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File · Fox Kitten · Unknown · assessed origin Iran · misp-galaxy + mitre-attack · refreshed 2026-10-06

Fox Kitten

  • PIONEER KITTEN
  • PARISITE
  • UNC757
  • Lemon Sandstorm
  • RUBIDIUM
  • Parisite
  • Pioneer Kitten

MITRE G0117 ↗

Fox Kitten — ATT&CK roseFK

attack rose · 41 techniques across 11 tactics

What changed

ledger · newest first
  1. —todaynew CVE5 new CVEs: CVE-2018-13379, CVE-2019-11510, CVE-2019-1579, CVE-2019-19781, CVE-2020-5902

Analyst brief

misp-galaxy + mitre-attack

PIONEER KITTEN is an Iran-based adversary that has been active since at least 2017 and has a suspected nexus to the Iranian government. This adversary appears to be primarily focused on gaining and maintaining access to entities possessing sensitive information of likely intelligence interest to the Iranian government. According to DRAGOS, they also targeted ICS-related entities using known VPN vulnerabilities. They are widely known to use open source penetration testing tools for reconnaissance and to establish encrypted communications.

Kill chain

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise · tap a technique

41 techniques · 11 of 15 tactics

  1. Resource development

    2 techniques

  2. Initial access

    1 technique

  3. Execution

    4 techniques

  4. Persistence

    2 techniques

  5. Privilege escalation

    1 technique

  6. Stealth

    5 techniques

  7. Credential access

    5 techniques

  8. Discovery

    7 techniques

  9. Lateral movement

    5 techniques

  10. Collection

    5 techniques

  11. Command and control

    4 techniques

select a technique

Arsenal

3 malware · 2 tools
Malware
Malware · 3ATT&CK
China ChopperS0020 ↗
Pay2KeyS0556 ↗
SystemBCS9001 ↗
Tools
Tools · 2ATT&CK
ngrokS0508 ↗
PsExecS0029 ↗

as stated by MITRE ATT&CK · “shared by” counts roster dossiers citing the same S-id

CVEs Fox Kitten is cited as exploiting

none on KEV
  1. CVE-2019-197812026-10-17
    1. “In the Fox Kitten report, we reported three main vulnerabilities the group used, and by February 2020, we observed an exploitation of CVE-2019-19781 as well.”

      cited as exploiting · source: clearskysec.com ↗ · 2026-10-17

    2. “Citrix “ADC” servers and Citrix network gateways (CVE-2019-19781)”

      cited as exploiting · named nearby · source: zdnet.com ↗ · 2026-10-17

    3. “The adversary is particularly interested in exploits related to VPNs and network appliances , including CVE-2019-11510, CVE-2019-19781, and most recently CVE-2020-5902; reliance on exploits such as these lends to an opportunistic operational model.”

      cited as exploiting · named nearby · source: crowdstrike.com ↗ · 2026-10-17

    4. “Citrix “ADC” servers and Citrix network gateways (CVE-2019-19781)”

      cited as exploiting · named nearby · source: zdnet.com ↗ · 2026-10-17

  2. CVE-2018-133792026-10-17
    1. “Fortinet VPN servers running FortiOS (CVE-2018-13379)”

      cited as exploiting · named nearby · source: zdnet.com ↗ · 2026-10-17

    2. “Fortinet VPN servers running FortiOS (CVE-2018-13379)”

      cited as exploiting · named nearby · source: zdnet.com ↗ · 2026-10-17

  3. CVE-2019-15792026-10-17
    1. “Palo Alto Networks “Global Protect” VPN servers (CVE-2019-1579)”

      cited as exploiting · named nearby · source: zdnet.com ↗ · 2026-10-17

    2. “Palo Alto Networks “Global Protect” VPN servers (CVE-2019-1579)”

      cited as exploiting · named nearby · source: zdnet.com ↗ · 2026-10-17

  4. CVE-2019-115102026-10-17
    1. “Pulse Secure “Connect” enterprise VPNs (CVE-2019-11510)”

      cited as exploiting · named nearby · source: zdnet.com ↗ · 2026-10-17

    2. “The adversary is particularly interested in exploits related to VPNs and network appliances , including CVE-2019-11510, CVE-2019-19781, and most recently CVE-2020-5902; reliance on exploits such as these lends to an opportunistic operational model.”

      cited as exploiting · named nearby · source: crowdstrike.com ↗ · 2026-10-17

    3. “Pulse Secure “Connect” enterprise VPNs (CVE-2019-11510)”

      cited as exploiting · named nearby · source: zdnet.com ↗ · 2026-10-17

  5. CVE-2020-59022026-10-17
    1. “Fox Kitten also upgraded its attack arsenal to include an exploit for CVE-2020-5902 , a vulnerability disclosed in early July that impacts BIG-IP”

      cited as exploiting · source: zdnet.com ↗ · 2026-10-17

    2. “F5 Networks BIG-IP load balancers (CVE-2020-5902)”

      cited as exploiting · named nearby · source: zdnet.com ↗ · 2026-10-17

    3. “The adversary is particularly interested in exploits related to VPNs and network appliances , including CVE-2019-11510, CVE-2019-19781, and most recently CVE-2020-5902; reliance on exploits such as these lends to an opportunistic operational model.”

      cited as exploiting · named nearby · source: crowdstrike.com ↗ · 2026-10-17

Each line is what a source says, quoted, with the source linked under it. A citation is a source's claim, not our confirmation: read the source before you act on it.

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References

15 sources
  1. 1.youtu.be/pBDu8EGWRC4?t=2492
  2. 2.dragos.com/threat/parisite
  3. 3.dragos.com/wp-content/uploads/The-ICS-Threat-Landscape.pdf
  4. 4.dragos.com/wp-content/uploads/NA-EL-Threat-Perspective-2019.pdf
  5. 5.clearskysec.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/ClearSky-Fox-Kitten-Campaig…
  6. 6.zdnet.com/article/fbi-says-an-iranian-hacking-group-is-attacking…
  7. 7.crowdstrike.com/blog/who-is-pioneer-kitten
  8. 8.zdnet.com/article/iranian-hackers-are-selling-access-to-compromi…
  9. 9.us-cert.cisa.gov/ncas/alerts/aa20-259a
  10. 10.attack.mitre.org/groups/G0117
  11. +5 more in the JSON record

Track Fox Kitten on the wire.

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Paste what you run: the CVEs exploited in the wild against it, and who is cited as exploiting them, with the report.

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