File verdict·Decided by the MT AI Engine
Our call

Safe

Widely distributed OpenSSL library signed by Python Software Foundation; 17 tier-1 engines clean; 4+ year history with zero detections.

Verified · Python Software Foundation
Trust score88High trust
libcrypto
3.3 MB
976ce72efd0a8aeeb67cdb149541
Antivirus engines
0 of 75 flagged
Code signing
Signed by Python Software Foundation
Age
First seen 4y ago
MT AI Engine · our arbiter

The verdict, reasoned out.

Not a rules engine. The MT AI Engine reads every signal we collected, weighs them against history, and commits to an answer.

92%Confidence
Very high
Reasoning

The evidence strongly supports a benign classification. All 17 tier-1 antivirus engines (Kaspersky, BitDefender, ESET-NOD32, Avast, Fortinet, and others) report the file clean or undetected. The file is signed by Python Software Foundation, a trusted publisher on our curated list. Prevalence data shows 11,568 submissions from 181 unique sources over 4+ years with zero malicious detections — a clear indicator of a legitimate, widely distributed library. The T1055 process-injection heuristic fired, but the evidence is a benign rundll32.exe command loading a DLL from the Desktop, a common pattern for legitimate DLL testing. No malicious sandbox verdict, no malicious children, and no malicious contacted hosts further support the benign classification. The file's presence in malware research repositories (vx-underground, virus.exchange) reflects its use as a reference sample for comparative analysis, not evidence of malice.

Key signals · 5

Each signal cites a concrete token from the evidence the arbiter saw — engine name, MITRE technique, signer string, or an exact count.

  1. tier1Malicious=0; 17 tier-1 engines (Kaspersky, BitDefender, ESET-NOD32, Avast, Fortinet, etc.) all report clean/undetected

  2. signing.verified=true, trustedPublisher.matched=true for 'Python Software Foundation'

  3. prevalence: common_old, 181 submitters, 11,568 submissions since 2022-09-06 — 4+ year history with zero malicious detections

  4. T1055 heuristic fired but evidence is benign rundll32.exe DLL-load pattern; no malicious sandbox verdict, no malicious children, no malicious contacted hosts

  5. File is libcrypto (OpenSSL crypto library), high entropy expected for compiled cryptographic code; no packer, not packed

Points in its favour
  • Signed by Python Software Foundation (trusted publisher)
  • 17 tier-1 antivirus engines report clean
  • 11,568 submissions over 4+ years with zero malicious detections
  • No malicious sandbox verdict, no malicious children, no malicious contacted hosts
  • Consistent with legitimate OpenSSL library bundled in Python
What to do

This file is safe. It is a legitimate OpenSSL cryptographic library signed by Python Software Foundation and widely distributed with zero malicious detections across 4+ years and 11,500+ submissions. No action is required.

Runtime behaviour

What this file did when executed

This file was detonated in 1 sandbox and its runtime behaviour was observed.

MITRE ATT&CK
18

Adversary techniques mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework.

T1012T1016T1027T1027.002T1055T1057T1063T1071T1082T1083T1106T1129T1140T1198T1218.011T1497T1518.001T1622
Spawned processes
4
$(unnamed)
"C:\Windows\sysnative\rundll32.exe" "C:\Users\<USER>\Desktop\attachment.dll",#1
$(unnamed)
C:\Windows\system32\WerFault.exe -u -p 4148 -s 508
$(unnamed)
C:\windows\system32\rundll32.exe
$(unnamed)
C:\Windows\system32\WerFault.exe
Filesystem & mutexes
40
Files written15
  • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp
  • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\20d1bed9-3757-4387-8155-e7e8371ef456
  • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue
  • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\1d7d2bac-a7eb-4853-b052-cfb5c61a09f6
  • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive
+10 more
Files deleted15
  • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER5644.tmp
  • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER5DD6.tmp
  • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER5F1F.tmp
  • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER5644.tmp.dmp
  • C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER5DD6.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml
+10 more
Mutexes created10
  • Local\WERReportingForProcess4148
  • Global\AmiProviderMutex_InventoryApplicationFile
  • Global\c5e8368a-5afa-4fca-977a-2735c16de783
  • DBWinMutex
  • \Sessions\1\BaseNamedObjects\Local\WERReportingForProcess7124
+5 more
Dropped payload

Files this sample writes at runtime

This file drops 10 children at runtime. None are currently flagged malicious in our cache.

10 unseen
  • f30b38da8cd556e36f1ca0ea5fNever scanned
    never seen before
  • 2a77405e04c7e07c0e5c757486Never scanned
    never seen before
  • c182c23df455e94eb25fdaed64Never scanned
    never seen before
  • 362fcd6c89d5d0bebb380613fcNever scanned
    never seen before
  • ea0cfa8e968623b11813cd95e6Never scanned
    never seen before
  • 823e22ecbe77e72d2c51e3d841Never scanned
    never seen before
  • a289a786099746cdf2d231d186Never scanned
    never seen before
  • 4c598c2eec9f38bc7d1227e552Never scanned
    never seen before
  • 71d0efdcf3d505d52786d78c81Never scanned
    never seen before
  • 53d690f150cdca1617143646d3Never scanned
    never seen before
No researcher-database hits
External threat-intel sources were not collected for this scan.
Signature matches

YARA + heuristic rules that fired

A researcher-curated or high-severity heuristic rule matched this sample. These rules target specific malware families and are near-definitive.

1 synthesis
MITRE ATT&CK profile
Defense evasion× 1
MalwareTips synthesis rules
Our heuristics on VT data + sandbox behaviour
  • ProcessInjectionhigh

    MITRE T1055 (Process Injection) observed — CreateRemoteThread / APC / reflective-DLL injection. The payload is being smuggled into a legitimate process to bypass AV hooks.

    Evidence
    "C:\Windows\sysnative\rundll32.exe" "C:\Users\<USER>\Desktop\attachment.dll",#1
Antivirus engine breakdown

0 detections across 75 engines

0 malicious0 suspicious75 clean
Tier-117 engines
0flag
Top commercial AVs (low FP rate)
Tier-241 engines
0flag
Mainstream engines with mixed FP rates
Low-trust17 engines
0flag
Heuristic / generic-AI engines (high FP rate)
All 75 engines report this file as clean.
Hash 976ce72efd0a… cross-referenced against 75 AV engines via our AV network.
PE forensics

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.

ent 7.64Unpacked
Section entropy8 sections
.text
5.97
.rdata
5.17
.data
2.67
.pdata
5.86
.idata
3.11
.00cfg
0.43
.rsrc
1.82
.reloc
4.36
0.0Packed threshold 7.28.0
Prevalence

How often this file shows up in the wild

Widely seen in the wild for a long time. High prior this is legitimate; isolated detections on common-old files are usually false positives.

Common & old
Unique uploaders
181
Hundreds of people have uploaded this — common.
Total submissions
11,568
Includes repeat uploads by the same source.
First seen by VT
4y ago
Sep 6, 2022
Prevalence quadrant
Rare · New
Targeted malware lives here
Common · New
Just-released software
Rare · Old
Niche or internal tooling
here
Common · Old
Trusted legitimate binaries
File identity

Forensic fingerprint

File biography
First seen (VT)
9/6/2022, 7:17:00 AM
First seen (MalwareBazaar)
Last analysis (VT)
6/6/2026, 11:09:39 AM
Scanned here
7/10/2026, 11:55:00 PM
File name
libcrypto
Size
3.28 MB
MIME type
(unknown)
Detected type
Win32 DLL
SHA-256
976ce72efd0a8aeeb6e21ad441aa9138434314ea07f777432205947cdb149541
MD5
6f4b8eb45a965372156086201207c81f
SHA-1
8278f9539463f0a45009287f0516098cb7a15406
PE imphash
11f2ed72076bbf7871eb95fd5b4e84b0
First seen (VT)
9/6/2022, 7:17:00 AM
Last analysis (VT)
6/6/2026, 11:09:39 AM
First scan (MalwareTips)
7/10/2026, 11:55:00 PM
Last scan (MalwareTips)
7/10/2026, 11:55:00 PM
Code signer
Python Software Foundationverified
Behavior tags
pedlldetect-debug-environmentoverlaylong-sleepssigned64bitsassembly
Frequently asked

Safety FAQ

Common questions about libcrypto, answered from the scan data above.

  • libcrypto appears safe. 75 of 75 antivirus engines report it clean. It carries a verified digital signature from Python Software Foundation. As a habit, only open files you downloaded from the official source, since attackers sometimes distribute trojanised copies of legitimate software under the same name.
  • libcrypto is a file, about 3.3 MB. Our analysis found no threat indicators for it. It carries a verified digital signature from Python Software Foundation. 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 libcrypto 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.
  • Yes — libcrypto carries a valid digital signature from Python Software Foundation, which confirms the file hasn't been tampered with since that publisher signed it. A valid signature is a positive signal, but note that malware is occasionally signed with stolen or abused certificates, so it isn't proof of safety on its own.
  • The SHA-256 hash of libcrypto is 976ce72efd0a8aeeb6e21ad441aa9138434314ea07f777432205947cdb149541, and its MD5 is 6f4b8eb45a965372156086201207c81f. 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 — libcrypto shows no threat indicators and is properly signed. 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 July 10, 2026. Because a file's hash never changes, the identity of libcrypto 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.
Community classification

Reviews & malware reports(0)

Tell the community what you saw. Tag the sample — Trojan, Adware, False Positive — and share what the file did on your system. Your report helps confirm or dispute the AV verdict.

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