Malware

PHPsert

For your environment

Hunt this family in your stack

Mallory pivots from this family to the IOCs, detections, and named campaigns that touch your stack, and pages you when something new lands.

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MITRE ATT&CK

Techniques & procedures

7 distinct techniques documented for this family, organized by ATT&CK tactic.

Execution

1 technique

T1059Command and Scripting InterpreterEvidence1

Visual Studio Code Remote Tunnels... provide full endpoint access, including command execution and filesystem manipulation.

Persistence

1 technique

T1505.003Web ShellEvidence1

To establish an initial foothold and maintain persistent access, the threat actors deployed a PHP-based webshell... We track this webshell under the name PHPsert.

Stealth

3 techniques

T1027Obfuscated Files or InformationEvidence2

To hinder static analysis and evade detection, the webshell uses various code obfuscation techniques, including XOR encoding, hexadecimal character representation, string concatenation, and randomized variable names.

T1036MasqueradingEvidence1

To disguise the files implementing PHPsert and attempt to evade detection based on filesystem activity, the attackers used custom names tailored to the infiltrated environments, making the filenames appear legitimate.

T1564.001Hidden Files and DirectoriesEvidence1

In an attempt to evade detection based on filesystem activity, the threat actors used %SystemRoot%\Temp and %ProgramData%\Visual Studio Code as their primary working directories for storing tools and data.

Command and Control

2 techniques

T1071.001Web ProtocolsEvidence1

The content repeatedly describes threat actors, malware, and campaigns using HTTP, HTTPS, HTTP GET/POST, cookies in headers, WebSockets/WSS, and web APIs for command and control or related communications.

T1132Data EncodingEvidence2

C2 traffic from ADVSTORESHELL is encrypted, then encoded with Base64 encoding... APT19 HTTP malware variant used Base64 to encode communications to the C2 server... APT33 has used base64 to encode command and control traffic.

INDICATORS OF COMPROMISE

IOCs tracked for this family

13 indicators attributed across vendor reports, sandbox runs, and researcher write-ups. Full values are available in Mallory.

View more in app

Network

1 tracked

IPs, domains, and DNS infrastructure linked to this family.

Hashes

12 tracked

File hashes (MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256) from samples and reports.

TypeValueLatest sighting

hash.sha1●●●●●●●●●●●●View more in app1 year ago

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

3 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

3 SOURCESView more in app

sentinelone labsNews

Apr 11, 2025

Operation Digital Eye | Chinese APT Compromises Critical Digital Infrastructure via Visual Studio Code Tunnels | SentinelOne

PHP-based webshell used for initial foothold and persistence. It executes attacker-supplied PHP code via the assert function, supports obfuscation techniques such as XOR encoding and hexadecimal/string concatenation, and can decode Base64 input depending on request parameters.

mitre attack websiteNews

Mar 8, 2018

Data Encoding: Standard Encoding, Sub-technique T1132.001 - Enterprise | MITRE ATT&CK®

Malware that can use Base64-encoded values in command-and-control communications.

mitre attack websiteNews

Mar 8, 2018

Data Encoding: Standard Encoding, Sub-technique T1132.001 - Enterprise | MITRE ATT&CK®

Malware that can use Base64-encoded values in command-and-control communications.

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets match these IOCs, which detections are missing, which campaigns to expect next, and what to do in the next 30 minutes.

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IOC matching13

Match every observed IP, domain, and hash against your live telemetry.

Threat actor attribution

Named campaigns wielding this family, with evidence pinned to each claim.

Exploited vulnerabilities

CVEs this family uses for access and lateral movement.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

MITRE ATT&CK mapping7

Every documented technique, ranked by evidence weight.

Researcher chatter

Reddit, Mastodon, and CTI community discussion around this family.

Back to malware

Malware

PHPsert

For your environment

Hunt this family in your stack

Mallory pivots from this family to the IOCs, detections, and named campaigns that touch your stack, and pages you when something new lands.

Start free trial

MITRE ATT&CK

Techniques & procedures

7 distinct techniques documented for this family, organized by ATT&CK tactic.

Execution

1 technique

T1059Command and Scripting InterpreterEvidence1

Visual Studio Code Remote Tunnels... provide full endpoint access, including command execution and filesystem manipulation.

Persistence

1 technique

T1505.003Web ShellEvidence1

To establish an initial foothold and maintain persistent access, the threat actors deployed a PHP-based webshell... We track this webshell under the name PHPsert.

Stealth

3 techniques

T1027Obfuscated Files or InformationEvidence2

T1036MasqueradingEvidence1

T1564.001Hidden Files and DirectoriesEvidence1

Command and Control

2 techniques

T1071.001Web ProtocolsEvidence1

T1132Data EncodingEvidence2

INDICATORS OF COMPROMISE

IOCs tracked for this family

13 indicators attributed across vendor reports, sandbox runs, and researcher write-ups. Full values are available in Mallory.

View more in app

Network

1 tracked

IPs, domains, and DNS infrastructure linked to this family.

Hashes

12 tracked

File hashes (MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256) from samples and reports.

TypeValueLatest sighting

hash.sha1●●●●●●●●●●●●View more in app1 year ago

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

3 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

3 SOURCESView more in app

sentinelone labsNews

Apr 11, 2025

Operation Digital Eye | Chinese APT Compromises Critical Digital Infrastructure via Visual Studio Code Tunnels | SentinelOne

mitre attack websiteNews

Mar 8, 2018

Data Encoding: Standard Encoding, Sub-technique T1132.001 - Enterprise | MITRE ATT&CK®

Malware that can use Base64-encoded values in command-and-control communications.

mitre attack websiteNews

Mar 8, 2018

Data Encoding: Standard Encoding, Sub-technique T1132.001 - Enterprise | MITRE ATT&CK®

Malware that can use Base64-encoded values in command-and-control communications.

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

Start free trial

IOC matching13

Match every observed IP, domain, and hash against your live telemetry.

Threat actor attribution

Named campaigns wielding this family, with evidence pinned to each claim.

Exploited vulnerabilities

CVEs this family uses for access and lateral movement.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

MITRE ATT&CK mapping7

Every documented technique, ranked by evidence weight.

Researcher chatter

Reddit, Mastodon, and CTI community discussion around this family.