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MITRE ATT&CK® Malware

S0186: DownPaper

DownPaper is a backdoor Trojan; its main functionality is to download and run second stage malware. [1]

EnterpriseS0186MalwareObject v1.1Modified
Glexia's Take · Automated analysis

Security context for executives and security teams

Automation confidenceMedium

S0186: DownPaper describes [DownPaper](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0186) is a backdoor Trojan; its main functionality is to download and run second stage malware. (Citation: ClearSky Charming Kitten Dec 2017)

Executive priority

S0186: DownPaper 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 S0186: DownPaper 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 S0186: DownPaper 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

DownPaper

DownPaper is a backdoor Trojan; its main functionality is to download and run second stage malware. [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.

7 rows
DomainIDNameRelationship / procedure
EnterpriseT1082System Information Discovery

DownPaper collects the victim host name and serial number, and then sends the information to the C2 server.[1]

EnterpriseT1012Query Registry

DownPaper searches and reads the value of the Windows Update Registry Run key.[1]

EnterpriseT1033System Owner/User Discovery

DownPaper collects the victim username and sends it to the C2 server.[1]

EnterpriseT1547.001Registry Run Keys / Startup FolderSub-technique

DownPaper uses PowerShell to add a Registry Run key in order to establish persistence.[1]

EnterpriseT1071.001Web ProtocolsSub-technique

DownPaper communicates to its C2 server over HTTP.[1]

EnterpriseT1059.001PowerShellSub-technique

DownPaper uses PowerShell for execution.[1]

EnterpriseT1059.003Windows Command ShellSub-technique

DownPaper uses the command line.[1]

Associated objects

Groups, software, and campaigns

GroupEnterprise

G0059: Magic Hound

Magic Hound is an Iranian-sponsored threat group that conducts long term, resource-intensive cyber espionage operations, likely on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. They have targeted European, U.S., and Middle Eastern government and military personnel, academics, journalists, and organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), via complex social engineering campaigns since at least 2014.[1][2][3][4][5]

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
1.1
Created
Modified
Raw hash
37f9d683d0741c3e...
Imported snapshots across ATT&CK releases(2)
ReleaseBundle importedObject versionModifiedStatusRaw hash
19.21.1Current bundle37f9d683d074…
19.11.1Older bundle37f9d683d074…
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.

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. [1]
    ClearSky Charming Kitten Dec 2017

    ClearSky Cyber Security. (2017, December). Charming Kitten. Retrieved December 27, 2017.

  2. [2]
    DownPaper

    (Citation: ClearSky Charming Kitten Dec 2017)

  3. [3]
    mitre-attackS0186
    Open source URL
Source and licensing

Source: MITRE ATT&CK®. © 2026 The MITRE Corporation. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of The MITRE Corporation. MITRE ATT&CK and ATT&CK are registered trademarks of The MITRE Corporation. Glexia is not affiliated with or endorsed by MITRE.