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Hunt: signed SiemensSoftwareCenter.exe side-loading archive.dll from AppData (Romulus ClickFix, CVE-2026-110936)

Context: Siemens Software Center exploitation. The Siemens file is genuine and signed, so Siemens says to detect on folder and behaviour, not on its hash.

  1. Process lineage: SiemensSoftwareCenter.exe running from %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\ (look for a SM Software Provisioning Service folder) with msiexec.exe as parent, especially on PCs with no Siemens engineering software. KQL sketch: DeviceProcessEvents | where FileName =~ "SiemensSoftwareCenter.exe" and FolderPath has @"\AppData\Local\Programs\" | where InitiatingProcessFileName =~ "msiexec.exe".
  2. Side-loaded DLLs: image loads by that process of DLLs not signed by Siemens, or files next to it named activate.bak or statinfosta.DB. Known hashes (SHA-256): AllMyBasic.msi f4d7c5321bb0d1bda439304a753bcf9b467b98ca53c7e9493b9c2c3451092e4a, archive.dll 3fdcc7d7d049a89711fb31fb236940a1c5a09d899143ffd20c3c41fb1f2cf491.
  3. Persistence: a "Siemens Software Center" Run key / startup entry or scheduled task on machines that never had it installed; a %LOCALAPPDATA%\FTSuite\ftc.uml file.
  4. Network: connections or DNS for 96.62.218[.]59 and wizardexpensive[.]com (active C2/payload hosting per Siemens) and historical downloads from 2.27.248[.]127 (inactive distribution host; earlier victims may still be infected).
  5. ClickFix precursor: RunMRU entries or PowerShell/mshta/msiexec launched from explorer.exe right after browser activity, i.e. a user pasting a command from a fake "I am not a robot" page.
  6. If found: isolate, kill the process first, then remove the startup entry and task, and reset the user's passwords (Siemens guidance).

Sources: Siemens ProductCERT blog (IOCs) · Siemens SSA-580366