S0253: RunningRAT
RunningRAT is a remote access tool that appeared in operations surrounding the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics along with Gold Dragon and Brave Prince. [1]
Security context for executives and security teams
S0253: RunningRAT describes [RunningRAT](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0253) is a remote access tool that appeared in operations surrounding the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics along with [Gold Dragon](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0249) and [Brave Prince](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0252). (Citation: McAfee Gold Dragon)
Executive priority
S0253: RunningRAT 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 S0253: RunningRAT 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 S0253: RunningRAT 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.
RunningRAT
RunningRAT is a remote access tool that appeared in operations surrounding the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics along with Gold Dragon and Brave Prince. [1]
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 | T1680 | Local Storage Discovery | RunningRAT gathers logical drives information and volume information.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1685 | Disable or Modify Tools | RunningRAT kills antimalware running process.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1059.003 | Windows Command ShellSub-technique | RunningRAT uses a batch file to kill a security program task and then attempts to remove itself.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1056.001 | KeyloggingSub-technique | RunningRAT captures keystrokes and sends them back to the C2 server.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1547.001 | Registry Run Keys / Startup FolderSub-technique | RunningRAT adds itself to the Registry key |
| Enterprise | T1070.004 | File DeletionSub-technique | RunningRAT contains code to delete files from the victim’s machine.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1082 | System Information Discovery | RunningRAT gathers the OS version and processor information.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1560 | Archive Collected Data | RunningRAT contains code to compress files.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1685.005 | Clear Windows Event LogsSub-technique | RunningRAT contains code to clear event logs.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1115 | Clipboard Data | RunningRAT contains code to open and copy data from the clipboard.[1] |
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 | 1.2 | Current bundle | 776e4f1d9f63… | ||
| 19.1 | 1.2 | Older bundle | 776e4f1d9f63… |
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]McAfee Gold Dragon
Sherstobitoff, R., Saavedra-Morales, J. (2018, February 02). Gold Dragon Widens Olympics Malware Attacks, Gains Permanent Presence on Victims’ Systems. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
Open source URL - [2]RunningRAT
(Citation: McAfee Gold Dragon)
- [3]mitre-attackS0253Open source URL
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