TrickBot Uses a New Windows 10 UAC Bypass to Launch Quietly
By Lawrence Abrams
Published: 2020-01-30 · Archived: 2026-04-05 14:39:12 UTC
The TrickBot Trojan has switched to a new Windows 10 UAC bypass to execute itself with elevated privileges without
showing a User Account Control prompt.
Windows uses a security mechanism called User Account Control (UAC) that will display a prompt every time a program is
run with administrative privileges.
When these prompts are shown, they will ask logged in user if they wish to allow the program to makes changes, and if the
program is suspicious or unrecognized, allows the user to prevent the program from running.
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/trickbot-uses-a-new-windows-10-uac-bypass-to-launch-quietly/
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UAC Prompt
These UAC bypasses are found in legitimate Microsoft Windows programs that are used by the operating system to launch
other programs. As they are not considered a high priority to Microsoft, it could be a while before discovered bypasses are
fixed, if at all.
To avoid being detected, malware developers sometimes use a UAC bypass so that the malware runs with administrative
privileges, but without displaying a UAC prompt and alerting the user.
Trickbot switches to the Wsreset.exe UAC bypass
Just recently we reported that TrickBot had begun using a Windows 10 UAC bypass that utilizes the legitimate Microsoft
fodhelper.exe program.
This week, ReaQta discovered that TrickBot has now switched to a different UAC bypass that utilizes the
Wsreset.exe program.
Wsreset.exe is a legitimate Windows program used to reset the Windows Store cache.
When executed, Wsreset.exe will read a command from the default value of the
HKCU\Software\Classes\AppX82a6gwre4fdg3bt635tn5ctqjf8msdd2\Shell\open\command key and execute it.
When executing the command it will not display a UAC prompt and users will have no idea that a program has been
executed.
TrickBot is now exploiting this UAC bypass to launch itself with elevated privileges, but without the logged in Windows
user being notified by a UAC prompt.
Registry commands added by TrickBot
Source: ReaQta
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/trickbot-uses-a-new-windows-10-uac-bypass-to-launch-quietly/
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This allows the trojan to run silently in the background while it harvests saved login credentials, SSH keys, browser history,
cookies, and more.
TrickBot is particularly dangerous as it can propagate throughout the network and if it gains admin access to a domain
controller, it can steal the Active Directory database to gain further credentials on the network.
Eventually, TrickBot is known to open a reverse shell back to the Ryuk Ransomware actors so that they can encrypt the
entire compromised network.
Update 1/30/20:  MorphiSec published analysis of TrickBot using the Wsreset.exe UAC bypass and it's great read for those
who want a more technical nosedive.
H/T @gN3mes1s
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Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/trickbot-uses-a-new-windows-10-uac-bypass-to-launch-quietly/
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/trickbot-uses-a-new-windows-10-uac-bypass-to-launch-quietly/
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