Lotus Blossom
Lotus Blossom is a China-attributed threat actor. The provided aliases include APT30, Bilbug/Billbug, Bronze Elgin, Dragonfish, G0030, LotusBlossom, Lotus Panda, Radium, Raspberry Typhoon, Spring Dragon, and Thrip. Microsoft maps Lotus Blossom/APT30/Radium to Raspberry Typhoon. Based on the provided content, Lotus Blossom has conducted spearphishing operations using malicious DOC attachments and relied on users to execute malicious file attachments delivered via spearphishing emails. The group has exploited Microsoft Office vulnerabilities including CVE-2012-0158 and CVE-2017-11882, with reporting that Thrip/Lotus Blossom most recently exploited both in November 2022. Observed tradecraft in the content includes use of PowerShell to download payloads, traverse compromised networks, and conduct reconnaissance; use of Ping to identify remote systems; use of port scanners to enumerate services on remote hosts; use of the publicly available HTran tool to proxy traffic in victim environments; installation of tools such as Sagerunex by writing them to the Windows registry; local staging of compressed and archived data for follow-on exfiltration; and use of tools such as Mimikatz and PsExec.
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Targeting
Who, where, and (when attributed) which flag flies behind the operation. Pulled from open-source reporting and Mallory's analyst review.
Who they target
Sectors the actor has been observed targeting.
- Banks
- Financial Services
- Insurance
Tradecraft
57 distinct techniques observed across reporting, grouped by tactic. Hover any cell for the evidence excerpt; click through for MITRE's full description.
Associated malware families
23 malware families attributed to this actor across reporting.
18 additional families tracked in Mallory.
Associated vulnerabilities
12 CVEs this actor has used in observed campaigns. 12 of them exploited in the wild.
Lotus Blossom, a suspected China state-sponsored threat actor, exploited CVE-2025-15556 to hijack Notepad++'s update channel and deliver a Cobalt Strike Beacon and the Chrysalis backdoor.
The same analysis from CSW found that a critical buffer overflow vulnerability in the ListView/TreeView ActiveX controls used by Office documents (CVE-2012-0158) ... are being exploited by 23 APT groups, including most recently by the Thrip APT group (Lotus Blossom/BitterBug), in November 2022.
The same analysis from CSW found that ... a high-severity memory corruption issue in Microsoft Office (CVE-2017-11882) are being exploited by 23 APT groups, including most recently by the Thrip APT group (Lotus Blossom/BitterBug), in November 2022.
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.
CVE-2009-4324 and CVE-2010-0188: Legacy Adobe Reader and Acrobat vulnerabilities exploited during the group’s initial detection phase...
7 more CVEs tied to this actor tracked in Mallory.
Observables
47 indicators attributed to this actor: domains, IPs, hashes, and other artifacts pulled from reporting. View more in app.
Recent activity
20 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
Newly observed actor in the current finance-sector campaign period.
Named threat actor referenced in global threat reporting.
China-linked state-sponsored espionage activity targeting education and research institutions.
Linked to a targeted supply chain attack that hijacked the Notepad++ update server and delivered trojanized installers to a subset of users through the built-in updater for roughly seven months.
The version that knows your environment.
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.