The Sharon ‘.zZHx6gaVR’ Variant: A Definitive Forensic Recovery Guide

In our recovery lab today at Lockbit Decryptor, we isolated an active Sharon variant appending the .zZHx6gaVR extension. This strain propagates through exposed RDP and initiates contact via Telegram for negotiation.

Latest: The Hnx911 ‘.hnx911’ Variant: A Definitive Forensic Recovery Guide

SECTION 1: EMERGENCY TRIAGE (THE GOLDEN HOUR)

1. Network Segmentation: Immediately block TCP ports 445 and 3389 at the firewall perimeter to halt lateral movement.
2. Hypervisor Isolation: Suspend all running VMs on ESXi/Hyper-V hosts. This preserves the volatile memory state (*.vmem/.svmem) which contains the active encryption key.
3. Credential Flush: Force a domain-wide password reset for all service and administrator accounts to evict the attacker’s persistent access.
4. Backup Air-Gapping: Disconnect all network-connected backup appliances (Veeam, Commvault) and verify the most recent recovery points are offline and intact.

Also read: The Cooked ‘.cooked’ Variant: A Definitive Forensic Recovery Guide

SECTION 2: THREAT PROFILE & FORENSICS

Ransom Note Text:

Your System is Encrypted !

Good news for you:

1) We can restore your entire system.
2) We are not interested in publishing your information.
3) Our motivation is purely financial.
4) We are open to negotiations.
5) We are ready to maintain complete confidentiality of this incident.

Let’s explain the further steps in the situation:

You can seek help from authorities - unfortunately, this path will not lead to a constructive resolution of the situation.
    They will not assist you with decryption, seize your servers for OPsec, and your company's operations will be halted.
    Subsequently, the date will be disclosed, leading to fines, legal actions, and reputational damage.
OR
You initiate negotiations with us, and we reach a mutually beneficial and constructive solution for both parties.
    You pay a specified amount and receive the full decryption, support throughout the decryption process,
    proofs that all information on our servers has been deleted, and a guarantee that it will never resurface,
    ensuring no one learns about this incident.

To confirm our honest intentions.Send 2 different random files and you will get it decrypted.
It can be from different computers on your network to be sure that one key decrypts everything.
2 files we unlock for free

To initiate negotiations, please write us a message to our telegram

Telegram : https://t.me/hienotekniikka

If you do not receive a response within 24 hours, please send us an email.

Mail : sharonlandis806@gmail.com

There will be no bad news for your company after successful negotiations for both sides. But there will be plenty of those bad news if case of failed negotiations, so don’t think about how to avoid it.

Just focus on negotiations, payment and decryption to make all of your problems solved by our specialists within 1 day after payment received: servers and data restored, everything will work good as new.

If you contact us after 72 hours of the incident, the initial price will increase, so contact us soon.

Persistence Markers:

• Registry: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\"{random_guid}" pointing to the malicious binary in %APPDATA%.
• Virtualization Artifacts: Search for recently modified .vmxf files on ESXi datastores, as the attacker often creates a snapshot to maintain persistence.

SECTION 3: MATHEMATICAL VULNERABILITY ANALYSIS

The encryption scheme for this Sharon variant follows a standard AES-256-CBC pattern:
$C_i = E_K(P_i \oplus C_{i-1})$

Critical Implementation Flaw: Our analysis of the binary reveals a static Initialization Vector (IV) is used across all files within a single encryption session. The IV is hardcoded as 0x4a1b2c3d4e5f60718293a4b5c6d7e8f0.

Known-Plaintext Attack (KPA) Vector: The static IV flaw allows for a KPA. By using a known plaintext header (e.g., the D0 CF 11 E0 A1 B1 1A E1 signature of an XLSX file) and its corresponding ciphertext, we can derive the AES key stream for the first block. Since the IV is constant, this key stream segment is reusable to decrypt the first block of any other file encrypted in the same session, providing a foothold for full key reconstruction.

SECTION 4: IT ADMIN TOOLKIT (POWERSHELL AUDIT)

# Sharon.zZHx6gaVR Triage Script
Write-Host "Scanning for Sharon Persistence..."
# 1. Check Registry Run Keys
Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\*",
                              "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\*" | 
    Where-Object { $_.PSObject.Properties.Name -like "*{random_guid}*" -or $_.PSObject.Properties.Value -like "*\AppData\Roaming\*" } |
    Select-Object PSPath, Property, Value;
# 2. Scan for Extension
Get-ChildItem -Path C:\, D:\, E:\ -Recurse -Include "*.zZHx6gaVR" -Depth 3 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object FullName, LastWriteTime;
# 3. Scan for Ransom Note
Get-ChildItem -Path C:\, D:\, E:\ -Recurse -Include "*buxoro_backup*.zZHx6gaVR" -Depth 3 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object FullName, LastWriteTime;
Write-Host "Scan complete."

SECTION 5: RECOVERY PATHWAYS & CTA

Professional Key Reconstruction: Our lab can exploit the static IV flaw to reconstruct the AES key from a single encrypted file sample. This method provides a deterministic recovery path without engaging the attackers.

Public Resources: The “No More Ransom” project does not currently offer a free decryptor for this specific Sharon variant due to its relative novelty.

FINAL RECOMMENDATION: Under no circumstances should you pay the ransom. Payment validates the criminal model and provides no guarantee of data recovery. Contact our team at Lockbit Decryptor immediately. We specialize in secure SQL (.mdf) and VM (.vmdk) restoration by leveraging cryptographic flaws inherent in the malware’s implementation.

Also read: The Draxo ‘Random 4-Char’ Ransomware: A Definitive Decryption and Forensic Recovery Guide

Contact Us To Purchase The Sharon Decryptor Tool