APT / THREAT GROUP

POISONPLUG

aliases

Last seen:Mar 17, 2026

Intelligence Profile

According to FireEye, POISONPLUG is a highly obfuscated modular backdoor with plug-in capabilities. The malware is capable of registry or service persistence, self-removal, plug-in execution, and network connection forwarding. POISONPLUG has been observed using social platforms to host encoded C&C commands.

Threat Analysis

POISONPLUG 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/scatterbrain-unmasking-poisonplug-obfuscator

→https://content.fireeye.com/apt-41/rpt-apt41/

→https://securelist.com/apt-trends-report-q3-2020/99204/

→https://summit.fireeye.com/content/dam/fireeye-www/summit/cds-2019/presentations/cds19-executive-s08-achievement-unlocked.pdf

→https://symantec-enterprise-blogs.security.com/blogs/threat-intelligence/apt41-indictments-china-espionage

Quick Facts

TypeAPT / Threat Group

Aliases3

Also Known As

POISONPLUGwin.poisonplugBarlaiy

External Intelligence

Malpedia: win.poisonplug

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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