PULSE NAME
Unmasking an Attack Chain of MuddyWater
WHITE MuddyWater AlienVault 2026-03-07 Modified: 2026-04-06
4
IOCs
LOW VOLUME
An intrusion attributed to MuddyWater, an Iranian-linked APT, was identified in a customer environment. The attack involved initial access through RDP, establishing an SSH tunnel, and deploying malware via DLL side-loading. The threat actor used FMAPP.exe, a legitimate Fortemedia Inc. application, to load a malicious FMAPP.dll for C2 communications. The timeline of activities revealed typos in commands, suggesting manual typing by the attacker. The intrusion included reconnaissance efforts, attempts to verify tunnel functionality, and issues with initial C2 communication. The attack targeted an Israeli company, aligning with known MuddyWater tactics.
Indicators of Compromise (4)
All FileHash-MD5 FileHash-SHA1 FileHash-SHA256
TYPEINDICATORDESCRIPTIONCREATED
FileHash-MD5 2533307ec1ef8b0611c8896e1460b076 2026-03-07
FileHash-SHA1 324918c73b985875d5f974da3471f2a0a4874687 2026-03-07
FileHash-SHA256 589ecb0bb31adc6101b9e545a4e5e07ae2e97d464b0a62242a498e613a7740b6 2026-03-07
FileHash-SHA256 e25892603c42e34bd7ba0d8ea73be600d898cadc290e3417a82c04d6281b743b 2026-03-07