Safe
Legitimate unsigned 7-Zip installer (matches official 7z2301-x64.exe) with perfect clean scans, high prevalence, and behavior consistent with SFX unpacking to standard install path.
26cb6e9f5633368212…c33b5598cdThe reasoning behind this verdict
The MT AI Engine weighs every signal from this scan — antivirus detections, sandbox behaviour, code signing, prevalence and historical matches — to reach a single, evidence-based verdict.
No engines detect malice despite good coverage, with 17 tier-1 explicitly clean. Extreme prevalence and CIRCL reference to official 7-Zip filename confirm commodity software. Synthesis heuristics trigger on typical installer actions like shell process interaction and direct IP cert checks, but no malicious outcomes (no sandbox verdicts, no bad children/hosts). Unsigned status is notable but historical reputation and file age support benign nature. Community notes are split but AV consensus dominates.
Each signal cites a concrete token from the evidence the arbiter saw — engine name, MITRE technique, signer string, or an exact count.
0/71 engines malicious (17 tier1 clean including Avast/Avira/BitDefender/Kaspersky/ESET)
prevalence.classification='common_old' (95016 submissions, 3702 uniqueSources)
externalIntel.circl.hit=true ('7z2301-x64.exe')
behaviour.filesWritten['C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7-zip.chm']
file.ageDays=1057, reputation=183
- 0 malicious engines (tier1Malicious=0)
- common_old prevalence (95k submissions)
- CIRCL hit on official 7z2301-x64.exe
- filesWritten to standard 7-Zip path
- reputation=183, age=1057 days
- unsigned (signing.signed=false)
- triggeredHeuristics['MalwareTips.Synth.ProcessInjection'] high severity
- behaviour.offensiveTechniques includes T1055 (process injection)
- some communityComments tag 'stealer/spyware'
- direct IP contacts (no DNS)
This file is safe and appears to be a legitimate 7-Zip installer. Download official signed versions from 7-zip.org to avoid unsigned copies.
What to do now
This file looks safe based on everything we checked.
This file is safe to use.
Good habit: only download files from the official website or an app store.
Keep your antivirus and Windows updates switched on so you stay protected.
What this file did when executed
This file was detonated in 1 sandbox and its runtime behaviour was observed.
Adversary techniques mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework.
- 20.99.185.48
- 192.229.211.108
- 20.99.184.37
- 23.216.147.76
- 20.99.186.246
- 23.216.147.64
- 20.69.140.28
- a83f:8110:0:0:1400:1400:2800:3800
- 20.99.133.109
- 192.168.0.1
- http://crt.sectigo.com/SectigoPublicCodeSigningCAR36.crt
- http://crt.sectigo.com/SectigoPublicCodeSigningRootR46.p7c
- http://www.microsoft.com/pki/certs/MicrosoftTimeStampPCA.crt
- http://www.microsoft.com/pki/certs/MicCodSigPCA_08-31-2010.crt
- C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7-zip.chm
- C:\Program Files\7-Zip\descript.ion
- C:\Program Files\7-Zip\History.txt
- C:\Program Files\7-Zip\Lang\af.txt
- C:\Program Files\7-Zip\Lang\an.txt
- C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\7-Zip\7-Zip File Manager.lnk
- C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\7-Zip\7-Zip Help.lnk
- C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\KnownGameList.bin
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER28E0.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml
- C:\Windows\System32\spp\store\2.0\cache\cache.dat
- cversions.3.m
- oleacc-msaa-loaded
- CTF.LBES.MutexDefaultS-1-5-21-1482476501-1645522239-1417001333-500
- CTF.Compart.MutexDefaultS-1-5-21-1482476501-1645522239-1417001333-500
- CTF.Asm.MutexDefaultS-1-5-21-1482476501-1645522239-1417001333-500
Files this sample writes at runtime
This file drops 10 children at runtime. None are currently flagged malicious in our cache.
- 7f11663757a2bdc19354…bf08faNever scannednever seen before
- 1da513f5a4e8018b9ae1…dbbf4fNever scannednever seen before
- 4db8e6da476fadef909a…5d584fNever scannednever seen before
- 8413fb6f6f8c9f31a10d…6e5ae9Never scannednever seen before
- e6a716c27f11bfadba85…7c3a6aNever scannednever seen before
- c082aed224d70a3f77e6…1fa071Never scannednever seen before
- 288ba639155a8f208c74…e4c0fcNever scannednever seen before
- c9a10ee60f89a139d363…fd133cNever scannednever seen before
- 88972f7e173cfed678fb…f0c2fdNever scannednever seen before
- 61d67f81971a8a209304…539992Never scannednever seen before
1 corroborating signal from researcher-curated sources
YARA & heuristic rule matches
A researcher-curated or high-severity heuristic rule matched this sample. These rules target specific malware families and are near-definitive.
MITRE T1055 (Process Injection) observed — CreateRemoteThread / APC / reflective-DLL injection. The payload is being smuggled into a legitimate process to bypass AV hooks.
EvidenceC:\Windows\Explorer.EXESandbox observed process activity targeting LSASS (Windows credential store). Legitimate software has no business reading LSASS memory — this is Mimikatz-shape behaviour.
EvidenceC:\Windows\system32\lsass.exeSample contacted 19 external IP address(es) and zero domains. Benign software virtually always uses DNS; no-DNS direct-IP C2 is a strong malware indicator because it bypasses reputation systems and dodges domain-based blocklists.
Evidence20.99.185.48 · 192.229.211.108 · 20.99.184.37
0 detections across 75 engines
Section entropy & packers
Section-level entropy and packer detection from the PE header. Nothing suspicious here — entropy is within the normal range for unpacked code.
How widely this file has been seen
Widely seen in the wild for a long time. High prior this is legitimate; isolated detections on common-old files are usually false positives.
Forensic fingerprint
- File name
- 7zipInstall.exe
- Size
- 1.52 MB
- MIME type
- (unknown)
- Detected type
- Win32 EXE
- SHA-256
- 26cb6e9f56333682122fafe79dbcdfd51e9f47cc7217dccd29ac6fc33b5598cd
- MD5
- e5788b13546156281bf0a4b38bdd0901
- SHA-1
- 7df28d340d7084647921cc25a8c2068bb192bdbb
- PE imphash
- cf0d2de4fd6406302012e0f40060395f
- First seen (VT)
- 6/20/2023, 6:39:11 AM
- Last analysis (VT)
- 5/7/2026, 1:55:05 PM
- First scan (MalwareTips)
- 5/12/2026, 12:15:26 AM
- Last scan (MalwareTips)
- 5/12/2026, 4:29:48 AM
- Community reputation
- +183trusted
Safety FAQ
Common questions about 7zipInstall.exe, answered from the scan data above.
- 7zipInstall.exe appears safe. 75 of 75 antivirus engines report it clean. As a habit, only run files you downloaded from the official source, since attackers sometimes distribute trojanised copies of legitimate software under the same name.
- 7zipInstall.exe is a Windows executable program, about 1.5 MB. Our analysis found no threat indicators for it. A file's name can be reused by different files, so we identify it by its cryptographic hash (below).
- None — all 75 antivirus engines we queried report 7zipInstall.exe as clean. That's reassuring, though brand-new malware can briefly evade detection before vendors add signatures, so we also weigh the file's behaviour and reputation.
- The SHA-256 hash of 7zipInstall.exe is 26cb6e9f56333682122fafe79dbcdfd51e9f47cc7217dccd29ac6fc33b5598cd, and its MD5 is e5788b13546156281bf0a4b38bdd0901. This hash is the file's unique fingerprint — two files with the same SHA-256 are identical. Use it to confirm you're looking at exactly this file (not just one with the same name) when comparing against antivirus databases or a download's published checksum.
- Based on this scan, yes — 7zipInstall.exe shows no threat indicators. The important caveat is source: make sure you downloaded it from the official website or a trusted store, because attackers sometimes distribute malware-laced copies under a legitimate file's name. If your own antivirus flags it while we report it clean, that is most often a false positive, but verify the source before overriding your antivirus.
- This report reflects the scan run on May 12, 2026. Because a file's hash never changes, the identity of 7zipInstall.exe is fixed — but antivirus coverage improves over time, so a file that looks clean today can pick up detections later (and vice-versa). If you need the latest picture, MalwareTips staff can re-run the analysis from scratch.
Reviews & malware reports(0)
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