Welcome to this in-depth walkthrough of the Stealer Lab, a challenging exercise designed to test and enhance your malware analysis skills. In this lab, you'll step into the role of an experienced SOC analyst tasked with investigating a malware sample that has infected your enterprise network. Your goal is to dissect the malicious binary, understand its capabilities, and extract critical indicators of compromise. This particular sample represents a sophisticated stealer malware that employs several advanced evasion techniques to hide its true nature and complicate analysis. Throughout this walkthrough, we'll explore how the malware operates, focusing on critical aspects such as its structure, anti-analysis mechanisms, encryption techniques, and command and control infrastructure. The analysis will take you on a journey through the inner workings of the malware, examining its PE file structure, unveiling its dynamic API resolution technique that uses hashing to hide imported functions, decrypting embedded strings, and identifying its communication mechanisms. We'll utilize a variety of analysis tools including PE-bear, IDA Pro, and specialized script-based tools to extract meaningful information from this threat.
By the end of this walkthrough, you'll gain insights into the techniques used by modern malware authors to evade detection and analysis, and develop practical skills for identifying similar threats in your environment. This hands-on experience will strengthen your ability to respond effectively to sophisticated malware infections and protect your organization's digital assets. Let's begin our technical journey into the heart of this malicious code.