Ldpinch
Overview
Executive Summary
LDPinch (also known as Pinch) is a legacy, highly successful Information Stealer (InfoStealer) Trojan. While extremely prevalent in the mid-to-late 2000s, its source code has been widely distributed, leading to numerous modern variants. Its primary objective is the rapid, covert extraction of saved passwords, system configurations, and cryptographic keys from an infected Windows host, immediately exfiltrating the data back to the attacker.Infection Vector and Technical Capabilities
LDPinch is typically distributed via malicious email attachments (often utilizing archive formats like ZIP or RAR to evade basic scanning), disguised as game cracks on P2P networks, or dropped by exploiting unpatched browser vulnerabilities. Its technical design is focused entirely on fast credential harvesting:- Comprehensive Password Extraction: LDPinch contains specialized modules to decrypt and steal saved credentials from a massive array of software. This includes web browsers (IE, Firefox), email clients (Outlook, The Bat!), FTP clients (CuteFTP, WS_FTP), and instant messaging applications (ICQ, AIM).
- System Profiling: Before exfiltration, it gathers a detailed system profile, including installed software, network configuration, and active processes, which is highly valuable to attackers planning subsequent attacks.
- Rapid Exfiltration: Unlike a RAT, LDPinch does not typically maintain a long-term interactive session. It is a "smash and grab" tool. It harvests the data, compresses it (often encrypting it), and sends it to the attacker via SMTP (email), FTP upload, or HTTP POST, and then frequently deletes itself to hide its tracks.
Threat Assessment
An LDPinch infection is an immediate data breach. The theft of corporate email, VPN, or FTP credentials provides the attacker with direct, authenticated access to the internal network, bypassing perimeter defenses and paving the way for data extortion or ransomware deployment.Incident Response and Remediation
- Global Credential Reset: The absolute highest priority is a mandatory password reset for all accounts used on the compromised machine. Because it steals FTP and remote access credentials, these must be secured instantly.
- Egress Traffic Review: Check firewall logs for anomalous outbound SMTP (Port 25) or FTP (Port 21) connections originating from the infected endpoint, which may indicate where the stolen data was sent.
- EDR Sweep: Utilize EDR to ensure the LDPinch executable has been removed. Even if it deleted itself, it is crucial to verify that it did not download a secondary payload before terminating.
Known aliases
Threat reports may refer to this family under multiple names:
MITRE ATT&CK Techniques
This family has been observed using the following ATT&CK techniques: T1555 T1005 T1048
Generated Detections (Boilerplate)
These YARA and Sigma rules are auto-generated based on the family name and aliases. They must be heavily tuned before deployment in a production environment.
YARA Rule
rule MALWARE_WIN_LDPINCH {
meta:
description = "Detects Ldpinch (ransomware)"
author = "SystemHelpdesk Boilerplate Generator"
date = "2026-07-06"
strings:
$s1 = "ldpinch" ascii wide nocase
$s2 = "infostealer.ldpinch" ascii wide nocase
$s3 = "trojan-psw.win32.ldpinch" ascii wide nocase
$s4 = "pinch" ascii wide nocase
condition:
uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and any of them
}Sigma Rule
title: Suspicious Ldpinch Activity
id: 8018bfd2cb69c3edc6ef3bbe7d363f44
status: experimental
description: Detects generic indicators of the ldpinch malware family.
logsource:
category: process_creation
product: windows
detection:
selection:
Image|endswith:
- '\cmd.exe'
- '\powershell.exe'
CommandLine|contains:
- "*ldpinch*"
- "*infostealer.ldpinch*"
- "*trojan-psw.win32.ldpinch*"
- "*pinch*"
condition: selection
level: mediumReferences & External Analysis
- Search "ldpinch" on VirusTotal (External Analysis)
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I learn more about ldpinch?
Refer to the linked MITRE ATT&CK technique pages, which document the behaviors associated with this family.
How do I remove the Ldpinch Ransomware from Windows?
Manual removal of Ldpinch is highly discouraged as it may leave persistence mechanisms intact. We recommend disconnecting the device from the internet and utilizing a professional incident response service or enterprise-grade EDR software to conduct a full forensic sweep.
Is Ldpinch a virus or a Ransomware?
Ldpinch is classified as a Ransomware. Unlike traditional viruses that infect files, modern malware like Ldpinch typically operates as a standalone payload designed to compromise systems, steal data, or deploy secondary stage implants.
What are the main symptoms of a Ldpinch infection?
Symptoms of Ldpinch can include unexpected system slowness, unauthorized outbound network traffic to unknown IP addresses, disabled security software, and suspicious background processes running from AppData or Temp directories.
Related Families (Category: ransomware)
Explore other malware families in the same category:
Protect Your Network Against Ransomwares
Want to prevent Ldpinch and similar threats from compromising your organization? Read our comprehensive defensive guide: Ransomware Protection Guide.
Machine-readable
Get this profile as JSON: https://jordan123234-malware-families-explorer.static.hf.space/api/ldpinch.json
Ecosystem & Interactive Environments
This profile is part of the Malware Families Catalog, a public dataset of 2,899 malware families. The catalog is also published across our ecosystem: Hugging Face, Kaggle, Zenodo, Replit, StackBlitz, CodeSandbox, and CodePen.