🚨 WinRAR CVE-2025-8088: The invisible persistence SOCs can’t afford to miss
Attackers are abusing Alternate Data Streams (ADS) to perform path traversal during archive extraction. By appending colon symbol (:) in file names, they sneak hidden objects into system folders without showing anything in the
#WinRAR UI.
This vulnerability is dangerous for organizations as the malicious files remain invisible in WinRAR’s interface and many security tools. Employees believe the archive is safe, while persistence is silently installed and activated on reboot.
📂 In one observed case inside
ANY.RUN Sandbox:
Genotyping_Results_B57_Positive.pdf:.\..\..\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\Display Settings.lnk
➡️ Places a .lnk in Startup that executes %LOCALAPPDATA%\ApbxHelper.exe after reboot.
➡️ Result: remote code execution and long-term persistence.
🔗 See full analysis of this CVE, download actionable report, and collect ready-to-use IOCs to speed up investigations and cut response time:
app.any.run/tasks/34dcc9a8-4…
🎯 Who should pay attention
Any organization using WinRAR in daily workflows. The threat is especially dangerous for teams exchanging archives via email or shared folders.
❌ Key risks for organizations:
🔹Attacks go unnoticed → hidden files don’t appear in WinRAR or many tools
🔹Analysts lose time → archives look clean but require extra checks
🔹Persistence survives reboot → malware runs automatically once restarted
#ANYRUN exposes hidden ADS-based persistence techniques that traditional tools miss, enabling faster decision-making, more effective threat hunting, and reduced investigation costs.
💡 Next steps for orgs:
1️⃣ Patch WinRAR → 7.13
2️⃣ Detonate suspect archives in
#ANYRUN → reveal hidden NTFS ADS files export IOCs
3️⃣ Use TI Lookup to track campaigns and enrich IOCs with live attack data from 15k orgs
🔎 Query 1 – Startup file creation via WinRAR:
intelligence.any.run/analysi…
🔎 Query 2 – All CVE-2025-8088 samples:
intelligence.any.run/analysi…
#IOCs:
SHA256:
a99903938bf242ea6465865117561ba950bd12a82f41b8eeae108f4f3d74b5d1
Genotyping_Results_B57_Positive.pdf
a25d011e2d8e9288de74d78aba4c9412a0ad8b321253ef1122451d2a3d176efa
Display Settings.lnk
8082956ace8b016ae8ce16e4a777fe347c7f80f8a576a6f935f9d636a30204e7
ApbxHelper.exe
Code Signing Certificate:
SN: FE9A606686B3A19941B37A0FC2788644
Thumb: 1EE92AC61F78AAB49AECDDB42D678B521A64EA01
Issuer: Simon Gork
🚀 Detonate malicious archives, uncover hidden ADS files, and export IOCs with
#ANYRUN, giving your
#SOC full visibility, stronger coverage, and faster response against hidden threats.
#ExploreWithANYRUN