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Ferocious Kitten is an Iranian cyber-espionage threat actor active since at least 2015. The group has focused primarily on Persian-speaking targets inside Iran and has been associated with custom malware including MarkiRAT, as well as later delivery activity involving PowerShortShell. Ferocious Kitten is commonly referenced under the alias FerociousKitten. The actor is known for spearphishing-led intrusions, typically using malicious Microsoft Office documents and other weaponized attachments to obtain initial access. Its campaigns have relied on social engineering to persuade victims to open files or enable malicious content, including decoy messaging designed to induce macro execution or other user-driven execution paths. Ferocious Kitten has also been observed exploiting CVE-2021-40444 in malicious document workflows. Operational tradecraft includes acquiring domains that imitate legitimate sites, using masquerading to make malicious artifacts appear benign, and placing payloads in publicly accessible locations on compromised hosts. The group has used open-source and dual-use tooling, including JsonCPP and Psiphon, alongside custom implants. Overall, Ferocious Kitten is best characterized as a covert intrusion set conducting targeted surveillance and collection operations with phishing, user execution, exploit delivery, and defense-evasion tradecraft in support of espionage objectives.
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19 distinct techniques observed across reporting, grouped by tactic. Hover any cell for the evidence excerpt; click through for MITRE's full description.
2 malware families attributed to this actor across reporting.
2 CVEs this actor has used in observed campaigns. 2 of them exploited in the wild.
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.
"...later in 2021, the actor was observed exploiting the MSHTML RCE vulnerability CVE-2021-40444 to deliver a PowerShell-based stealer called PowerShortShell..."
3 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 an associated threat actor in detection annotations for Ghostscript exploitation; no specific campaign activity is described in this reference.
Listed as a threat actor associated with the malicious file execution technique detected by this analytic.
Listed in the detection annotations as a threat actor associated with EFI volume mounting / installation-related behavior.
Referenced as a threat actor associated with spearphishing attachment activity involving malicious file execution and potential credential capture via UDL files.
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.