Analysis of MuddyWater Malware Targeting Diverse International Sectors
- Actor Motivations: Espionage,Exfiltration
- Attack Vectors: Backdoor,Fileless malware,Malicious Macro,Trojan
- Attack Complexity: Medium
- Threat Risk: High Impact/High Probability
Threat Overview
The analysis by multiple cybersecurity agencies, including the FBI and NSA, reveals MuddyWater's extensive use of the POWGOOP malware family among other malicious tools in cyber espionage activities. Targeting sectors such as telecommunications, defense, local government, and oil and natural gas, MuddyWater has impacted organizations across Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. The analyzed malware employed techniques like DLL side-loading, PowerShell scripts for command execution, and data exfiltration via encrypted channels to C2 servers. These actions are part of a broader Iranian government-sponsored initiative, indicating a significant threat to global security infrastructure.
Detected Targets
| Type | Description | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Defense | Verified |
| Sector | Government Agencies and Services | Verified |
| Sector | Oil and Gas | Verified |
| Sector | Telecommunication | Verified |
| Region | United States | High |
| Region | European Countries | Verified |
Extracted IOCs
- 026868713d60e6790f41dc7046deb4e6795825faa903113d2f22b644f0d21141
- 12db8bcee090521ecf852bf215ce3878737517a22ef1f2ff9bdec7cba8d0d3aa
- 2471a039cb1ddeb826f3a11f89b193624d89052afcbee01205dc92610723eb82
- 255e53af8b079c8319ce52583293723551da9affe547da45e2c1d4257cff625a
- 3098dd53da40947a82e59265a47059e69b2925bc49c679e6555d102d1c6cbbc8
- 42ca7d3fcd6d220cd380f34f9aa728b3bb68908b49f04d04f685631ee1f78986
- 4b2862a1665a62706f88304406b071a5c9a6b3093daadc073e174ac6d493f26c
- 5bcdd422089ed96d6711fa251544e2e863b113973db328590cfe0457bfeb564f
- 7e7545d14df7b618b3b1bc24321780c164a0a14d3600dbac0f91afbce1a2f9f4
- 9cb79736302999a7ec4151a43e93cd51c97ede879194cece5e46b4ff471a7af7
- 9d50fcb2c4df4c502db0cac84bef96c2a36d33ef98c454165808ecace4dd2051
- 9ec8319e278d1b3fa1ccf87b5ce7dd6802dac76881e4e4e16e240c5a98f107e2
- b1e30cce6df16d83b82b751edca57aa17795d8d0cdd960ecee7d90832b0ee76c
- b5b1e26312e0574464ddef92c51d5f597e07dba90617c0528ec9f494af7e8504
- b6133e04a0a1deb8faf944dd79c46c62f725a72ea9f26dd911d6f6e1e4433f1a
- c2badcdfa9b7ece00f245990bb85fb6645c05b155b77deaf2bb7a2a0aacbe49e
- ce9bd1acf37119ff73b4dff989f2791eb24efc891a413df58856d848f0bcaee9
- d77e268b746cf1547e7ed662598f8515948562e1d188a7f9ddb8e00f4fd94ef0
- dd7ee54b12a55bcc67da4ceaed6e636b7bd30d4db6f6c594e9510e1e605ade92
- e7baf353aa12ff2571fc5c45184631dc2692e2f0a61b799e29a1525969bf2d13
- e7f6c7b91c482c12fc905b84dbaa9001ef78dc6a771773e1de4b8eade5431eca
- ed988768f50f1bb4cc7fb69f9633d6185714a99ecfd18b7b1b88a42a162b0418
- f10471e15c6b971092377c524a0622edf4525acee42f4b61e732f342ea7c0df0
- 185[.]117.75.34
- 185[.]118.164.21
- 185[.]183.96.44
- 185[.]183.96.7
- 192[.]210.191.188
- 5[.]199.133.149
- 88[.]119.170.124
Tip: 30 related IOCs (7 IP, 0 domain, 0 URL, 0 email, 23 file hash) to this threat have been found.
FAQs
Understanding the MuddyWater Malware Campaign
A malware campaign linked to Iran-backed hackers targeted various sectors globally, using obfuscated scripts and malicious documents to compromise systems and steal information.
The threat actors are from MuddyWater, a cyber-espionage group sponsored by the Iranian government and known for targeting strategic sectors worldwide.
The primary goals were surveillance, data theft, and maintaining persistent access to victim networks for espionage purposes.
Organizations in telecommunications, defense, local government, and oil and gas sectors across Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America.
They used a mix of renamed DLLs, malicious Excel files, JavaScript droppers, and PowerShell scripts to run commands remotely and exfiltrate data silently.
These sectors hold valuable strategic, political, and economic data that can support intelligence gathering and geopolitical objectives.
Improve detection of script-based threats, limit macro execution, monitor for suspicious network behavior, and block communication with known malicious IPs.
The campaign shows signs of being targeted toward specific sectors and regions, though the tools and infrastructure could be reused for broader campaigns.