APT / THREAT GROUP

PITSOCK

aliases

Last seen:Mar 17, 2026

Intelligence Profile

According to Mandiant, this is backdoor which hooks the accept and setsockopt of the web process by modifying its procedure linkage table (PLT). This enables backdoor communication via the Unix socket /tmp/clientsDownload.sock when it receives a specific 48-byte magic byte sequence in the incoming buffer.

Threat Analysis

PITSOCK is a known-sophistication threat actor of undetermined national origin, engaged in cyber operations with a primary motivation of unknown activity patterns.

External References

→https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/investigating-ivanti-exploitation-persistence/

→https://www.mandiant.com/resources/blog/investigating-ivanti-exploitation-persistence

Quick Facts

TypeAPT / Threat Group

Aliases2

Also Known As

elf.pitsockPITSOCK

External Intelligence

Malpedia: elf.pitsock

Research Links

MITRE ATT&CK VirusTotal Google (news) Twitter/X search

Data sourced from Malpedia, Ransomware.live, RansomLook, and CTIWATCH OSINT collection. Actor attribution is based on available intelligence and may be incomplete.

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