Malicious MuddyWater Named Payload Execution from ProgramData and Public Paths (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1036.005Match Legitimate Resource Name or Location
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects execution of the MuddyWater payloads sysprocupdate.exe from ProgramData and Mononoke.exe from the Public user directory documented by Group-IB. Adversaries stage these named backdoor and persistence binaries in these locations to blend with system files, so their execution indicates MuddyWater activity.

Reporting behind it

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Malicious MuddyWater Named Payload Execution from ProgramData and Public Paths (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1036.005 · 9 related

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

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