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APT40 is a China-linked espionage threat actor widely tracked under aliases including Leviathan, Temp.Periscope, Gingham Typhoon, Kryptonite Panda, Bronze Mohawk, Gadolinium, Mudcarp, Red Ladon, Feverdream, JJDoor, and Temp.Jumper. The group is associated with long-running cyber espionage activity and is known for targeting government and public-sector entities as well as organizations of strategic interest, including sectors tied to maritime and regional geopolitical priorities. Reported victim geography includes Australia and the United States among other countries. APT40 commonly gains initial access through spearphishing emails carrying malicious attachments such as RTF, Word, and Excel documents, and through infrastructure prepared for impersonation-based targeting. The actor has established domains that mimic legitimate entities to support phishing and related operations. Execution tradecraft includes extensive use of PowerShell, VBScript, JavaScript, and regsvr32. For persistence, the group has used JavaScript to create Startup-folder shortcut files that launch its backdoor at logon. It has also used a DLL component to decrypt and execute JavaScript backdoors. Post-compromise behavior includes downloading additional scripts and payloads from attacker-controlled infrastructure, harvesting credentials stored in files, and exfiltrating data over command-and-control channels. During intrusions in Australia, the actor gathered credentials from files associated with building management system operations. APT40 has also used reflective DLL loading to place a DLL in memory and launch a shell that provides backdoor access, demonstrating in-memory execution and process-injection-style tradecraft aimed at stealth and defense evasion. Overall, APT40 is best characterized as a Chinese state-aligned cyber espionage group that combines phishing-led initial access, script-based execution, credential collection, persistence via Windows autostart mechanisms, in-memory payload loading, and data theft in support of intelligence collection objectives.
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.
49 distinct techniques observed across reporting, grouped by tactic. Hover any cell for the evidence excerpt; click through for MITRE's full description.
36 malware families attributed to this actor across reporting.
31 additional families tracked in Mallory.
15 CVEs this actor has used in observed campaigns. 15 of them exploited in the wild.
...used exploits for... Word (CVE-2017-0199)...
APT40 leverages exploits in their phishing operations, often weaponizing vulnerabilities within days of their disclosure. Observed vulnerabilities include: CVE-2012-0158 CVE-2017-0199 CVE-2017-8759 CVE-2017-11882
APT40 leverages exploits in their phishing operations, often weaponizing vulnerabilities within days of their disclosure. Observed vulnerabilities include: CVE-2012-0158 CVE-2017-0199 CVE-2017-8759 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.
APT40 leverages exploits in their phishing operations, often weaponizing vulnerabilities within days of their disclosure. Observed vulnerabilities include: CVE-2012-0158 CVE-2017-0199 CVE-2017-8759 CVE-2017-11882
10 more CVEs tied to this actor tracked in Mallory.
156 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.
Mentioned only in the detection annotation list for T1190.
Mentioned only as an annotation/tag associated with a privilege escalation detection.
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.