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What Is MATCHBOIL Malware? How It Works and Who Is at Risk

By Freedom251 Team · · 3 min read

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MATCHBOIL is a custom downloader used in campaigns attributed to the group ESET tracks as UAC-0099. It retrieves and installs a second piece of malware—most often the MATCHWOK backdoor in the samples ESET analyzed—then sets up a way for that payload to run again. ESET’s reported victims were all in Ukraine, but that telemetry does not establish that the threat is limited to Ukraine.

What MATCHBOIL does—and what it does not

MATCHBOIL is a downloader, not the backdoor it may install. Its purpose is to fetch a payload from attacker-controlled command-and-control infrastructure, install it, and establish persistence. ESET found MATCHWOK, a C# backdoor associated with espionage, in most of the samples it analyzed. Broadcom has also described UAC-0099 campaigns in which MATCHBOIL could deliver either MATCHWOK or the DRAGSTARE infostealer, so the payload is not necessarily the same in every campaign.

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ESET identifies MATCHBOIL as a custom C# tool used by UAC-0099. ESET assesses with medium confidence that the group is aligned with Russian interests, based on its targeting. That is an analytic assessment, not confirmation that a state directed the activity. ESET also assesses that UAC-0099 can act as an initial-access broker for Sandworm.

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How the documented infection routes work

Spear-phishing link and VBScript

In the route ESET analyzed, a spear-phishing email contained a malicious link. Following it downloaded an archive containing a VBScript payload; the script then downloaded and executed MATCHBOIL. The user had to be persuaded to run the script for that payload to take effect. ESET researcher Fernando Tavella summarized the distribution method as: “The malware is distributed via malicious links in spear phishing emails.”

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Earlier HTA delivery

Delivery details have varied. In an earlier campaign described by Broadcom, phishing links led to malicious HTML Application (HTA) files used to deliver the loader. The VBScript route is therefore a documented chain, not a universal description of every MATCHBOIL infection.

What happens after MATCHBOIL runs

In the samples ESET examined, MATCHBOIL checked whether a sample-specific installation directory already existed under %LOCALAPPDATA%, collected machine identifiers including the CPUID and BIOS serial number, and made three HTTPS requests to attacker infrastructure. ESET describes the server response as HTML containing a hex-encoded payload. MATCHBOIL extracted and installed that payload, then configured persistence for it.

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Persistence differed among samples: ESET observed a scheduled task or a Windows registry entry. These mechanisms are intended to let the downloaded payload run again; they do not mean that every sample uses both.

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How observed samples changed over time

ESET’s technical analysis covers samples with timestamps from April 2024 through April 2026. The differences below describe analyzed variants, not a checklist of features present on every infected computer.

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  • Late 2025: Some samples shifted from a one-shot download to attempts to communicate with command-and-control every two minutes.
  • Execution and concealment: ESET observed changing obfuscation and persistence methods, sandbox checks, and deceptive interfaces displayed when a sample was run manually. One late-2025 sample’s sandbox check required at least three uptime events showing at least 7,200 seconds.
  • April 2026: ESET analyzed a DLL variant that added an operating-system age threshold of at least 10 days.

The uptime and operating-system thresholds are technical details of particular samples, not practical tests for users to diagnose an infection.

Who is at risk, and what is known about victims

ESET reports that every MATCHBOIL victim in its telemetry was in Ukraine. Its observations included activity at multiple transportation companies in July and August 2025, a manufacturing company in December 2025, and an energy-sector company in June 2026. ESET also describes UAC-0099 as targeting Ukrainian government organizations, financial institutions, and media.

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Those are reported telemetry observations, not a complete victim census or a prevalence estimate. They do not prove that MATCHBOIL cannot be used against other countries or sectors, and the reviewed sources establish no population-wide infection rate or total victim count.

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What to do if you suspect an infection

Trend Micro’s guidance for its MATCHBOIL-related HTTP detection recommends updating its products and pattern files, then scanning a host that exhibits the behavior. If the scan does not detect an infection, Trend Micro says to disconnect the host from the network if possible and use additional investigation tools. These are vendor recommendations, not a guarantee of removal or a complete incident-response plan.

For a suspected infection on a work or organizational device, follow your organization’s security incident process and involve qualified incident responders. Avoid treating a single scan result as proof that a host is clean.

Sources

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