "family": "snare",
  "sample_count": 5,
  "category": "trojan",
  "description": "Backdoor:Win32/Snare is a stealthy remote access trojan (RAT) or backdoor designed to provide threat actors with persistent, undetected, and interactive access to a compromised network. It allows attackers to exfiltrate data, monitor user activity, and deploy additional malware payloads on demand.<br><br><b>Understanding Snare</b><br>To a victim, a Snare infection is completely silent. For a SOC analyst, Snare represents a critical breach involving 'hands-on-keyboard' access. Once deployed, the attacker can seamlessly traverse the network, steal high-value credentials, exfiltrate sensitive data, and deploy further destructive payloads, all while appearing as legitimate background system activity.<br><br><b>Execution, Evasion, and Interactive Control</b><br>Snare is typically deployed by initial access brokers, dropped via exploit kits, or executed through macro-enabled spear-phishing documents (`T1566.001`). Upon execution, it heavily relies on Process Injection or Process Hollowing (`T1055`), often unpacking its payload directly into the memory space of a legitimate process like `svchost.exe`. It establishes persistence via hidden Registry keys or Services (`T1543.003`). The backdoor provides a massive suite of capabilities: live keylogging, password recovery, remote command execution (`T1059`), and the ability to seamlessly download and execute secondary malware (`T1105`). Snare often uses customized, encrypted protocols for its C2 communications to evade network IDS (`T1071.001`).<br><br><b>Indicators of Compromise & Impact</b><br>The impact is total endpoint compromise and the high probability of lateral movement across the enterprise. Host-based IoCs require careful EDR monitoring: look for legitimate system processes initiating outbound, encrypted network connections to unknown IP addresses, or anomalous child processes spawning from `explorer.exe`. Memory analysis is almost always required to locate the unencrypted Snare payload residing in hollowed memory segments.",
  "cta": "Published by the SystemHelpdesk team.",
  "aliases": [],
  "enrichment_level": "expert-seo",
  "faq": [],
  "faq_count": 0,
  "mitre_attack": [
    "T1059",
    "T1071.001",
    "T1055",
    "T1543.003"
  ],
  "cisa_advisory": null,
  "last_updated": "2026-06-09",
  "mitre_attack_detail": [
    {
      "id": "T1055",
      "name": "Process Injection",
      "tactic": "Defense Evasion"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1059",
      "name": "Command and Scripting Interpreter",
      "tactic": "Execution"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1071.001",
      "name": "Application Layer Protocol: Web Protocols (Encrypted C2)",
      "tactic": "Command and Control"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1543.003",
      "name": "Create or Modify System Process: Windows Service",
      "tactic": "Persistence"
    }
  ],
  "containment_steps": [
    "Immediately isolate the infected endpoint from the network to sever the attacker's interactive control session and halt lateral movement.",
    "Assume all credentials typed on the machine or stored locally have been stolen, and mandate immediate enterprise-wide password resets for the affected user.",
    "Perform a deep memory forensics analysis to extract the Snare payload and determine its exact C2 infrastructure for network-wide blocking.",
    "Do a thorough hunt across the environment for lateral movement, as the attacker likely used the backdoor to compromise file shares or domain controllers."
  ],
  "what_to_avoid": [
    "Do not assume the attack is thwarted if an AV engine quarantines a dropper; the Snare backdoor itself may already be running resident in memory.",
    "Avoid rebooting the machine before capturing a memory image, as the decrypted payload and critical forensic evidence will be lost."
  ],
  "target_industries": [
    "Global / Opportunistic"
  ],
  "motivation": "Opportunistic",
  "threat_actors": [
    "Unknown / Cybercriminal"
  ],
  "target_geographies": [
    "Global"
  ]
}