Xtrat

Overview

Xtreme RAT (also known as XTRAT and ExtRat) is a Windows remote access trojan. As documented by Malpedia (Fraunhofer FKIE), which cites Trend Micro, it is a backdoor that allows a remote attacker to steal information and control an infected system. It has been used in targeted attacks, including 2012 campaigns against Israeli and Syrian government targets, and is associated with the Molerats threat actor. Its capabilities include file management (downloading, uploading, and executing files), registry management, executing shell commands, computer control (such as shutdown and logging the user on or off), screen capture, and logging keystrokes on infected systems.

Known aliases

Threat reports may refer to this family under multiple names:

• xtreme rat
• xtremerat
• xrat

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

This family has been observed using the following ATT&CK techniques: T1059.003 T1056.001 T1113 T1125 T1105 T1071.001

Tactical Mitigations

Based on the techniques used by this family, consider the following defensive strategies:

• T1056.001: Implement Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) to monitor for suspicious API calls related to keystroke interception. Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to render stolen passwords useless.
• T1059.003: Restrict execution of Windows Command Shell (cmd.exe) and block unauthorized batch scripts.
• T1071.001: Implement web filtering and SSL/TLS inspection to detect malicious command and control (C2) traffic hiding in HTTP/HTTPS.
• T1105: Implement network intrusion detection systems (NIDS) and host-based firewalls to block unauthorized inbound or outbound file transfers.
• T1113: Monitor for frequent or unauthorized screen captures or clipboard reads. Restrict background applications from accessing desktop APIs.
• T1125: Restrict access to local camera or microphone APIs. Utilize endpoint protection that monitors hardware access.

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_XTRAT {
    meta:
        description = "Detects Xtrat (rat)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Boilerplate Generator"
        date = "2026-07-06"
    strings:
        $s1 = "xtrat" ascii wide nocase
        $s2 = "xtreme rat" ascii wide nocase
        $s3 = "xtremerat" ascii wide nocase
        $s4 = "xrat" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and any of them
}

Sigma Rule

title: Suspicious Xtrat Activity
id: b6517930d2bcf040321a75d630c20717
status: experimental
description: Detects generic indicators of the xtrat malware family.
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith:
            - '\cmd.exe'
            - '\powershell.exe'
        CommandLine|contains:
            - "*xtrat*"
            - "*xtreme rat*"
            - "*xtremerat*"
            - "*xrat*"
    condition: selection
level: medium

References & External Analysis

• Malpedia (Fraunhofer FKIE): Xtreme RAT (win.extreme_rat)
• Search "xtrat" on VirusTotal (External Analysis)

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Families (Category: rat)

Explore other malware families in the same category:

• Hupigon
• Remcos
• Nanocore
• Rebhip
• Gh0St

Machine-readable

Get this profile as JSON: https://jordan123234-malware-families-explorer.static.hf.space/api/xtrat.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.