How to prevent installation of the Glupteba trojan

What kind of malware is Glupteba?

Glupteba is a trojan-type program, malicious software that installs other programs of this type.

Cyber criminals distribute Glupteba through malicious advertisements that can be injected into legitimate websites or advertising networks. Research shows that Glubteba can be used to distribute a browser stealer or router exploiter. In any case, this malware should be uninstalled immediately.

More about Glupteba

The installed browser stealer can be used to steal personal, sensitive details such as website cookies, browsing history and account logins, passwords from browsers such as Google Chrome, Opera and Yandex. In this way, the stealer can be used to gain access to various accounts that victims use through their browsers.

Hacked accounts can be used to make fraudulent purchases, proliferate malicious programs and scam campaigns, or steal other sensitive information. Stolen cookies can be used to gain unauthorized access to various information (or services) in the system.

Stolen browsing data could be misused by selling or sharing it with other parties. An example of how other parties exploit users' browsing histories is through targeted ad creation. In this case, users might start seeing various ads that were tailored according to stolen data.

The installed router exploiter can be used to compromise the router and configure it to generate malicious traffic using stolen administrator credentials.

An example is when compromised routers start receiving spam mail that might be designed to trick users into visiting untrustworthy or even malicious pages. To avoid problems relating to privacy, browsing safety, monetary loss, and other issues, we strongly recommend that you uninstall Glupteba from your system immediately.

Malware of this type in general

The internet is full of trojan-type programs. Other examples are Nymeria, Retefe, and Vigorf. Typically, these programs proliferate other malware such as information stealers, ransomware, banking malware, and so on. They can lead to serious damage. Therefore, if you believe that you computer is infected with malicious software, remove it immediately.

How did Glupteba infiltrate my computer?

Attackers proliferate Glupteba using 'malvertising'. They use malicious online advertisements that can be injected into legitimate online websites or advertising networks. If clicked, these ads lead to download or installation of malware such as Glupteba.

Other ways to proliferate malicious software include spam (email) campaigns, untrustworthy software download channels, fake software updaters, and unofficial activation tools. Spam campaigns are used to proliferate malware by sending emails that contain malicious attachments.

Examples of files that are attached to such emails are Microsoft Office documents, PDF documents, archive files such as ZIP, RAR, JavaScript files or executable files such as .exe, and so on. The aim is to trick recipients into opening these attachments, which then infect system with malicious software.

Untrustworthy software download sources such as freeware download websites, free file hosting websites, Peer-to-Peer networks (eMule, torrents), and other similar download channels, can be used to present malicious files (typically, executables) as legitimate.

People who download files using these channels and then open them, often install malware. Fake software updaters infect operating systems by downloading malware rather than updates, or by exploiting bugs/flaws of installed software that is out of date.

Unofficial activation tools supposedly activate licensed software free of charge (to bypass paid activation), however, in many cases, they install malware.

How to avoid installation of malware

To keep computers and operating systems safe, download, install, update software, and browse the web carefully. Do not download files or programs using third party downloaders (or install them using third party installers), Peer-to-Peer networks, or the other sources mentioned above.

The safest way to download is via official websites. Update installed software using implemented functions or tools created by official software developers. Files that are attached to irrelevant emails and sent from unknown, suspicious addresses should not be opened.

The same applies to web links. Installed programs should not be activated using third party ('cracking') tools - these are illegal and often lead to installation of malware. Scan the operating system for viruses using reputable anti-virus or anti-spyware software and remove detected threats immediately.

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.

Update September 13, 2019 - Cyber criminals are continually updating this ransomware and implementing new, additional features. The most recent versions of Glupteba are written in the Go programming language, developed by Google. Additionally, the new variants are designed to misuse the EternalBlue exploit to infiltrate other computers connected to the same network.

The list of additional features also includes bypassing of User Account Control (UAC) and gaining a high integrity level, as well as privileges. A noteworthy function of new Glupteba's variants is cryptocurrency mining. Malware employs system resources to mine cryptocurrency, which is received by cyber criminals (you can find more information regarding cryptominers in this article).

The list of routers targeted by Glupteba now includes those manufactured by MikroTik.

Screenshot of Glupteba trojan dropper process ("csrss.exe"- the process name might vary) in Windows Task Manager:

Update August 12, 2020 - Cyber criminals have recently started distributing Glupteba trojan via fake YouTube video download website - video-youtube-get[.]ru. Instead of downloading an actual video, the website downloads a malicious executable which injects Glupteba into the system:

Update October 1, 2020 - There is a new Glupteba malware variant which is written in the open-sourced programming language called Go (Golang). It injects malicious code to the svchost.exe, a legitimate Windows process and makes this process the downloader of the payload.

Research shows that one of the payloads of this new Glupteba variant includes installation of extensions for malicious ads. It is known that it can install that extension not only on Windows-based browsers, but also on Linux-based, Android-based, and even IOS-based web browsers.

Also, Glupteba is capable of launch an EternalBlue exploit with a purpose to spread this dropper  across the network.

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 Glupteba malware, should I format my storage device to get rid of it?

It is unnecessary to format the storage device to remove Glupteba. This malware can be removed by following the steps provided in our removal guide.

What are the biggest issues that malware can cause?

The most common and biggest issues that malicious software can cause are identity theft, financial losses, data loss, decreased computer performance, further infections, and hijacked personal accounts.

What is the purpose of Glupteba malware?

This malware injects other malware. It is known that it is used to distribute a browser stealer designed to steal sensitive information and router exploiter. Also, newer versions can mine cryptocurrency, and use EternalBlue exploit to spread further. More information about this malware is provided in our article above.

How did a malware infiltrate my computer?

It is known that Glupteba is distributed via malicious advertisements designed to download and even inject malware. Some versions are distributed via a YouTube video download website. In other cases, computers become infected via emails containing malicious links or attachments, drive-by downloads, files downloaded from unreliable sources, or cracked software distribution pages.

Will Combo Cleaner protect me from malware?

Yes, Combo Cleaner will detect and eliminate malware. It can detect almost all known malware. High-end malware usually hides deep in the system. Therefore, running a full system scan is required to remove such malware.