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AquaTunnel is a reverse SSH tunneling implant used to provide covert remote access to compromised systems. It is described as a Go-based variant of the open-source ReverseSSH backdoor and has been observed establishing outbound reverse SSH connections from victim devices to attacker-controlled infrastructure, allowing operators to maintain access even when the target is behind firewalls or network address translation. In intrusion activity attributed with moderate confidence to the Chinese-nexus threat actor UAT-9686, AquaTunnel was deployed alongside AquaShell, Chisel, and AquaPurge after exploitation of CVE-2025-20393 in Cisco Secure Email Gateway and Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager appliances running AsyncOS. In that campaign, the tool supported persistent remote access and internal pivoting from compromised edge appliances. Reporting also notes overlaps between AquaTunnel-related tooling and tradecraft associated with other China-linked groups, including APT41 and UNC5174. AquaTunnel targets Linux-based appliance environments and functions primarily as a backdoor for post-compromise access and tunneling.
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1 CVE Mallory has correlated with this family across public research and vendor advisories. Each row links to the full Mallory page for that vulnerability.
Reported attacks also resulted in the deployment of the reverse SSH tunneling tools AquaTunnel and Chisel, which can enable unauthorized remote access...
2 distinct threat actors attributed by public researchers. Open in Mallory to see the full evidence chain and overlapping campaigns.
Reported attacks also resulted in the deployment of the reverse SSH tunneling tools AquaTunnel and Chisel, which can enable unauthorized remote access...
Reported attacks also resulted in the deployment of the reverse SSH tunneling tools AquaTunnel and Chisel, which can enable unauthorized remote access...
3 distinct techniques documented for this family, organized by ATT&CK tactic.
11 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.
20 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
Reverse-SSH backdoor used to establish remote access/tunneling from the compromised appliance back to attacker-controlled infrastructure.
A reverse-SSH tunneling implant used to establish covert remote access channels from compromised appliances back to attacker-controlled infrastructure.
A Go-based ReverseSSH variant used to establish persistent reverse SSH access from compromised Cisco AsyncOS appliances back to attacker-controlled servers, supporting stealthy remote access and pivoting.
Tool used to create reverse SSH tunnels on compromised Cisco devices for covert remote access or traffic forwarding.
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.