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PickleShell is a C#/.NET reverse shell for Windows used in UAT-6275 campaigns, also tracked as TAG-193 and associated with Silent Lynx. It provides interactive remote command execution by launching a hidden command shell and relaying command input and output to an attacker-controlled server. It masquerades as a Windows service component, including the Distributed Transaction Coordinator. Later builds support SSL/TLS-encrypted command-and-control communications and bypass certificate validation.
PickleShell has been delivered through spear-phishing campaigns using RAR archives containing malicious shortcuts. These shortcuts launch PowerShell to retrieve hosted scripts, with later variants downloading PickleShell and placing it in the current user's Startup folder for execution at logon. In April 2026, attackers also deployed it through crafted RAR archives exploiting the WinRAR path traversal vulnerability CVE-2025-8088. This delivery method abused NTFS alternate data streams and directory traversal to install the payload in the Startup folder without administrator privileges, establishing persistence at the next sign-in.
The associated campaigns targeted government organizations across Central Asia and the wider Commonwealth of Independent States, including institutions involved in diplomacy, economic development, agriculture, environmental management, and energy.
1 CVE Mallory has correlated with this family across public research and vendor advisories. Each card links to the full Mallory page for that vulnerability.
3 distinct threat actors attributed by public researchers. Open in Mallory to see the full evidence chain and overlapping campaigns.
These attacks lead to the deployment of custom reverse shells such as FoalShell, Chvost, Laplas, and PickleShell, facilitating interactive remote access to compromised hosts.
Април 2026 година — Користење RAR-архива што ја искористува ранливоста во WinRAR (CVE-2025-8088) за поставување на PickleShell во папката Windows Startup.
Април 2026 година — Користење RAR-архива што ја искористува ранливоста во WinRAR (CVE-2025-8088) за поставување на PickleShell во папката Windows Startup.
17 distinct techniques documented for this family, organized by ATT&CK tactic.
We identified a new GitHub staging account that was created and abused beginning in November 2025.
The repository hosted PowerShell scripts, PickleShell payloads, and repeatedly updated C2 configuration until early June 2026.
Silent Lynx routinely uses compromised email accounts to deliver spear-phishing emails containing malicious documents to targeted victims.
Silent Lynx’s campaign relies heavily on various lightweight, interactive reverse shells to perform command and control in their operations.
Once launched, it spawns a hidden cmd.exe session and pipes command input and output to 45[.]130[.]146[.]197:80.
The actor used a crafted WinRAR archive exploiting CVE-2025-8088, which abuses NTFS alternate-data-stream path traversal to write a payload into the Startup folder.
When the victim opens the shortcut, it launches PowerShell in a hidden window, downloads a malicious script from GitHub, and executes it in memory.
This gives the operator logon persistence without requiring elevation.
This gives the operator logon persistence without requiring elevation.
Silent Lynx delivers a RAR archive that presents two visible PDF decoys while concealing the payload in NTFS alternate data stream records.
Spear-phishing campaigns that distribute RAR archives that contain PS2EXE-generated binaries
Most of which impersonated official government-related materials relevant to the targeted countries.
The dropped payload, which we refer to as PickleShell, is an x64 .NET Framework reverse shell that masquerades as the Windows Distributed Transaction Coordinator service.
A scheduled task named MicrosoftOfficeUpdate
Persistence, Directory or File Impersonation, T1684.001
The macro then initiates C2 communication and downloads a binary from the embedded URL http://178[.]128[.]40[.]89:8989/shell.exe.
These scripts acted as launchers that downloaded and deployed the PickleShell payload to the Windows Startup folder.
During the April-May 2026 campaign wave, we identified a new C#/.NET reverse shell that supports SSL/TLS encryption for its C2 channel.
22 indicators attributed across vendor reports, sandbox runs, and researcher write-ups. Values are masked here and available in full in Mallory.
10 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.