Malicious Kong RAT Configuration Registry Keys

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Category
registry_set
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-09-23
Updated
2026-09-23

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Defense Evasion
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Priv Esc

  6. Defense Evasion

  7. Cred Access

  8. Discovery

  9. Lateral Movement

  10. Collection

  11. C2

  12. Exfiltration

  13. Impact

What it detects

This rule detects writes to the Software Kong Client registry path used by the Kong RAT distributed through a multi-stage SEO poisoning campaign against Chinese-speaking developers. The malware stores its configuration and state under this dedicated key. Presence of this key indicates an active Kong RAT implant on the host.

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Malicious Kong RAT Configuration Registry Keys
Pivot detection · T1112 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.