FrozenCell
FrozenCell is an Android malware family associated in reporting with Arid Viper, also known as Desert Falcon or APT-C-23. Facebook’s April 2021 reporting states that Arid Viper’s Android tooling shares many similarities with malware previously reported as FrozenCell and VAMP. The broader Arid Viper activity was described as state-sponsored cyber espionage primarily targeting individuals and organizations in Palestine, including government officials, Fatah members, student groups, and security forces.
Based on the provided content, FrozenCell has surveillance and data theft capabilities on Android devices. Reported capabilities include collecting phone metadata such as cell location, mobile country code (MCC), and mobile network code (MNC); gathering device manufacturer, model, and serial number; reading SMS messages for exfiltration; and retrieving device images for exfiltration. These behaviors indicate device profiling, communications collection, and theft of locally stored media.
High-confidence indicators of compromise specific to FrozenCell are not provided in the content. The content also does not provide a distinct infection vector unique to FrozenCell itself, beyond the broader note that Arid Viper’s Android malware was distributed via social engineering and impersonated dating, networking, and regional banking applications in the Middle East, often requiring installation from third-party sources.
Hunt this family in your stack
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Groups observed using it
1 distinct threat actor attributed by public researchers. Open in Mallory to see the full evidence chain and overlapping campaigns.
The Android tooling used by Arid Viper shares many similarities with malware previously reported as FrozenCell and VAMP.
Techniques & procedures
15 distinct techniques documented for this family, organized by ATT&CK tactic.
Initial Access
1 technique
Initial Access
Execution
2 techniques
Execution
Stealth
3 techniques
Stealth
The main changes from earlier research centered primarily around code obfuscation being added by those developing this malware.
Discovery
1 technique
Discovery
AbstractEmu can collect device IP address and SIM information; Android/SpyAgent has collected device network information, such as the IMEI and the phone number; ANDROIDOS_ANSERVER.A gathers the device IMEI and IMSI; many listed mobile malware families collect IMEI, IMSI, ICCID, MEID, serial number, phone number, MAC address, IP address, carrier, MCC/MNC, and related device/network identifiers.
Collection
5 techniques
Collection
Retrieve photos from the camera roll ... Retrieve contacts ... Retrieve text messages ... Search for and return the path of files with a doc or PDF extension
The analyzed Arid Viper Android malware contained the following functionality: • Take screenshots or record video
Phenakite periodically recording audio and notifying C2 infrastructure... Similarly, Phenakite periodically uses the camera of a compromised device to take photos
Command and Control
2 techniques
Command and Control
IOCs tracked for this family
38 indicators attributed across vendor reports, sandbox runs, and researcher write-ups. Full values are available in Mallory.
IPs, domains, and DNS infrastructure linked to this family.
File hashes (MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256) from samples and reports.
Recent activity
10 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
Android malware that retrieves device images for exfiltration.
Malware that retrieves device images for exfiltration.
Malware that retrieves device images for exfiltration.
Mobile malware that gathers manufacturer, model, and serial number information from devices.
The version that knows your environment.
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.