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RustyWater: Muddy Water’s Rust-Based Implant

Jan 16, 2026 1:42:59 PM / by The Hivemind posted in Threat Bulletin, APT, Muddy Water, Spear Phishing, Rust Malware, Middle East targeting, RustyWater, RUSTRIC, Rust implant, Archer RAT

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Verticals Targeted: Diplomatic, Maritime, Financial, Telecom
Regions Targeted: Middle East
Related Families: Archer RAT / RUSTRIC

Executive Summary

A spear-phishing campaign linked to the Muddy Water APT group was observed deploying a new Rust-based implant called RustyWater against organizations in the Middle East. This evolution from legacy PowerShell and VBS tooling introduces enhanced modularity, anti-analysis features, and asynchronous command-and-control capabilities.

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MuddyWater Targets MENA Governments With Phoenix Backdoor

Nov 3, 2025 2:09:14 PM / by The Hivemind posted in Threat Bulletin, MuddyWater, Phishing Campaign, credential stealers, cyber espionage, Middle East targeting, VBA macros, FakeUpdate injector, Iran APT, Phoenix Backdoor, RMM tools

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Verticals Targeted: Government
Regions Targeted: Middle East, North Africa
Related Families: Phoenix, FakeUpdate

Executive Summary

A sophisticated phishing operation has been attributed to the Iran-linked APT MuddyWater, deploying an updated Phoenix backdoor to conduct espionage against government and international entities. The campaign leverages compromised mailboxes and macro-enabled Word documents to deliver custom injectors and persistence mechanisms, highlighting the group's reliance on trusted channels for initial access.

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