Is AutoRun.exe safe?
Seven of 75 engines flagged this unsigned executable, while runtime evidence mapped process injection, token manipulation, and scheduled-task activity without strong family consensus.
The unsigned executable drew 7 of 75 detections, including one tier-1 behavioral alert, and its sandbox evidence maps to process injection, token manipulation, and scheduled-task execution. Strong family agreement, a malicious sandbox conclusion, and a confirmed harmful domain are absent, so the evidence remains mixed but warrants quarantine and further investigation.
c096b96483a747356b…e41f169608decbRecommended 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.
The unsigned executable drew 7 of 75 detections, including one tier-1 behavioral alert, and its sandbox evidence maps to process injection, token manipulation, and scheduled-task execution. Strong family agreement, a malicious sandbox conclusion, and a confirmed harmful domain are absent, so the evidence remains mixed but warrants quarantine and further investigation.
Seven of 75 engines detected the sample, but Fortinet supplied the only tier-1 alert and there is no strong family consensus. One completed sandbox run recorded activity mapped to T1055 and T1134, along with execution of schtasks.exe, which can support injection, token abuse, and persistence. The sandbox did not itself issue a malicious conclusion, and no dropped child hashes were recorded. Both observed domains were covered by the host-reputation check without a malicious or suspicious result, although the contacted IP addresses were not fully covered. The executable is unsigned, but it has been submitted 358 times since 2023 and shows no packing or high-entropy code, leaving meaningful evidence on both sides.
What We Detected
Seven of 75 antivirus engines flagged the executable. Fortinet was the only tier-1 detector and used a behavioral label, while Jiangmin named TrojanDownloader.Agent.gghq and Skyhigh described dropper-like behavior; the remaining detections were generic or heuristic. There is no strong agreement on a specific malware family.
Threat Behavior
One sandbox run mapped activity to MITRE T1055 and T1134 and observed schtasks.exe, which can be associated with process injection, token manipulation, and scheduled-task persistence. These are material warning signs, but the sandbox did not return a malicious conclusion and recorded no dropped file hashes. The reputation check covered both observed domains without finding malicious or suspicious results, but it did not fully cover all contacted IP addresses.
What To Do Now
Keep endpoint protection enabled and quarantine the file pending confirmation of its source. If it has already run, inspect scheduled tasks, startup mechanisms, and related updater processes, then perform a full endpoint scan and submit the file to the expected software vendor for verification.
Where this verdict could be wrong5 caveats
- Sixteen of 17 tier-1 engines reported no detection, and tier1FamilyConsensus.strong=false.
- behaviour.hasMaliciousSandboxVerdict=false in the one completed sandbox run.
- contactedHosts inspected both observed domains and found neither malicious nor suspicious, although the observed IP addresses were not fully reputation-checked.
- peAnalysis.highEntropyCode=false, peAnalysis.likelyPacked=false, and peAnalysis.packers is empty.
- externalIntel.malwareBazaar.hit=false and externalIntel.circl.hit=false; YARAify coverage was unavailable due to a timeout.
These are the assessment's weak points. If you believe one applies to your file, report the verdict and we'll re-review it.
- Sixteen of 17 tier-1 engines reported no detection
- No strong tier-1 family consensus
- No malicious sandbox verdict
- No dropped file hashes recorded
- Both observed domains had completed reputation checks without malicious or suspicious findings
- Unsigned Win32 executable with no established signer history
- 7/75 antivirus detections, including one tier-1 behavioral detection
- Runtime evidence mapped to MITRE T1055 process injection
- Runtime evidence mapped to MITRE T1134 access-token manipulation
- schtasks.exe execution indicates possible scheduled-task persistence
- Contacted IP addresses lacked complete reputation coverage
Quarantine the executable and verify it against the original vendor or installation media before use. If it ran, keep protection enabled and review scheduled tasks and related processes for unauthorized persistence.
Coverage & freshness
Complete means the check returned a usable result. It does not mean the file is safe.
Antivirus
Complete7 of 75 engines flagged the file.
Sandbox
Complete1 isolated runtime environment contributed observations.
Network
Partial2 of 22 contacted hosts were cross-checked; coverage is incomplete.
YARA
Complete2 signature or behavior rules 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
- 27MITRE ATT&CK techniques
- 14spawned processes
- 22network contacts
- 9filesystem & mutex artifacts
What this file does
Observed actions and their security significance
High concern: Created or modified a scheduled task, which can provide persistence.
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: Changed an auto-start location that can make code run after sign-in or restart.
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.
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
AutoRun.exe
c096b96483a747356bd15389f133fddd43f84d800a128d3ec7e41f169608decb
01Uploaded file
Processes
Runtime execution
- ProcessObserved
Observed process
%SAMPLEPATH%\AutoRun.exe
02Isolated runtime analysis - ProcessObserved
Observed process
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\schtasks.exe
03Isolated runtime analysis - +1 more recorded observation in Analyst mode
Files
Created or changed
- Written fileObserved
Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser
C:\Windows\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser
04Isolated runtime analysis - Written fileObserved
Connect
\Device\ConDrv\\Connect
05Isolated runtime analysis - +1 more recorded observation in Analyst mode
Network
Hosts contacted
- Contacted hostDerived
www.microsoft.com
Saved reputation verdict: safe.
06Contacted-host cross-check - Contacted hostDerived
res.public.onecdn.static.microsoft
Saved reputation verdict: safe.
07Contacted-host cross-check - +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.
- www.microsoft.com
- res.public.onecdn.static.microsoft
- 20.99.185.48
- 20.96.52.198
- 192.229.211.108
- 23.216.147.64
- 192.168.0.25
- 20.99.133.109
- 23.216.81.152
- 131.253.33.203
- 192.168.0.34
- 192.168.0.10
- HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-4270068108-2931534202-3907561125-1001\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.exe\OpenWithProgids\exefile
- \REGISTRY\A\{60B8AA94-B69A-3064-E94C-E95AC4FFE595}\Root\InventoryApplication\0000c34c48b48a14753d8877e705591744db00000000\Publisher
- \REGISTRY\A\{60B8AA94-B69A-3064-E94C-E95AC4FFE595}\Root\InventoryApplication\0000021f1df94e2c7570a94e39009b97cde300000000\Publisher
- \REGISTRY\A\{60B8AA94-B69A-3064-E94C-E95AC4FFE595}\Root\InventoryDevicePnp\acpi/genuineintel_-_intel64_family_6_model_79_-____________intel(r)_xeon(r)_cpu_@_2.20ghz/_0\DriverVerVersion
- \REGISTRY\A\{60B8AA94-B69A-3064-E94C-E95AC4FFE595}\Root\InventoryDevicePnp\acpi/genuineintel_-_intel64_family_6_model_79_-____________intel(r)_xeon(r)_cpu_@_2.20ghz/_1\DriverVerVersion
- \REGISTRY\A\{60B8AA94-B69A-3064-E94C-E95AC4FFE595}\Root\InventoryDevicePnp\acpi/pnp0303/4&2c352a27&0\DriverVerVersion
- C:\Windows\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser
- \Device\ConDrv\\Connect
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER1C2E.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER1D28.tmp.csv
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER1D86.tmp.txt
- C:\Windows\System32\spp\store\2.0\cache\cache.dat
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WER3747.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml
Detection & Forensics
Consensus, attribution, signatures, code structure, prevalence, and identity.
Evidence integrity
Chain of custody for the facts preserved in this report.
- 2rule hits recorded
- 7 / 75engines flagged
- 338sources 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
7 of 75 antivirus engines flagged the file, including APEX and CrowdStrike.
Verdict inputView chapterProvenanceObservedSourceAntivirus analysisObserved at - 03
The hash has a long, established submission history across 338 sources.
ProvenanceDerivedSourceSubmission historyObserved at - 04
Scanned file: AutoRun.exe — c096b96483a747356bd15389f133fddd43f84d800a128d3ec7e41f169608decb
ProvenanceObservedSourceUploaded fileObserved at - 05
Observed process — %SAMPLEPATH%\AutoRun.exe
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at - 06
Observed process — C:\Windows\SysWOW64\schtasks.exe
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at - 07
File written: Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser — C:\Windows\System32\Tasks\Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at - 08
File written: Connect — \Device\ConDrv\\Connect
ProvenanceObservedSourceIsolated runtime analysisObserved at - 09
Contacted host: www.microsoft.com — Saved reputation verdict: safe.
ProvenanceDerivedSourceContacted-host cross-checkObserved at - 10
Contacted host: res.public.onecdn.static.microsoft — Saved reputation verdict: safe.
ProvenanceDerivedSourceContacted-host cross-checkObserved 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.
Sample spawned schtasks / PowerShell scheduled-task cmdlets / sc create. Persistence mechanism.
EvidenceC:\Windows\SysWOW64\schtasks.exeThe 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%SAMPLEPATH%\AutoRun.exe
7 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
- AutoRun.exe
- Format
- Win32 EXE
- Code signing
- No verified publisher
- Size
- 849.0 KB
- Last analyzed
- Sep 28, 2026, 11:04 AM UTC
c096b96483a747356bd15389f133fddd43f84d800a128d3ec7e41f169608decbSafety & 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 AutoRun.exe safe, or is it malware?
What is AutoRun.exe?
How many antivirus engines detected AutoRun.exe?
I already downloaded and ran AutoRun.exe — what should I do?
How do I remove AutoRun.exe?
What kind of malware is AutoRun.exe?
What is the SHA-256 hash of AutoRun.exe?
How up to date is this analysis of AutoRun.exe?
Community
Member reviews and reports for this exact file hash.