2026 64-Bits Malware Trend, (Mon, Feb 16th)

In 2022 (time flies!), I wrote a diary about the 32-bits VS. 64-bits malware landscape[ 1 ]. It demonstrated that, despite the growing number of 64-bits computers, the “old-architecture” remained the standard. In the SANS malware reversing training (FOR610[ 2 ]), we quickly cover the main differences between the two architectures. One of the conclusions is that 32-bits code is still popular because it acts like a comme denominator and allows threat actors to target more Windows computers. Yes, Microsoft Windows can smoothly execute 32-bits code on 64-bits computers. It is still the case in 2026? Did the situation evolved?

Last week, I make the exact same exercise and generated some statistics. I download the malware archive from Malware Bazaar[ 3 ] and re-executed my YARA rule.

Some basic numbers:

• 2.167 ZIP archives (one per day)
• 1.120.034.288.112 bytes  (1.1TB)
• Time line covered: from 2020/02/24 - 2026/02/05
• 346.985 samples analyzed (only PE files)
• 312.307 32-bits samples
• 34.677 64-bits samples
• 11% of 64-bits samples

First, an overview of the global malware trend over the complete time period:

Zoom on the last year:

Now the interesting graph: the 64-bits sample trend over the complete period:

Zoom on the last year:

We can clearly see that, compared to 2022, there is now a trend in 64-bits code! Have a look at the last 30 days:

We are getting close to a 50-50 repartition!

???????

[1] https://isc.sans.edu/diary/32+or+64+bits+Malware/28968

[2] https://www.sans.org/cyber-security-courses/reverse-engineering-malware-malware-analysis-tools-techniques

[3] https://bazaar.abuse.ch

Xavier Mertens (@xme)

Xameco

Senior ISC Handler - Freelance Cyber Security Consultant

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