MuddyWater
- ID
- G0069
- Associated names
- Earth Vetala, MERCURY, Static Kitten, Seedworm, TEMP.Zagros, Mango Sandstorm, TA450, MuddyKrill
- Source
- attack.mitre.org
- MITRE last modified
- 1 Aug 2026
MuddyWater is a cyber espionage group assessed to be a subordinate element within Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).[1] Since at least 2017, MuddyWater has targeted a range of government and private organizations across sectors, including telecommunications, local government, finance, defense, and oil and natural gas organizations, in the Middle East (specifically the UAE and Saudi Arabia), Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. MuddyWater has reused domains dating back to October 2025, and has a preference for NameCheap and Hosterdaddy Private Limited (AS136557). In late 2025 and early 2026, MuddyWater used commercial satellite internet (i.e., Starlink) for command and control (C2) communication. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]
Techniques used (68)
- T1003.001 LSASS Memory
- T1003.004 LSA Secrets
- T1003.005 Cached Domain Credentials
- T1016 System Network Configuration Discovery
- T1027.003 Steganography
- T1027.004 Compile After Delivery
- T1027.010 Command Obfuscation
- T1033 System Owner/User Discovery
- T1036.005 Match Legitimate Resource Name or Location
- T1041 Exfiltration Over C2 Channel
- T1047 Windows Management Instrumentation
- T1049 System Network Connections Discovery
- T1053.005 Scheduled Task
- T1057 Process Discovery
- T1059.001 PowerShell
- T1059.003 Windows Command Shell
- T1059.005 Visual Basic
- T1059.006 Python
- T1059.007 JavaScript
- T1071.001 Web Protocols
- T1074.001 Local Data Staging
- T1082 System Information Discovery
- T1083 File and Directory Discovery
- T1087.002 Domain Account
- T1090 Proxy
- T1090.002 External Proxy
- T1102.002 Bidirectional Communication
- T1104 Multi-Stage Channels
- T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer
- T1113 Screen Capture
- T1132.001 Standard Encoding
- T1137.001 Office Template Macros
- T1140 Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information
- T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application
- T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution
- T1204.001 Malicious Link
- T1204.002 Malicious File
- T1204.004 Malicious Copy and Paste
- T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services
- T1218.003 CMSTP
- T1218.005 Mshta
- T1218.011 Rundll32
- T1219.002 Remote Desktop Software
- T1518 Software Discovery
- T1518.001 Security Software Discovery
- T1534 Internal Spearphishing
- T1547.001 Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder
- T1548.002 Bypass User Account Control
- T1552.001 Credentials In Files
- T1555 Credentials from Password Stores
- T1555.003 Credentials from Web Browsers
- T1559.001 Component Object Model
- T1559.002 Dynamic Data Exchange
- T1560.001 Archive via Utility
- T1566 Phishing
- T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment
- T1566.002 Spearphishing Link
- T1567.002 Exfiltration to Cloud Storage
- T1571 Non-Standard Port
- T1573.001 Symmetric Cryptography
- T1574.001 DLL
- T1583.001 Domains
- T1583.006 Web Services
- T1588.001 Malware
- T1588.002 Tool
- T1590.004 Network Topology
- T1684.001 Impersonation
- T1685 Disable or Modify Tools
Software used (21)
- S0002 Mimikatz
- S0194 PowerSploit
- S0223 POWERSTATS
- S0250 Koadic
- S0349 LaZagne
- S0363 Empire
- S0450 SHARPSTATS
- S0488 CrackMapExec
- S0591 ConnectWise
- S0592 RemoteUtilities
- S0594 Out1
- S1035 Small Sieve
- S1037 STARWHALE
- S1040 Rclone
- S1046 PowGoop
- S1047 Mori
- S9032 MuddyViper
- S9033 Fooder
- S9034 Tsundere Botnet
- S9036 LP-Notes
- S9037 RustyWater
References
- CYBERCOM Iranian Intel Cyber January 2022
- FalconFeeds_Iran_Mar2026
- Huntio_IranInfra_Mar2026
- Unit 42 MuddyWater Nov 2017
- Symantec MuddyWater Dec 2018
- ClearSky MuddyWater Nov 2018
- ClearSky MuddyWater June 2019
- Reaqta MuddyWater November 2017
- DHS CISA AA22-055A MuddyWater February 2022
- Talos MuddyWater Jan 2022
- NaumaanProofpoint_GlobalClickFix_April2025
- ESET_MuddyWater_Dec2025
- SymantecCarbonBlack_Seedworm_Mar2026
