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MITRE ATT&CK® Malware

S0513: LiteDuke

LiteDuke is a third stage backdoor that was used by APT29, primarily in 2014-2015. LiteDuke used the same dropper as PolyglotDuke, and was found on machines also compromised by MiniDuke.[1]

EnterpriseS0513MalwareObject v1.0Modified
Glexia's Take · Automated analysis

Security context for executives and security teams

Automation confidenceMedium

S0513: LiteDuke describes [LiteDuke](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0513) is a third stage backdoor that was used by [APT29](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0016), primarily in 2014-2015. [LiteDuke](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0513) used the same dropper as [PolyglotDuke](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0518), and was found on machines also compromised by [MiniDuke](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0051).(Citation: ESET Dukes October 2019)

Executive priority

S0513: LiteDuke 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 S0513: LiteDuke 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 S0513: LiteDuke 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

LiteDuke

LiteDuke is a third stage backdoor that was used by APT29, primarily in 2014-2015. LiteDuke used the same dropper as PolyglotDuke, and was found on machines also compromised by MiniDuke.[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.

13 rows
DomainIDNameRelationship / procedure
EnterpriseT1140Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information

LiteDuke has the ability to decrypt and decode multiple layers of obfuscation.[1]

EnterpriseT1082System Information Discovery

LiteDuke can enumerate the CPUID and BIOS version on a compromised system.[1]

EnterpriseT1027.003SteganographySub-technique

LiteDuke has used image files to hide its loader component.[1]

EnterpriseT1016System Network Configuration Discovery

LiteDuke has the ability to discover the proxy configuration of Firefox and/or Opera.[1]

EnterpriseT1071.001Web ProtocolsSub-technique

LiteDuke can use HTTP GET requests in C2 communications.[1]

EnterpriseT1012Query Registry

LiteDuke can query the Registry to check for the presence of HKCU\Software\KasperskyLab.[1]

EnterpriseT1547.001Registry Run Keys / Startup FolderSub-technique

LiteDuke can create persistence by adding a shortcut in the CurrentVersion\Run Registry key.[1]

EnterpriseT1070.004File DeletionSub-technique

LiteDuke can securely delete files by first writing random data to the file.[1]

EnterpriseT1027.002Software PackingSub-technique

LiteDuke has been packed with multiple layers of encryption.[1]

EnterpriseT1105Ingress Tool Transfer

LiteDuke has the ability to download files.[1]

EnterpriseT1497.003Time Based ChecksSub-technique

LiteDuke can wait 30 seconds before executing additional code if security software is detected.[1]

EnterpriseT1518.001Security Software DiscoverySub-technique

LiteDuke has the ability to check for the presence of Kaspersky security software.[1]

EnterpriseT1033System Owner/User Discovery

LiteDuke can enumerate the account name on a targeted system.[1]

Associated objects

Groups, software, and campaigns

GroupEnterprise

G0016: APT29

APT29 is threat group that has been attributed to Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).[1][2] They have operated since at least 2008, often targeting government networks in Europe and NATO member countries, research institutes, and think tanks. APT29 reportedly compromised the Democratic National Committee starting in the summer of 2015.[3][4][5][6]

In April 2021, the US and UK governments attributed the SolarWinds Compromise to the SVR; public statements included citations to APT29, Cozy Bear, and The Dukes.[7][8] Industry reporting also referred to the actors involved in this campaign as UNC2452, NOBELIUM, StellarParticle, Dark Halo, and SolarStorm.[9][10][11][12][13][14]

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
fe2ddd61133c1e91...
Imported snapshots across ATT&CK releases(3)
ReleaseBundle importedObject versionModifiedStatusRaw hash
20.01.0Older bundlefe2ddd61133c…
19.21.0Current bundlefe2ddd61133c…
19.11.0Older bundlefe2ddd61133c…
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]
    ESET Dukes October 2019

    Faou, M., Tartare, M., Dupuy, T. (2019, October). OPERATION GHOST. Retrieved September 23, 2020.

    Open source URL
  2. [2]
    mitre-attackS0513
    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.