Suspicious IP Addresses Avoided by Malware Samples

Published: 2023-07-26
Last Updated: 2023-07-26 05:49:03 UTC
by Xavier Mertens (Version: 1)

Modern malware samples implement a lot of anti-debugging and anti-analysis techniques. The idea is to slow down the malware analyst's job or, more simply, to bypass security solutions like sandboxes. These days, I see more and more malware samples written in Python that have these built-in capabilities. One of them is the detection of “suspicious” IP addresses.

The last one I found has the SHA256 9d4d651095f9e03a0321def2dc47252ed22334664218f3df9e2f3dbbf99cdc1b with a VT score of 8/57[1].

Here is a common code snippet:

def check_ip():
    blacklisted = { ... }
    while True:
        try:
            ip = urllib.request.urlopen('https://checkip.amazonaws.com').read().decode().strip()
            if ip in blacklisted:
                exit_program('Blacklisted IP Detected')
            return
        except:
            pass

The malware will query the public IP address of the host where it is running and, if it is present on the “blacklisted” list, it will exit… But what are these IP addresses? I had a look at them and here is the list:

IP Address	PTR Record	AS Name	AS Country	Attacks (ISC)	Count (ISC)
20[.]99[.]160[.]173	NXDOMAIN	MICROSOFT-CORP-MSN-AS-BLOCK	US	0	0
23[.]128[.]248[.]46	tor-exit46[.]stormycloud[.]org	DATAIDEAS-LLC	US	0	0
34[.]105[.]0[.]27	27[.]0[.]105[.]34[.]bc[.]googleusercontent[.]com	GOOGLE-CLOUD-PLATFORM	US	0	0
34[.]105[.]183[.]68	68[.]183[.]105[.]34[.]bc[.]googleusercontent[.]com	GOOGLE-CLOUD-PLATFORM	US	21	32
34[.]105[.]72[.]241	241[.]72[.]105[.]34[.]bc[.]googleusercontent[.]com	GOOGLE-CLOUD-PLATFORM	US	0	0
34[.]138[.]96[.]23	23[.]96[.]138[.]34[.]bc[.]googleusercontent[.]com	GOOGLE-CLOUD-PLATFORM	US	0	0
34[.]141[.]146[.]114	114[.]146[.]141[.]34[.]bc[.]googleusercontent[.]com	GOOGLE-CLOUD-PLATFORM	US	19	28
34[.]141[.]245[.]25	25[.]245[.]141[.]34[.]bc[.]googleusercontent[.]com	GOOGLE-CLOUD-PLATFORM	US	35	51
34[.]142[.]74[.]220	220[.]74[.]142[.]34[.]bc[.]googleusercontent[.]com	GOOGLE	US	0	0
34[.]145[.]195[.]58	58[.]195[.]145[.]34[.]bc[.]googleusercontent[.]com	GOOGLE-CLOUD-PLATFORM	US	0	0
34[.]145[.]89[.]174	174[.]89[.]145[.]34[.]bc[.]googleusercontent[.]com	GOOGLE	US	0	0
34[.]253[.]248[.]228	ec2-34-253-248-228[.]eu-west-1[.]compute[.]amazonaws[.]com	AMAZON-02	US	0	0
34[.]83[.]46[.]130	130[.]46[.]83[.]34[.]bc[.]googleusercontent[.]com[	GOOGLE-CLOUD-PLATFORM	US	0	0
34[.]85[.]243[.]241	241[.]243[.]85[.]34[.]bc[.]googleusercontent[.]com	GOOGLE-CLOUD-PLATFORM	US	0	0
34[.]85[.]253[.]170	170[.]253[.]85[.]34[.]bc[.]googleusercontent[.]com	GOOGLE-CLOUD-PLATFORM	US	0	0
35[.]192[.]93[.]107	107[.]93[.]192[.]35[.]bc[.]googleusercontent[.]com	GOOGLE	US	0	0
35[.]199[.]6[.]13	13[.]6[.]199[.]35[.]bc[.]googleusercontent[.]com	GOOGLE	US	0	0
35[.]229[.]69[.]227	227[.]69[.]229[.]35[.]bc[.]googleusercontent[.]com	GOOGLE	US	0	0
35[.]237[.]47[.]12	12[.]47[.]237[.]35[.]bc[.]googleusercontent[.]com	GOOGLE	US	0	0
64[.]124[.]12[.]162	64[.]124[.]12[.]162[.]IDIA-144793-004-ZYO[.]zip[.]zayo[.]com	ZAYO-6461	US	0	0
78[.]139[.]8[.]50	catv-78-139-8-50[.]catv[.]fixed[.]vodafone[.]hu	ASN-VODAFONE-	HU	0	0
79[.]104[.]209[.]33	NXDOMAIN	SOVAM-AS	RU	0	0
80[.]211[.]0[.]97	host97-0-211-80[.]serverdedicati[.]aruba[.]it	ARUBA-ASN	IT	0	0
84[.]147[.]54[.]113	p54933671[.]dip0[.]t-ipconnect[.]de	DTAG Internet service provider operations	DE	0	0
84[.]147[.]62[.]12	p54933e0c[.]dip0[.]t-ipconnect[.]de	DTAG Internet service provider operations	DE	0	0
87[.]166[.]50[.]213	p57a632d5[.]dip0[.]t-ipconnect[.]de	DTAG Internet service provider operations	DE	0	0
88[.]132[.]225[.]100	host-88-132-225-100[.]kabelszat2002[.]hu	GAX-KABELSZAT	HU	0	0
88[.]132[.]226[.]203	host-88-132-226-203[.]kabelszat2002[.]hu	GAX-KABELSZAT	HU	0	0
88[.]132[.]227[.]238	host-88-132-227-238[.]kabelszat2002[.]hu	GAX-KABELSZAT	HU	0	0
88[.]132[.]231[.]71	host-88-132-231-71[.]kabelszat2002[.]hu	GAX-KABELSZAT	HU	0	0
88[.]153[.]199[.]169	ip-088-153-199-169[.]um27[.]pools[.]vodafone-ip[.]de	VODANET International IP-Backbone of Vodafone	DE	0	0
92[.]211[.]109[.]160	ipservice-092-211-109-160[.]092[.]211[.]pools[.]vodafone-ip[.]de	VODANET International IP-Backbone of Vodafone	DE	0	0
92[.]211[.]192[.]144	ipservice-092-211-192-144[.]092[.]211[.]pools[.]vodafone-ip[.]de	VODANET International IP-Backbone of Vodafone	DE	0	0
92[.]211[.]52[.]62	ipservice-092-211-052-062[.]092[.]211[.]pools[.]vodafone-ip[.]de	VODANET International IP-Backbone of Vodafone	DE	0	0
92[.]211[.]55[.]199	ipservice-092-211-055-199[.]092[.]211[.]pools[.]vodafone-ip[.]de	VODANET International IP-Backbone of Vodafone	DE	0	0
93[.]216[.]75[.]209	p5dd84bd1[.]dip0[.]t-ipconnect[.]de	DTAG Internet service provider operations	DE	0	0
95[.]25[.]204[.]90	95-25-204-90[.]broadband[.]corbina[.]ru	CORBINA-AS OJSC Vimpelcom	RU	0	0
95[.]25[.]81[.]24	95-25-81-24[.]broadband[.]corbina[.]ru	CORBINA-AS OJSC Vimpelcom	RU	0	0
104[.]18[.]12[.]38	NXDOMAIN	CLOUDFLARENET	US	0	0
109[.]145[.]173[.]169	host109-145-173-169[.]range109-145[.]btcentralplus[.]com	BT-UK-AS BTnet UK Regional network	GB	0	0
109[.]74[.]154[.]90	SERVFAIL	VNET-AS	SK	0	0
109[.]74[.]154[.]91	SERVFAIL	VNET-AS	SK	0	0
109[.]74[.]154[.]92	SERVFAIL	VNET-AS	SK	0	0
178[.]239[.]165[.]70	70[.]165[.]239[.]178[.]baremetal[.]zare[.]com	BANDWIDTH-AS	GB	1	1
188[.]105[.]91[.]116	dslb-188-105-091-116[.]188[.]105[.]pools[.]vodafone-ip[.]de	VODANET International IP-Backbone of Vodafone	DE	0	0
188[.]105[.]91[.]143	dslb-188-105-091-143[.]188[.]105[.]pools[.]vodafone-ip[.]de	VODANET International IP-Backbone of Vodafone	DE	0	0
188[.]105[.]91[.]173	dslb-188-105-091-173[.]188[.]105[.]pools[.]vodafone-ip[.]de	VODANET International IP-Backbone of Vodafone	DE	0	0
192[.]211[.]110[.]74	NXDOMAIN	DNIC-ASBLK-00721-00726	US	0	0
192[.]40[.]57[.]234	NXDOMAIN	PERFORMIVE	US	0	0
192[.]87[.]28[.]103	192[.]87[.]28[.]103[.]dyn[.]centr[.]nl	SURFNET-NL SURFnet, The Netherlands	NL	1	1
193[.]128[.]114[.]45	h193-128-114-45[.]ptr[.]roamsite[.]com	UUNET	US	0	0
193[.]225[.]193[.]201	NXDOMAIN	HBONE-AS KIFU	HU	0	0
194[.]154[.]78[.]160	SERVFAIL	SOVAM-AS	RU	0	0
195[.]181[.]175[.]105	unn-195-181-175-105[.]datapacket[.]com	CDN77 \\^_^	GB	0	0
195[.]239[.]51[.]3	NXDOMAIN	SOVAM-AS	RU	0	0
195[.]239[.]51[.]59	NXDOMAIN	SOVAM-AS	RU	0	0
195[.]74[.]76[.]222	r-222[.]76[.]74[.]195[.]ptr[.]avast[.]com	AVAST-AS-DC	CZ	0	0
212[.]119[.]227[.]151	NXDOMAIN	SOVAM-AS	RU	0	0
212[.]119[.]227[.]167	NXDOMAIN	SOVAM-AS	RU	0	0
213[.]33[.]142[.]50	mail[.]areal-hotel[.]ru	SOVAM-AS	RU	0	0

Most of these IP addresses belong to major cloud providers. You can also see that some of them have a non-zero number of attacks/counts (results extracted from our AP[2]). Probably most of them are sandboxes or analysis systems deployed by security companies or researchers? I did a quick nmap scan of them and most do not export any port/service.

In the case above, the IP address verification is not performed to detect if the computers is an interesting host to infect or not (classic scenario: when country "x" would like to attack country "y"). In such scenario, the performed tests will rely on big IP pools used by Internet providers, the keyboard mapping, the OS language, etc...

I will keep this list of IP addresses up-to-date amongst my discovered samples and see if there are big changes.

[1] https://www[.]virustotal[.]com/gui/file/9d4d651095f9e03a0321def2dc47252ed22334664218f3df9e2f3dbbf99cdc1b
[2] https://isc.sans.edu/api/

Xavier Mertens (@xme)
Xameco
Senior ISC Handler - Freelance Cyber Security Consultant
PGP Key

Keywords: Addresses Blacklist Blocklist Evasion IP Malware

3 comment(s)

Comments

It is hard to block the IP list as you mentioned must of those belongs to the cloud platforms, blocking those IP addresses means that the malware can change at any time.
In your experience does a AI monitoring tool could be effective to detect and protect this kind of behaviour?

appears to overlap with skuId, analyzed by Trellix, right?
https://www.trellix.com/en-ca/about/newsroom/stories/research/skuld-the-infostealer-that-speaks-golang.html

We found similar behavior from a phishing attempt in an O365 javascript credential stealer a few days ago: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/a7764ca070c1990235a51447a2a743b89f55cd63a27f3f0086cd50584f62ebea/community. VT scored 0/59 on this sample.

Internet Storm Center

Suspicious IP Addresses Avoided by Malware Samples

Comments

DQC

Jul 27th 2023
9 months ago

Dennis K

Jul 27th 2023
9 months ago

newyork167

Jul 29th 2023
8 months ago

Suspicious IP Addresses Avoided by Malware Samples

Comments

DQC

Jul 27th 20239 months ago

Dennis K

Jul 27th 20239 months ago

newyork167

Jul 29th 20238 months ago

Jul 27th 2023
9 months ago

Jul 27th 2023
9 months ago

Jul 29th 2023
8 months ago