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Warlock is a China-linked ransomware operation active since at least June 2025, also tracked as GOLD SALEM, Longlegs, Storm-2603, and Water Manaul. Its victims include government bodies, universities, technology companies, manufacturers, financial-services organizations, telecommunications providers, and water utilities. It has conducted attacks across North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. During 2026, its targeting shifted toward higher-value organizations in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries across Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Its dominant motivation and any state-sponsored role have not been established. Warlock gains initial access by exploiting internet-facing applications, particularly unpatched on-premises Microsoft SharePoint servers. Its early campaigns exploited the ToolShell vulnerability chain, including CVE-2025-49704 and CVE-2025-49706. It has also exploited SmarterTools SmarterMail and SolarWinds Web Help Desk. Following SharePoint compromise, the operators deploy web shells and steal ASP.NET machine keys to forge validly signed payloads and execute code within SharePoint application pools. Post-compromise activity includes Active Directory reconnaissance, credential dumping with Mimikatz, extraction of password hashes, DCSync, account manipulation, and domain privilege escalation. The operators move laterally using SMB administrative shares, PsExec, PowerShell Remoting, RDP, and remote-access software. They maintain redundant access through web shells, Velociraptor, Cloudflare Tunnel, Visual Studio Code tunnels, and reverse proxies. DLL sideloading, in-memory execution, legitimate cloud services, and living-off-the-land tools support execution and defense evasion. Warlock uses multiple vulnerable signed drivers and security-disabling tools, including HexKiller, to terminate endpoint protection processes. The operation exfiltrates selected data using Rclone and deploys ransomware across Windows domains through Group Policy and payload staging in domain replication shares. Observed ransomware includes LockBit-derived Warlock variants and LockBit itself. The group operates a victim leak site and has recruited ransomware affiliates. Its attacks combine data theft with file encryption, while disabling security controls and disrupting backup and other services to impede recovery.
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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.
8 malware families attributed to this actor across reporting.
3 additional families tracked in Mallory.
7 CVEs this actor has used in observed campaigns. 7 of them exploited in the wild.
Warlock exploits Microsoft SharePoint vulnerabilities as a way to gain initial access to its targets. Its earliest attacks utilized the exploit chain known as "ToolShell."
"CVE-2026-23760 is an authentication bypass flaw that could allow any user to reset the SmarterMail system administrator password by sending a specially crafted HTTP request." / "ReliaQuest said it identified activity likely linked to Warlock that involved the abuse of CVE-2026-23760 to bypass authentication and stage the ransomware payload..."
CVE-2026-24423, on the other hand, exploits a weakness in the ConnectToHub API method to achieve unauthenticated remote code execution (RCE).
The attackers abused the legitimate but vulnerable K7RKScan.sys driver (CVE-2025-1055) in a Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver attack to disable security software. The same driver had previously been abused by DragonForce ransomware actors.
CVE-2014-8361 9.3 Realtek SDK, IoT Devices, Network Equipment Warlock, Sinobi, Beast Link
2 more CVEs tied to this actor tracked in Mallory.
20 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.
Mentioned as a ransomware group that maintains multiple vulnerable drivers and changes drivers in response to blocklist updates.
China-linked cluster exploiting SharePoint vulnerabilities and deploying its namesake ransomware against organizations in Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking regions. Discussed as contextual background; the content does not connect Warlock to exploitation of CVE-2026-96940.
A China-linked actor exploiting Microsoft SharePoint vulnerabilities to deploy Warlock ransomware. Mentioned as background to the Exchange Server vulnerability disclosure; the content does not connect Warlock to exploitation of CVE-2026-96940.
A suspected China-linked threat actor exploiting on-premises SharePoint vulnerabilities to compromise networks, disable security software, and deploy Warlock ransomware. Recent attacks affected at least four organizations across Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking countries in Europe, Africa, and Latin America. The content also links the group to the compromise of SmarterTools through an unpatched SmarterMail instance. Chinese state sponsorship is not established by the content.
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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.