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BladedFeline is an Iran-aligned cyberespionage threat actor active since at least 2017 and assessed with medium confidence to be a sub-cluster of OilRig, also tracked as APT34 and Hazel Sandstorm. The group has focused on long-term access operations against government and diplomatic targets in Iraq, especially the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and has also targeted a regional telecommunications provider in Uzbekistan and government organizations in Azerbaijan. Its operations are consistent with strategic intelligence collection, including sustained access to Kurdish diplomatic officials and intrusions into Iraqi government networks. BladedFeline uses a bespoke malware ecosystem centered on persistence, covert command-and-control, and data theft. Reported tooling includes the Shahmaran backdoor; Whisper, also known as Veaty, an email-based backdoor that abuses compromised Microsoft Exchange webmail accounts for command exchange; PrimeCache, a malicious IIS module functioning as a passive backdoor; Spearal, a DNS-tunneling backdoor; Optimizer; Slippery Snakelet, a Python implant; Hawking Listener; P.S. Olala; and tunneling utilities such as Laret, Pinar, and Sheep Tunneler. The actor has also used the Flog web shell to maintain remote access. Observed capabilities include command execution, file upload and download, file exfiltration, PowerShell execution, tunneling, and service-based persistence. Operational links to OilRig include overlapping victimology, discovery of OilRig-associated tooling on compromised KRG systems, and code similarities between PrimeCache and OilRig's RDAT backdoor. BladedFeline appears to prioritize stealthy post-compromise access and long-duration espionage over disruptive effects, with suspected use of exploitation of internet-facing applications for initial access in some Iraqi government intrusions, although the precise initial access vector has not been conclusively established.
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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.
30 distinct techniques observed across reporting, grouped by tactic. Hover any cell for the evidence excerpt; click through for MITRE's full description.
15 malware families attributed to this actor across reporting.
10 additional families tracked in Mallory.
9 indicators attributed to this actor: domains, IPs, hashes, and other artifacts pulled from reporting. View more in app.
9 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
Iran-aligned sub-cluster assessed within OilRig; targets Iraqi and Kurdish government officials; uses Whisper and Spearal malware.
BladedFeline is an Iran-aligned APT group that adopted new infrastructure for its operations.
Iran-aligned espionage activity targeting Kurdish and Iraqi government officials; assessed as a sub-cluster within OilRig and delivering multiple backdoors.
Iran-aligned espionage cluster active since at least 2017 conducting long-term intelligence collection against Kurdish/Iraqi officials and regional entities; uses multiple custom backdoors/implants and tunneling/IIS persistence tooling; suspected exploitation of internet-facing applications for initial access.
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.