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Threats / Actors / APT41
G0096 Nation-stateour call,
not MITRE’s
ATT&CK Group

APT41

How MITRE ATT&CK characterizes this group1: APT41 is a threat group that researchers have assessed as Chinese state-sponsored espionage group that also conducts financially-motivated operations. Active since at least 2012, APT41 has been observed targeting various industries, including but not limited to healthcare, telecom, technology, finance, education, retail and video game industries in 14 countries. Notable behaviors include using a wide range of malware and tools to complete mission…

Attributed to China — state-linked, dual espionage/criminal by government advisory.119

Also tracked as: Wicked Panda Brass Typhoon BARIUM — ATT&CK group page1
Read this as · tier is our editorial call, not MITRE’s

Read as a state-directed operator, not a smash-and-grab.

A nation-state classification means patience, tradecraft, and an intelligence objective. When this name attaches to a vulnerability, the question shifts from “will someone exploit it” to “has a well-resourced service already built it into an operation.” All tradecraft below is sourced to MITRE ATT&CK.

82
Techniques
ATT&CK count1
32
Named tools / malware
ATT&CK count2
2
Attributed campaigns
ATT&CK count1
14
Tactics spanned
ATT&CK count1
~2021–2024approx.
Activity bounds (campaign floor)
approximate1
01

Known for

— signature moves, each sourced to ATT&CK
CampaignC0017. ATT&CK tracks this attributed operation as C0017.117
CampaignAPT41 DUST. ATT&CK tracks this attributed operation as C0040.118
ArsenalNamed tooling. ATT&CK attributes 32 tools/malware to this group, including Mimikatz, pwdump, PlugX, China Chopper.85
ReachFurthest outcome. This actor's cited tradecraft reaches as far as outcome 5 — Lights out — disruption & extortion. (editorial mapping over ATT&CK tactics).
02

Tradecraft heatmap

— ATT&CK techniques mapped onto the five attacker-outcome narratives

Each row is a documented technique (MITRE ATT&CK). Each column is one of the five attacker-outcome narratives a defender funds against. A filled cell means this technique’s own ATT&CK tactic defensibly advances that outcome. The mapping of technique→outcome is our editorial alignment over ATT&CK's tactic data, not a separately-sourced MITRE edge. A filled cell means one of the technique's own ATT&CK tactics defensibly advances that outcome; enabler tactics (C2, Defense Evasion, Discovery) heat no column.

1Front door
2Keys to the kingdom
3Lateral reach
4Data at risk
5Lights out

Reach: this actor’s cited techniques light columns 1·2·3·4·5 — furthest is 5 · Lights out. (furthest-position idiom, reused from the landing map).

A dot = this technique advances that outcome
Editorial: the technique→outcome alignment is our call over ATT&CK’s tactic data, not a separately-sourced MITRE edge — same basis the landing page declares. Enabler tactics (C2, defense evasion, discovery) heat no column.1
03

Arsenal

— named tools & malware ATT&CK attributes to this group
MimikatzS0002 · Tool
pwdumpS0006 · Tool
PlugXS0013 · Malware
China ChopperS0020 · Malware
DerusbiS0021 · Malware
gh0st RATS0032 · Malware
NetS0039 · Tool
BLACKCOFFEES0069 · Malware
+24 moreCoverage

ATT&CK attributes 32 tools/malware to G0096 in total; the full list is on the group page.

04

Campaign highlights

— attributed operations in the ATT&CK record
A

C0017 — ATT&CK Campaign C0017

Attributed operation
ATT&CK records C0017 (C0017) — roughly 2021–2022 as an operation attributed to this group.117
Open ATT&CK C0017 ↗
B

APT41 DUST — ATT&CK Campaign C0040

Attributed operation
ATT&CK records APT41 DUST (C0040) — roughly 2023–2024 as an operation attributed to this group.118
Open ATT&CK C0040 ↗
05

Latest activity

— with explicit confidence, and what we cannot yet claim
ATT&CK
snapshot

The most recent cited activity in this card is the ATT&CK record itself. We do not paste a “last seen this week” line we cannot source. Recency from secondary reporting appears here only when attached to a named advisory.

ATT&CK snapshot, compiled 2026-06-22Coverage gap — live “currently active” status not asserted
CVE ↔ actor bridge — Known exploits / Linked CVEs every link below traces to a named source; tier is explicit
Inferred / reported — lower confidence, never headline attribution 1 link(s)

These are not confirmed attribution. An inferred link is a structural ATT&CK chain (this group uses a tool whose reference cites the CVE); it is back-cited to the original report and never claims the source names the group.

CVE-2015-5119 →

ATT&CK attributes gh0st RAT (S0032) to this group, and that software’s ATT&CK reference cites CVE-2015-5119. Structural chain — not a statement that the report names the group.

original report (cited on the ATT&CK software page) ↗
06

Coverage & confidence

— what we know, and what we don’t

Established (cited)

  • Group identity, aliases, description — MITRE ATT&CK group page
  • 82 techniques — ATT&CK technique pages (linked per row)
  • 32 software (arsenal) — ATT&CK software pages
  • 2 attributed campaign(s) — ATT&CK campaign pages
  • Origin / sponsor (China — state-linked, dual espionage/criminal) — curated government advisory (cited)
  • 4 third-party research citations — ATT&CK external references
  • Coverage gaps — stated, not hidden

  • Threat tier is OUR editorial classification (rule-based), not a MITRE field — labeled as such.
  • Technique → outcome heatmap is editorial alignment over ATT&CK tactic data, not a separately-sourced MITRE edge.
  • Activity bounds are a floor from attributed-campaign dates only — flagged approx., not a true active-since range.
  • ATT&CK has no first-class group→CVE relationship; this card asserts no specific CVE without a named advisory.