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Verdict Suspicious

Analyzed , 1 month ago

Is Keygen.exe safe? Treat it as suspicious.

Nine of the 70 antivirus engines that checked it flag the file, none major.

Why Suspicious? 9 antivirus engines flag it, but no major engine agrees; nothing else confirms it.

Limited evidence · One sign points to a problem; nothing else confirms it.

Don't run it until you know where it came from

Treat as untrusted; obtain any needed functionality from a verified, signed vendor distribution.

What to do now4 steps

Some signs point to a problem, but nothing confirms it is harmful. Treat it with caution.

What to do

  1. Don't run it unless you're sure where it came from.

  2. Check where you got it: an unexpected attachment, a link someone sent you or a re-upload is a red flag.

  3. If you can't confirm where it came from, delete it. If you need the program, download it again from the publisher's own website.

If you already ran it

  1. Stop using it, run a full scan with your antivirus and watch for unexpected behavior or security alerts.

Not sure what to do?

Ask the MalwareTips community before you run it. If you already ran it, follow the cleanup guide.

Paste this report's link in your topic so helpers can see what was found.

Why we think so

Share this file report

Keygen.exe: Suspicious — MalwareTips file scan

The link always shows the latest result for this exact file (its SHA-256 fingerprint).

Reads the latest antivirus results for this file's hash. Nothing is uploaded.

Antivirus results

9 of 70 flagged

  • Flagged 9
  • No detection 61
  • No result 5
FileKeygen.exe20.5 kBSHA-256 d8e4668af72d…0e58cc
  • Code signing Unsigned
  • Test run Completed
  • First seen 5mo ago
9 of the 70 antivirus engines that checked it flag it, including CrowdStrike and Deep Instinct.

Chapter 02

Why we think so

2 points against it and 3 in its favour, checked against the scan evidence.

MT AI Engine · Verdict analysis

The reasoning behind this verdict

Analyst conclusion

Similar import-table fingerprint matches are mostly safe but lack signer correlation.

Where this verdict could be wrong1 caveat
  • similarHashes shows 3 safe verdicts on the same import-table fingerprint despite signerCoMatch=false, indicating framework collision rather than strong similarity.

These are the assessment's weak points. If you believe one applies to your file, report the verdict and we'll re-review it.

6 sources checked · 5 complete · 1 not needed or not applicable. 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
  • 11sandbox rule tags
  • 2spawned processes
  • 0network contacts
  • 1filesystem & mutex artifacts

What the test run showed

What the file did on a test computer

Confirmed in the test run

  • Moderate concern: Ran commands or a script on the test computer.

  • Moderate concern: Checked whether it was running on a test computer.

  • Note: Deleted files or logs during the test run (installers often clean up after themselves).

  • Note: Read basic details of the test computer, such as its Windows version.

  • Note: Loaded extra code modules while running.

Sandbox labels we could not confirm (common in safe files too)

  • Not confirmed: A sandbox rule tagged this run as code injection, but no injected program was recorded.

  • Not confirmed: A sandbox rule tagged this run as weakening security settings; no setting change was recorded.

  • Not confirmed: A sandbox rule tagged this run as changing how Windows loads code; nothing confirms it.

This file was run on a test computer (a sandbox), not on yours. Labels we could not confirm are listed so you can see them, but they are not treated as evidence against the file.

Recorded behavior

What happened in the test

Grouped by step. The order is not a timeline.

Seen in the test runWorked out from other results

  1. Input file

    The submitted object

    1
    1. Evidence 1 of 4: FileSeen in the test run

      Keygen.exe

      d8e4668af72d2d8bc26dd7a6854741121d521c5c7551c2a9ecf32959660e58cc

      Uploaded file

  2. Processes

    What ran

    2
    1. Evidence 2 of 4: ProcessSeen in the test run

      software.exe

      "C:\Users\<USER>\Desktop\software.exe"

      Test run
    2. Evidence 3 of 4: ProcessSeen in the test run

      file.exe

      "C:\Users\user\Desktop\file.exe"

      Test run
    3. +1 more recorded observation

  3. Files

    Created or changed

    1
    1. Evidence 4 of 4: Written fileSeen in the test run

      Roaming

      C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming

      Test run

4 facts from the test run. See the full activity list.

Chapter 04

Technical details

9 of the 70 antivirus engines that checked it flag it; no publisher signature.

Sources checked

Every check behind this verdict

6 sources checked · 5 complete · 1 not needed or not applicable. Complete means the check returned a usable result; it does not mean the file is safe.

SourceStatusResultChecked
Antivirus enginesVirusTotal · 75 enginesCompleteRisk signal: 9 of 70 engines flagged it · 5 gave no result Details for antivirus engines
Sandbox runVirusTotal sandboxesCompleteRuntime behaviour was recorded Details for sandbox run
Contacted hostsMalwareTips URL scannerNot neededThe sandbox recorded no contacted hosts to checkNo date recorded
Signature rulesYARAify community rules + MalwareTips rulesComplete1 MalwareTips behaviour rule Details for signature rules
Malware sample databaseabuse.ch MalwareBazaarCompleteNot listed
Known-software referenceCIRCL hashlookupCompleteNo match

Engines that flagged it 9

  • APEXMalicious
  • BkavW32.Malware.2B39B854
  • CrowdStrikewin/malicious_confidence_60% (W)
  • DeepInstinctMALICIOUS
  • MaxSecureTrojan.Malware.300983.susgen
  • SentinelOneStatic AI - Suspicious PE
  • tehtrisGeneric.Malware
  • Trapminesuspicious.low.ml.score
1 more in the full engine list

File fingerprint

Last analyzed
Sep 7, 2026, 11:48 AM UTC
SHA-256
d8e4668af72d2d8bc26dd7a6854741121d521c5c7551c2a9ecf32959660e58cc
SHA-1
93ece398654637f4af03b2a8e88f7d223132f5ec
MD5
aeac8c70da55b692deec5cab3793a80e

About this file

Keygen.exe is a Win32 EXE file of 20.5 kB.

Type and size
Win32 EXE · 20.5 kB
Signer
UnsignedNo code signature.
First seen
May 15, 2026On VirusTotal.
Submitted by
2 distinct sourcesRarely seen: few people have submitted this exact file.
Packer
None detected
Entropy
5.36 of 8

First scanned

Chapter 05

Questions & answers

Short answers to the 6 questions people ask most about this file.

Is Keygen.exe safe, or is it malware?
Keygen.exe is rated Suspicious: some signs point to a problem, but nothing confirms it is harmful. 9 of the 70 antivirus engines that checked it flag it. Don't run it unless you're sure where it came from. If you need the program, download it again from the publisher's own website.
What is Keygen.exe?
Keygen.exe is a Windows program, about 20.5 kB. It carries no version information saying what it is or who made it. VirusTotal first saw it on May 15, 2026.
How many antivirus engines detected Keygen.exe?
9 of the 70 antivirus engines that checked it flag Keygen.exe, including CrowdStrike and Deep Instinct. We weigh which engines flagged it and what else the scan found, not just the count.
I already downloaded and ran Keygen.exe — what should I do?
No infection is confirmed: the rating is a caution, not a malware finding. 1) Check where it came from. If you can't confirm the source, delete it. 2) Run a full scan with your security software. 3) If the scan finds something, follow its removal steps and change passwords you typed on the device since then.
What is the SHA-256 hash of Keygen.exe?
The SHA-256 fingerprint of Keygen.exe is d8e4668af72d2d8bc26dd7a6854741121d521c5c7551c2a9ecf32959660e58cc, and its MD5 is aeac8c70da55b692deec5cab3793a80e. Two files with the same SHA-256 are identical, so use it to check you have exactly this file, not just one with the same name.
How up to date is this analysis of Keygen.exe?
This report reflects the scan on Sep 7, 2026. A file's fingerprint never changes, but antivirus engines keep learning, so a rating can change later. To get a newer result, scan the file again: we refresh the antivirus results when the saved ones are out of date.
Chapter 06

Community

Member reviews and reports for this exact file hash.

Related file reports

Other files people checked with the same name, and recent reports with the same rating. A matching name does not make two files the same: only the SHA-256 fingerprint identifies a file.

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This report and its SHA-256 fingerprint are public, so the next person who checks the same file gets an instant answer; documents and images are listed by type instead of their file name. A file we had not seen before is uploaded to VirusTotal, whose security partners and subscribers can download it; MalwareTips deletes its own copy after the scan. If you ran this file and are worried, scan your device with up-to-date security software.