Mispadu
Mispadu is a Latin American banking trojan, also referred to in the content as Mispadu/URSA, and identified by ESET as one of at least 11 distinct concurrently active LATAM banking malware families. It is associated with financially motivated activity including the Brazil-linked Malteiro cluster, which is described as operating and distributing the Mispadu/URSA banking trojan via a malware-as-a-service model, and with TA2725, which has used Brazilian banking malware including Mispadu to target organizations mainly in Brazil, Mexico, and Spain. Reported targeting also includes campaigns against Mexico and Brazil, and to a lesser extent Spain, Italy, and Portugal. Mispadu checks the compromised system language ID and terminates execution if the system is not configured for Spanish or Portuguese, indicating regional targeting. Infection relies on user execution of malicious files; related campaigns and clusters are described using spearphishing emails, malicious ZIP attachments, HTA attachments, VBS-based droppers, AutoIT loaders, and compressed executables. The malware can steal credentials from Google Chrome, obtain credentials from mail clients via NirSoft MailPassView, monitor browser activity for online banking actions, and display full-screen overlay images to block access to banking sites or solicit additional information. It can also capture and replace Bitcoin wallet data in the clipboard on a compromised host. Mispadu sends collected financial data to its command-and-control server and contains a copy of the OpenSSL library to encrypt C2 traffic. Its binary has been injected into memory via WriteProcessMemory, and related reporting notes injection of the Mispadu DLL into a process. Within the broader LATAM banking trojan ecosystem, Mispadu shares traits such as Delphi-based implementation and use of communication protocols based on the Delphi Remote Access PC component.
Hunt this family in your stack
Mallory pivots from this family to the IOCs, detections, and named campaigns that touch your stack, and pages you when something new lands.
Groups observed using it
2 distinct threat actors attributed by public researchers. Open in Mallory to see the full evidence chain and overlapping campaigns.
Mispadu checks and will terminate execution if the compromised system’s language ID is not Spanish or Portuguese.
TA2725 is a threat actor Proofpoint tracked since March 2022 that is known for using Brazilian banking malware (including Mispadu, Astaroth, and historically Grandoreiro) and credential phishing to target organizations mainly in Brazil, Mexico, and Spain.
Techniques & procedures
29 distinct techniques documented for this family, organized by ATT&CK tactic.
Execution
3 techniquesThe content repeatedly describes threat actors and malware using VBScript, VBS, VBA macros, and Visual Basic code for execution, payload delivery, persistence, reconnaissance, and command execution.
The content repeatedly describes victims being lured into opening malicious attachments, enabling macros, launching installers, clicking embedded files/links, or otherwise directly executing malicious content.
Examples include: "Sandworm Team leveraged Microsoft Office attachments which contained malicious macros..."; "Bumblebee has relied upon a user opening an ISO file to enable execution of malicious shortcut files and DLLs"; "Lumma Stealer has gained initial execution through victims opening malicious executable files embedded in zip archives, and MSI files within RAR files."
Persistence
4 techniquesAcross the content, malware repeatedly 'adds Registry Run keys', 'creates Registry entries', 'modifies the Windows Registry', or 'overwrites registry keys' to maintain persistence.
“In Brazil, we have seen it distributing a malicious Google Chrome extension… The extension … is named ‘Securty [sic] System 1.0’…”
Multiple entries describe creating .lnk shortcuts in Startup folders, such as BACKSPACE creating a shortcut to itself in the CSIDL_STARTUP directory and DarkGate creating an LNK object in the victim startup folder. | The content repeatedly describes malware and threat actors establishing persistence by adding values under HKCU/HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run or RunOnce, and by placing executables, scripts, .lnk files, or .bat files in the Windows Startup folder.
The content repeatedly notes creation of '.lnk shortcut' files in the Startup folder, such as BACKSPACE creating a shortcut in CSIDL_STARTUP, DarkGate creating an LNK object in the victim startup folder, and Operation Dream Job placing LNK files into victims' startup folder.
Privilege Escalation
4 techniquesThe content repeatedly describes adversaries and malware injecting code, shellcode, DLLs, or payloads into legitimate processes such as svchost.exe, explorer.exe, iexplore.exe, wuauclt.exe, lsass.exe, and browser processes.
Multiple entries describe creating .lnk shortcuts in Startup folders, such as BACKSPACE creating a shortcut to itself in the CSIDL_STARTUP directory and DarkGate creating an LNK object in the victim startup folder. | The content repeatedly describes malware and threat actors establishing persistence by adding values under HKCU/HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run or RunOnce, and by placing executables, scripts, .lnk files, or .bat files in the Windows Startup folder.
The content repeatedly notes creation of '.lnk shortcut' files in the Startup folder, such as BACKSPACE creating a shortcut in CSIDL_STARTUP, DarkGate creating an LNK object in the victim startup folder, and Operation Dream Job placing LNK files into victims' startup folder.
Stealth
6 techniquesThe content repeatedly describes payloads, strings, configuration files, scripts, URLs, and binaries being obfuscated or encoded using Base64, XOR, RC4, AES, RSA, hex encoding, custom algorithms, and other methods across many malware families and threat actors.
The content repeatedly describes adversaries and malware injecting code, shellcode, DLLs, or payloads into legitimate processes such as svchost.exe, explorer.exe, iexplore.exe, wuauclt.exe, lsass.exe, and browser processes.
The content repeatedly describes malware and threat actors decoding, decrypting, or deobfuscating payloads, strings, configuration data, commands, and C2 traffic prior to execution or use, e.g., 'APT28 macro uses the command certutil -decode to decode contents of a .txt file storing the base64 encoded payload' and 'Action RAT can use Base64 to decode actor-controlled C2 server communications.'
“AppleJeus delivered components using a Windows Installer package (.msi)… executed the 3CXDesktopApp.exe…”, “APT38 has used msiexec.exe to execute malicious files.”, “Rancor has used msiexec to download and execute malicious installer files over HTTP.”, “TA505 has used msiexec to download and execute malicious Windows Installer files.”
Defense Impairment
1 techniqueCredential Access
5 techniques“Mispadu can monitor browser activity for online banking actions and display full-screen overlay images...”
Metamorfo has displayed fake forms on top of banking sites to intercept credentials from victims. Mispadu can monitor browser activity for online banking actions and display full-screen overlay images to block user access to the intended site or present additional data fields.
Agent Tesla has the ability to steal credentials from FTP clients and wireless profiles... APT33 has used a variety of publicly available tools like LaZagne to gather credentials... Mimikatz performs credential dumping to obtain account and password information useful in gaining access to additional systems and enterprise network resources. It contains functionality to acquire information about credentials in many ways, including from the credential vault and DPAPI.
The content repeatedly describes threat actors and malware stealing usernames, passwords, cookies, session tokens, and other saved credentials from web browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Edge, Opera, Safari, and Yandex.
Evilnum can collect email credentials from victims... Malteiro has obtained credentials from mail clients via NirSoft MailPassView... MgBot includes modules for stealing stored credentials from Outlook and Foxmail email client software... PLEAD has the ability to steal saved passwords from Microsoft Outlook.
Discovery
5 techniquesThe content repeatedly describes malware and threat actors obtaining lists of running processes, using utilities such as tasklist, ps, WMI, Get-Process, CreateToolhelp32Snapshot, EnumProcesses, and similar APIs/commands to enumerate active processes on victim systems.
The content repeatedly describes malware and threat actors collecting host details such as OS version, hostname, architecture, CPU, memory, BIOS, domain, language, and other configuration data; e.g., "APT41 uses multiple built-in commands such as systeminfo and net config Workstation to enumerate victim system basic configuration information."
“Mispadu searches for various filesystem paths in order to determine what applications are installed…”
“...leveraged ICONICSTEALER to steal browser information to include browser history...” / “...collected browser bookmark information...” / “...retrieve browser history...” / “...gather browser data such as bookmarks and visited sites...”
Avaddon checks for specific keyboard layouts and OS languages to avoid targeting Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) entities... Bazar can perform a check to ensure that the operating system's keyboard and language settings are not set to Russian... Clop has checked the keyboard language using the GetKeyboardLayout() function... Ryuk has been observed to query the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Nls\Language and the value InstallLanguage.
Collection
4 techniques“Mispadu can monitor browser activity for online banking actions and display full-screen overlay images...”
Metamorfo has displayed fake forms on top of banking sites to intercept credentials from victims. Mispadu can monitor browser activity for online banking actions and display full-screen overlay images to block user access to the intended site or present additional data fields.
“For its backdoor functionality, Mispadu can take screenshots…”
“Mispadu also monitors the content of the clipboard and tries to replace potential bitcoin wallets with its own…”
Command and Control
2 techniquesThe content repeatedly describes malware and threat actors using SSL, TLS, HTTPS, RSA, AES, Blowfish, RC4, ECIES, Diffie-Hellman, OpenSSL, WolfSSL, and mutual TLS to protect command and control traffic.
Multiple malware families and intrusion sets are described as encrypting C2 traffic using SSL/TLS/HTTPS (e.g., "used HTTPS for command and control", "encrypts C2 communications with TLS", "uses SSL for encrypting C2 communications", "TLS-encrypted WebSocket Protocol (WSS) for C2").
Exfiltration
1 techniqueADVSTORESHELL exfiltrates data over the same channel used for C2... Agrius exfiltrated staged data using tools such as Putty and WinSCP, communicating with command and control servers... numerous malware and groups sent victim data, files, credentials, or host information over existing C2 channels.
Impact
1 techniqueMalteiro targets organizations in a wide variety of sectors via the use of Mispadu banking trojan with the goal of financial theft.
IOCs tracked for this family
26 indicators attributed across vendor reports, sandbox runs, and researcher write-ups. Full values are available in Mallory.
IPs, domains, and DNS infrastructure linked to this family.
File hashes (MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256) from samples and reports.
Other indicator types observed in public reporting.
Recent activity
41 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
Banking trojan targeting Latin America (notably Mexico and Brazil) delivered via phishing with HTA attachments (sometimes via password-protected PDFs); uses an AutoIT loader and dynamically generated delivery artifacts to frustrate EDR; includes self-propagation via email and expanded targeting to banks outside LATAM and crypto exchanges.
Banking trojan targeting Latin America (and expanding beyond) delivered via phishing with HTA attachments; uses an AutoIT loader and legitimate files; can self-propagate via email and targets online banking sites and cryptocurrency exchanges.
Brazilian banking malware used by TA2725 in campaigns targeting organizations mainly in Brazil, Mexico, and Spain.
Banking trojan distributed via a malware-as-a-service model; associated with Latin American banking-trojan activity and observed impacting European entities in a recent campaign.
The version that knows your environment.
Match every observed IP, domain, and hash against your live telemetry.
Named campaigns wielding this family, with evidence pinned to each claim.
CVEs this family uses for access and lateral movement.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Every documented technique, ranked by evidence weight.
Reddit, Mastodon, and CTI community discussion around this family.