# Velvet Ant

> As of 2026-07-14, Velvet Ant is a China-nexus threat actor tracked by Threadlinqs Intelligence across 3 threats spanning campaign, malware. Also known as G1047. ATT&CK coverage spans 58 techniques across 13 tactics in 3 of 3 tracked threats. Most-observed techniques: T1071.001 (Web Protocols), T1190 (Exploit Public-Facing Application), T1003 (OS Credential Dumping).

- **Nation:** China
- **Tracked threats:** 3
- **Categories:** CAMPAIGN, MALWARE
- **Also known as:** G1047
- **As of:** 2026-07-14

## ATT&CK techniques observed

58 techniques observed across 3 of 3 tracked threats. Tactics: Stealth (formerly Defense Evasion) (11), Command and Control (9), Credential Access (8), Initial Access (7), Persistence (7), Defense Impairment (4).

- [T1071.001](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/technique/T1071.001) Web Protocols — Command and Control — observed in 3 of 3 tracked threats
- [T1190](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/technique/T1190) Exploit Public-Facing Application — Initial Access — observed in 3 of 3 tracked threats
- [T1003](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/technique/T1003) OS Credential Dumping — Credential Access — observed in 2 of 3 tracked threats
- [T1005](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/technique/T1005) Data from Local System — Collection — observed in 2 of 3 tracked threats
- [T1021.004](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/technique/T1021.004) SSH — Lateral Movement — observed in 2 of 3 tracked threats
- [T1036.005](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/technique/T1036.005) Match Legitimate Resource Name or Location — Stealth (formerly Defense Evasion) — observed in 2 of 3 tracked threats
- [T1056.001](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/technique/T1056.001) Keylogging — Credential Access — observed in 2 of 3 tracked threats
- [T1059.004](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/technique/T1059.004) Unix Shell — Execution — observed in 2 of 3 tracked threats
- [T1070.006](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/technique/T1070.006) Timestomp — Stealth (formerly Defense Evasion) — observed in 2 of 3 tracked threats
- [T1090](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/technique/T1090) Proxy — Command and Control — observed in 2 of 3 tracked threats
- [T1098.004](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/technique/T1098.004) SSH Authorized Keys — Persistence — observed in 2 of 3 tracked threats
- [T1105](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/technique/T1105) Ingress Tool Transfer — Command and Control — observed in 2 of 3 tracked threats
- [T1199](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/technique/T1199) Trusted Relationship — Initial Access — observed in 2 of 3 tracked threats
- [T1543.002](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/technique/T1543.002) Systemd Service — Persistence — observed in 2 of 3 tracked threats
- [T1554](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/technique/T1554) Compromise Host Software Binary — Persistence — observed in 2 of 3 tracked threats

## Tracked threats

- [ASEC June 2026 APT Trend Report: Nation-State Actors Pivot to Cloud/OAuth Abuse, MaaS, and Supply-Chain Compromise](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/threat/TL-2026-1287) — MEDIUM
- [Velvet Ant (China-Nexus) 'Operation Highland' — Backdoored pam_unix.so PAM Module and Trojanized OpenSSH for Decade-Long Credential Theft in an Isolated Network](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/threat/TL-2026-0809) — HIGH
- [Velvet Ant (Operation Highland): Backdoored Linux PAM and OpenSSH for ~Decade-Long Espionage Persistence](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/threat/TL-2026-0807) — CRITICAL

## Related CVEs

1 CVE referenced by tracked Velvet Ant activity.

- [CVE-2026-21509](https://intel.threadlinqs.com/cve/CVE-2026-21509)

## Full data

Infrastructure, IOC values and detection queries (Splunk SPL / Microsoft KQL / Sigma) require the Threadlinqs MCP server (Purple tier): https://intel.threadlinqs.com/mcp

Canonical: https://intel.threadlinqs.com/actor/Velvet%20Ant