Leviathan, widely known as APT40, is a Chinese state-sponsored cyber-espionage threat actor. It is also tracked as BRONZE MOHAWK, FEVERDREAM, GADOLINIUM, Gingham Typhoon, Kryptonite Panda, MUDCARP, Red Ladon, TEMP.Jumper, and TEMP.Periscope. The group conducts targeted intrusion activity using spearphishing emails with malicious document attachments and impersonation domains to gain initial access and support targeting. It has used PowerShell, VBScript, and regsvr32 for execution; Background Intelligent Transfer Service jobs to transfer malicious files and establish persistence; Startup-folder shortcuts for persistence; and custom DLL loaders to decrypt and execute JavaScript backdoors. Leviathan has downloaded follow-on scripts and tools from attacker-controlled infrastructure, exfiltrated victim data through command-and-control channels, and used reflective DLL loading to execute backdoor functionality in memory. These tradecraft patterns are consistent with long-term intelligence collection operations.
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.
159 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 in the detection's APT annotations.
Listed in the detection's Annotations section.
Leviathan is listed in the detection's ATT&CK annotations for T1068, Exploitation for Privilege Escalation.
Listed in the analytic's ATT&CK annotations.
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.