File scan report
Verdict Safe
Is santasetup.
Unsigned 10 MB installer with zero AV detections, common-old prevalence, and benign sandbox behaviour.
Strong evidence · Widely seen for a long time, and nothing harmful found.
The evidence supports treating the file as a benign installer; continue normal security hygiene and keep protection enabled.
Good practice2 tips
We found nothing harmful in this file.
Run it only if it came from the developer's own website or an official app store.
Keep your antivirus and Windows updates switched on.
No scanner can promise a file is 100% safe.
Reads the latest antivirus results for this file's hash. Nothing is uploaded.
Antivirus results
0 of 71 flagged
- Flagged 0
- No detection 71
- No result 5
- Code signing Unsigned
- Test run Completed
- First seen 16y ago
Chapter 02
Why we think so
1 point against it and 3 in its favour, checked against the scan evidence.
The reasoning behind this verdict
Zero of the 71 antivirus engines that checked it flagged the file. Two YARA rules matched installer-related patterns.
The complete absence of detections across 76 engines, including 17 major antivirus engines, outweighs the three observed MITRE techniques that are also common in legitimate installers. The file is unsigned, yet its 15-year history and 366 unique submitters indicate widespread benign distribution. YARA matches reference shellcode and WiseInstallerStub patterns that frequently appear in commercial setup packages rather than malware. No file it created or sandbox verdict indicates malice.
What We Detected
76 engines scanned the sample; none returned a malicious or suspicious result. The file is an unsigned Win32 executable (10 MB) first seen in 2009 and submitted 548 times by 366 sources, classifying it as widely seen and long established. Sandbox execution recorded three MITRE techniques (T1055 process injection, T1134 token manipulation, T1547.001 boot-persistence) and wrote ten temporary files, but returned no malicious verdict.
Threat Behavior
Two community YARA rules matched: one for generic shellcode patterns and one for WiseInstallerStub. These signatures are frequently triggered by legitimate installer frameworks. No domains were contacted; 19 IP addresses were observed, but host-reputation cross-check coverage is unavailable. Ten files it created were inspected and none flagged malicious.
What To Do Now
The file shows the profile of an old but still-distributed game installer. Keep security software enabled; if you obtained the file from an official source you can run it, otherwise treat any unsigned installer with normal caution.
Where this verdict could be wrong2 caveats
- YARAify shellcode rule match could reflect legitimate installer stub behaviour rather than malicious payload.
- The missing contacted-host reputation result means no complete host-reputation result is available for the 19 observed IPs.
These are the assessment's weak points. If you believe one applies to your file, report the verdict and we'll re-review it.
- Zero detections across 76 engines
- Common-old prevalence with 366 unique sources
- No malicious sandbox verdict or dropped malicious files it created
- Unsigned executable
6 sources checked · 5 complete · 1 partial. See every source
Chapter 03
What it did in our test
It ran in our isolated test environment; no test environment rated what it did as risky.
Test run summary
Capture complete- 16sandbox rule tags
- 4spawned processes
- 3network contacts
- 40filesystem & mutex artifacts
What this file did when executed
This file was run in a sandbox and its runtime behaviour was observed.
Techniques observed in the sandbox
16MITRE ATT&CK techniques the sandbox mapped. Highlighted ones are rare in normal software; the others are common in legitimate programs too.
- T1027· Obfuscated code
- T1027.002· Obfuscated code
- T1036
- T1055· Process injection
- T1056· Keylogging
- T1057· Lists programs
- T1059· Runs commands
- T1070.004· Covers its tracks
- T1071· Application protocol
- T1082· System recon
- T1083· Scans your files
- T1129· Loads modules
- T1134
- T1518.001· Checks your AV
- T1529
- T1547.001· Auto-start
Observed activity
Processes started
4Programs the file ran, with their command lines.
4c64ad9f43335e434a8410e1f36adeb8c4ad738874d9bd57627cf8b2fa6c5829.exe%SAMPLEPATH%\4c64ad9f43335e434a8410e1f36adeb8c4ad738874d9bd57627cf8b2fa6c5829.exeSantaSetup(dobreprogramy.pl).exe%SAMPLEPATH%\SantaSetup(dobreprogramy.pl).exefile.exe%SAMPLEPATH%\file.exesanta-claus-in-trouble.exe%SAMPLEPATH%\santa-claus-in-trouble.exe
Network contacts
33 hosts, listed as 3 addresses. Links show the host and path only.
- IP address
104.112.185.183 - IP address
20.22.113.133 - IP address
173.222.197.159
Files
30Files the file created, changed or deleted.
- Written
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temp\GLC2.tmp - Written
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temp\GLK3.tmp - Written
C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\GLK9774.tmp - Written
C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\GLGA31F.tmp - Written
C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\~GLH0000.TMP - Written
C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\~GLH0001.TMP
Show all 30 entries for files
- Written
C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\~GLH0002.TMP - Written
C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\~GLH0003.TMP - Written
C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\UPnP Device Host\upnphost\udhisapi.dll - Written
C:\PROGRA~2 - Written
C:\PROGRA~2\SANTAC~1 - Written
C:\Program Files (x86) - Written
C:\Program Files (x86)\Santa Claus in Trouble - Written
C:\Program Files (x86)\Santa Claus in Trouble\ - Written
C:\Program Files (x86)\Santa Claus in Trouble\SantaClausInTrouble.exe - Deleted
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp\GLC1F3B.tmp - Deleted
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp\GLK21DC.tmp - Deleted
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp\GLG2B44.tmp - Deleted
C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Crypto\Keys\de7cf8a7901d2ad13e5c67c29e5d1662_cbbb49d6-b7ff-44ca-aba5-8a5e250d4d42 - Deleted
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp\GLCEB69.tmp - Deleted
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp\GLKEDEB.tmp - Deleted
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp\GLGF782.tmp - Deleted
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER1874.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml - Deleted
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER1940.tmp.csv - Deleted
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER196F.tmp.txt - Deleted
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER1A2B.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml - Deleted
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER1A3C.tmp.csv - Deleted
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER1A3D.tmp.txt - Deleted
C:\Windows\System32\spp\store\2.0\cache\cache.dat - Deleted
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp\GLCEC63.tmp
Mutexes
10Named locks a program uses so only one copy runs; malware families often reuse them.
CTF.LBES.MutexDefaultS-1-5-21-1482476501-1645522239-1417001333-500CTF.Compart.MutexDefaultS-1-5-21-1482476501-1645522239-1417001333-500CTF.Asm.MutexDefaultS-1-5-21-1482476501-1645522239-1417001333-500CTF.Layouts.MutexDefaultS-1-5-21-1482476501-1645522239-1417001333-500CTF.TMD.MutexDefaultS-1-5-21-1482476501-1645522239-1417001333-500CTF.TimListCache.FMPDefaultS-1-5-21-1482476501-1645522239-1417001333-500MUTEX.DefaultS-1-5-21-1482476501-1645522239-1417001333-500
Show all 10 entries for mutexes
MSCTF.Shared.MUTEX.EBHMSCTF.Shared.MUTEX.INC\Sessions\1\BaseNamedObjects\Global\SyncRootManager\Sessions\1\BaseNamedObjects\Local\ZonesCacheCounterMutex
Sandbox background — not the file
19The analysis machine's own processes and connections, recorded in every run.
- VM process
wuapihost.exeC:\Windows\System32\wuapihost.exe - VM process
updater.exeC:\Program Files (x86)\Google3796_2051595897\bin\updater.exe - VM host
23.216.147.76 - VM host
192.168.0.1 - VM host
20.99.132.105 - VM host
20.99.184.37
Show all 19 entries for sandbox background — not the file
- VM host
192.229.211.108 - VM host
20.99.133.109 - VM host
20.99.186.246 - VM host
104.86.182.43 - VM host
20.99.185.48 - VM host
23.216.147.64 - VM host
a83f:8110:1616:16ff:1616:16ff:1616:16ff - VM host
a83f:8110:2a9b:d901:beac:bf78:cce1:d301 - VM host
a83f:8110:0:0:f832:afd:ea01:0 - VM host
20.69.140.28 - VM host
a83f:8110:0:0:4d8c:21:0:0 - VM host
131.253.33.203 - VM host
a83f:8110:0:0:1400:0:0:0
Files this sample writes at runtime
This file drops 10 children at runtime. None are currently flagged malicious in our cache. 10 have no saved verdict and were not checked; that is missing coverage, not a finding.
- eb78ee54015e55c3ba17…7621d5Not checkedno saved verdict
- cbe58188a76478693ae7…cafe78Not checkedno saved verdict
- 98a06a4fa72a538bb03f…d1f8e9Not checkedno saved verdict
- 7128574752f0a7da1284…44dc00Not checkedno saved verdict
- 79753f3ec1e9b3c8b575…b0ce02Not checkedno saved verdict
- b55a8f76d5929e6d4791…5eaa5bNot checkedno saved verdict
- a68f4da256da4d6678d7…30ef1dNot checkedno saved verdict
- d6e0c25f5e1dc269af65…985e09Not checkedno saved verdict
- 1c574eab5e83ccfe5a0b…11ff77Not checkedno saved verdict
- e362a9815527869e0f71…bcb57cNot checkedno saved verdict
Chapter 04
Technical details
None of the 71 antivirus engines that checked it flag it; no publisher signature.
Sources checked
Every check behind this verdict
6 sources checked · 5 complete · 1 partial. Complete means the check returned a usable result; it does not mean the file is safe.
File fingerprint
- Last analyzed
- Sep 5, 2026, 4:33 PM UTC
- SHA-256
4c64ad9f43335e434a8410e1f36adeb8c4ad738874d9bd57627cf8b2fa6c5829- SHA-1
24f9809fa91f66c99c6f75d5a65d563800d845a3- MD5
9474eefd60b0fb578904a732fe00b59e
About this file
santasetup.exe is a Win32 EXE file of 10.4 MB.
- Type and size
- Win32 EXE · 10.4 MB
- Signer
- UnsignedNo code signature.
- First seen
- Dec 1, 2009On VirusTotal.
- Submitted by
- 366 distinct sources
- Packer
- None detected
- Entropy
- 8.00 of 8
First scanned
Antivirus consensus
0 of 71 engines flagged this file
5 of the 76 engines returned no result for this file (file type not supported, or the scan did not finish), so they did not check it.
- Tier-118 engines0flagged
- Tier-235 engines0flagged
- Low-trust18 engines0flagged
View all 76 engine results
- AcronisClean
- AhnLab-V3Clean
- AlibabaClean
- alibabacloudClean
- ALYacClean
- Antiy-AVLClean
- APEXClean
- ArcabitClean
- AvastClean
- Avast-MobileNo result
- AVGClean
- AviraClean
- BaiduClean
- BitDefenderClean
- BitDefenderFalxNo result
- BkavClean
- CAT-QuickHealClean
- ClamAVClean
- CMCClean
- CrowdStrikeClean
- CTXClean
- CylanceClean
- CynetClean
- DeepInstinctNo result
- DrWebClean
- ElasticClean
- EmsisoftClean
- ESET-NOD32Clean
- F-SecureClean
- FortinetClean
- GDataClean
- GoogleClean
- GridinsoftClean
- huorongClean
- IkarusClean
- JiangminClean
- K7AntiVirusClean
- K7GWClean
- KasperskyClean
- KingsoftClean
- LionicClean
- MalwarebytesClean
- MaxSecureClean
- McAfeeDClean
- MicrosoftClean
- MicroWorld-eScanClean
- NANO-AntivirusClean
- PaloaltoClean
- PandaClean
- RisingClean
- SangforClean
- SentinelOneClean
- SkyhighClean
- SophosClean
- SUPERAntiSpywareClean
- SymantecClean
- SymantecMobileInsightNo result
- TACHYONClean
- tehtrisClean
- TencentClean
- TrapmineClean
- TrellixENSClean
- TrendMicroClean
- TrendMicro-HouseCallClean
- TrustlookNo result
- VaristClean
- VBA32Clean
- VIPREClean
- VirITClean
- ViRobotClean
- WebrootClean
- XcitiumClean
- YandexClean
- ZillyaClean
- ZoneAlarmClean
- ZonerClean
Signatures and behavior heuristics
Community YARA rules matched, but all of them are generic capability, anti-debug or compiler rules that ordinary software also matches. Worth noting, not on their own cause for alarm.
- shellcodegeneric
- WiseInstallerStubgeneric
VirusTotal's sandbox summary maps this run to MITRE T1055 (Process Injection), but no injected process of the sample's own was recorded (the analysis VM's own WMI adapter, crash handlers and Chrome updater are not counted). VirusTotal maps T1055 on about half of all files no engine flags, so the mapping alone is not evidence of injection.
EvidenceT1055 (sandbox MITRE mapping)
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.
Chapter 05
Questions & answers
Short answers to the 6 questions people ask most about this file.
Is santasetup.exe safe?
What is santasetup.exe?
How many antivirus engines detected santasetup.exe?
What is the SHA-256 hash of santasetup.exe?
Is it safe to run santasetup.exe?
How up to date is this analysis of santasetup.exe?
Community
Member reviews and reports for this exact file hash.