A Simple Ransomware Protection
Why
We see ransomware delete all shadow copies using vssadmin
pretty often. What if we could just intercept that request and kill the invoking process? Let’s try to create a simple vaccine.

How it works
We register a debugger for vssadmin.exe
(and wmic.exe
), which is our compiled raccine.exe
. Raccine is a binary, that first collects all PIDs of the parent processes and then tries to kill all parent processes.
Avantages:
- The method is rather generic
- We don’t have to replace a system file (
vssadmin.exe
orwmic.exe
), which could lead to integrity problems and could break our raccination on each patch day - The changes are easy to undo
- Should work on all Windows versions from Windows 2000 onwards
- No running executable or additional service required (agent-less)
Disadvantages / Blind Spots:
- The legitimate use of
vssadmin.exe delete shadows
(or any other blacklisted combination) isn’t possible anymore - It even kills the processes that tried to invoke
vssadmin.exe delete shadows
, which could be a backup process - This won’t catch methods in which the malicious process isn’t one of the processes in the tree that has invoked
vssadmin.exe
(e.g. viaschtasks
)
The Process
- Invocation of
vssadmin.exe
(andwmic.exe
) gets intercepted and passed toraccine.exe
as debugger (vssadmin.exe delete shadows
becomesraccine.xe vssadmin.exe delete shadows
) - We then process the command line arguments and look for malicious combinations.
- If no malicious combination could be found, we create a new process with the original command line parameters.
- If a malicious combination could be found, we collect all PIDs of parent processes and the start killing them (this should be the malware processes as shown in the screenshots above). Raccine shows a command line window with the killed PIDs for 5 seconds and then exits itself.
Malicious combinations:
delete
andshadows
(vssadmin, diskshadow)resize
andshadowstorage
(vssadmin)delete
andshadowstorage
(vssadmin)delete
andshadowcopy
(wmic)delete
andcatalog
and-quiet
(wbadmin)win32_shadowcopy
or element from a list of encoded commands (powershell)recoveryenabled
(bcedit)ignoreallfailures
(bcedit)
Powershell list of encoded commands:
JAB, SQBFAF, SQBuAH, SUVYI, cwBhA, aWV4I, aQBlAHgA and many more
Example
Emotet without Raccine – Link

Emotet with Raccine – Link (ignore the process activity that is related to the Raccine installation)

The infection gets nipped in the bud.
Warning !!!
USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK!
You won’t be able to run commands that use the blacklisted commands on a raccinated machine anymore until your apply the uninstall patch raccine-reg-patch-uninstall.reg
. This could break various backup solutions that run that specific command during their work. It will not only block that request but kills all processes in that tree including the backup solution and its invoking process.
If you have a solid security monitoring that logs all process executions, you could check your logs to see if vssadmin.exe delete shadows
, vssadmin.exe resize shadowstorage ...
or the other blocked command lines are frequently or sporadically used for legitimate purposes in which case you should refrain from using Raccine.
Installation
Requirements
- A x64 archiutecture is required to allow the features: GUI and YARA scanning (only the basic Raccine with static filters is available as x86 executable)
- VC++ Runtime for YARA scanning (Installer contains the setup package from https://aka.ms/vs/16/release/VC_redist.x64.exe)
- Internet access for the YARA rule updates
- Windows 7 / Windows 2008 R2 and higher (unconfirmed)
Automatic Installation
- Download
Raccine.zip
from the Release section - Extract it
- Run
raccine-installer.bat

The batch installer includes an “uninstall” option.
Manual Uninstall
As Administrator do:
- Run
raccine-reg-patch-uninstall.reg
- Remove
%ProgramFiles%\Raccine
and `%ProgramData%\Raccine folders - Run
reg delete HKCU\Software\Raccine /F
- Run
taskkill /F /IM RaccineSettings.exe
- Run
reg delete "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" /V "Raccine Tray" /F
- Run
schtasks /DELETE /TN "Raccine Rules Updater" /F
Updates
Program Upgrade
We recommend an uninstall and reinstall to upgrade. An uninstall removes all registry keys with configurations.
Signature Update
Raccine has an integrated signature-updater since version 1.2. This program named RaccineRulesSync.exe
is configured to run once a day via scheduled task. You can run a signature update manually using the option in the tray icon menu.
YARA Matching
Since version 1.0, Raccine additionally uses YARA rules to determine if a process command line or parent process is malicious or not. Raccine uses 2 sets of rules for two different purposes.
./yara
– rules that get applied to the command line with all parameters, e.g.WMIC.exe delete justatest
./yara/in-memory
– rules that get applied to process memory of the parent process of our intercepted process, e.g. ransomware.exe running our intercepted process vssadmin.exe
YARA External Variables
Since version 1.1 we pass a list of external variables into the YARA matching process to allow for much more complex and clever YARA rules that take attributes of the process and its parent into account.
Variable | Description | Example Value |
---|---|---|
FromRaccine | true | |
Name | Image file name | WMIC.exe |
ExecutablePath | Full path to binary | C:\Windows\System32\wbem\WMIC.exe |
CommandLine | Full command line with parameters | WMIC.exe delete justatest |
Priority | Process priority | 32 |
ParentName | Parent image file name | cmd.exe |
ParentExecutablePath | Full path to parent executable | C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe |
ParentCommandLine | Full parent command line with parameters | C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe |
ParentPriority | Parent process priority | 32 |
The matching process looks like this on the command line:
"C:\Program Files\Raccine\yara64.exe" -d FromRaccine="true" -d Name="WMIC.exe" -d ExecutablePath="C:\Windows\System32\wbem\WMIC.exe" -d CommandLine="WMIC.exe delete justatest" -d Priority=32 -d FromRaccine="true" -d ParentName="cmd.exe" -d ParentExecutablePath="C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe" -d ParentCommandLine="'C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe' " -d ParentPriority=32 C:\ProgramData\Raccine\yarayara\mal_emotet.yar C:\ProgramData\Raccine\yara\Rac1C6A.tmp
The following listing shows an example YARA rule that makes use of the external variables in its coindition.
rule env_vars_test {
condition:
Name contains "WMIC.exe"
and CommandLine contains "delete justatest"
and ParentPriority >= 8
and (
ParentCommandLine contains "cmd"
or ParentCommandLine contains "powershell"
)
}
Deploy Configuration via GPO
The folder GPO
includes Raccine.ADMX
and Raccine.ADML
. In deployment the Raccine.ADMX
file goes in C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions
. The accompanying Raccine.ADML
files goes in C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions\en-US
.
To use: Open GPEDIT.MSC
> Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Raccine
After configuring the changes, you may need to bump gpo by running gpupdate.exe
.
Logfile
A logfile with all interceptions and actions taken is written to C:\ProgramData\Raccine\Raccine_log.txt

Windows Eventlog
An entry is generated by every blocking event in the Application
eventlog.

Simulation Mode
Since version 0.10.0, Raccine can be installed in “simulation mode”, which activates all triggers, logs all actions but doesn’t kill anything. This mode should be used in environments in which backup solutions or other legitimate software for a reasonable amount of time to check if Raccine would interfere with other software. The idea is to install Raccine in simulation mode, let it log for a week or month and then check the logs to see if it would have blocked legitimate software used in the organisation.

Screenshot
Run raccine.exe
and watch the parent process tree die (screenshot of v0.1)

GUI
Available with version 1. Can be disabled by an installer option or manually via Registry patches.


Pivot
In case that the Ransomware that your’re currently handling uses a certain process name, e.g. taskdl.exe
, you could just change the .reg
patch to intercept calls to that name and let Raccine kill all parent processes of the invoking process tree.
Raccine (this link opens in a new window) by Neo23x0 (this link opens in a new window)
A Simple Ransomware Vaccine