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🇰🇵Kimsuky

🇰🇵 Kimsuky is a tracked threat actor in the Clankerusecase corpus. Attributed to KP. Primary motivation: State. We map 26 detection use cases to this actor across 143 MITRE ATT&CK techniques, with 3 threat-intel articles citing them. Active in our corpus from 2025-11-06 to 2026-05-28.

crit 3

View full actor card → All threat actors MITRE ATT&CK group spec (G0094) ↗

26Use cases

3Articles

143Techniques

1IOCs

Known aliases

KimsukyVelvet ChollimaBlack BansheeThalliumEmerald SleetTHALLIUMAPT43TA427SpringtailEarth KumihoPatheticSlug

Top techniques

T1190 · Exploit Public-Facing Application T1204.002 · Malicious File T1566 · Phishing

All other tracked techniques

T1003 · OS Credential Dumping T1003.001 · LSASS Memory T1005 · Data from Local System T1007 · System Service Discovery T1012 · Query Registry T1016 · System Network Configuration Discovery T1020 · Automated Exfiltration T1021.001 · Remote Desktop Protocol T1021.002 · SMB/Windows Admin Shares T1027 · Obfuscated Files or Information T1027.001 · Binary Padding T1027.002 · Software Packing T1027.007 · Dynamic API Resolution T1027.010 · Command Obfuscation T1027.012 · LNK Icon Smuggling T1027.013 · Encrypted/Encoded File T1027.015 · Compression T1027.016 · Junk Code Insertion T1033 · System Owner/User Discovery T1036.004 · Masquerade Task or Service T1036.005 · Match Legitimate Resource Name or Location T1036.007 · Double File Extension T1040 · Network Sniffing T1041 · Exfiltration Over C2 Channel T1053.005 · Scheduled Task T1055 · Process Injection T1055.001 · Dynamic-link Library Injection T1055.012 · Process Hollowing T1056.001 · Keylogging T1056.003 · Web Portal Capture T1057 · Process Discovery T1059.001 · PowerShell T1059.003 · Windows Command Shell T1059.005 · Visual Basic T1059.006 · Python T1059.007 · JavaScript T1070.004 · File Deletion T1070.006 · Timestomp T1071 · Application Layer Protocol T1071.001 · Web Protocols T1071.002 · File Transfer Protocols T1071.003 · Mail Protocols T1071.004 · DNS T1074.001 · Local Data Staging T1078.003 · Local Accounts T1082 · System Information Discovery T1083 · File and Directory Discovery T1098.007 · Additional Local or Domain Groups T1102.001 · Dead Drop Resolver T1102.002 · Bidirectional Communication T1105 · Ingress Tool Transfer T1106 · Native API T1111 · Multi-Factor Authentication Interception T1112 · Modify Registry T1113 · Screen Capture T1114.002 · Remote Email Collection T1114.003 · Email Forwarding Rule T1115 · Clipboard Data T1124 · System Time Discovery T1132.002 · Non-Standard Encoding T1133 · External Remote Services T1136.001 · Local Account T1140 · Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information T1176.001 · Browser Extensions T1185 · Browser Session Hijacking T1195.002 · Compromise Software Supply Chain T1203 · Exploitation for Client Execution T1204.001 · Malicious Link T1204.004 · Malicious Copy and Paste T1205 · Traffic Signaling T1217 · Browser Information Discovery T1218 · System Binary Proxy Execution T1218.005 · Mshta T1218.010 · Regsvr32 T1218.011 · Rundll32 T1219 · Remote Access Tools T1219.002 · Remote Desktop Software T1480.002 · Mutual Exclusion T1486 · Data Encrypted for Impact T1489 · Service Stop T1497.001 · System Checks T1505.003 · Web Shell T1518.001 · Security Software Discovery T1534 · Internal Spearphishing T1539 · Steal Web Session Cookie T1543.003 · Windows Service T1546.001 · Change Default File Association T1546.016 · Installer Packages T1547.001 · Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder T1550.002 · Pass the Hash T1552.001 · Credentials In Files T1552.004 · Private Keys T1553.002 · Code Signing T1555.003 · Credentials from Web Browsers T1557 · Adversary-in-the-Middle T1559.001 · Component Object Model T1560.001 · Archive via Utility T1560.003 · Archive via Custom Method T1564.002 · Hidden Users T1564.003 · Hidden Window T1564.011 · Ignore Process Interrupts T1566.001 · Spearphishing Attachment T1566.002 · Spearphishing Link T1567.002 · Exfiltration to Cloud Storage T1568 · Dynamic Resolution T1568.002 · Domain Generation Algorithms T1569.002 · Service Execution T1574.002 · T1574.002 T1583 · Acquire Infrastructure T1583.001 · Domains T1583.004 · Server T1583.006 · Web Services T1584.001 · Domains T1585 · Establish Accounts T1585.001 · Social Media Accounts T1585.002 · Email Accounts T1586.002 · Email Accounts T1587 · Develop Capabilities T1587.001 · Malware T1588.002 · Tool T1588.003 · Code Signing Certificates T1588.005 · Exploits T1589.002 · Email Addresses T1589.003 · Employee Names T1591 · Gather Victim Org Information T1593.001 · Social Media T1593.002 · Search Engines T1594 · Search Victim-Owned Websites T1596 · Search Open Technical Databases T1598 · Phishing for Information T1598.003 · Spearphishing Link T1608.001 · Upload Malware T1620 · Reflective Code Loading T1657 · Financial Theft T1678 · Delay Execution T1680 · Local Storage Discovery T1682 · Query Public AI Services T1684.001 · Impersonation T1685 · Disable or Modify Tools T1686 · Disable or Modify System Firewall

Detection use cases (26)

Kimsuky (APT43 / Emerald Sleet) CHM-delivered execution: hh.exe spawning script engines for AppleSeed/BabyShark stager AI · profile SΣDD Kimsuky (APT43 / TA427) mailbox exfil: Exchange/M365 auto-forwarding rule to external address on policy-research target AI · profile SΣDD Trojanized axios npm package postinstall: node.exe spawned from plain-crypto-js dependency Bespoke axios RAT Windows persistence: %PROGRAMDATA%\wt.exe drop + %TEMP%\6202033.vbs/.ps1 staging Bespoke axios RAT C2 callout to sfrclak.com / 142.11.206.73:8000 Bespoke Phishing-link click correlated to endpoint execution Internal Email attachment opened from external sender Internal Office app spawning script/LOLBin child process Internal Ransomware-style mass file rename / extension change Internal LSASS process access / dump (credential theft) Internal Remote service execution — PsExec / SMB lateral movement Internal Trusted vendor binary / installer launching unusual children Internal Kimsuky HelloDoor 'tdll' Run-key persistence with regsvr32 loader Bespoke Kimsuky httpMalice persistence: 'Everything 1.9a-/1.8a-' Run-key or CacheDB service install Bespoke Auth-Bypass on Public-Facing Service → Post-Exploit Action on Same Host (≤10 min) MITRE match Brand-Impersonation Domain Fetch Followed by User-Context Loader Within 10 Minutes MITRE match Cross-category credential-store enumeration with rapid egress to anonymizing tunnel/CDN MITRE match Cross-Platform ClickFix Paste-to-Pipe Loader (UI-Parent Shell with Decode-and-Execute Payload) MITRE match Developer interpreter / package-manager process exfiltrating tokens to public code-hosting / worker domains MITRE match Developer package install spawning script-host with non-registry C2 within 5 minutes MITRE match Developer/Data-tooling Daemon Spawns Shell Child Seconds After POST to Runner/Exec Endpoint MITRE match Edge-service post-exploitation chain: internet-facing daemon → child shell or token redemption within 10 min of external request MITRE match Internet-Facing Service Process Spawning Unix Shell or Ingress-Tool LOLBin (Edge Zero-Day Post-Exploit) MITRE match Internet-facing service process spawns shell/LOLBin within minutes of public inbound connection — post-RCE command execution MITRE match Linux LPE chain — anomalous algif_aead/esp4/esp6/rxrpc kernel-module load followed by same-user root transition MITRE match Low-Code / AI Workflow Runtime Sandbox-Escape — Server Process Spawns Shell + Public Egress MITRE match

Threat-intel articles (3)

crit ESET APT Activity Report Q4 2025–Q1 2026 · 2026-05-28

crit Kimsuky targets organizations with PebbleDash-based tools · 2026-05-14

crit ESET APT Activity Report Q2 2025–Q3 2025 · 2025-11-06

Tracked indicators

Domains (1)

female-disorder-beta-met

CVEs (2)

CVE-2024-42009 CVE-2025-8088