How to eliminate Warzone RAT

What kind of malware is Warzone?

Warzone is remote access trojan (RAT) that cyber criminals use to remotely access victims' computers. This trojan is advertised using a public website, and thus can be downloaded and used by anyone.

Typically, cyber criminals try to trick people into installing these programs and then use them to steal various personal information that could be used to generate revenue in various ways.

More about Warzone RAT

Warzone's code is written in the C++ programming language. This RAT is independent of .NET Framework and controls computers via the VNC module. Warzone uses the HRDP model, which allows it to log into computers (Windows accounts) without victims' knowledge. Furthermore, this model allows cyber criminals to bypass UAC (User Account Control) security.

I.e., they can control the system using administrative privileges. This feature works on Windows versions from 7 to 10. Warzone can be used to access the victim's webcam, and to steal passwords from Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Edge browsers, and Outlook, Thunderbird and Foxmail email clients.

Furthermore, cyber criminals can use this trojan to download and upload various files, execute and delete them. It also includes a key-logging feature (live key logger), which records every pressed key, even when offline.

Cyber criminals can also use it to send commands to the infected computer's CMD (Command Prompt), view and end/kill processes via Task Manager, and browse the web using the computer's IP address. This is a powerful remote access tool that can be used to cause serious damage.

It might be used to steal passwords, logins of various accounts (including bank accounts), to install malware (i.e. ransomware) that could lead to data loss or other problems, to record videos using the webcam and then use them to blackmail people, and so on.

Essentially, Warzone is used to steal data/details that could be used to generate revenue. Therefore, people who have Warzone installed are likely to experience financial loss, privacy issues, and have their computers infected with other malware and suffer from a number of other, serious problems.

RATs in general

There are a number of RATs available, however, even legitimate ones can be used for malicious purposes. Some examples of other, similar tools are Bandook, CrossRAT, and Atilla Stealer. Typically, cyber criminals distribute RATs (trick people into installing them) to steal personal, sensitive data/information.

If there is any reason to believe that your computer is infected with software of this kind, uninstall it immediately.

How did Warzone infiltrate my computer?

There are various ways to distribute these programs. Generally, cyber criminals trick people into downloading and installing them through spam email campaigns, fake software updaters, third party software activation tools, untrustworthy software download sources and trojan-type programs. Spam campaigns can be used to proliferate malicious programs through email attachments.

For example, Microsoft Office documents, PDF documents, archive files (ZIP, RAR and so on), executables (.exe files), JavaScript files and others. When people (email recipients) open these attachments, they grant permission for malicious software to be downloaded and installed.

Fake (unofficial) software updaters can be used to exploit bugs, flaws of outdated software. In other cases, these tools simply download and install malware rather than the fixes or updates. Unofficial activation ('cracking') tools infect computers in a similar manner.

These tools are promoted as programs that supposedly allow users to activate licensed software free of charge, however, they often download and install viruses/malware instead. Another way to proliferate malicious files/programs is to use dubious software download sources.

For example, Peer-to-Peer networks (eMule, torrent clients, etc.), free file hosting and freeware download websites, third party downloaders and other similar sources. These channels are used to present malicious files as legitimate. Unfortunately, when malicious files are downloaded and opened, they infect computers with high-risk malware.

Trojans are programs that cause chain infections - if installed, they proliferate other viruses, however, to cause any damage, these programs must already installed.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Do not open attachments or web links that are present in emails received from unknown, suspicious addresses. Note, these emails are usually presented as official, important, and so on, but they should not be trusted. Update installed software properly using implemented functions or tools that are provided by official developers, and not other, third party tools.

Do not download software or files from untrustworthy, unofficial websites, using third party downloaders, or other dubious sources. The only safe channels are official websites. Installed, paid software should be activated properly. Third party activation/cracking tools are illegal and often download and install malware.

All computers are safer when reputable anti-virus or anti-spyware software is installed. Keep these programs enabled at all times and scan systems for viruses regularly. If you believe that your computer is already infected, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Screenshot of a website that is used to promote Warzone:

Example of a spam email used to spread a malicious MS Excel document designed to inject Warzone RAT into the system:

Text presented within:

Subject: Wholesale Price List

 

Hi.

We will need you to list pricing for each item or bundled package in $Usd , fob , #-totals of each avail for immediate sales and shipping?

Our 50-plus retail locations are Also always looking for Surplus inventories and in-stock inventories available at discounted pricing to buy all items you have?

Please use the attached quote form and list ANY/ALL items you have in-stock inventories & also Surplus inventories and  other items that are ready to ship' if Applicable for any of your Factories items'

If any / all Items need to be Manufactured - please include all info-specs - pics and $ usd  , fob , min-moq needed per items , style , color and any other needed info for Director to review to determine whether we want to carry in our retail locations in North America.

For confidential reasons you need to Enable content in the xls file for perfect viewing and not comparable with WPS sorry only Microsoft excel.

Thanks  we appreciate all your efforts and hard-work in this matter

Screenshot of the malicious attachment:

Update February 13, 2024: The FBI's efforts led to the disruption of the Warzone RAT malware operation, resulting in the arrest of two individuals. Daniel Meli, a 27-year-old resident of Malta, was apprehended for his involvement in the distribution of Warzone RAT, a prevalent remote access trojan in cybercrime activities.

Meli's arrest in Malta followed an indictment by U.S. authorities and involved a coordinated effort with local and international agencies. In addition to Meli's arrest, domains associated with Warzone RAT were seized, and another indictment targeted Prince Onyeoziri Odinakachi, 31, from Nigeria, for providing customer support to threat actors.

Furthermore, the operation led to the identification and confiscation of server infrastructure linked to the malware across various countries.

How to remove malware manually?

Most trojan infections can be removed by running a full system scan with Combo Cleaner. The full manual procedure below is for cases where automatic removal failed, where you want to verify a scan caught everything, or where the threat has multiple persistence points.

Tools you'll need

Combo Cleaner Antivirus 7-days free trial

Recommended primary scanner. VB100 certified. The 7-day free trial is available.

Microsoft Defender Offline Free · built-in

Built into Windows. Boots to a clean environment to catch rootkits.

Process Explorer Free

From Microsoft Sysinternals. Better than Task Manager - shows full paths and signatures.

Autoruns Free

From Microsoft Sysinternals. Lists every place malware can persist on your system.

Microsoft Safety Scanner (MSERT) Free

Official Microsoft on-demand scanner. Always-current signatures - expires every 10 days.

Phase 1~ 5 min

Contain - limit the damage

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1

Disconnect from the network

30 secNo tool needed

Unplug your Ethernet cable and turn off Wi-Fi. If you're on a laptop, the airplane-mode key works fastest.

Why this matters

Many trojans exfiltrate data - saved browser passwords, banking sessions, screenshots - and accept remote commands. Cutting the network stops both immediately. Keep it disconnected until Phase 4.

2

Boot into Safe Mode with Networking

3 min

Safe Mode loads a minimal set of drivers and stops most malware from auto-running. "With Networking" lets you download tools - re-enable Wi-Fi only after you've booted in.

Windows 11

Open Settings → System → Recovery. Click Restart now next to Advanced startup.

Your computer will restart into the "Choose an option" menu. Click Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart. After the second reboot, press 5 or F5.

Windows 10

Click the Windows logo, hold Shift, click the Power icon and choose Restart. In the Choose an option screen, click Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart. Press F5.

Windows 8

Go to the Start Screen, type Advanced, select Settings → Advanced startup options → Restart now → Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup settings → Restart → F5.

Note: Windows 8 reached end-of-life in January 2023 - running on it puts you at much higher risk of reinfection.

Windows 7

Click Start → Shut Down → Restart → OK. As the system boots, press F8 repeatedly until the Windows Advanced Options menu appears, then choose Safe Mode with Networking.

Note: Windows 7 reached end-of-life in January 2020 - running on it puts you at much higher risk of reinfection.

Phase 2~ 15 min

Identify - find what's hiding

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3

Inspect running processes with Process Explorer

Tool: Process Explorer5 min

Download Process Explorer from Microsoft Sysinternals. Run it as Administrator. Click Options → Verify Image Signatures and View → Lower Pane View → DLLs.

Sort by "Verified Signer." Anything unsigned running from %AppData%, %LocalAppData%, %Temp%, or %ProgramData% is suspicious. Right-click → Properties to see the full image path. Right-click → "Search Online" to look up unfamiliar process names.

Why not just Task Manager

Task Manager hides full file paths, doesn't show digital signatures, and groups processes in ways that make malware easy to miss. Process Explorer is the same tool Microsoft engineers use.

4

Map every persistence point with Autoruns

Tool: Autoruns 14.x10 min

Download Autoruns. Right-click Autoruns.exe and choose Run as administrator - without elevation, Autoruns can't inspect protected registry hives.

In the menu, open Options → Hide Microsoft Entries and Options → Hide Empty Locations, then click Refresh.

Modern trojans don't just live in startup. Walk through these tabs and look for unsigned or unfamiliar entries:

• Logon - classic Run/RunOnce keys
• Scheduled Tasks - frequent hiding spot, especially tasks with PowerShell, MSHTA, or rundll32 actions
• Services - unsigned services in non-Microsoft folders
• WMI - Event Subscriptions are a stealthy persistence mechanism (MITRE T1546.003)
• Image Hijacks - Image File Execution Options "Debugger" abuse
• AppInit - DLLs loaded into every GUI process
• Browser plug-ins - unsigned add-ons across all installed browsers

Pro tip

Right-click any suspicious entry → "Jump to Image" to see the actual file. Right-click → "Search Online" opens VirusTotal for the file hash. Don't delete yet - just write down the file paths and entry names. We'll remove them after the scans.

5

Check the hosts file and DNS settings

3 minBuilt into Windows

Trojans often redirect bank, antivirus, and update domains to attacker-controlled servers by editing the hosts file or DNS settings.

Hosts file: Open Notepad as Administrator and open C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts. Legitimate entries are commented with #. Any uncommented IP-to-domain mapping is suspicious - especially redirects for microsoft.com, windowsupdate, or your bank.

DNS settings: Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run ipconfig /all. Confirm your DNS servers point to your ISP, your router, or a known public resolver (Cloudflare 1.1.1.1, Google 8.8.8.8). Then open Settings → Network & internet → [your adapter] → DNS server assignment and verify both DNS and DNS over HTTPS (DoH) settings haven't been hijacked.

Why this matters

A clean PC with hijacked DNS is still a compromised PC. You'll think you're at chase.com and you'll be at the attacker's clone.

Phase 3~ 60-90 min

Remove - three scans, one cleanup

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No single antivirus catches everything. The order below is intentional: offline scan first (catches rootkits before Windows fully loads), then on-demand scanners on the running system, then manual cleanup of anything they missed.

6

Run Microsoft Defender Offline

Tool: Built into Windows15 min

Reboot to normal Windows. Open Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Scan options. Select Microsoft Defender Antivirus (offline scan) and click Scan now. Your computer will restart into a stripped-down environment and scan before the full operating system loads.

Why this comes first

Rootkits and bootkits hide from any scanner running on the same Windows session that's already infected. A pre-boot offline scan sees the disk before the malware can hide itself.

Recommended antivirus

Combo Cleaner

VB100 certified. Includes anti-trojan, registry/persistence scanning, anti-spyware in one pass. The 7-day free trial is available.

Download Combo Cleaner

7

Run Combo Cleaner full system scan

Tool: Combo Cleaner20-40 min

Install Combo Cleaner and run a full system scan (not the quick scan). Let it complete fully, review the detected threats, and apply the recommended actions. Combo Cleaner will quarantine known trojans and registry persistence.

8

Run Microsoft Safety Scanner as a second-opinion scan

Tool: Microsoft Safety Scanner15 min

Download Microsoft Safety Scanner (MSERT.exe), Microsoft's free on-demand tool. The binary expires every 10 days, which means every download has the latest signatures. Run a full scan after Combo Cleaner to catch anything one engine alone might miss.

Why a second scan

Different scanning engines catch different threats. Running an additional Microsoft scan after Combo Cleaner is the single most underused verification step in malware removal.

9

Manually remove anything still listed in Autoruns

Tool: Autoruns10 min

Reopen Autoruns. Anything you flagged in Step 4 that's still present hasn't been caught by the automated scans. For each remaining suspicious entry: right-click → Delete in Autoruns (this removes the persistence registration), then navigate to the file path and delete the actual file. Empty the Recycle Bin.

Important

Some malware files reappear after deletion because something else on the system recreates them. If you delete a file and it returns within minutes, you have a remaining persistence point that Autoruns didn't show - usually a service or scheduled task running under SYSTEM. Re-run the scans from Steps 6-8 or proceed to a clean install (see end of guide).

Phase 4~ 15 min

Recover - restore browsers and security

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10

Reset browsers and clear notification permissions

5 min

Trojans and adware frequently hijack browsers - change the default search engine, install rogue extensions, or grant themselves notification permissions to keep displaying scam pop-ups even after the malware is gone.

• Chrome: visit chrome://settings/reset and click "Restore settings to their original defaults." Then visit chrome://settings/content/notifications and remove any unfamiliar sites.
• Edge: visit edge://settings/reset. Then check edge://settings/content/notifications.
• Firefox: open about:support and click Refresh Firefox (Firefox uses "Refresh," not "Reset"). Then check Settings → Privacy & Security → Permissions → Notifications.

Review installed extensions in each browser and remove anything you don't recognize, especially extensions you didn't install yourself.

11

Re-enable Defender, Tamper Protection, and update everything

10 min

Many trojans disable security software. Open Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Manage settings and confirm Real-time protection, Cloud-delivered protection, and Tamper Protection are all turned on. Tamper Protection prevents malware from disabling Defender silently.

Then run Windows Update (Settings → Windows Update → Check for updates) and update your browsers and applications. The infection vector that let the trojan in originally usually involves outdated software.

Phase 5~ 15 min + 7 days

Verify & secure

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12

Change passwords from a clean device

20 min⚠ Critical

If the trojan was an info-stealer (Lumma, RedLine, Vidar, and similar are extremely common), assume every password saved in your browser is compromised. Change them from a different, known-clean device - your phone is fine if it's not infected.

Recommended order:

1. Primary email first - it's the recovery hub for everything else
2. Banking and financial accounts
3. Password manager master password (if you use one)
4. Social media, shopping, and remaining accounts

Where available, enable phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication (passkeys / FIDO2 hardware keys / authenticator apps) - SMS-based MFA is bypassable by sophisticated attackers.

13

Verify the clean and monitor for 7 days

5 min + 1 week monitoring

Reconnect to the network and run one final full scan with Combo Cleaner. Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) and switch to the Startup apps tab - confirm nothing suspicious has reappeared.

Over the next 7 days, watch for symptom recurrence: unexpected high CPU usage, unknown processes returning, browser redirects, or pop-ups. If anything returns, you missed a persistence point and the procedure needs to be repeated - or you may have a deeper compromise that requires a clean install.

When to clean install Windows instead

Manual removal isn't always the right answer. Reinstalling Windows from scratch is the only way to be 100% certain when:

• The malware reappears after every removal attempt
• A bootkit or UEFI rootkit was detected (this class of threat sits below the operating system and survives a normal Windows reinstall)
• A confirmed credential-theft trojan ran with administrator privileges (Lumma, RedLine, Vidar) - the system likely has multiple unknown payloads
• The PC is used for online banking, business email, or anything where partial doubt isn't acceptable

A clean install is a 30-60 minute process: Windows 11 reinstall via Settings → System → Recovery → Reset this PC → Remove everything → Cloud download. Back up documents to external storage first, scan the backup with Combo Cleaner before restoring it, and reinstall applications fresh - never restore them from a backup of the infected system.

Important: Manual removal requires advanced computer skills. If you're not confident identifying system files from malicious files, run an automated scan with Combo Cleaner and Windows Defender and stop there - that path catches the vast majority of consumer trojans without the risk of breaking Windows by deleting the wrong file.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

My computer is infected with Warzone malware, should I format my storage device to get rid of it?

No, Warzone can be removed without formatting the storage device. It can be removed by following the steps described in our removal guide above.

What are the biggest issues that malware can cause?

In most cases, having a computer infected with malware causes problems such as identity theft, monetary loss, data encryption, additional computer infections, and (or) poor computer performance.

What is the purpose of Warzone malware?

It is a remote access Trojan that steals passwords from Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Edge browsers, Outlook, Thunderbird, and Foxmail email clients. Also, it can be used to download and upload various files, execute and delete them, log keystrokes (record keyboard input), execute commands via Command Prompt, and view and end processes in Task Manager.

How did a malware infiltrate my computer?

It is known that Warzone RAT is distributed via emails. Cybercriminals send emails containing malicious attachments to trick recipients into infecting their computers with Warzone. In other cases, malware is distributed via websites hosting cracked/pirated software, fake installers, P2P networks, torrent sites, etc.

Will Combo Cleaner protect me from malware?

Yes, Combo Cleaner can detect and remove almost all known malware. High-end malware can hide deep in the system. Thus, running a full system scan is a must to detect and remove malware of this kind.