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APT32, widely known as OceanLotus, is a Vietnam-linked espionage threat actor that has conducted sustained cyber operations primarily against organizations and individuals in Southeast Asia, with additional activity affecting other regions. Common aliases include OceanLotus, APT-C-00, BISMUTH, Cobalt Kitty, Canvas Cyclone, SeaLotus, Ocean Buffalo, Lotus Bane, and Tin Woodlawn. The group is associated with strategic intelligence collection and has targeted government, public-sector, and related entities, as well as organizations in technology and other sectors. APT32 is known for spearphishing-led initial access, including malicious attachments and executables disguised as documents or spreadsheets. It has also operated watering-hole activity by compromising or setting up websites to profile visitors and deliver follow-on malware. The group has used JavaScript-based downloaders, PowerShell one-liners and loaders, VBS scripts, macros, COM scriptlets, mshta, and regsvr32 for execution. It has employed DLL sideloading with legitimate signed executables to launch malicious libraries and has used NTFS alternate data streams to conceal payloads. For persistence, APT32 has used scheduled tasks and Registry Run keys, including launching PowerShell, VBS, and backdoor components through autostart mechanisms. It has stored backdoor configuration data in the Windows Registry. The group has demonstrated defense-evasion tradecraft such as hidden PowerShell windows and use of trusted binaries for proxy execution and sideloading. Post-compromise activity includes host profiling and reconnaissance, such as collecting operating system version, computer name, username, network configuration, and other system details; executing whoami; and enumerating network shares with net view, including administrative shares. APT32 backdoors have supported file and directory listing, and the group has used HTTP and HTTPS communications to retrieve additional encrypted payloads and frameworks. Reporting also attributes credential-monitoring behavior to the group, including abuse of password-change notification mechanisms to capture account password changes. APT32 is best characterized as a state-aligned cyber-espionage actor focused on intelligence collection, particularly in relation to Vietnamese strategic interests and regional geopolitical priorities.
Mallory correlates actor tradecraft and target patterns against your stack, your sector, and your geography. See overlap before they land.
Who, where, and (when attributed) which flag flies behind the operation. Pulled from open-source reporting and Mallory's analyst review.
Sectors the actor has been observed targeting.
Geographies tied to known operations.
Attributed origin per open-source reporting.
58 distinct techniques observed across reporting, grouped by tactic. Hover any cell for the evidence excerpt; click through for MITRE's full description.
40 malware families attributed to this actor across reporting.
35 additional families tracked in Mallory.
6 CVEs this actor has used in observed campaigns. 6 of them exploited in the wild.
APT32 has used CVE-2016-7255 to escalate privileges.
...has exploited Office vulnerabilities such as CVE-2017-11882...
This detection identifies instances where Windows Explorer.exe spawns PowerShell or cmd.exe processes, particularly focusing on executions initiated by LNK files. This behavior is associated with the ZDI-CAN-25373 Windows shortcut zero-day vulnerability, where specially crafted LNK files are used to trigger malicious code execution through cmd.exe or powershell.exe. This technique has been actively exploited by multiple APT groups in targeted attacks through both HTTP and SMB delivery methods.
"A critical remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-55182 and dubbed React2Shell, exists within the React Server Components (RSC) architecture, allowing unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary code..."
The following analytic detects when su runs from a page-cache-corrupted binary... This activity is significant because it indicates a possible privilege escalation attempt, allowing a user to gain root access... CVE CVE-2026-31431 ... References ... copy-fail-CVE-2026-31431
1 more CVE tied to this actor tracked in Mallory.
726 indicators attributed to this actor: domains, IPs, hashes, and other artifacts pulled from reporting. View more in app.
20 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
Listed as a threat actor associated with the generic installation exploitation analytic, but no campaign-specific activity is described in this reference.
Listed as one of many threat actors associated with the detection's ATT&CK-style annotations for PowerShell and DNS TXT command-and-control behavior; no specific campaign or activity is described in this reference.
Listed among detected threat actors/TTP references, but not substantively discussed in the report summary.
Targeted Vietnamese investors and construction-related companies through a supply chain breach and malware deployment.
Match sector + geo + tech-stack targeting against your real footprint.
Every observed MITRE ATT&CK technique, grouped by tactic.
Families this actor is known to deploy, with IOCs and behavior.
CVEs this actor has used in known campaigns.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Domains, IPs, and hashes tied to this actor, refreshed continuously.