S0038: Duqu

S0038: Duqu describes [Duqu](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0038) is a malware platform that uses a modular approach to extend functionality after deployment within a target network. (Citation: Symantec W32.Duqu)

Executive priority

S0038: Duqu is an official MITRE ATT&CK software. Glexia treats it as defensive behavior context for prioritizing monitoring, control validation, and response planning without using the object by itself as an attribution claim.

Technical view

Security teams should validate S0038: Duqu by reviewing the official ATT&CK relationships, mapped tactics (the mapped ATT&CK tactic context), supported platforms (Windows), and available local telemetry before making detection or mitigation decisions.

Likely telemetry

Official ATT&CK relationships and object metadata
Network, endpoint, and security-tool telemetry

Detection direction

Validate whether S0038: Duqu appears in your detection coverage and tabletop scenarios.
Use the object to align executive risk language with SOC, incident response, and detection engineering work.
Do not treat ATT&CK relationship context as attribution without corroborating evidence.

Mitigation priorities

Map the object to existing controls and identify missing telemetry or response ownership.
Prioritize mitigations that reduce exposure on the listed platforms and tactics.
Review adjacent ATT&CK relationships before changing policy, detections, or reporting language.

Additional notes and limits

Baseline Glexia take generated from the official MITRE ATT&CK STIX object, source hash, tactics, platforms, and detection fields. It is safe to replace with a richer model-generated take for the same source hash later.

This baseline take is source-grounded and schema-validated, but it does not include environment-specific telemetry, incident evidence, or threat-intelligence corroboration.

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Official MITRE ATT&CK definition

Duqu

Duqu is a malware platform that uses a modular approach to extend functionality after deployment within a target network. [1]

View the same entry on attack.mitre.org (MITRE-hosted reference; in-page links above use the Glexia ATT&CK library.)

Glexia analysis

How security teams should use this page

Treat this object as behavior context, not an attribution claim. Validate the related groups, software, data sources, and mitigations against official ATT&CK relationships and your own telemetry before making control-coverage decisions.

ATT&CK relationship table

Techniques used

This mirrors the MITRE pattern of making group, software, campaign, and technique relationships scannable. Relationship notes come from mirrored ATT&CK relationship text when available.

Filter related techniques21 rows

Domain	ID	Name	Relationship / procedure
Enterprise	T1056.001	KeyloggingSub-technique	Duqu can track key presses with a keylogger module.[1]
Enterprise	T1560.003	Archive via Custom MethodSub-technique	Modules can be pushed to and executed by Duqu that copy data to a staging area, compress it, and XOR encrypt it.[1]
Enterprise	T1090.001	Internal ProxySub-technique	Duqu can be configured to have commands relayed over a peer-to-peer network of infected hosts if some of the hosts do not have Internet access.[1]
Enterprise	T1218.007	MsiexecSub-technique	Duqu has used `msiexec` to execute malicious Windows Installer packages. Additionally, a PROPERTY=VALUE pair containing a 56-bit encryption key has been used to decrypt the main payload from the installer packages.CitationKaspersky Duqu 2.0
Enterprise	T1087.001	Local AccountSub-technique	The discovery modules used with Duqu can collect information on accounts and permissions.[1]
Enterprise	T1057	Process Discovery	The discovery modules used with Duqu can collect information on process details.[1]
Enterprise	T1078	Valid Accounts	Adversaries can instruct Duqu to spread laterally by copying itself to shares it has enumerated and for which it has obtained legitimate credentials (via keylogging or other means). The remote host is then infected by using the compromised credentials to schedule a task on remote machines that executes the malware.[1]
Enterprise	T1543.003	Windows ServiceSub-technique	Duqu creates a new service that loads a malicious driver when the system starts. When Duqu is active, the operating system believes that the driver is legitimate, as it has been signed with a valid private key.[1]
Enterprise	T1572	Protocol Tunneling	Duqu uses a custom command and control protocol that communicates over commonly used ports, and is frequently encapsulated by application layer protocols.[1]
Enterprise	T1074.001	Local Data StagingSub-technique	Modules can be pushed to and executed by Duqu that copy data to a staging area, compress it, and XOR encrypt it.[1]
Enterprise	T1055.001	Dynamic-link Library InjectionSub-technique	Duqu will inject itself into different processes to evade detection. The selection of the target process is influenced by the security software that is installed on the system (Duqu will inject into different processes depending on which security suite is installed on the infected host).[1]
Enterprise	T1573.001	Symmetric CryptographySub-technique	The Duqu command and control protocol's data stream can be encrypted with AES-CBC.[1]
Enterprise	T1071	Application Layer Protocol	Duqu uses a custom command and control protocol that communicates over commonly used ports, and is frequently encapsulated by application layer protocols.[1]
Enterprise	T1021.002	SMB/Windows Admin SharesSub-technique	Adversaries can instruct Duqu to spread laterally by copying itself to shares it has enumerated and for which it has obtained legitimate credentials (via keylogging or other means). The remote host is then infected by using the compromised credentials to schedule a task on remote machines that executes the malware.[1]
Enterprise	T1049	System Network Connections Discovery	The discovery modules used with Duqu can collect information on network connections.[1]
Enterprise	T1134	Access Token Manipulation	Duqu examines running system processes for tokens that have specific system privileges. If it finds one, it will copy the token and store it for later use. Eventually it will start new processes with the stored token attached. It can also steal tokens to acquire administrative privileges.CitationKaspersky Duqu 2.0
Enterprise	T1010	Application Window Discovery	The discovery modules used with Duqu can collect information on open windows.[1]
Enterprise	T1053.005	Scheduled TaskSub-technique	Adversaries can instruct Duqu to spread laterally by copying itself to shares it has enumerated and for which it has obtained legitimate credentials (via keylogging or other means). The remote host is then infected by using the compromised credentials to schedule a task on remote machines that executes the malware.[1]
Enterprise	T1001.002	SteganographySub-technique	When the Duqu command and control is operating over HTTP or HTTPS, Duqu uploads data to its controller by appending it to a blank JPG file.[1]
Enterprise	T1016	System Network Configuration Discovery	The reconnaissance modules used with Duqu can collect information on network configuration.[1]
Enterprise	T1055.012	Process HollowingSub-technique	Duqu is capable of loading executable code via process hollowing.[1]

Relationship explorer

All related ATT&CK context

Change history

Object version and sync metadata

The fields below describe the current mirrored snapshot. When Glexia retains multiple ATT&CK source imports, you can open the table to compare the same object across releases (hashes and MITRE timestamps). For MITRE’s own release notes and roadmap, see ATT&CK resources — Updates.

ATT&CK release: 19.2
Object version: 1.2
Created: May 31, 2017, 21:32 UTC (UTC+00:00)
Modified: Apr 16, 2025, 20:38 UTC (UTC+00:00)
Raw hash: c92e08328985a184...

Imported snapshots across ATT&CK releases(2)

Release	Bundle imported	Object version	Modified	Status	Raw hash
19.2	Aug 6, 2026, 02:58 UTC (UTC+00:00)	1.2	Apr 16, 2025, 20:38 UTC (UTC+00:00)	Current bundle	`c92e08328985…`
19.1	Jul 14, 2026, 09:14 UTC (UTC+00:00)	1.2	Apr 16, 2025, 20:38 UTC (UTC+00:00)	Older bundle	`c92e08328985…`

Raw source

Mirrored ATT&CK source object

The raw object is retained through the mirrored ATT&CK source bundle and object hash. The raw endpoint returns the exact object from the mirrored bundle when available.

Open mirrored raw JSON Open MITRE-hosted copy

Source references

External references and citations

MITRE external references are preserved separately from Glexia analysis so citations remain traceable to their original source records.

[1]
Symantec W32.Duqu
Symantec Security Response. (2011, November). W32.Duqu: The precursor to the next Stuxnet. Retrieved September 17, 2015.
Open source URL
[2]
mitre-attackS0038
Open source URL

Source and licensing

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