Threadlinqs IntelligenceStart free

ATT&CK techniqueStealth (formerly Defense Evasion)

T1218.005 Mshta

Stealth (formerly Defense Evasion)EnterpriseSub-technique

As of 2026-10-05, T1218.005 (Mshta) appears in 37 tracked threats, first reported 2026-01-01 and most recently 2026-10-02, with linked actors including APT43, Gamaredon, Kimsuky; it most often appears alongside T1059.001 (PowerShell).

Tracked threats
372 critical, 34 high, 1 medium
First seen
2026-01-01
Last seen
2026-10-02
Threat actors
20In the threats using it
Detection rules
101Blue tier and above

Data as of:

Activity timeline

T1218.005 first appeared in tracked threats on and was most recently reported on . The busiest month was 2026-07 with 12 reports, and 37 of the 37 threats were reported in the twelve months to 2026-10.

How adversaries use it

T1218.005 Mshta is catalogued by MITRE ATT&CK under the Stealth (formerly Defense Evasion) tactic in the Enterprise matrix, as a sub-technique of T1218 System Binary Proxy Execution. Threadlinqs maps 37 of 2623 tracked threats (1.4%) to it; by severity that is 2 critical, 34 high, 1 medium.

Threats that use T1218.005 most often also use T1059.001 PowerShell (30 threats), T1071.001 Web Protocols (29 threats), T1140 Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information (28 threats), T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information (26 threats), T1082 System Information Discovery (26 threats). These are the techniques an intrusion set tends to chain with it, so they are the natural next places to look when it is observed.

20 tracked threat actors appear in the threats that use T1218.005; the most frequent are APT43 (3), Gamaredon (3), Kimsuky (3), APT-C-60 (2), MuddyWater (2).

Mitigations

MITRE ATT&CK lists 2 mitigations for T1218.005.

Data sources

Telemetry that can reveal T1218.005, per MITRE ATT&CK.

  • Command — Command Execution
  • File — File Creation
  • Network Traffic — Network Connection Creation
  • Process — Process Creation

Threat actors using it

Tracked threats

The 30 most recent of 37 tracked threats that use T1218.005.

Detection coverage

Threadlinqs maintains 101 detection rules mapped to T1218.005 (SPL 41, KQL 32, Sigma 28). Rule content is available to Blue tier accounts and above; this page shows counts only.

101 detection rules (SPL/KQL/Sigma) · Blue and above. Compare plans

Parent technique

T1218 System Binary Proxy Execution — 170 tracked threats at the technique level.