high_confidence

Cutting Edge

[Cutting Edge](https://attack.mitre.org/campaigns/C0029) was a campaign conducted by suspected China-nexus espionage actors, variously identified as UNC5221/UTA0178 and UNC5325, that began as early as December 2023 with the exploitation of zero-day vulnerabilities in Ivanti Connect Secure (previously Pulse Secure) VPN appliances. [Cutting Edge](https://attack.mitre.org/campaigns/C0029) targeted the U.S. defense industrial base and multiple sectors globally including telecommunications, financial, aerospace, and technology. [Cutting Edge](https://attack.mitre.org/campaigns/C0029) featured the use of defense evasion and living-off-the-land (LoTL) techniques along with the deployment of web shells and other custom malware.(Citation: Mandiant Cutting Edge January 2024)(Citation: Volexity Ivanti Zero-Day Exploitation January 2024)(Citation: Volexity Ivanti Global Exploitation January 2024)(Citation: Mandiant Cutting Edge Part 2 January 2024)(Citation: Mandiant Cutting Edge Part 3 February 2024)

Start date
1 December 2023
End date
1 February 2024
Techniques
31

Attributed actors

Techniques (31)

collection4
T1056.001Keylogging
T1056.003Web Portal Capture
T1005Data from Local System
T1560.001Archive via Utility
command-and-control5
T1572Protocol Tunneling
T1205Traffic Signaling
T1095Non-Application Layer Protocol
T1105Ingress Tool Transfer
T1071.004DNS
credential-access4
T1003.001LSASS Memory
T1056.001Keylogging
T1056.003Web Portal Capture
T1003.003NTDS
defense-impairment1
T1685Disable or Modify Tools
discovery1
T1082System Information Discovery
execution2
T1059.006Python
T1059Command and Scripting Interpreter
initial-access2
T1078.002Domain Accounts
T1190Exploit Public-Facing Application
lateral-movement3
T1021.001Remote Desktop Protocol
T1021.002SMB/Windows Admin Shares
T1021.004SSH
persistence4
T1205Traffic Signaling
T1505.003Web Shell
T1078.002Domain Accounts
T1554Compromise Host Software Binary
privilege-escalation2
T1078.002Domain Accounts
T1055Process Injection
reconnaissance2
T1595.002Vulnerability Scanning
T1594Search Victim-Owned Websites
resource-development2
T1588.002Tool
T1584.008Network Devices
stealth7
T1070.006Timestomp
T1070.004File Deletion
T1205Traffic Signaling
T1078.002Domain Accounts
T1055Process Injection
T1070Indicator Removal
T1027.013Encrypted/Encoded File

Indicators of compromise

No IOCs linked to this campaign yet.

Cutting Edge — Campaign | Fancy Intel