Is Gothic.exe safe?
Only APEX flagged this long-established file, while 17 tier-1 engines, completed runtime checks, child inspection, and host-reputation checks supplied no corroborating threat evidence.
Only 1 of 75 engines detected the file, and that result came from low-trust APEX while every tier-1 engine remained silent. Although runtime mapping includes process injection and service creation, the completed sandbox produced no malicious verdict, all observed hosts were covered without hostile findings, and none of the ten inspected children was identified as malware.
4a6920bf69a259efdb…0026e9439effbcRecommended next actions
Before running
Run it only when it came from the developer's official site or another source you independently trust.
If you already ran it
Keep normal device protection enabled and stop if the file behaves unexpectedly.
Intelligence
The saved assessment, checked against the scan evidence and recorded coverage.
The reasoning behind this verdict
This section explains the evidence supporting the verdict and keeps conflicting or missing signals visible.
Only 1 of 75 engines detected the file, and that result came from low-trust APEX while every tier-1 engine remained silent. Although runtime mapping includes process injection and service creation, the completed sandbox produced no malicious verdict, all observed hosts were covered without hostile findings, and none of the ten inspected children was identified as malware.
The antivirus result is dominated by a single generic APEX detection among 75 engines, with no tier-1 detection or family consensus. The file has circulated since 2009 and has been submitted 339 times by 267 sources, which provides substantial history. One completed sandbox recorded EdgeUpdate-related activity and did not produce a malicious runtime verdict. All 12 distinct contacted domains were covered by the host-reputation cross-check, with no malicious or suspicious entries, and ten dropped children yielded no identified malicious child. T1055 and T1543.003 remain meaningful caution signals, but they lack corroboration from engines, external intelligence, network reputation, or child analysis. Overall, the lone detection is most consistent with a heuristic false positive.
What We Detected
APEX was the only engine to flag the sample: 1 of 75 engines. All 17 tier-1 engines reported no detection, and no engine family consensus, research-rule match, or known-malware intelligence hit was present. The file is unsigned, but it is also long-established, first observed in 2009 and submitted 339 times by 267 sources.
Threat Behavior
One completed sandbox recorded activity mapped to T1055 and T1543.003, including a possible process-injection signal. However, the runtime verdict was not malicious, and much of the recorded filesystem, registry, and mutex activity referenced Microsoft EdgeUpdate components. The reputation check covered all 12 distinct contacted domains and found no known-malicious or suspicious hosts. Ten dropped children were inspected, with none identified as malicious, while static PE analysis found neither packing nor high-entropy code.
What To Do Now
Keep endpoint protection enabled and obtain the executable from its original trusted distribution source when possible. If its source is unknown or its observed Edge-update activity is unexpected for the intended program, verify the SHA-256 hash and test it in an isolated environment before normal use.
Where this verdict could be wrong3 caveats
- The executable is unsigned even though signing.applicable=true, so no publisher identity can be authenticated.
- Runtime evidence includes offensive techniques T1055 and T1543.003, including a high-severity process-injection heuristic; these mappings warrant caution despite lacking corroboration.
- The sandbox recorded long-sleep and debugging-environment indicators, which can reflect evasion but can also occur in older or complex software.
These are the assessment's weak points. If you believe one applies to your file, report the verdict and we'll re-review it.
- Only 1 of 75 engines detected the file
- All 17 tier-1 engines reported no detection
- Established history since 2009 across 267 sources
- No malicious or suspicious hosts among all 12 covered domains
- No malicious child among 10 inspected dropped files
- Unsigned Win32 executable
- Runtime mapping includes MITRE T1055 process injection
- Runtime mapping includes MITRE T1543.003 Windows service activity
- Long-sleep and debugging-environment indicators
- One generic low-trust engine detection
Keep security protection enabled and prefer a copy obtained from the original trusted source. Exercise extra caution only if the file's origin is unknown or its Edge-update-related activity is inconsistent with its expected purpose.
Coverage & freshness
Complete means the check returned a usable result. It does not mean the file is safe.
Antivirus
Complete1 of 75 engines flagged the file.
Sandbox
Complete1 isolated runtime environment contributed observations.
Network
Partial12 of 26 contacted hosts were cross-checked; coverage is incomplete.
YARA
Complete1 signature or behavior rule matched.
External intel
Complete3 of 3 independent reference sources completed.
Behavior
Plain-English impact first, then the observed runtime evidence.
Runtime flight recorder
Capture complete- 1isolated sandbox run
- 12MITRE ATT&CK techniques
- 4spawned processes
- 26network contacts
- 40filesystem & mutex artifacts
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.
- www.microsoft.com
- 22.173.189.20.in-addr.arpa
- 29.73.42.20.in-addr.arpa
- 92.67.212.104.in-addr.arpa
- 23.42.107.13.in-addr.arpa
- 48.229.202.23.in-addr.arpa
- 53.120.125.40.in-addr.arpa
- 153.144.221.88.in-addr.arpa
- 230.131.62.23.in-addr.arpa
- 208.118.189.20.in-addr.arpa
- 204.79.197.203
- 192.168.0.1
- 23.216.147.64
- 20.99.132.105
- a83f:8110:584a:b5b1:17cb:1ec8:0:0
- 20.99.133.109
- a83f:8110:1800:0:200:0:0:0
- 20.99.185.48
- 20.99.184.37
- 192.229.211.108
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate\PersistedPings\{78B1C227-81AE-468F-B81F-0596AF602D55}
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\APPID\{CECDDD22-2E72-4832-9606-A9B0E5E344B2}
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\APPID\MicrosoftEdgeUpdate.exe
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{CECDDD22-2E72-4832-9606-A9B0E5E344B2}
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{CECDDD22-2E72-4832-9606-A9B0E5E344B2}\ProgID
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{CECDDD22-2E72-4832-9606-A9B0E5E344B2}\VersionIndependentProgID
- C:\Program Files (x86)
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate\1.3.147.37
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Temp
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Temp\EU19F8.tmp
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER1CAB.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER1D95.tmp.csv
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER1DE4.tmp.txt
- C:\Windows\System32\spp\store\2.0\cache\cache.dat
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER2ECC.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml
- \BaseNamedObjects\Local\SM0:6756:168:WilStaging_02
- \BaseNamedObjects\Local\SM0:7080:168:WilStaging_02
- \BaseNamedObjects\_Microsoft_EdgeUpdate_logging_mutex_C:ProgramDataMicrosoftEdgeUpdateLogMicrosoftEdgeUpdate.log
- \BaseNamedObjects\Global\EdgeUpdate{DDDDEAEB-04CC-4BAA-9C63-CCA5FE38F688}
- \BaseNamedObjects\Global\EdgeUpdate{921D73A1-67B6-4E73-81EA-8A162D92D990}
Files this sample writes at runtime
This file drops 10 children at runtime. None are currently flagged malicious in our cache.
- 2099f0854585b2115e09…0d7b95Never scannednever seen before
- 3096d8e82917a9b73f32…3cdd5bNever scannednever seen before
- 30e621d2720a1f8b727f…44e8bcNever scannednever seen before
- f2f69d75c8e2d790026c…f926e9Never scannednever seen before
- 67f193c7b2edcd0c93ef…bbaa2dNever scannednever seen before
- 4d5434fc95c38b74a2ac…fea714Never scannednever seen before
- 4f1628e9a5aeb665aec3…8a9607Never scannednever seen before
- 91d3fc490565ded7621f…1145f5Never scannednever seen before
- 896256ee322d663494b6…60e232Never scannednever seen before
- 058fbe06656f584be64b…843ca0Never scannednever seen before
Detection & Forensics
Consensus, attribution, signatures, code structure, prevalence, and identity.
Evidence integrity
Chain of custody for the facts preserved in this report.
- 1rule hit recorded
- 1 / 75engines flagged
- 267sources in submission history
Why these facts are shown
Each statement identifies whether it was directly recorded or derived from saved scan facts.
- 01
The hash has a long, established submission history across 267 sources.
Verdict inputView chapterProvenanceDerivedSourceSubmission historyObserved at - 02
1 high-confidence signature or behavior rule matched this file.
Verdict inputView chapterProvenanceDerivedSourceSignature and behavior rulesObserved at - 03
1 of 75 antivirus engines flagged the file, including APEX.
Verdict inputView chapterProvenanceObservedSourceAntivirus analysisObserved at - 04
Scanned file: Gothic.exe — 4a6920bf69a259efdbb94dbcd8ddd4a0ac81d4d39711a2d6df0026e9439effbc
ProvenanceObservedSourceUploaded fileObserved at - 05
Observed process — "C:\Users\<USER>\Desktop\executable.exe"
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at - 06
Observed process — %SAMPLEPATH%\4a6920bf69a259efdbb94dbcd8ddd4a0ac81d4d39711a2d6df0026e9439effbc.exe
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at - 07
File written: Program Files (x86) — C:\Program Files (x86)
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at - 08
File written: Microsoft — C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at - 09
Contacted host: www.microsoft.com — Saved reputation verdict: safe.
ProvenanceDerivedSourceContacted-host cross-checkObserved at - 10
Contacted host: 22.173.189.20.in-addr.arpa — Contact observed during runtime.
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at
Detection sources at a glance
The available sources did not agree on a named threat category.
MalwareBazaar, YARAify, and CIRCL hashlookup completed and returned no entries for this hash.
Signatures and behavior heuristics
A community signature or high-severity behavioral heuristic matched. Signatures identify known patterns; heuristics are strong leads but are not proof on their own.
The saved runtime evidence maps this activity to MITRE T1055 (Process Injection). The mapping supports possible process injection, but it does not prove the exact injection method or the operator's intent.
Evidence"C:\Users\<USER>\Desktop\executable.exe"
1 of 75 engines flagged this file
View all 75 engine results
Section entropy & packers
No high-entropy executable section or known packer signature was detected. Data and resource sections can still have high entropy without indicating packed 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.
Fingerprint and provenance
- File name
- Gothic.exe
- Format
- Win32 EXE
- Code signing
- No verified publisher
- Size
- 8.2 MB
- Last analyzed
- Sep 28, 2026, 6:13 PM UTC
4a6920bf69a259efdbb94dbcd8ddd4a0ac81d4d39711a2d6df0026e9439effbcSafety & FAQ
Complete recovery guidance and answers for the next decision.
What to do now
This file appears low risk based on the evidence available now.
- Recovery step 01
Run it only when it came from the developer's official site or another source you independently trust.
- Recovery step 02
A clean result reduces known risk, but it cannot guarantee that every new or targeted threat has been detected.
- Recovery step 03
Keep your antivirus and Windows updates switched on so you stay protected.
Safety FAQ
Direct answers grounded in the saved verdict and evidence in this report.
Is Gothic.exe safe?
What is Gothic.exe?
How many antivirus engines detected Gothic.exe?
What is the SHA-256 hash of Gothic.exe?
Is it safe to run Gothic.exe?
How up to date is this analysis of Gothic.exe?
Community
Member reviews and reports for this exact file hash.