basicsecurity.net
Proof, not just disclosure.
Threats / Actors / HAFNIUM
G0125 Nation-stateour call,
not MITRE’s
ATT&CK Group

HAFNIUM

How MITRE ATT&CK characterizes this group1: HAFNIUM is a likely state-sponsored cyber espionage group operating out of China that has been active since at least January 2021. HAFNIUM primarily targets entities in the US across a number of industry sectors, including infectious disease researchers, law firms, higher education institutions, defense contractors, policy think tanks, and NGOs. HAFNIUM has targeted remote management tools and cloud software for intial access and has demonstrated an…

Origin / sponsor: not established from a curated public advisory — see Coverage & confidence. Not asserted here.

Also tracked as: Operation Exchange Marauder Silk Typhoon — 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.

44
Techniques
ATT&CK count1
6
Named tools / malware
ATT&CK count2
0
Attributed campaigns
ATT&CK count1
13
Tactics spanned
ATT&CK count1
coverage gap
Activity bounds
no attributed campaign
01

Known for

— signature moves, each sourced to ATT&CK
ArsenalNamed tooling. ATT&CK attributes 6 tools/malware to this group, including China Chopper, PsExec, ASPXSpy, Impacket.47
ReachFurthest outcome. This actor's cited tradecraft reaches as far as outcome 4 — Data at risk — exfiltration. (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 — furthest is 4 · Data at risk. (furthest-position idiom, reused from the landing map).

A dot = this technique advances that outcomeColumn 5 (Lights out) is empty — Compare: a ransomware or wiper actor lights column 5.
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
China ChopperS0020 · Malware
PsExecS0029 · Tool
ASPXSpyS0073 · Malware
ImpacketS0357 · Tool
TarraskS1011 · Malware
CovenantS1155 · Tool
04

Campaign highlights

— attributed operations in the ATT&CK record
?

No attributed campaigns — coverage gap

Stated, not hidden
ATT&CK lists no first-class campaign object for G0125 at this snapshot. Public reporting may tie this actor to operations; those enter only with a named advisory under the same cite-or-die rule.
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
Known exploits — confirmed by named advisory 4 CVE(s)
CVE-2021-26855 →

CISA's AA21-062A and the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center attribute the ProxyLogon Exchange exploitation chain to HAFNIUM (now tracked as Silk Typhoon), a state-sponsored group assessed to operate out of the PRC, naming both the group and the Exchange CVEs.

CISA AA21-062A — names this group + CVE ↗
CVE-2021-26857 →

CISA's AA21-062A and the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center attribute the ProxyLogon Exchange exploitation chain to HAFNIUM (now tracked as Silk Typhoon), a state-sponsored group assessed to operate out of the PRC, naming both the group and the Exchange CVEs.

CISA AA21-062A — names this group + CVE ↗
CVE-2021-26858 →

CISA's AA21-062A and the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center attribute the ProxyLogon Exchange exploitation chain to HAFNIUM (now tracked as Silk Typhoon), a state-sponsored group assessed to operate out of the PRC, naming both the group and the Exchange CVEs.

CISA AA21-062A — names this group + CVE ↗
CVE-2021-27065 →

CISA's AA21-062A and the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center attribute the ProxyLogon Exchange exploitation chain to HAFNIUM (now tracked as Silk Typhoon), a state-sponsored group assessed to operate out of the PRC, naming both the group and the Exchange CVEs.

CISA AA21-062A — names this group + CVE ↗
06

Coverage & confidence

— what we know, and what we don’t

Established (cited)

  • Group identity, aliases, description — MITRE ATT&CK group page
  • 44 techniques — ATT&CK technique pages (linked per row)
  • 6 software (arsenal) — ATT&CK software pages
  • 4 third-party research citations — ATT&CK external references
  • Coverage gaps — stated, not hidden

  • Origin/sponsor not established from a curated public advisory. ATT&CK prose may imply attribution but is not asserted here — absence of a curated source is a coverage finding, not a clean bill of attribution.
  • 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.
  • No attributed ATT&CK campaign object — activity bounds cannot be established.
  • Empty heatmap column(s): Lights out — consistent with this actor's nature, stated as a finding.