Ramnif
Overview
Executive Summary
Ramnif is a heavily obfuscated alias and variant of the notorious **Ramnit** malware family. Originally discovered in 2010 as a self-replicating worm, Ramnit/Ramnif evolved into a highly sophisticated, modular Banking Trojan and botnet. It is designed for massive data theft, specifically targeting financial credentials, session cookies, and corporate FTP access.Propagation and Execution Lifecycle
Ramnif utilizes multiple vectors for distribution, including exploit kits (like Angler or RIG) hosted on compromised websites, malicious spam campaigns, and lateral movement via infected removable USB drives. Once a host is compromised, Ramnif's operations are extensive:- File Infection (Worm Capability): Unlike many modern trojans, Ramnif retains its original worm capabilities. It actively searches the local hard drive and attached network shares, injecting malicious code into `.exe`, `.dll`, and `.html` files. This file-infector capability makes complete eradication exceptionally difficult.
- Web Injection and Credential Theft: Ramnif acts as a classic banking trojan. It hooks into web browsers and utilizes Man-in-the-Browser (MitB) techniques to inject malicious HTML/JavaScript into legitimate banking websites. This allows it to steal login credentials, intercept two-factor authentication (2FA) codes, and alter transaction details in real-time.
- FTP Harvesting: The malware actively scans for and extracts stored credentials from popular FTP clients (like FileZilla or WinSCP), providing attackers with the keys to compromise external corporate web infrastructure.
Threat Assessment
A Ramnif infection is a severe, multi-faceted security incident. It represents an immediate financial threat due to banking credential theft, while its worm-like self-replication threatens to rapidly contaminate the entire corporate network, complicating incident response efforts.Eradication and Incident Response
- Aggressive Network Isolation: Due to its file-infecting nature, infected machines must be immediately disconnected from all internal networks and VPNs to halt the infection of shared network drives.
- Comprehensive System Re-image: Attempting to "clean" a Ramnif infection using antivirus software is highly risky because the malware alters legitimate system files. The only guaranteed method of eradication is a complete wipe and re-image of the compromised host from a known good baseline.
- Enterprise Password Reset: Following containment, all credentials utilized on the infected host—especially banking, VPN, and FTP passwords—must be immediately revoked and reset.
Known aliases
Threat reports may refer to this family under multiple names:
MITRE ATT&CK Techniques
This family has been observed using the following ATT&CK techniques: T1055 T1056.004 T1114 T1091
Tactical Mitigations
Based on the techniques used by this family, consider the following defensive strategies:
- T1056.004: Monitor for unauthorized keylogging, screen capturing, or web browser API hooking. Deploy EDR to detect API hooking.
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_RAMNIF {
meta:
description = "Detects Ramnif (trojan)"
author = "SystemHelpdesk Boilerplate Generator"
date = "2026-07-06"
strings:
$s1 = "ramnif" ascii wide nocase
$s2 = "trojan.ramnit" ascii wide nocase
$s3 = "worm.ramnif" ascii wide nocase
$s4 = "win32/ramnit" ascii wide nocase
condition:
uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and any of them
}Sigma Rule
title: Suspicious Ramnif Activity
id: 094e83625403ee51fe4a3e1e530b92e6
status: experimental
description: Detects generic indicators of the ramnif malware family.
logsource:
category: process_creation
product: windows
detection:
selection:
Image|endswith:
- '\cmd.exe'
- '\powershell.exe'
CommandLine|contains:
- "*ramnif*"
- "*trojan.ramnit*"
- "*worm.ramnif*"
- "*win32/ramnit*"
condition: selection
level: mediumReferences & External Analysis
- Search "ramnif" on VirusTotal (External Analysis)
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I remove the Ramnif Trojan from Windows?
Manual removal of Ramnif is highly discouraged as it may leave persistence mechanisms intact. We recommend disconnecting the device from the internet and utilizing a professional incident response service or enterprise-grade EDR software to conduct a full forensic sweep.
Is Ramnif a virus or a Trojan?
Ramnif is classified as a Trojan. Unlike traditional viruses that infect files, modern malware like Ramnif typically operates as a standalone payload designed to compromise systems, steal data, or deploy secondary stage implants.
What are the main symptoms of a Ramnif infection?
Symptoms of Ramnif can include unexpected system slowness, unauthorized outbound network traffic to unknown IP addresses, disabled security software, and suspicious background processes running from AppData or Temp directories.
Related Families (Category: trojan)
Explore other malware families in the same category:
Protect Your Network Against Trojans
Want to prevent Ramnif and similar threats from compromising your organization? Read our comprehensive defensive guide: Banking Trojan Protection.
Machine-readable
Get this profile as JSON: https://jordanricky1604-ship-it.github.io/malware-families-catalog/api/ramnif.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.