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Glupteba is a malware operation centered on Windows systems that has been widely used as a loader and access platform for additional malicious activity. It has been associated with proxy botnet functionality, resilient command-and-control mechanisms, and follow-on compromise of network infrastructure. A notable characteristic of the operation is its use of the Bitcoin blockchain as a backup command-and-control channel, storing encrypted recovery information in transaction metadata to improve resilience against takedown and sinkholing. Glupteba has been linked to modules that target MikroTik routers on internal corporate networks. Those modules exploited CVE-2018-14847 to compromise vulnerable RouterOS devices, establish SOCKS proxy capability, and repeatedly retrieve instructions through scheduled tasks or scripts. Reporting has also connected Glupteba-related infrastructure and artifacts to large-scale abuse of MikroTik routers for proxying and botnet operations. Code and infrastructure overlaps have suggested a role in the assembly of the Mēris botnet, although it remains unclear whether the Glupteba operators directly built Mēris or whether access to Glupteba-compromised hosts was rented or reused by another group. The operation has therefore been associated with multiple lifecycle stages, including initial access to Windows hosts, post-exploitation use as a malware loader, persistence, proxy enablement, and support to downstream malicious operations. Glupteba-linked activity has also been tied to anonymization of malicious traffic and infrastructure hardening on compromised devices. Its use of decentralized backup C2 techniques and modular router-focused components makes it notable for operational resilience and for bridging endpoint compromise with network-device exploitation. Glupteba is best understood as a criminal malware ecosystem rather than a clearly attributed nation-state actor. Available information in this context does not support a high-confidence country-of-origin attribution.
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.
3 distinct techniques observed across reporting, grouped by tactic. Hover any cell for the evidence excerpt; click through for MITRE's full description.
3 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
Early pioneer of blockchain-based command-and-control, using the Bitcoin blockchain to store encrypted backup C2 domains and regain resilience after disruption.
Cryptomining and proxy-enablement campaign that abused vulnerable MikroTik routers and appears tied to the same infrastructure as the larger botnet-as-a-service operation.
Potentially involved in assembling the Meris DDoS botnet by using Glupteba-infected Windows hosts and a module specialized in attacking MikroTik routers via CVE-2018-14847.
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.