S1012: PowerLess
PowerLess is a PowerShell-based modular backdoor that has been used by Magic Hound since at least 2022.[1]
Security context for executives and security teams
S1012: PowerLess describes [PowerLess](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S1012) is a PowerShell-based modular backdoor that has been used by [Magic Hound](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0059) since at least 2022.(Citation: Cybereason PowerLess February 2022)
Executive priority
S1012: PowerLess 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 S1012: PowerLess 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 S1012: PowerLess 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.
PowerLess
PowerLess is a PowerShell-based modular backdoor that has been used by Magic Hound since at least 2022.[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 | T1056.001 | KeyloggingSub-technique | |
| Enterprise | T1217 | Browser Information Discovery | |
| Enterprise | T1105 | Ingress Tool Transfer | |
| Enterprise | T1005 | Data from Local System | |
| Enterprise | T1573 | Encrypted Channel | |
| Enterprise | T1074.001 | Local Data StagingSub-technique | |
| Enterprise | T1560 | Archive Collected Data | |
| Enterprise | T1059.001 | PowerShellSub-technique | |
| Enterprise | T1140 | Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information |
Groups, software, and campaigns
G0059: Magic Hound
Magic Hound is an Iranian-sponsored threat group that conducts long term, resource-intensive cyber espionage operations, likely on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. They have targeted European, U.S., and Middle Eastern government and military personnel, academics, journalists, and organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), via complex social engineering campaigns since at least 2014.[1][2][3][4][5]
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 | 1.1 | Current bundle | 95dda2379bdf… | ||
| 19.1 | 1.1 | Older bundle | 95dda2379bdf… |
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]Cybereason PowerLess February 2022
Cybereason Nocturnus. (2022, February 1). PowerLess Trojan: Iranian APT Phosphorus Adds New PowerShell Backdoor for Espionage. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
Open source URL - [2]mitre-attackS1012Open source URL
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