Home/Threat Actor/APT5 (UNC2630 / UNC2717 / Mulberry Typhoon)
Threat Actor

APT5 (UNC2630 / UNC2717 / Mulberry Typhoon)

apt5_unc2630 · china_state_sponsored_mandiant_canonical_microsoft_mulberry_typhoon · active since 2007-01

APT5 is the Mandiant canonical designation for a Chinese state-sponsored cyber espionage group active since at least 2007 (establishing longest- history Chinese Mandiant-tracked cluster status with 15+ years of operational activity), primarily targeting telecommunications + aerospace + defense industries across the US + Europe + Asia per MITRE ATT&CK G1023 + Mandiant ("APT5 is a China- based espionage actor that has been active since at least 2007 primarily targeting the telecommunications, aerospace, and defense industries throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. APT5 has displayed advanced tradecraft and significant interest in compromising networking devices"), with UNC2630 and UNC2717 as Mandiant 2021 Pulse Secure VPN compromise sub-clusters with moderate-confidence APT5 association.

Chinese state-sponsored attribution via Mandiant canonical APT5 designation + 2021 UNC2630/UNC2717 Pulse Secure disclosure + MITRE ATT&CK G1023 canonical taxonomy + Microsoft Threat Intelligence canonical Mulberry Typhoon current + MANGANESE legacy + Secureworks BRONZE FLEETWOOD alternative tracking + CrowdStrike Keyhole Panda alternative tracking + NSA December 2022 APT5 Citrix ADC Threat Hunting Guidance explicit nation-state attribution + Mandiant April 2021 + May 2021 follow-up canonical coverage + BAE Systems Applied Intelligence collaboration + Charles Carmakal FireEye Mandiant SVP CTO canonical 2021 attribution statements + Threatpost + Bleeping Computer + Dark Reading + Security Affairs + Cyber Defense Magazine industry coverage.

standalone cluster paralleling unc3886 + unc4841 + unc5325 in v0.1.175 Mandiant UNC Chinese-state-sponsored network-edge-appliance zero-day specialist cluster cell, fills the Mandiant-tracking-methodology gap for Chinese- state-sponsored clusters distinct from Microsoft Typhoon taxonomy + closes the KOSTOVITE attribution overlap loop established in v0.1.172.

operational target profile signature telecommunications + aerospace + defense industries per Mandiant canonical historic baseline + US Defense Industrial Base companies via UNC2630 2020-2021 Pulse Secure campaign + global government agencies via UNC2717 2020-2021 Pulse Secure campaign + high-value corporate networks with re-compromise- over-years pattern + network edge devices (VPN appliances + load balancers + remote access gateways + Citrix Application Delivery Controllers) + China 14th Five Year Plan strategic-alignment verticals including high tech + green energy + telecommunications + US + Europe + Asia geographic distribution.

operational attack architecture: (1) cluster-defining 2007 operational origin establishing 15+ year longest-history Chinese state-sponsored Mandiant- tracked cluster status.

(2) cluster-defining network edge device specialization signature with significant interest in compromising networking devices and manipulating underlying software supporting appliances.

(3) cluster- defining 2014-2015 historic intrusions baseline per Mandiant providing operational signature continuity establishing UNC2630 2021 campaign attribution.

(4) cluster-defining UNC2630 August 2020 - March 2021 US Defense Industrial Base Pulse Secure VPN campaign with SLOWPULSE + RADIALPULSE + THINBLOOD + ATRIUM + PACEMAKER + SLIGHTPULSE + PULSECHECK malware family deployment.

(5) cluster-defining UNC2717 October 2020 - March 2021 global government agency Pulse Secure campaign with HARDPULSE + QUIETPULSE + PULSEJUMP tooling distinct from UNC2630 US DIB focus.

(6) cluster-defining CVE-2021-22893 Pulse Secure VPN authentication bypass zero-day exploitation allowing unauthenticated remote arbitrary file execution on Pulse Connect Secure gateway + historic baseline CVE-2019-11510 + CVE-2020-8260 patched-vulnerabilities exploitation; (7) cluster-defining 12-malware-family Pulse- Secure-specific tooling per Mandiant canonical tracking with SLOWPULSE 2FA bypass (LDAP + RADIUS) + RADIALPULSE/PULSECHECK/SLIGHTPULSE/ ATRIUM/HARDPULSE/QUIETPULSE webshells + THINBLOOD log clearing + PACEMAKER credential capture + BLOODMINE log parsing + CLEANPULSE log suppression + PULSEJUMP credential harvesting + LOCKPICK OpenSSL trojan weakened-encryption.

(8) cluster- defining trojanized libdsplibs.so shared object tradecraft via SLOWPULSE variants enabling multifactor authentication bypass.

(9) cluster- defining DSUpgrade.pm modification ATRIUM webshell persistence + filesystem read-only/read-write toggle Pulse Secure modification tradecraft; (10) cluster-defining scripts persisting through software updates + factory resets per Charles Carmakal FireEye Mandiant CTO.

(11) cluster- defining Citrix ADC 2022 NSA threat hunting guidance campaign establishing APT5 ongoing network-edge-appliance exploitation beyond Pulse Secure with rare NSA explicit nation-state attribution.

(12) cluster-defining Microsoft Mulberry Typhoon September 2023 renaming from MANGANESE legacy aligning with Microsoft Typhoon- naming convention for Chinese state-sponsored actors.

(13) cluster-defining China 14th Five Year Plan strategic alignment targeting signature per Mandiant with espionage activity supporting key Chinese government priorities + many manufacturers competing with Chinese businesses in high tech + green energy + telecommunications sectors.

(14) signature long-term-access + re- compromise-over-years operational pattern per Mandiant.

(15) signature advanced tradecraft + modifying file timestamps + regularly editing or deleting forensic evidence such as logs + web server core dumps + files staged for exfiltration; cluster fills the Mandiant-APT5-canonical- designation + UNC2630-UNC2717-sub-cluster-tracking + Mulberry-Typhoon-Microsoft-canonical + MANGANESE- legacy + BRONZE-FLEETWOOD-Secureworks + Keyhole- Panda-CrowdStrike + G1023-MITRE + 2007-active- since-longest-history + Pulse-Secure-VPN-2021- zero-day-CVE-2021-22893 + 12-malware-family-Pulse- Secure-specific-tooling + Citrix-ADC-2022-NSA- advisory + telecommunications-aerospace-defense- multi-sector + China-14th-Five-Year-Plan- strategic-alignment + network-edge-device- specialization + long-term-access-re-compromise- pattern position in Mandiant UNC Chinese-state- sponsored network-edge-appliance zero-day specialist cluster cell.

canonical illustration of longest-history Chinese state-sponsored Mandiant-tracked cluster + network edge device specialization methodology + Pulse Secure VPN 2021 zero-day exploitation canonical case + 12- malware-family Pulse-Secure-specific tooling tradecraft + Citrix ADC 2022 NSA threat hunting guidance + China 14th Five Year Plan strategic- alignment targeting + multi-vendor alternative tracking convergence (Mulberry Typhoon Microsoft + MANGANESE legacy + BRONZE FLEETWOOD Secureworks + Keyhole Panda CrowdStrike + UNC2630/UNC2717 Mandiant) cited in essentially all subsequent Chinese-state-sponsored network-edge-appliance industry analyses through 2007-2026 period.

china_state_sponsored_mandiant_canonical_microsoft_mulberry_typhoon confidence: high 36 aliases MITRE ATT&CK G1023 ↗

Profile

APT5 is the Mandiant canonical designation for a Chinese state-sponsored cyber espionage group active since at least 2007 (longest-history Chinese Mandiant-tracked cluster), primarily targeting telecommunications + aerospace + defense industries across the US + Europe + Asia. UNC2630 and UNC2717 are Mandiant 2021 Pulse Secure VPN compromise sub-clusters with moderate-confidence APT5 association.

Multi-vendor tracking
  • Mandiant: APT5 / UNC2630 / UNC2717.
  • Microsoft: Mulberry Typhoon (current) / MANGANESE (legacy)
  • Secureworks: BRONZE FLEETWOOD.
  • CrowdStrike: Keyhole Panda.
  • MITRE: G1023 Standalone cluster paralleling unc3886 + unc4841 + unc5325 in v0.1.175 Mandiant UNC Chinese-state- sponsored network-edge-appliance zero-day specialist cell.
Operational target profile
  • Telecommunications + aerospace + defense.
  • US Defense Industrial Base (UNC2630)
  • Global government agencies (UNC2717)
  • Network edge devices (VPN + Citrix ADC + load balancer + remote access gateway)
  • China 14th Five Year Plan strategic-alignment verticals Operational attack architecture: (1) 2007+ longest-history Chinese state- sponsored Mandiant cluster (cluster-defining) (2) Network edge device specialization (cluster- defining) (3) Pulse Secure VPN 2021 zero-day campaign CVE-2021-22893 (cluster-defining) (4) 12-malware-family Pulse-Secure-specific tooling (cluster-defining) (5) Citrix ADC 2022 NSA threat hunting guidance campaign (cluster-defining) (6) Long-term-access + re-compromise-over-years operational pattern (cluster-defining) The cluster fills the Mandiant-APT5-canonical- designation + UNC2630-UNC2717-sub-cluster-tracking + Mulberry-Typhoon-Microsoft-canonical + MANGANESE- legacy + BRONZE-FLEETWOOD-Secureworks + Keyhole- Panda-CrowdStrike + G1023-MITRE + 2007-active- since-longest-history + Pulse-Secure-VPN-2021- zero-day-CVE-2021-22893 + 12-malware-family-Pulse- Secure-specific-tooling + Citrix-ADC-2022-NSA- advisory + telecommunications-aerospace-defense- multi-sector + China-14th-Five-Year-Plan- strategic-alignment + network-edge-device- specialization + long-term-access-re-compromise- pattern position in Mandiant UNC Chinese-state- sponsored network-edge-appliance zero-day specialist cluster cell.

Aliases

36
apt5_unc2630apt5apt 5mulberry_typhoonmulberry typhoonmanganesebronze_fleetwoodbronze fleetwoodkeyhole_pandakeyhole pandapoisoned_flightpoisoned flightunc2630unc 2630unc2717unc 2717g1023g1023 mitre attack group idapt5 chinese state-sponsored cyber espionageapt5 active since at least 2007apt5 telecommunications aerospace defense targetingapt5 us europe asia targetingapt5 network edge device specialistapt5 vpn appliance load balancer remote access gateway targetingapt5 long-term access persistent espionageapt5 high-value corporate networks re-compromise patternapt5 pulse secure vpn 2021 zero-day campaignapt5 cve-2021-22893 pulse secure zero-dayapt5 citrix adc 2022 threat hunting nsa advisoryapt5 us defense industrial base targetingapt5 china 14th five year plan strategic objectives alignmentapt5 slowpulse radialpulse thinblood atrium pacemaker slightpulse pulsecheck custom malwareapt5 bloodmine cleanpulse pulse secure specific utilitiesapt5 hardpulse quietpulse pulsejump lockpick unc2717 related clusterapt5 dsupgrade pm file modification atrium webshell deploymentapt5 multifactor authentication bypass slowpulse variants

Adversary Emulation Plan

8 steps
Runnable Caldera emulation profile Check - Profile to check proper platform configuration. Observe outputs to verify.. Ordered along the attack lifecycle; each step maps to an ATT&CK technique with a concrete executor command. For authorized red-team / purple-team exercises only.
0 discovery T1033 · System Owner/User Discovery darwin, linux, windows
Current User
whoami
1 discovery T1083 · File and Directory Discovery darwin, linux, windows
Print Working Directory
pwd
2 discovery T1083 · File and Directory Discovery darwin, linux, windows
List Directory
ls
3 discovery T1057 · Process Discovery darwin, linux, windows
View Processes
ps
4 discovery T1016 · System Network Configuration Discovery darwin, linux, windows
Network Interface Configuration
sudo ifconfig
5 discovery T1518 · Software Discovery darwin, linux
Check Go
which go
6 discovery T1518 · Software Discovery darwin, linux
Check Chrome
which google-chrome
7 discovery T1518 · Software Discovery darwin, linux, windows
Check Python
python3 --version;python2 --version;python --version

Notable Campaigns

10
2023APT5 Microsoft Mulberry Typhoon September 2023 Renaming
2022APT5 NSA Citrix ADC Threat Hunting Guidance December 2022
2021-2026APT5 China 14th Five Year Plan Strategic Alignment Targeting Signature
2021APT5 CVE-2021-22893 Pulse Secure Zero-Day Canonical Exploitation
2021APT5 12-Malware-Family Pulse Secure Mandiant Canonical Tracking
2020-2021APT5 / UNC2630 August 2020, March 2021 US DIB Pulse Secure VPN Campaign
2020-2021APT5 / UNC2717 October 2020, March 2021 Global Government Pulse Secure Campaign
2014-2015APT5 2014-2015 Historic Intrusions Baseline
2007-2026Continued Industry Reference Status (2007-2026)
2007APT5 Origin, 2007 China Espionage Long-Running

Attribution & Reporting

Attributed by
Mandiant (canonical APT5 designation + 2021 UNC2630/UNC2717 Pulse Secure disclosure)MITRE ATT&CK G1023 (canonical taxonomy entry)Microsoft Threat Intelligence (canonical Mulberry Typhoon current + MANGANESE legacy)Secureworks (canonical BRONZE FLEETWOOD alternative tracking)CrowdStrike (canonical Keyhole Panda alternative tracking)NSA (canonical December 2022 APT5 Citrix ADC Threat Hunting Guidance)CISA (Pulse Secure 2021 advisory co-issuer)FBI (Pulse Secure 2021 advisory co-issuer)FireEye / Mandiant + BAE Systems Applied Intelligence (canonical 2021 Pulse Secure VPN compromise investigation)Charles Carmakal / FireEye Mandiant SVP CTO (canonical 2021 attribution statements)Threatpost / Lisa Vaas (canonical 2021 Pulse Secure VPN zero-day coverage)Bleeping Computer / Sergiu Gatlan (canonical 2021 Pulse Secure VPN coverage)Dark Reading (canonical 2021 Pulse Secure VPN US Defense Sector coverage)Security Affairs / Pierluigi Paganini (canonical 2021 China-linked APT Pulse Secure VPN coverage)Cyber Defense Magazine (canonical 2021 coverage)
Key reporting
reportMandiant (2007+): canonical APT5 designation
reportMITRE ATT&CK G1023: canonical taxonomy entry
reportMicrosoft Threat Intelligence (Sep 2023): Mulberry Typhoon current canonical + MANGANESE legacy
reportSecureworks: BRONZE FLEETWOOD alternative tracking
reportCrowdStrike: Keyhole Panda alternative tracking
reportNSA (Dec 2022): APT5 Citrix ADC Threat Hunting Guidance
reportMandiant (April 2021): Check Your Pulse, Suspected APT Actors Leverage Authentication Bypass Techniques and Pulse Secure Zero-Day
reportMandiant (May 2021): Re-Checking Your Pulse, Updates on Chinese APT Actors Compromising Pulse Secure VPN Devices
reportBAE Systems Applied Intelligence: canonical UNC2630/UNC2717 collaboration
reportThreatpost / Lisa Vaas (April 2021): Pulse Secure Critical Zero-Day Security Bug Under Active Exploit
reportBleeping Computer / Sergiu Gatlan (April 2021): Pulse Secure VPN zero-day used to hack defense firms
reportDark Reading (April 2021): Pulse Secure VPN Flaws Exploited to Target US Defense Sector

Operational

State sponsor

APT5 is the Mandiant canonical designation for a Chinese state-sponsored cyber espionage group active since at least 2007, primarily targeting telecommunications + aerospace + defense industries across the US + Europe + Asia. Per MITRE ATT&CK G1023 + Mandiant: "APT5 is a China-based espionage actor that has been active since at least 2007 primarily targeting the telecommunications, aerospace, and defense industries throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. APT5 has displayed advanced tradecraft and significant interest in compromising networking devices." Per Mandiant Threatpost coverage: "APT5 consistently targets defense and technology companies in the Asia, Europe and the U.S....

APT5 persistently targets high value corporate networks and often re-compromises networks over many years.

" Multi-vendor tracking
  • Mandiant: APT5 (canonical) / UNC2630 + UNC2717 (2021 Pulse Secure sub-clusters with moderate- confidence APT5 association)
  • Microsoft: Mulberry Typhoon (current) / MANGANESE (legacy)
  • Secureworks: BRONZE FLEETWOOD.
  • CrowdStrike: Keyhole Panda.
  • MITRE: G1023.
  • Alternative: Poisoned Flight Attribution chain: (1) Mandiant canonical APT5 designation 2007+: per MITRE G1023 + Mandiant: APT5 has been active since at least 2007. Long-running Chinese espionage actor with significant interest in compromising networking devices and manipulating the underlying software which supports these appliances. Persistently targets high-value corporate networks and often re-compromises networks over many years. (2) Mandiant 2021 UNC2630 + UNC2717 Pulse Secure VPN compromise canonical disclosure: per Mandiant April 2021 + May 2021 follow-up: "We assess that espionage activity by UNC2630 and UNC2717 supports key Chinese government priorities. Many compromised organizations operate in verticals and industries aligned with Beijing's strategic objectives outlined in China's recent 14th Five Year Plan... We suspect UNC2630 operates on behalf of the Chinese government and may have ties to APT5... Despite these new tools and infrastructure, Mandiant analysts noted strong similarities to historic intrusions dating back to 2014 and 2015 and conducted by Chinese espionage actor APT5." (3) Mandiant 12-malware-family Pulse Secure VPN canonical tracking: per Mandiant: "Mandiant is tracking 16 malware families exclusively designed to infect Pulse Secure VPN appliances and used by several cyber espionage groups which we believe are affiliated with the Chinese government." UNC2630 used SLOWPULSE + RADIALPULSE + THINBLOOD + ATRIUM + PACEMAKER + SLIGHTPULSE + PULSECHECK targeting US DIB August 2020.
  • March 2021. UNC2717 used HARDPULSE + QUIETPULSE + PULSEJUMP targeting global government agencies October 2020.
  • March 2021. (4) CVE-2021-22893 Pulse Secure zero-day authentication bypass: per Cyber Defense Magazine + Security Affairs: "Threat actors leveraged Pulse Secure VPN bugs disclosed in 2019 and 2020, along with a new zero-day tracked as CVE-2021-22893. A vulnerability was discovered under Pulse Connect Secure (PCS). This includes an authentication by-pass vulnerability that can allow an unauthenticated user to perform remote arbitrary file execution on the Pulse Connect Secure gateway." (5) NSA + CISA + FBI 2022 Citrix ADC threat hunting guidance APT5 attribution: per NSA December 2022: "APT5: Citrix ADC Threat Hunting Guidance" establishing APT5 ongoing Citrix ADC exploitation campaign with NSA explicit attribution. (6) Microsoft Mulberry Typhoon current canonical tracking: per Microsoft Threat Intelligence September 2023 "Digital threats from East Asia increase in breadth and effectiveness": Microsoft tracks APT5 as Mulberry Typhoon (current taxonomy) / MANGANESE (legacy).
Operational target profile
  • Telecommunications signature primary per Mandiant.
  • Aerospace + defense industries signature per Mandiant.
  • US Defense Industrial Base (DIB) signature per UNC2630 2021 campaign.
  • Global government agencies signature per UNC2717 2021 campaign.
  • High-value corporate networks with re- compromise pattern per Mandiant.
  • Network edge devices: VPN appliances + load balancers + remote access gateways + Citrix ADC.
  • China 14th Five Year Plan strategic-alignment verticals including high tech + green energy + telecommunications.
  • US + Europe + Asia geographic distribution The cluster fills the Mandiant-APT5-canonical- designation + UNC2630-UNC2717-sub-cluster-tracking + Mulberry-Typhoon-Microsoft-canonical + MANGANESE- legacy + BRONZE-FLEETWOOD-Secureworks + Keyhole- Panda-CrowdStrike + G1023-MITRE + 2007-active- since-longest-history + Pulse-Secure-VPN-2021- zero-day-CVE-2021-22893 + 12-malware-family-Pulse- Secure-specific-tooling + Citrix-ADC-2022-NSA- advisory + telecommunications-aerospace-defense- multi-sector + China-14th-Five-Year-Plan- strategic-alignment + network-edge-device- specialization + long-term-access-re-compromise- pattern position in Mandiant UNC Chinese-state- sponsored network-edge-appliance zero-day specialist cluster cell.
Motivations
china_state_sponsored_cyber_espionage_intelligence_collection, telecommunications_aerospace_defense_long_term_targeting, network_edge_device_specialist_vpn_appliance_exploitation, high_value_corporate_networks_re_compromise_signature, china_14th_five_year_plan_strategic_alignment_targeting, long_term_persistent_access_credential_harvesting_data_theft
Sectors
Regions

Detection Blind Spots

60 techniques
Across this actor’s 60 mapped techniques, the share covered by each detection layer. Low bars are where you’d be blind if this actor targeted you.
Behavioral / log (Sigma)56/60 · 93%
Analytics (MITRE CAR)28/60 · 46%
Runtime / container (Falco)9/60 · 15%
File / malware (YARA)0/60 · 0%
Network (Suricata/Snort)19/60 · 31%
Vuln scan (Nuclei)0/60 · 0%

Atomic Test Plan

30 techniques
Runnable Atomic Red Team tests covering this actor’s mapped techniques - validate your detections against this specific adversary. Cross-reference the blind spots above. For authorized lab / purple-team use. Open the full builder

Tools Used

0 mapped
Other tooling / TTPs (curation, not ATT&CK-mapped):
SCRIPTS PERSISTING THROUGH SOFTWARE UPDATES + FACTORY RESETSSLIGHTPULSE WEBSHELLSLOWPULSE AUTHENTICATION BYPASSSLOWPULSE LDAP RADIUS 2FA BYPASS

CVEs Exploited

3
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CVETechnique ActorTool Family
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