Is PekoraPlayerLauncher.exe safe?
Two tier-1 engines flagged this unsigned launcher, while runtime evidence mapped possible process injection and defense impairment despite an otherwise non-malicious sandbox result.
GData and Microsoft flagged the executable among 75 engines, but their generic labels do not establish a shared malware family. The unsigned, recently observed launcher also produced runtime mappings to process injection and defense impairment, so it should remain quarantined pending publisher verification or stronger independent evidence.
962d3a89c42ed984f4…64c9eeb9185b06Recommended next actions
Before running
Do not run it until the source and publisher can be verified independently.
If you already ran it
Stop using it, scan the device, and watch for unexpected behavior or security alerts. Get a fresh copy from the developer's official site or an official app store.
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.
GData and Microsoft flagged the executable among 75 engines, but their generic labels do not establish a shared malware family. The unsigned, recently observed launcher also produced runtime mappings to process injection and defense impairment, so it should remain quarantined pending publisher verification or stronger independent evidence.
Two of 75 engines flagged the file, and both are high-trust detectors, preventing a benign conclusion. Their labels differ and provide no strong family consensus, making a definitive family attribution inappropriate. One completed sandbox run mapped activity to T1055 process injection and T1562.001 defense impairment, although the sandbox itself did not issue a malicious result. The executable is unsigned and has no established signer history, which increases uncertainty around a recently observed launcher. Inspected hosts were not present in the malicious or suspicious cache, and no dropped child was confirmed malicious, leaving materially mixed evidence.
What We Detected
GData and Microsoft flagged the file among 75 engines. GData used a generic trojan-downloader label containing TIW48J, while Microsoft reported Wacatac; these labels do not form a strong family consensus. The executable is unsigned and has no publisher history available for authentication.
Threat Behavior
One completed sandbox run mapped activity to T1055, associated with process injection, and T1562.001, associated with impairing defenses. The launcher also wrote a bootstrapper and registered custom protocol and file handlers. The sandbox did not issue a malicious result, both inspected hosts lacked cached malicious or suspicious classifications, and no inspected child was confirmed malicious.
What To Do Now
Keep the file quarantined and do not run it on a production system. Obtain it only from the publisher's official release channel, verify a published SHA-256 value or authenticated signature, and keep endpoint protection enabled while awaiting stronger confirmation.
Where this verdict could be wrong5 caveats
- The remaining 73/75 engines did not flag the sample, including 15 reporting-clean tier-1 engines.
- behaviour.hasMaliciousSandboxVerdict=false in the single completed sandbox run.
- contactedHosts.inspected=2 found zero cached malicious or suspicious hosts among the two inspected hosts.
- droppedChildren.hasMaliciousChild=false, although both inspected children currently lack individual verdicts.
- externalIntel.malwareBazaar.hit=false and externalIntel.circl.hit=false; YARAify coverage was unavailable because its request timed out.
These are the assessment's weak points. If you believe one applies to your file, report the verdict and we'll re-review it.
- 73/75 engines did not flag the sample
- The completed sandbox did not issue a malicious verdict
- Two inspected hosts had no cached malicious or suspicious classification
- No dropped child was confirmed malicious
- No packing or high-entropy code was identified
- Two independent tier-1 detections among 75 engines
- Runtime mapping to T1055 process injection
- Runtime mapping to T1562.001 defense impairment
- Unsigned Win32 executable with no signer history
- Only one day since first submission
- Generic downloader and trojan labels without family consensus
Keep this launcher quarantined and seek a publisher-authenticated copy with a verifiable hash or signature. Do not disable endpoint protection to install or run it.
Coverage & freshness
Complete means the check returned a usable result. It does not mean the file is safe.
Antivirus
Complete2 of 75 engines flagged the file.
Sandbox
Complete1 isolated runtime environment contributed observations.
Network
Partial2 of 3 contacted hosts were cross-checked; coverage is incomplete.
YARA
Complete1 signature or behavior rule matched.
External intel
PartialIndependent reference checks were attempted but are incomplete.
Behavior
Plain-English impact first, then the observed runtime evidence.
Runtime flight recorder
Capture complete- 1isolated sandbox run
- 12MITRE ATT&CK techniques
- 2spawned processes
- 5network contacts
- 4filesystem & mutex artifacts
What this file does
Observed actions and their security significance
High concern: Injected code into another process, a technique that can conceal execution.
High concern: Used an input-capture technique that can record credentials or keystrokes.
High concern: Attempted to impair or bypass security controls.
High concern: Manipulated how the operating system loads code, which can redirect execution.
Moderate concern: Contained obfuscated or packed code that makes inspection harder.
Moderate concern: Communicated over a common application protocol; malware can use this for command-and-control.
Moderate concern: Communicates over the network in a non-standard way.
These are observed capabilities from an isolated analysis. A technique does not prove malicious intent on its own, and the file never ran on your device.
Attack story
Runtime observations grouped by analysis stage. Arrows organize the stages; they do not claim chronology or causality.
Input file
The submitted object
- FileObserved
PekoraPlayerLauncher.exe
962d3a89c42ed984f4a68c2466931e2531e434ed28fe3b712d64c9eeb9185b06
01Uploaded file
Processes
Runtime execution
- ProcessObserved
Observed process
"C:\Users\<USER>\Desktop\PekoraPlayerLauncher.exe"
02Isolated runtime analysis - ProcessObserved
Observed process
"C:\Users\user\Desktop\PekoraPlayerLauncher.exe"
03Isolated runtime analysis - +1 more recorded observation in Analyst mode
Files
Created or changed
- Written fileObserved
bootstrapper.exe
C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Pekora\bootstrapper.exe
04Isolated runtime analysis - Written fileObserved
Pekora
C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Pekora
05Isolated runtime analysis - +1 more recorded observation in Analyst mode
Network
Hosts contacted
- Contacted hostObserved
pekora.pro
Contact observed during runtime.
06Isolated runtime analysis - Contacted hostObserved
eip-terr-na.cdp1.digicert.com.akahost.net
Contact observed during runtime.
07Isolated runtime analysis - +1 more recorded observation in Analyst mode
7 recorded facts from one runtime window. Every fact remains independently traceable in Analyst mode.
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.
- pekora.pro
- eip-terr-na.cdp1.digicert.com.akahost.net
- 104.21.50.206
- http://pekora.pro/setup/launcher/version.txt
- http://pekora.pro/version
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\pekora-player\(Default)
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\pekora-player\DefaultIcon\(Default)
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\pekora-player\shell\open\command\(Default)
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\pekora-studio\(Default)
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\pekora-studio\DefaultIcon\(Default)
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\pekora-studio\shell\open\command\(Default)
- C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Pekora\bootstrapper.exe
- C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Pekora
- C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Pekora\bootstrapper.exe
- C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Pekora\bootstrapper.exe\:Zone.Identifier:$DATA
Files this sample writes at runtime
This file drops 2 children at runtime. None are currently flagged malicious in our cache.
- 962d3a89c42ed984f4a6…185b06Never scannednever seen before
- 255a65d30841ab4082bd…c12309Never 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
- 2 / 75engines flagged
- 27sources in submission history
Why these facts are shown
Each statement identifies whether it was directly recorded or derived from saved scan facts.
- 01
1 high-confidence signature or behavior rule matched this file.
Verdict inputView chapterProvenanceDerivedSourceSignature and behavior rulesObserved at - 02
2 of 75 antivirus engines flagged the file, including GData and Microsoft.
Verdict inputView chapterProvenanceObservedSourceAntivirus analysisObserved at - 03
The hash has been submitted 32 times from 27 sources.
ProvenanceDerivedSourceSaved report factsObserved at - 04
Scanned file: PekoraPlayerLauncher.exe — 962d3a89c42ed984f4a68c2466931e2531e434ed28fe3b712d64c9eeb9185b06
ProvenanceObservedSourceUploaded fileObserved at - 05
Observed process — "C:\Users\<USER>\Desktop\PekoraPlayerLauncher.exe"
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at - 06
Observed process — "C:\Users\user\Desktop\PekoraPlayerLauncher.exe"
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at - 07
File written: bootstrapper.exe — C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Pekora\bootstrapper.exe
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at - 08
File written: Pekora — C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Pekora
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at - 09
Contacted host: pekora.pro — Contact observed during runtime.
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at - 10
Contacted host: eip-terr-na.cdp1.digicert.com.akahost.net — Contact observed during runtime.
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at
Detection sources at a glance
Category: generic-trojan
Available reference checks returned no match, but at least one source was unavailable. This is not a clean result.
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\PekoraPlayerLauncher.exe"
2 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
Moderate prevalence — neither rare nor common. No strong prior applies.
Fingerprint and provenance
- File name
- PekoraPlayerLauncher.exe
- Format
- Win32 EXE
- Code signing
- No verified publisher
- Size
- 5.2 MB
- Last analyzed
- Sep 28, 2026, 4:39 PM UTC
962d3a89c42ed984f4a68c2466931e2531e434ed28fe3b712d64c9eeb9185b06Safety & FAQ
Complete recovery guidance and answers for the next decision.
What to do now
We couldn't fully clear this file. Treat it with caution.
- Recovery step 01
Don't run it unless you're certain it came from a source you trust.
- Recovery step 02
Check where you got it — an unexpected attachment or a random download link is a red flag.
- Recovery step 03
If its origin cannot be confirmed, delete this file and use a fresh copy from a trusted source. Get a fresh copy from the developer's official site or an official app store.
- Recovery step 04
If you're still unsure, scan it again in a day or two — detections often catch up on newer files.
Safety FAQ
Direct answers grounded in the saved verdict and evidence in this report.
Is PekoraPlayerLauncher.exe safe, or is it malware?
What is PekoraPlayerLauncher.exe?
How many antivirus engines detected PekoraPlayerLauncher.exe?
What should I do if I already ran PekoraPlayerLauncher.exe?
How do I remove PekoraPlayerLauncher.exe?
What kind of malware is PekoraPlayerLauncher.exe?
What is the SHA-256 hash of PekoraPlayerLauncher.exe?
How up to date is this analysis of PekoraPlayerLauncher.exe?
Community
Member reviews and reports for this exact file hash.