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MITRE ATT&CK® Malware

S0574: BendyBear

BendyBear is an x64 shellcode for a stage-zero implant designed to download malware from a C2 server. First discovered in August 2020, BendyBear shares a variety of features with Waterbear, malware previously attributed to the Chinese cyber espionage group BlackTech.[1]

EnterpriseS0574MalwareObject v1.1Modified
Glexia's Take · Automated analysis

Security context for executives and security teams

Automation confidenceMedium

S0574: BendyBear describes [BendyBear](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0574) is an x64 shellcode for a stage-zero implant designed to download malware from a C2 server. First discovered in August 2020, [BendyBear](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0574) shares a variety of features with [Waterbear](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0579), malware previously attributed to the Chinese cyber espionage group [BlackTech](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0098).(Citation: Unit42 BendyBear Feb 2021)

Executive priority

S0574: BendyBear 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 S0574: BendyBear 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 S0574: BendyBear 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

BendyBear

BendyBear is an x64 shellcode for a stage-zero implant designed to download malware from a C2 server. First discovered in August 2020, BendyBear shares a variety of features with Waterbear, malware previously attributed to the Chinese cyber espionage group BlackTech.[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.

11 rows
DomainIDNameRelationship / procedure
EnterpriseT1140Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information

BendyBear has decrypted function blocks using a XOR key during runtime to evade detection.[1]

EnterpriseT1105Ingress Tool Transfer

BendyBear is designed to download an implant from a C2 server.[1]

EnterpriseT1497.003Time Based ChecksSub-technique

BendyBear can check for analysis environments and signs of debugging using the Windows API kernel32!GetTickCountKernel32 call.[1]

EnterpriseT1001.001Junk DataSub-technique

BendyBear has used byte randomization to obscure its behavior.[1]

EnterpriseT1571Non-Standard Port

BendyBear has used a custom RC4 and XOR encrypted protocol over port 443 for C2.[1]

EnterpriseT1027.014Polymorphic CodeSub-technique

BendyBear changes its runtime footprint during code execution to evade signature-based defenses.[1]

EnterpriseT1573.001Symmetric CryptographySub-technique

BendyBear communicates to a C2 server over port 443 using modified RC4 and XOR-encrypted chunks.[1]

EnterpriseT1012Query Registry

BendyBear can query the host's Registry key at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Console\QuickEdit to retrieve data.[1]

EnterpriseT1027.013Encrypted/Encoded FileSub-technique

BendyBear has encrypted payloads using RC4 and XOR.[1]

EnterpriseT1106Native API

BendyBear can load and execute modules and Windows Application Programming (API) calls using standard shellcode API hashing.[1]

EnterpriseT1124System Time Discovery

BendyBear has the ability to determine local time on a compromised host.[1]

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
c9b32cd33f335ef9...
Imported snapshots across ATT&CK releases(2)
ReleaseBundle importedObject versionModifiedStatusRaw hash
19.21.1Current bundlec9b32cd33f33…
19.11.1Older bundlec9b32cd33f33…
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]
    Unit42 BendyBear Feb 2021

    Harbison, M. (2021, February 9). BendyBear: Novel Chinese Shellcode Linked With Cyber Espionage Group BlackTech. Retrieved February 16, 2021.

    Open source URL
  2. [2]
    BendyBear

    (Citation: Unit42 BendyBear Feb 2021)

  3. [3]
    mitre-attackS0574
    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.