APT / THREAT GROUP

SALTWATER

aliases

Last seen:Mar 17, 2026

Intelligence Profile

According to Mandiant, SALTWATER is a module for the Barracuda SMTP daemon (bsmtpd) that has backdoor functionality. SALTWATER can upload or download arbitrary files, execute commands, and has proxy and tunneling capabilities. The backdoor is implemented using hooks on the send, recv, close syscalls via the 3rd party kubo/funchook hooking library, and amounts to five components, most of which are referred to as "Channels" within the binary. In addition to providing backdoor and proxying capabilities, these components exhibit classic backdoor functionality.

Threat Analysis

SALTWATER 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/barracuda-esg-exploited-globally/

→https://sansorg.egnyte.com/dd/8ekLJCPHPj/

→https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2023-09/MAR-10454006.r5.v1.CLEAR__0.pdf

→https://www.mandiant.com/resources/blog/barracuda-esg-exploited-globally

→https://www.mandiant.com/resources/blog/chinese-espionage-tactics

Quick Facts

TypeAPT / Threat Group

Aliases2

Also Known As

SALTWATERelf.saltwater

External Intelligence

Malpedia: elf.saltwater

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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