Is README-2.exe safe?
Five tier-1 engines detected this unsigned executable, with Kaspersky and TrendMicro naming Nuker and runtime observation recording the destructive T1485 technique.
The sample drew 18 detections from 75 engines, including five tier-1 detections and repeated Nuker or Multiverze family labels. A completed sandbox run also recorded T1485 Data Destruction, while no verified signer or established publisher history offsets these signals.
9c9fae60edd2e9bdf5…4dc207666da8e8Recommended next actions
Before running
Do not run it. Delete this file from the device, then empty the Recycle Bin or Trash.
If you already ran it
Disconnect from the internet, start a full or offline antivirus scan, then secure important accounts from a clean device.
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.
The sample drew 18 detections from 75 engines, including five tier-1 detections and repeated Nuker or Multiverze family labels. A completed sandbox run also recorded T1485 Data Destruction, while no verified signer or established publisher history offsets these signals.
Five tier-1 engines flagged the file, substantially reducing the likelihood that the 18/75 detection ratio reflects routine heuristic noise. Kaspersky and TrendMicro converge on Nuker, while Microsoft and Symantec use the Multiverze name, indicating some naming disagreement but consistent trojan identification. Runtime observation recorded T1485 Data Destruction, an offensive technique aligned with Nuker-style destructive activity. The executable is unsigned and has no historical signer record. No malicious child was confirmed and no sandbox verdict was issued, but all ten children remain unclassified and no complete contacted-host reputation check is available.
What We Detected
18 of 75 antivirus engines flagged README-2.exe. Five tier-1 engines contributed detections: Kaspersky and TrendMicro identified Nuker, Microsoft and Symantec identified Multiverze, and Sophos supplied a generic trojan label. The differing names reduce certainty about the exact family, but not the overall malware evidence.
Threat Behavior
One completed sandbox run recorded MITRE technique T1485, Data Destruction, which is an offensive behavior consistent with destructive Nuker activity. The run did not produce a malicious sandbox verdict or observed network contacts. Ten extracted children were inspected without a confirmed malicious result, but every child remained unclassified, and no complete contacted-host reputation result is available.
What To Do Now
Do not run the executable. Quarantine or remove it while keeping endpoint protection enabled; if it already executed, isolate the system and perform a full scan, then restore affected data only from known-good backups.
Where this verdict could be wrong4 caveats
- engines.tier1FamilyConsensus.strong=false because only two independent tier-1 votes agree on Nuker, while other high-trust detections use Multiverze or generic labels.
- behaviour.hasMaliciousSandboxVerdict=false, and the completed run recorded no contacted domains, IPs, or URLs.
- droppedChildren.hasMaliciousChild=false, although all 10 inspected children remained unclassified rather than confirmed clean.
- externalIntel.yaraify.ruleCount=0 and externalIntel.circl.hit=false provide no researcher-curated corroboration, but absence of such hits is not exculpatory.
These are the assessment's weak points. If you believe one applies to your file, report the verdict and we'll re-review it.
- behaviour.hasMaliciousSandboxVerdict=false
- No domains, IPs, or URLs were observed during the completed sandbox run
- droppedChildren.hasMaliciousChild=false
- externalIntel.yaraify.ruleCount=0
- brandMismatch.detected was not reported
- 18/75 antivirus detections
- Five tier-1 engines flagged the executable
- Kaspersky and TrendMicro identify the Nuker family
- Microsoft and Symantec identify the Multiverze trojan family
- Runtime observation recorded T1485 Data Destruction
- Unsigned executable with no signer history
Quarantine or delete the file and do not execute it. If it has already run, isolate the device, keep endpoint protection enabled, and perform a full system scan.
Coverage & freshness
Complete means the check returned a usable result. It does not mean the file is safe.
Antivirus
Complete18 of 75 engines flagged the file.
Sandbox
Complete1 isolated runtime environment contributed observations.
Network
Not runNo contacted-host reputation check is recorded.
No timestamp recordedYARA
CompleteRule evaluation completed with no recorded matches.
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
- 2spawned processes
- 0network contacts
- 30filesystem & mutex artifacts
What this file does
Observed actions and their security significance
Moderate concern: Contained obfuscated or packed code that makes inspection harder.
Moderate concern: Runs hidden system commands (script or shell).
Moderate concern: Communicated over a common application protocol; malware can use this for command-and-control.
Moderate concern: Scans through your files and folders.
Moderate concern: Checked the environment for virtualisation or analysis tools.
Moderate concern: Checks which security software you have installed.
Note: Listed running processes; both legitimate software and malware may do this.
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.
Threat context
How trojans work
A trojan disguises itself as something useful or harmless to trick you into running it. Once open, it does its real job in the background — anything from stealing data to opening a back door or downloading more malware.
Bottom line:The disguise is the whole trick, so a trustworthy-looking name or icon means nothing.
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
README-2.exe
9c9fae60edd2e9bdf52d50324afc7177e67e9a27e50c4f28fe4dc207666da8e8
01Uploaded file
Processes
Runtime execution
- ProcessObserved
Observed process
"C:\Users\<USER>\Desktop\README-1.exe"
02Isolated runtime analysis - ProcessObserved
Observed process
"C:\Users\user\Desktop\README-1.exe"
03Isolated runtime analysis - +1 more recorded observation in Analyst mode
Files
Created or changed
- Written fileObserved
VCRUNTIME140.dll
C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\_MEI00000f5c2\VCRUNTIME140.dll
04Isolated runtime analysis - Written fileObserved
VCRUNTIME140_1.dll
C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\_MEI00000f5c2\VCRUNTIME140_1.dll
05Isolated runtime analysis - +1 more recorded observation in Analyst mode
5 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.
- C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\_MEI00000f5c2\VCRUNTIME140.dll
- C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\_MEI00000f5c2\VCRUNTIME140_1.dll
- C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\_MEI00000f5c2\_cffi_backend.cp312-win_amd64.pyd
- C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\_MEI00000f5c2\_ctypes.pyd
- C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\_MEI00000f5c2\_lzma.pyd
- C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\_MEI00000f5c2\base_library.zip
- C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\_MEI00000f5c2\libffi-8.dll
- C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\_MEI00000f5c2\nacl\py.typed
- C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\_MEI00000f5c2\nacl\_sodium.pyd
- C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\_MEI00000f5c2\nacl
Files this sample writes at runtime
This file drops 10 children at runtime. None are currently flagged malicious in our cache.
- c3c53ffee1be06f389f2…7f3234Never scannednever seen before
- f0b5da93a18ca4010b7c…6c1fcbNever scannednever seen before
- d138b04fcda71fe55fd5…90a5ddNever scannednever seen before
- 3e9dbc100efe854b99fa…8ba93cNever scannednever seen before
- 39de9a992aacdf4b6cb7…fe4ad6Never scannednever seen before
- 3697121911ae3f37c81d…960ddfNever scannednever seen before
- 57822e7aed944269943b…19ecc7Never scannednever seen before
- 1f2d41c4aa5db0bc33eb…33093fNever scannednever seen before
- 6bae94592723488bada1…da11bcNever scannednever seen before
- b4936fd1727f6564ad67…aaac68Never 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.
- 0rule hits recorded
- 18 / 75engines flagged
- 14sources in submission history
Why these facts are shown
Each statement identifies whether it was directly recorded or derived from saved scan facts.
- 01
18 of 75 antivirus engines flagged the file, including APEX and CrowdStrike.
Verdict inputView chapterProvenanceObservedSourceAntivirus analysisObserved at - 02
The hash has been submitted 18 times from 14 sources.
ProvenanceDerivedSourceSaved report factsObserved at - 03
Scanned file: README-2.exe — 9c9fae60edd2e9bdf52d50324afc7177e67e9a27e50c4f28fe4dc207666da8e8
ProvenanceObservedSourceUploaded fileObserved at - 04
Observed process — "C:\Users\<USER>\Desktop\README-1.exe"
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at - 05
Observed process — "C:\Users\user\Desktop\README-1.exe"
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at - 06
File written: VCRUNTIME140.dll — C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\_MEI00000f5c2\VCRUNTIME140.dll
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at - 07
File written: VCRUNTIME140_1.dll — C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\_MEI00000f5c2\VCRUNTIME140_1.dll
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at
Detection sources at a glance
Category: generic-trojan
MalwareBazaar, YARAify, and CIRCL hashlookup completed and returned no entries for this hash.
YARA rules
No matchesThe rule pass completed without a saved public match.
18 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
- README-2.exe
- Format
- Win32 EXE
- Code signing
- No verified publisher
- Size
- 7.9 MB
- Last analyzed
- Sep 12, 2026, 9:36 AM UTC
9c9fae60edd2e9bdf52d50324afc7177e67e9a27e50c4f28fe4dc207666da8e8Safety & FAQ
Complete recovery guidance and answers for the next decision.
What to do now
This file is dangerous. Treat it as harmful and remove it.
- Recovery step 01
Don't run this file. Delete this file from the device, then empty the Recycle Bin or Trash.
- Recovery step 02
If you already ran it, disconnect from the internet and start with a full antivirus scan or Microsoft Defender Offline scan. If compromise is suspected or the problem persists, use a reputable second-opinion scanner and follow incident-recovery or clean-reinstall guidance.
- Recovery step 03
If you typed any passwords while it was open, change them from a device you trust.
- Recovery step 04
Get a fresh copy from the developer's official site or an official app store.
Safety FAQ
Direct answers grounded in the saved verdict and evidence in this report.
Is README-2.exe malware?
What is README-2.exe?
How many antivirus engines detected README-2.exe?
I already downloaded and ran README-2.exe — what should I do?
How do I remove README-2.exe?
What kind of malware is README-2.exe?
What is the SHA-256 hash of README-2.exe?
How up to date is this analysis of README-2.exe?
Community
Member reviews and reports for this exact file hash.