MalwareUsed by 2 actors

CHAR backdoor

For your environment

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THREAT ACTORS

Groups observed using it

2 distinct threat actors attributed by public researchers. Open in Mallory to see the full evidence chain and overlapping campaigns.

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Muddy Water

stager_51_bot Telegram Bot C2 Muddy Water (CHAR backdoor) api.telegram[.]org (corp hosts) C2 Channel Muddy Water / Multiple

via halcyon attacks lookouthalcyon.ai

MuddyWater

"The RustyWater implant and the CHAR backdoor represent the apex of this evolution, incorporating asynchronous C2 communication, process injection, layered encryption, and modular post-exploitation capabilities..."

via trellix blogtrellix.com

MITRE ATT&CK

Techniques & procedures

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

Initial Access

1 technique

T1566PhishingEvidence2

The primary methods of initial access appear to be phishing with the documents that exploit macros within Microsoft Excel to enable malware and persistence.

Execution

3 techniques

T1059.001PowerShellEvidence2

"...MuddyWater fits, with its Rust-based implants, PowerShell-heavy post-exploitation behavior..."

T1059.005Visual BasicEvidence1

The primary methods of initial access appear to be phishing with the documents that exploit macros within Microsoft Excel to enable malware and persistence.

T1204.002Malicious FileEvidence1

The primary methods of initial access appear to be phishing with the documents that exploit macros within Microsoft Excel to enable malware and persistence.

Privilege Escalation

1 technique

T1055Process InjectionEvidence1

“incorporating … process injection …”

Stealth

2 techniques

T1055Process InjectionEvidence1

“incorporating … process injection …”

T1140Deobfuscate/Decode Files or InformationEvidence1

“…employ multiple obfuscation techniques (T1140) …” / “modified UPX packing … encrypts its configuration using AES-256-CBC …”

Command and Control

3 techniques

T1071Application Layer ProtocolEvidence2

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs): Indicator Type Threat Actor codefusiontech[.]org C2 Domain Muddy Water (Op. Olalampo) ... stager_51_bot Telegram Bot C2 Muddy Water (CHAR backdoor) api.telegram[.]org (corp hosts) C2 Channel Muddy Water / Multiple

T1102.002Bidirectional CommunicationEvidence1

"The campaign used phishing, post-exploitation tooling, and Telegram-based command and control..."

T1105Ingress Tool TransferEvidence1

FMAPP.dll Malicious DLL Muddy Water gshdoc_release_X64_GUI.exe Dropper Muddy Water sh.exe Loader Muddy Water

INDICATORS OF COMPROMISE

IOCs tracked for this family

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

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Network

1 tracked

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

TypeValueLatest sighting

domain●●●●●●●●●●●●View more in app3 days ago

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

No public activity tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

0 SOURCESView more in app

No public activity observed for this malware family.

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

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IOC matching1

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

Threat actor attribution2

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 mapping9

Every documented technique, ranked by evidence weight.

Researcher chatter

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