Merlin

Internal ID: win.merlin

aliases

Last seen:Mar 17, 2026

Intelligence Profile

Merlin is a cross-platform post-exploitation HTTP/2 Command & Control server and agent written in golang.

Threat Analysis

Merlin is a malware family tracked by threat intelligence researchers and catalogued in the Malpedia dataset. It represents a distinct malicious software lineage with identifiable code characteristics, behaviors, and victimology.

External References

→http://lockboxx.blogspot.com/2018/02/intro-to-using-gscript-for-red-teams.html

→http://lockboxx.blogspot.com/2018/02/merlin-for-red-teams.html

→https://github.com/Ne0nd0g/merlin

→https://jsac.jpcert.or.jp/archive/2024/pdf/JSAC2024_1_9_takeda_furukawa_en.pdf

→https://michaelkoczwara.medium.com/hunting-c2-with-shodan-223ca250d06f

→https://www.securonix.com/blog/threat-labs-security-advisory-new-starkvortex-attack-campaign-threat-actors-use-drone-manual-lures-to-deliver-merlinagent-payloads/

→https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/research/25/h/taoth-campaign.html

Quick Facts

TypeMalware Family

Aliases1

Also Known As

win.merlin

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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