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Hafnium, also known as Silk Typhoon, is a China-based, state-sponsored cyberespionage group that steals sensitive information through compromises of enterprise infrastructure and email systems. Its targets include U.S. government organizations, universities, and researchers working on immunology, virology, and COVID-19 vaccines. The group is closely associated with the early-2021 exploitation of Microsoft Exchange Server zero-day vulnerabilities collectively known as ProxyLogon, including CVE-2021-26855, CVE-2021-26857, CVE-2021-26858, and CVE-2021-27065. These intrusions enabled email access, data theft, and persistent remote access through web shells. Hafnium has deployed SIMPLESEESHARP, SPORTSBALL, China Chopper, and ASPXSpy on compromised servers. It has also exploited Log4Shell, CVE-2021-44228, against virtualization infrastructure and CVE-2024-3400 against Palo Alto Networks GlobalProtect gateways. Its post-compromise techniques include dumping LSASS memory with ProcDump, stealing copies of the Active Directory database, and creating domain accounts with elevated privileges to maintain access. The group uses 7-Zip and WinRAR to compress stolen information before exfiltration and has used TCP for command-and-control communications. During Log4Shell exploitation, it used a DNS testing service to fingerprint potential targets.
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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.
47 distinct techniques observed across reporting, grouped by tactic. Hover any cell for the evidence excerpt; click through for MITRE's full description.
27 malware families attributed to this actor across reporting.
22 additional families tracked in Mallory.
13 CVEs this actor has used in observed campaigns. 13 of them exploited in the wild.
In early 2021, a group known as Silk Typhoon (under Microsoft’s current threat actor naming scheme) exploited a series of zero-day vulnerabilities, including CVE-2021-26855 in the on-premises version of Microsoft’s Exchange email server.
CVE-2021-27065 is a post-authentication arbitrary file write vulnerability in Exchange. If an actor could authenticate with the Exchange server then they could use this vulnerability to write a file to any path on the server.
CVE-2021-26857 is an insecure deserialization vulnerability in the Unified Messaging service. ... Exploiting this vulnerability gave actors the ability to run code as SYSTEM on the Exchange server.
CVE-2021-26858 is a post-authentication arbitrary file write vulnerability in Exchange. If actors could authenticate with the Exchange server then they could use this vulnerability to write a file to any path on the server.
Silk Typhoon ... is also believed to have exploited two zero-days (CVE-2024-12356 and CVE-2024-12686) to breach BeyondTrust's systems and use a stolen API key to compromise 17 Remote Support SaaS instances.
8 more CVEs tied to this actor tracked in Mallory.
120 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 historical context for earlier BeyondTrust attacks. The group is believed to have exploited two BeyondTrust zero-days and used a stolen API key to compromise 17 Remote Support SaaS instances, including the U.S. Treasury Department's instance. The same campaign also targeted OFAC and CFIUS.
Chinese state-sponsored espionage group associated with the 2021 Microsoft Exchange Server breaches. The article identifies Zhang Yu as an alleged key figure and describes allegations that Zhang and Xu Zewei stole email data, including COVID-19 vaccine research, from US scientists and universities during February 2020–June 2021. Zhang allegedly operated under the direction of the Shanghai State Security Bureau.
Mentioned as background concerning a separate China-linked hacking operation. The article notes a reward for information about an associated individual linked to the 2021 Microsoft Exchange Server attacks; it does not connect Silk Typhoon to the Integrity Tech takedown.
Mentioned as background to the Flax Typhoon disruption. Associated activity concerns the 2021 Microsoft Exchange Server attacks and allegations of stealing COVID-19 research from U.S. universities and immunology and virology researchers.
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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.