S0226: Smoke Loader
Smoke Loader is a malicious bot application that can be used to load other malware. Smoke Loader has been seen in the wild since at least 2011 and has included a number of different payloads. It is notorious for its use of deception and self-protection. It also comes with several plug-ins. [1] [2]
Security context for executives and security teams
S0226: Smoke Loader describes [Smoke Loader](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0226) is a malicious bot application that can be used to load other malware. [Smoke Loader](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0226) has been seen in the wild since at least 2011 and has included a number of different payloads. It is notorious for its use of deception and self-protection. It also comes with several plug-ins. (Citation: Malwarebytes SmokeLoader 2016) (Citation: Microsoft Dofoil 2018)
Executive priority
S0226: Smoke Loader 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 S0226: Smoke Loader 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 S0226: Smoke Loader 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.
Smoke Loader
Smoke Loader is a malicious bot application that can be used to load other malware. Smoke Loader has been seen in the wild since at least 2011 and has included a number of different payloads. It is notorious for its use of deception and self-protection. It also comes with several plug-ins. [1] [2]
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.
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.
| Domain | ID | Name | Relationship / procedure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise | T1140 | Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information | Smoke Loader deobfuscates its code.CitationTalos Smoke Loader July 2018 |
| Enterprise | T1552.001 | Credentials In FilesSub-technique | Smoke Loader searches for files named logins.json to parse for credentials.CitationTalos Smoke Loader July 2018 |
| Enterprise | T1114.001 | Local Email CollectionSub-technique | Smoke Loader searches through Outlook files and directories (e.g., inbox, sent, templates, drafts, archives, etc.).CitationTalos Smoke Loader July 2018 |
| Enterprise | T1059.005 | Visual BasicSub-technique | Smoke Loader adds a Visual Basic script in the Startup folder to deploy the payload.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1555.003 | Credentials from Web BrowsersSub-technique | Smoke Loader searches for credentials stored from web browsers.CitationTalos Smoke Loader July 2018 |
| Enterprise | T1071.001 | Web ProtocolsSub-technique | Smoke Loader uses HTTP for C2.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1497.001 | System ChecksSub-technique | Smoke Loader scans processes to perform anti-VM checks. CitationTalos Smoke Loader July 2018 |
| Enterprise | T1105 | Ingress Tool Transfer | Smoke Loader downloads a new version of itself once it has installed. It also downloads additional plugins.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1547.001 | Registry Run Keys / Startup FolderSub-technique | Smoke Loader adds a Registry Run key for persistence and adds a script in the Startup folder to deploy the payload.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1055.012 | Process HollowingSub-technique | Smoke Loader spawns a new copy of c:\windows\syswow64\explorer.exe and then replaces the executable code in memory with malware.[1][2] |
| Enterprise | T1027.013 | Encrypted/Encoded FileSub-technique | Smoke Loader uses a simple one-byte XOR method to obfuscate values in the malware.[1]CitationTalos Smoke Loader July 2018 |
| Enterprise | T1055 | Process Injection | Smoke Loader injects into the Internet Explorer process.CitationTalos Smoke Loader July 2018 |
| Enterprise | T1053.005 | Scheduled TaskSub-technique | Smoke Loader launches a scheduled task.CitationTalos Smoke Loader July 2018 |
| Enterprise | T1083 | File and Directory Discovery | Smoke Loader recursively searches through directories for files.CitationTalos Smoke Loader July 2018 |
All related ATT&CK context
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.
Imported snapshots across ATT&CK releases(2)
| Release | Bundle imported | Object version | Modified | Status | Raw hash |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19.2 | 1.3 | Current bundle | 5a141bf85f68… | ||
| 19.1 | 1.3 | Older bundle | 5a141bf85f68… |
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.
External references and citations
MITRE external references are preserved separately from Glexia analysis so citations remain traceable to their original source records.
- [1]Malwarebytes SmokeLoader 2016
Hasherezade. (2016, September 12). Smoke Loader – downloader with a smokescreen still alive. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
Open source URL - [2]Microsoft Dofoil 2018
Windows Defender Research. (2018, March 7). Behavior monitoring combined with machine learning spoils a massive Dofoil coin mining campaign. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
Open source URL - [3]Dofoil
(Citation: Malwarebytes SmokeLoader 2016) (Citation: Microsoft Dofoil 2018)
- [4]Smoke Loader
(Citation: Malwarebytes SmokeLoader 2016) (Citation: Microsoft Dofoil 2018)
- [5]mitre-attackS0226Open source URL
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