Sodinokibi - How to remove

Sodinokibi is an encrypting ransomware virus that targets servers which run Oracle WebLogic. The virus asks you to pay thousands of dollars to get your files back. On top of that, Sodinokibi developers also spread Gandcrab 5.2 to try and profit even more.

Individuals usually have their computers infected in an automated way, with the help of social engineering, insecure browsing, and lack of preparation. But businesses are usually targeted and attacked manually after their security vulnerabilities are found. Sodinokibi is one virus that exploits a vulnerability that should have been patched by the server administrators days ago.

How Sodinokibi works

As a cryptovirus, Sodinokibi looks for and locks all the files it can find, except for executables. Files are usually encrypted using hybrid encryption and the key needed to undo this is saved with the developers of the virus. It is practically impossible to restore the files without the decryption key.

As the files are encrypted, an extension made up of random characters is appended to the names of the files.

[old file name].[old file type].[unique extension]

Unusually to ransomware, each machine infected by Sodinokibi has a unique extension that is given to all the locked files. Not only are the files encrypted, but any shadow copies are deleted, too. So if you don’t have backups of your files saved separately, this makes the impact of the Sodinokibi ransomware much more devastating than it could have been.

Like with all cryptoviruses, the developers of Sodinokibi direct you to pay a sum of money for the decryptor that could unlock your files. In Bitcoin, of course. $2500 if you pay within the first three days of the infection, $5000 if you wait longer. This puts pressure on the victims, making it more likely that they will pay the ransom rather than first search for other solutions.

A ransom note with a message from the Sodinokibi developers is generated and put in each folder, next to the encrypted files. The note is called [random characters]-HOW-TO-DECRYPT.txt or [random characters]-readme.txt.

Hello dear friend!

Your files are encrypted, and, as a result you can’t use it.You must visit our page to get instructions about deryption process.
All encrypted files have got [random characters] extension.

Instructions into the TOR network
—————————-
Install TOR browser from https://torproject.org/
Visit the following link:
http://aplebzu47wgazapdqks6vrcv6zcnjppkbxbr6wketf56nf6aq2nmyoyd.onion/[unique id]

Instructions into www (The following link can not be in work state, if true, use TOR above):
—————————-
Visit the following link: http://decryptor.top/[unique id]

Page will ask you for the key, here it is:
[unique key]

Sodinokibi is distributed to each server without alerting the users. The specific WebLogic vulnerability allowed code execution remotely and without authentication. Check this link for more technical details. The WebLogic vulnerability has also been used to spread a Monero miner, as another way for the cybercriminals to profit from the infected machines.

Bitcoin and Tor are used for their privacy features, as the cybercriminals try to remain anonymous. These otherwise brilliant technologies are used by various online criminals quite often, though are themselves safe.

How to be safe against ransomware

Update your software regularly. Oracle has already patched the vulnerability, so it’s important to take advantage of that. In case some malware has already infiltrated your server and has disabled updates — and displayed a fake update window –, check yourself to see if you have the latest patches. Check if your antivirus programs are working as they should, too.

Keep up-to-date backups of your files separate from your computer, test them, train to quickly restore your system. It’s important to use best practices to secure your server. Otherwise, attacks like Sodinokibi or Gandcrab will set you back unnecessarily.

Don’t pay the ransom — almost 40% of the people who pay the ransom do not get their files back. Small businesses which have poor security are usually targeted, and their ransoms are ten times the size of the ransoms to individuals with infected personal computers. The developers of Sodinokibi swear that they do restore the files because if they did not, then nobody would pay the ransom. They even promise to restore one file for free. Technical difficulties when trying to restore the files after paying the ransom are likely, and the cybercriminals have no obligation to return the money if the files can’t be restored.

How to uninstall Sodinokibi

Use an antivirus program to remove the infection. Spyhunter, or another professional application.

After the virus has been removed, restore your files from a backup. Sodinokibi seems to be a new virus that might not belong to a known family, so there is no free decryptor yet. Still, you can keep the hard drives or their images in case decryption becomes possible later.

How to recover Sodinokibi encrypted files and remove the virus

Step 1. Restore system into last known good state using system restore

1. Reboot your computer to Safe Mode with Command Prompt:

for Windows 7 / Vista/ XP

• Start → Shutdown → Restart → OK.
• Press F8 key repeatedly until Advanced Boot Options window appears.
• Choose Safe Mode with Command Prompt.

for Windows 8 / 10

• Press Power at Windows login screen. Then press and hold Shift key and click Restart.
• Choose Troubleshoot → Advanced Options → Startup Settings and click Restart.
• When it loads, select Enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt from the list of Startup Settings.

 

2.Restore System files and settings.

• When Command Prompt mode loads, enter cd restore and press Enter.
• Then enter rstrui.exe and press Enter again.
• Click “Next” in the windows that appeared.
• Select one of the Restore Points that are available before Sodinokibi has infiltrated to your system and then click “Next”.
• To start System restore click “Yes”.

 

Step 2. Complete removal of Sodinokibi

After restoring your system, it is recommended to scan your computer with an anti-malware program, like Spyhunter and remove all malicious files related to Sodinokibi. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore Sodinokibi affected files using Shadow Volume Copies

If you do not use System Restore option on your operating system, there is a chance to use shadow copy snapshots. They store copies of your files that point of time when the system restore snapshot was created. Usually Sodinokibi tries to delete all possible Shadow Volume Copies, so this methods may not work on all computers. However, it may fail to do so. Shadow Volume Copies are only available with Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. There are two ways to retrieve your files via Shadow Volume Copy. You can do it using native Windows Previous Versions or via Shadow Explorer. a) Native Windows Previous Versions Right-click on an encrypted file and select Properties → Previous versions tab. Now you will see all available copies of that particular file and the time when it was stored in a Shadow Volume Copy. Choose the version of the file you want to retrieve and click Copy if you want to save it to some directory of your own, or Restore if you want to replace existing, encrypted file. If you want to see the content of file first, just click Open.

b) Shadow Explorer It is a program that can be found online for free. You can download either a full or a portable version of Shadow Explorer. Open the program. On the left top corner select the drive where the file you are looking for is a stored. You will see all folders on that drive. To retrieve a whole folder, right-click on it and select “Export”. Then choose where you want it to be stored.

Step 4. Use Data Recovery programs to recover Sodinokibi encrypted files

There are several data recovery programs that might recover encrypted files as well. This does not work in all cases but you can try this:

• We suggest using another PC and connect the infected hard drive as slave. It is still possible to do this on infected PC though.
• Download a data recovery program.
• Install and scan for recently deleted files.

Note: In many cases it is impossible to restore data files affected by modern ransomware. Thus I recommend using decent cloud backup software as precaution. We recommend checking out Carbonite, BackBlaze, CrashPlan or Mozy Home.