Kingsoft

Overview

PUA:Win32/Kingsoft (often associated with **Kingsoft Antivirus** or **WPS Office**) refers to software from the Chinese software developer Kingsoft that is frequently flagged by Western security vendors as a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUA) or Adware. While Kingsoft produces legitimate, functional software, its aggressive bundling tactics, intrusive telemetry collection, and difficult uninstallation processes cause it to be classified as a security and compliance risk in many enterprise environments.

Understanding the Kingsoft Flag
To an end-user, they may have intentionally downloaded WPS Office as a free alternative to Microsoft Word, or they may have accidentally installed Kingsoft Antivirus bundled with another program. They will likely experience excessive pop-up notifications and performance degradation. For a security analyst, the presence of Kingsoft software often violates corporate Acceptable Use Policies (AUP) due to its aggressive data collection (telemetry) and the risk of supply chain vulnerabilities associated with untrusted, deeply integrated system software.

Execution and PUA Mechanics
Kingsoft software is frequently distributed via software bundlers (`T1189`) or pre-installed on certain hardware. Upon execution, it integrates deeply into the Windows operating system. Kingsoft Antivirus, by nature, installs kernel-level drivers (`T1543.003`) to monitor system activity. The PUA behavior manifests in its aggressive monetization strategies: it injects advertisements into the desktop environment (`T1562`), aggressively prompts users to install other affiliated software, and forcefully alters default browser settings and file associations (`T1546.001`). Furthermore, the software frequently resists uninstallation, requiring specialized removal tools to strip its persistence mechanisms from the registry.

Indicators of Compromise & Impact
The impact is primarily a compliance violation, a degraded user experience, and potential privacy risks due to aggressive telemetry exfiltration. IoCs include EDR alerts for the installation of known Kingsoft binaries (e.g., `kxetray.exe`, `wps.exe`) and the creation of Kingsoft-associated Windows Services. Network analysts may observe heavy outbound telemetry traffic directed toward servers located in China.

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

Observed techniques used by this family, mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework:

Generated Detections (Boilerplate)

These YARA and Sigma rules are auto-generated based on the family name and aliases. They must be heavily tuned before deployment in a production environment.

YARA Rule

rule MALWARE_WIN_KINGSOFT {
    meta:
        description = "Detects Kingsoft (advanced_threat)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Boilerplate Generator"
        date = "2026-07-06"
    strings:
        $s1 = "kingsoft" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and any of them
}

Sigma Rule

title: Suspicious Kingsoft Activity
id: 3b87652ba0916c03c634d5db8558d494
status: experimental
description: Detects generic indicators of the kingsoft malware family.
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith:
            - '\cmd.exe'
            - '\powershell.exe'
        CommandLine|contains:
            - "*kingsoft*"
    condition: selection
level: medium

Containment & Response Steps

Ordered checklist for responders. Adapt to your environment and engage professional support for active incidents.

1. Use the Windows Control Panel to attempt a standard uninstallation of the Kingsoft software suite.
2. Deploy an enterprise PUA removal tool or execute a specialized script to locate and strip the deeply embedded registry hooks and kernel drivers left behind by the uninstaller.
3. Audit the Windows Firewall to remove any 'allow' rules created by the software.
4. Enforce organizational Application Control (AppLocker or WDAC) to prevent the installation of unapproved software suites like Kingsoft.

What to Avoid

Common mistakes during response to this family that can destroy evidence, spread the infection, or worsen recovery.

1. Do not assume the software is malicious (like a trojan); it is a PUA, meaning remediation should focus on policy enforcement and cleanup rather than treating it as an active breach.
2. Avoid ignoring the presence of unapproved antivirus software on a corporate endpoint, as it can conflict with the organization's official EDR solution, causing severe system instability.

References & External Analysis

• Search "kingsoft" on VirusTotal (External Analysis)

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Families (Category: advanced_threat)

Explore other malware families in the same category:

• Yobrowser
• Jacard
• Flymux
• Speedbit
• Pliskal

Machine-readable

Get this profile as JSON: https://jordanricky1604-ship-it.github.io/malware-families-catalog/api/kingsoft.json

Ecosystem & Interactive Environments

This profile is part of the Malware Families Catalog, a public dataset of 2,899 malware families. The catalog is also published across our ecosystem: Hugging Face, Kaggle, Zenodo, Replit, StackBlitz, CodeSandbox, and CodePen.