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What is RevengeRAT?
RevengeRAT (also known as Revetrat) is high-risk computer infection categorized as a remote access trojan (RAT). The purpose of this malware is to provide cyber criminals with remote access to the infected machine and allow them to manipulate it.
Research shows that cyber criminals proliferate this infection using spam email campaigns (malicious MS Office attachments). Having a trojan-type infection such as RevengeRAT installed on your computer can cause many issues.
RevengeRAT malware overview
RATs allow threat actors (cyber criminals) to manipulate infected machines remotely. Using RevengeRAT, they can manage system services/process/files, edit the Windows Registry entries and hosts file, log keystrokes, steal account credentials, access hardware (e.g., webcam), execute shell commands, and so on. Therefore, these people can cause significant damage.
Firstly, modifications performed to the system might diminish performance, and recovery could be difficult or even impossible. Additionally, by logging keystrokes and stealing account credentials, cyber criminals cause serious privacy issues. Threat actors aim to generate as much revenue as possible.
Therefore, hijacked bank, social network, email, and other accounts can be misused in various ways, such as through direct money transfers, online purchases, borrowing money from users' contacts, and so on. Victims of this trojan could lose savings, accrue significant debt, and have their identities stolen.
RevengeRAT also allows cyber criminals to execute shell commands to control the system in various ways. Be aware that shell commands are used to cause chain infections by injecting additional malware into the system. RATs such as RevengeRAT are typically used to proliferate infections that have different capabilities/purposes (e.g., ransomware, cryptominers, etc.).
In summary, RevengeRAT poses a significant threat to your privacy/computer safety and should be eliminated immediately.
| Name | Revetrat virus |
| Threat Type | Trojan, Password-stealing virus, Banking malware, Spyware |
| Detection Names | Avast (Win32:MalwareX-gen [Trj]), BitDefender (Gen:Variant.Binder.1), ESET-NOD32 (Win32/TrojanDropper.Binder.NBH), Kaspersky (HackTool.Win32.Binder.bs), Full List (VirusTotal) |
| Symptoms | Trojans are designed to stealthily infiltrate the victim's computer and remain silent, and thus no particular symptoms are clearly visible on an infected machine. |
| Distribution methods | Infected email attachments, malicious online advertisements, social engineering, software 'cracks'. |
| Damage | Stolen banking information, passwords, identity theft, victim's computer added to a botnet. |
| Malware Removal (Windows) |
To eliminate possible malware infections, scan your computer with legitimate antivirus software. Our security researchers recommend using Combo Cleaner. Download Combo CleanerTo use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. 7 days free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by RCS LT, the parent company of PCRisk.com. |
Trojan-type malware examples
There are many trojan-type infections that have similar characteristics to RevengeRAT including TrickBot, FormBook, Emotet, Hancitor, and Adwind - the list of examples goes on.
The functionality might slightly differ (some gather information, whilst others cause chain infections, mine cryptocurrency, and so on), however, they all pose threat to your privacy and computer safety. Therefore, remove trojan-type infections immediately.
How did RevengeRAT infiltrate my computer?
As mentioned above, RevengeRAT is typically proliferated using spam email campaigns that deliver malicious Microsoft Office documents, however, to hide their traces and avoid anti-virus detection, cyber criminals perform a sequence of actions to inject malware into the system. Once opened, the deceptive attachment asks to enable macro commands.
Once enabled, the document will use a template injection technique to download and open a OLE document, which contains the malicious macros. This document uses macro commands to download and run an MS Excel file that decodes and executes another command used to download a malicious JavaScript.
The script is hosted on a Blogspot page, the domain of which is shortened using the Bit.ly service. Malicious JavaScript is then executed, which grabs commands from Pastebin pages and ultimately runs them to inject RevengeRAT into the system.
Before performing this, however, the malicious JavaScript kills a number of running processes, including Windows Defender and several apps relating to Microsoft Office. It also disables the Office's Protected View mode. The entire process may seem complicated, however, it is quite simple.
Bear in mind that Blogspot, Bit.ly, and Pastebin are legitimate websites/services and have no association with RevengeRAT malware. These are simply tools used by cyber criminals. Furthermore, RevengeRAT is publicly accessible in hacker forums and, therefore, anyone can download and start proliferating this malware, and the distribution methods are likely to vary.
Trojan-type infections are also often distributed using unofficial software download sources (free file hosting websites, freeware download websites, Peer-to-Peer [P2P] networks, etc.), and fake updaters/cracks.
How to avoid installation of malware?
Handle all email attachments with care. If the received attachment is irrelevant or does not concern you, do not open anything. Files/links received from suspicious/unrecognizable email addresses should be ignored.
Bear in mind that criminals often send emails containing messages that are literally too good to be true (e.g., "you have won a million dollars", "someone transferred money to your bank account", etc.). Attachments are often presented as 'important documents' (e.g., invoices, receipts, bills, etc.). Never fall for these tricks.
Also use 2010 or newer versions of Microsoft Office, since previous versions are not implemented with Protected View mode, which prevents new documents from automatically running macro commands. Download programs from official sources only, preferably using direct download links.
Third party downloaders/installers, often include rogue applications and, therefore, these tools should never be used. Keep installed applications/operating systems up-to-date, however, use only implemented functions or tools provided by the official developer.
Cracking applications should also not be considered, since software piracy is a cyber crime and many cracking tools are fake. Thus, the risk of infections is extremely high. The key to computer safety is caution. 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.
Examples of spam emails used to spread RevengeRAT virus;
Example 1:
Text presented within:
Subject: Contract Standby // Cargo Charter request
Dear on duty,
We are searching for the cargo aircraft to fulfill below contract:1. Flight shall be operated everyday for 5-8 months of continuous operation commencing from 15th May, 2021
2. Cargo details:
Total weight: 2500-4550 kg
Amount of boxes: +- 1000 boxes
Size of boxes: 20x20x20 sm. cube and 40x40x40 sm. cube.
Commodities: Medical Kits (Non DG)
Port of Loading: Shanghai or any preferable option in ChinaPlease provide us with your availability and your best price quotation for the charter flight as per the attached ports of discharging details.
Also include all taxes and fees. If any questions please feel free to ask us.
NOTE: client has received all permits and authorizations in order to proceed with this flight without any further delay.Many thanks in advance and we look forward in setting up this cargo flight with you.
Best Regards
********
Example 2:
Text presented within:
Subject: [REMINDER] Invitation to Airbus Family Worldwide Symposium
Dear Customer,
Airbus is pleased to invite you to the Airbus Family Symposium which will take place from Wednesday 12th to Friday 14th of May 2021.
The event will be an opportunity for us to provide you with an operational overview of what has been done to support all Airbus fleet in January 2021 to April 2021 through various virtual sessions & conferences. We will also focus on what are going to be the next steps in the support & development of the Airbus Family.
The agenda thematics are focusing around the "Customer Support * Fleet efficiency" aspects and are not technically orientated.
Please find attached the global agenda of the event which is based on Toulouse (France) time (GMT+2).
We kindly invite you to confirm your participation and not later than Monday 10th of May by signing on the attached global agenda of the event and revert back immediately.
You will be provided with the connection details, once you have confirmed your participation.
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.
Disconnect from the network
Unplug your Ethernet cable and turn off Wi-Fi. If you're on a laptop, the airplane-mode key works fastest.
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.
Boot into Safe Mode with Networking
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.
Open . Click Restart now next to Advanced startup.
Your computer will restart into the "Choose an option" menu. Click . After the second reboot, press 5 or F5.
Click the Windows logo, hold Shift, click the Power icon and choose Restart. In the Choose an option screen, click . 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.
Inspect running processes with Process Explorer
Download Process Explorer from Microsoft Sysinternals. Run it as Administrator. Click and .
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.
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.
Map every persistence point with Autoruns
Download Autoruns. Right-click Autoruns.exe and choose Run as administrator - without elevation, Autoruns can't inspect protected registry hives.
In the menu, open and , 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
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.
Check the hosts file and DNS settings
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 and verify both DNS and DNS over HTTPS (DoH) settings haven't been hijacked.
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.
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.
Run Microsoft Defender Offline
Reboot to normal Windows. Open . 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.
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.
VB100 certified. Includes anti-trojan, registry/persistence scanning, anti-spyware in one pass. The 7-day free trial is available.
Download Combo CleanerRun Combo Cleaner full system scan
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.
Run Microsoft Safety Scanner as a second-opinion scan
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.
Different scanning engines catch different threats. Running an additional Microsoft scan after Combo Cleaner is the single most underused verification step in malware removal.
Manually remove anything still listed in Autoruns
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.
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).
Reset browsers and clear notification permissions
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/resetand click "Restore settings to their original defaults." Then visitchrome://settings/content/notificationsand remove any unfamiliar sites. - Edge: visit
edge://settings/reset. Then checkedge://settings/content/notifications. - Firefox: open
about:supportand 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.
Re-enable Defender, Tamper Protection, and update everything
Many trojans disable security software. Open 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 () and update your browsers and applications. The infection vector that let the trojan in originally usually involves outdated software.
Change passwords from a clean device
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:
- Primary email first - it's the recovery hub for everything else
- Banking and financial accounts
- Password manager master password (if you use one)
- 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.
Verify the clean and monitor for 7 days
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 . 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 RevengeRAT malware, should I format my storage device to get rid of it?
No, RevengeRAT's removal does not necessitate formatting.
What are the biggest issues that RevengeRAT malware can cause?
RevengeRAT is a Remote Access Trojan (RAT). Malicious programs of this kind are designed to enable remote control over machines. For example, RevengeRAT can control the device, record information (keylogging, webcam recording, etc.), execute shell commands, and perform other actions. Since this program is capable of installing content onto devices, it may be used to infect systems with additional malware - thereby broadening the scope of the threats it poses. In general, malware infections can result in diminished system performance or failure, data loss, hardware damage, severe privacy issues, financial losses, and even identity theft.
What is the purpose of RevengeRAT malware?
The threats posed by malware (or a maliciously used legitimate program) depend on its capabilities and the attackers' aims. Most malware infections are employed to generate revenue for the cyber criminals. Other potential reasons include - attackers' amusement, process distribution (e.g., websites, services, companies, etc.), personal vendettas, and politically/geopolitically motivated attacks.
How did RevengeRAT malware infiltrate my computer?
Malware is primarily spread through drive-by (stealthy and deceptive) downloads, malicious attachments/links in spam mail, online scams, freeware and third-party download sites, P2P sharing networks (Torrent clients, Gnutella, etc.), illegal software activation tools ("cracks"), and fake updates. Some malicious programs can self-proliferate via local networks and removable storage devices (e.g., external hard drives, USB flash drives, etc.).
Will Combo Cleaner protect me from malware?
Yes, Combo Cleaner can detect and eliminate almost all known malware infections. It must be stressed that performing a complete system scan is crucial - since high-end malicious programs typically hide deep within systems.
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Tomas Meskauskas
Expert security researcher, professional malware analyst
I am passionate about computer security and technology. I have an experience of over 10 years working in various companies related to computer technical issue solving and Internet security. I have been working as an author and editor for pcrisk.com since 2010. Follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn to stay informed about the latest online security threats.
PCrisk security portal is brought by a company RCS LT.
Joined forces of security researchers help educate computer users about the latest online security threats. More information about the company RCS LT.
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