• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

Allianz Life data breach exposed the data of most of its 1.4M customers

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 55

 | 

Security Affairs newsletter Round 534 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

 | 

Law enforcement operations seized BlackSuit ransomware gang’s darknet sites

 | 

Arizona woman sentenced for aiding North Korea in U.S. IT job fraud scheme

 | 

Operation CargoTalon targets Russia’s aerospace with EAGLET malware,

 | 

Unpatched flaw in EoL LG LNV5110R cameras lets hackers gain Admin access

 | 

Koske, a new AI-Generated Linux malware appears in the threat landscape

 | 

Mitel patches critical MiVoice MX-ONE Auth bypass flaw

 | 

Coyote malware is first-ever malware abusing Windows UI Automation

 | 

SonicWall fixed critical flaw in SMA 100 devices exploited in Overstep malware attacks

 | 

DSPM & AI Are Booming: $17.87B and $4.8T Markets by 2033

 | 

Stealth backdoor found in WordPress mu-Plugins folder

 | 

U.S. CISA adds CrushFTP, Google Chromium, and SysAid flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

U.S. CISA urges FCEB agencies to fix two Microsoft SharePoint flaws immediately and added them to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Sophos fixed two critical Sophos Firewall vulnerabilities

 | 

French Authorities confirm XSS.is admin arrested in Ukraine

 | 

Microsoft linked attacks on SharePoint flaws to China-nexus actors

 | 

Cisco confirms active exploitation of ISE and ISE-PIC flaws

 | 

SharePoint under fire: new ToolShell attacks target enterprises

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Breaking News
  • Cyber Crime
  • Malware
  • Decryptor for Tortilla variant of Babuk ransomware released

Decryptor for Tortilla variant of Babuk ransomware released

Pierluigi Paganini January 10, 2024

Researchers and the Dutch Police released a decryptor for the Tortilla variant of the Babuk ransomware after the arrest of its operator.

Cisco Talos researchers obtained a decryptor for the Babuk Tortilla ransomware variant. The experts were able to extract and share the private decryption key used by the ransomware operators.

Talos experts shared the key with Avast that added it to the Avast Babuk decryptor released in 2021. The decryptor allows victims of the ransomware to recover their encrypted files. 

Dutch Police used threat intelligence supplied by Talos to identify the threat actor behind Babuk Tortilla operations.

“Dutch Police used the intelligence provided by Talos to discover and apprehend the actor behind this malware. During the Amsterdam Police operation, Talos obtained and analyzed the decryptor, recovered the decryption key and shared the key with engineers from Avast Threat Labs in charge of development and maintenance of the decryptor for several other Babuk variants.” reports Cisco Talos. “The generic Avast Babuk decryptor was already used as the de facto industry standard Babuk decryptor by many affected users and it made perfect sense to be updated with the keys Talos recovered from the Tortilla decryptor. This way, the users can access programs such as NoMoreRansom to download the single decryptor containing all currently known Babuk keys and do not have to choose between competing decryptors for individual variants.“

In May 2023, SentinelLabs researchers announced to have identified 10 ransomware families using VMware ESXi lockers based on the source code of the Babuk ransomware that was leaked in 2021.

The experts pointed out that these ransomware families were detected through H2 2022 and H1 2023, a circumstance that suggests that an increasing number of threat actors is using the source code of the Babuk ransomware.

The experts explained that the availability of the leaked source code allow threat actors to create a ransomware to target Linux systems, even if they lack of expertise.

SentinelLabs researchers compiled an unstripped Babuk binary to establish a baseline of the Babuk ransomware (‘Baseline Babuk’) and compared the detected variants to it.

The researchers discovered the following variants that are based on the Babuk ESXi source code:

  • Babuk 2023 that emerged in March 2023 on Bleeping Computer’s forum as highlighted by @malwrhunterteam. 
  • Play (.FinDom) with artifacts associated with Play Ransomware.
  • Mario (.emario) operated by Ransom House.
  • Conti POC (.conti)
  • REvil aka Revix (.rhkrc)
  • Cylance ransomware (unrelated to the security company of the same name)
  • Dataf Locker
  • Rorschach aka BabLock
  • Lock4
  • RTM Locker (per Uptycs)

SentinelOne added that there are other unique ESXi ransomware families, such as ALPHV, BlackBasta, Hive, and Lockbit, that are bot based on Babuk.

However, the experts found “little similarity” between ESXiArgs and Babuk which caused wrong attribution.

“Babuk is occasionally blamed in error, too. Reports on the February ESXiArgs campaign–which briefly devastated some unpatched cloud services–claim the eponymous locker is derived from Babuk. However, our analysis found little similarity between ESXiArgs and Babuk. The only noteworthy similarity is the use of the same open-source Sosemanuk encryption implementation. The main function is entirely different, as shown below.” reads the report published by Sentinelone.

The analysis published by SentinelOne revealed that Conti and REvil ESXi lockers overlap with the Babuk ransomware code.

However, while REvil was likely a tentative, the experts speculate that the Babuk, Conti, and REvil gangs potentially outsourced an ESXi locker project to the same developer.

The two ransomware operations may have experienced small leaks or they have collaborated by sharing the code.

“Based on the popularity of Babuk’s ESXi locker code, actors may also turn to the group’s Go-based NAS locker. Golang remains a niche choice for many actors, but it continues to increase in popularity.” concludes the report.

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Babuk ransomware)


facebook linkedin twitter

Babuk ransomware Cybercrime Hacking hacking news information security news IT Information Security malware Pierluigi Paganini Security Affairs Security News

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 27, 2025
Allianz Life data breach exposed the data of most of its 1.4M customers
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 27, 2025
SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 55
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    Allianz Life data breach exposed the data of most of its 1.4M customers

    Data Breach / July 27, 2025

    SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 55

    Malware / July 27, 2025

    Security Affairs newsletter Round 534 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

    Breaking News / July 27, 2025

    Law enforcement operations seized BlackSuit ransomware gang’s darknet sites

    Cyber Crime / July 26, 2025

    Arizona woman sentenced for aiding North Korea in U.S. IT job fraud scheme

    Intelligence / July 26, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT