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QUIETPULSE is a persistence-focused malware component used in compromises of Pulse Connect Secure VPN appliances. It has been associated with UNC2717, a cluster observed targeting global government agencies between late 2020 and early 2021 during broader exploitation of Pulse Secure vulnerabilities including CVE-2021-22893 and previously disclosed flaws. QUIETPULSE operates by modifying a legitimate Perl component so that it forks and executes a helper script, enabling attacker-controlled logic to run from within normal appliance processes.
Its helper component is designed to maintain persistence by repeatedly restoring malicious files during upgrade activity and by altering integrity-checking behavior, helping the intrusion survive remediation attempts and software updates. This places QUIETPULSE within the set of Pulse Secure appliance implants used to preserve long-term access on edge infrastructure after initial compromise. The malware is part of a wider intrusion ecosystem that included webshells, credential-harvesting tools, authentication-bypass implants, and log-wiping utilities deployed against government and other high-value organizations.
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4 CVEs Mallory has correlated with this family across public research and vendor advisories. Each row links to the full Mallory page for that vulnerability.
On April 20, 2021, Mandiant reported that previously known PCS vulnerabilities (CVE-2019-11510, CVE-2020-8243, CVE-2020-8260) and a zero-day (CVE-2021-22893) were exploited as early as August 2020, and some activity was still observed through March 2021. | Mandiant reported that twelve (12) malware families were used against organizations that were victim of the PCS attacks, including: ATRIUM, HARPULSE, LOCKPICK, PACEMAKER, PULSECHECK, PULSEJUMP, QUIETPULSE, RADIALPULSE, SLIGHTPULSE, SLOWPULSE, STEADYPULSE, and THINBLOOD.
On April 20, 2021, Mandiant reported that previously known PCS vulnerabilities (CVE-2019-11510, CVE-2020-8243, CVE-2020-8260) and a zero-day (CVE-2021-22893) were exploited as early as August 2020, and some activity was still observed through March 2021. | Mandiant reported that twelve (12) malware families were used against organizations that were victim of the PCS attacks, including: ATRIUM, HARPULSE, LOCKPICK, PACEMAKER, PULSECHECK, PULSEJUMP, QUIETPULSE, RADIALPULSE, SLIGHTPULSE, SLOWPULSE, STEADYPULSE, and THINBLOOD.
On April 20, 2021, Mandiant reported that previously known PCS vulnerabilities (CVE-2019-11510, CVE-2020-8243, CVE-2020-8260) and a zero-day (CVE-2021-22893) were exploited as early as August 2020, and some activity was still observed through March 2021. | Mandiant reported that twelve (12) malware families were used against organizations that were victim of the PCS attacks, including: ATRIUM, HARPULSE, LOCKPICK, PACEMAKER, PULSECHECK, PULSEJUMP, QUIETPULSE, RADIALPULSE, SLIGHTPULSE, SLOWPULSE, STEADYPULSE, and THINBLOOD.
These attacks include using known vulnerabilities from 2019 and 2020 (CVE-2019-11510, CVE-2020-8243, and CVE-2020-8260) and a previously unknown authentication bypass vulnerability tracked as CVE-2021-22893. | Mandiant reported that twelve (12) malware families were used against organizations that were victim of the PCS attacks, including: ATRIUM, HARPULSE, LOCKPICK, PACEMAKER, PULSECHECK, PULSEJUMP, QUIETPULSE, RADIALPULSE, SLIGHTPULSE, SLOWPULSE, STEADYPULSE, and THINBLOOD.
1 distinct threat actor attributed by public researchers. Open in Mallory to see the full evidence chain and overlapping campaigns.
9 distinct techniques documented for this family, organized by ATT&CK tactic.
CVE-2020-8243 (CVSS: 7.2) ... An unauthenticated threat actor could upload a customer template to perform arbitrary code execution. ... CVE-2020-8260 (CVSS: 7.2) ... an unauthenticated threat could execute arbitrary code due to a vulnerability in the admin web interface.
"QUIETPULSE... modified... to fork the child process /home/bin/dshelper"; dshelper loop re-inserts webshell code and ensures dsserver/dshelper persist in /tmp/data across upgrades.
These attacks include using known vulnerabilities from 2019 and 2020 (CVE-2019-11510, CVE-2020-8243, and CVE-2020-8260) and a previously unknown authentication bypass vulnerability tracked as CVE-2021-22893.
2 indicators attributed across vendor reports, sandbox runs, and researcher write-ups. Full values are available in Mallory.
File hashes (MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256) from samples and reports.
5 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
Custom malware family associated with exploitation of Pulse Secure VPN appliances during intrusions attributed to UNC2717.
Malware used by UNC2717 in Pulse Secure compromises; part of a toolset enabling persistent access and credential harvesting.
Persistence/utility tooling where a modified dsserver forks a non-standard helper script (dshelper) that repeatedly checks and re-inserts malicious modifications into upgrade-staged files under /tmp/data, helping maintain backdoors/webshells and tamper with integrity checks across upgrades.
Match every observed IP, domain, and hash against your live telemetry.
Named campaigns wielding this family, with evidence pinned to each claim.
CVEs this family uses for access and lateral movement.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Every documented technique, ranked by evidence weight.
Reddit, Mastodon, and CTI community discussion around this family.