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MITRE ATT&CK® Malware

S0469: ABK

ABK is a downloader that has been used by BRONZE BUTLER since at least 2019.[1]

EnterpriseS0469MalwareObject v1.0Modified
Glexia's Take · Automated analysis

Security context for executives and security teams

Automation confidenceMedium

S0469: ABK describes [ABK](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0469) is a downloader that has been used by [BRONZE BUTLER](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0060) since at least 2019.(Citation: Trend Micro Tick November 2019)

Executive priority

S0469: ABK 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 S0469: ABK 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 S0469: ABK 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

ABK

ABK is a downloader that has been used by BRONZE BUTLER since at least 2019.[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
EnterpriseT1518.001Security Software DiscoverySub-technique

ABK has the ability to identify the installed anti-virus product on the compromised host.[1]

EnterpriseT1140Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information

ABK has the ability to decrypt AES encrypted payloads.[1]

EnterpriseT1071.001Web ProtocolsSub-technique

ABK has the ability to use HTTP in communications with C2.[1]

EnterpriseT1055Process Injection

ABK has the ability to inject shellcode into svchost.exe.[1]

EnterpriseT1105Ingress Tool Transfer

ABK has the ability to download files from C2.[1]

EnterpriseT1027.003SteganographySub-technique

ABK can extract a malicious Portable Executable (PE) from a photo.[1]

EnterpriseT1059.003Windows Command ShellSub-technique

ABK has the ability to use cmd to run a Portable Executable (PE) on the compromised host.[1]

Associated objects

Groups, software, and campaigns

GroupEnterprise

G0060: BRONZE BUTLER

BRONZE BUTLER is a cyber espionage group with likely Chinese origins that has been active since at least 2008. The group primarily targets Japanese organizations, particularly those in government, biotechnology, electronics manufacturing, and industrial chemistry.[1][2][3]

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
1.0
Created
Modified
Raw hash
eb6e15e05b8b7c7c...
Imported snapshots across ATT&CK releases(2)
ReleaseBundle importedObject versionModifiedStatusRaw hash
19.21.0Current bundleeb6e15e05b8b…
19.11.0Older bundleeb6e15e05b8b…
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]
    Trend Micro Tick November 2019

    Chen, J. et al. (2019, November). Operation ENDTRADE: TICK’s Multi-Stage Backdoors for Attacking Industries and Stealing Classified Data. Retrieved June 9, 2020.

    Open source URL
  2. [2]
    mitre-attackS0469
    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.