Mirage Kitten Targets Middle East and Africa Region With New Malware

    Date: 07/30/2026

    Severity: High

    Summary

    Researchers identified new malware used by the Iran-linked Mirage Kitten APT, including the NightLedger backdoor and ArcBridge/BridgeHead tunneling tools, to support long-term cyber-espionage operations. The malware provides remote access, command execution, file management, and covert communication to maintain persistence and evade detection. The campaign primarily targeted organizations in the Middle East and Africa across the telecommunications, aerospace, aviation, and financial sectors. 

    Indicators of Compromise (IOC) List   

    Domain/Urls

    smartconnect.azurewebsites.net

    businessmixture.com

    global-reds.com

    maadinglobal.com

    Business-deegital.com

    business-deegital.azurewebsites.net

    businessdeegital.azurewebsites.net

    neexportfolio.azurewebsites.net

    neexportfolio.com

    neexportfolio.eastus.cloudapp.azure.com

    aecert.org

    realhealthshop.com

    tjconsultingservices.com

    thehealth-life.com

    buisness-centeral-transportation.com

    healthcarezoom-centeral.azurewebsites.net

    healthcarezoomcenteral.azurewebsites.net

    healthcarezoomcenteral.org

    toadreport.azurewebsites.net

    business-startup.azurewebsites.net

    businessstartup.azurewebsites.net

    IP ADdress

    172.86.98.113

    Hash

    A239E655709A2518DD0B7BDBED163679

    5FA15EF96808EA82F0A6176F0BB4B386

    42F847597109DA2A220391BB09D00676

    AFB1C1583606599C7272CFB33CC6F498

    6038D42AF0AFFD1FB263F470C0956F6B

    AE628EFA305387B633DCE82F9364875B

    F7D36CC5904A53252D2BB3D21615134F

    C90F0EFADBF322E5EB1C4103A38C30E6

    D09B14A2FE01C7363ECC56F5D046162C

    Gurucul Threat Detection and Incident Response (TDIR) Queries for Detection

    Detection Query 1 :

    domainname like "healthcarezoom-centeral.azurewebsites.net" or url like "healthcarezoom-centeral.azurewebsites.net" or siteurl like "healthcarezoom-centeral.azurewebsites.net" or domainname like "healthcarezoomcenteral.org" or url like "healthcarezoomcenteral.org" or siteurl like "healthcarezoomcenteral.org" or domainname like "buisness-centeral-transportation.com" or url like "buisness-centeral-transportation.com" or siteurl like "buisness-centeral-transportation.com" or domainname like "healthcarezoomcenteral.azurewebsites.net" or url like "healthcarezoomcenteral.azurewebsites.net" or siteurl like "healthcarezoomcenteral.azurewebsites.net" or domainname like "aecert.org" or url like "aecert.org" or siteurl like "aecert.org" or domainname like "neexportfolio.eastus.cloudapp.azure.com" or url like "neexportfolio.eastus.cloudapp.azure.com" or siteurl like "neexportfolio.eastus.cloudapp.azure.com" or domainname like "global-reds.com" or url like "global-reds.com" or siteurl like "global-reds.com" or domainname like "neexportfolio.com" or url like "neexportfolio.com" or siteurl like "neexportfolio.com" or domainname like "businessdeegital.azurewebsites.net" or url like "businessdeegital.azurewebsites.net" or siteurl like "businessdeegital.azurewebsites.net" or domainname like "realhealthshop.com" or url like "realhealthshop.com" or siteurl like "realhealthshop.com" or domainname like "Business-deegital.com" or url like "Business-deegital.com" or siteurl like "Business-deegital.com" or domainname like "neexportfolio.azurewebsites.net" or url like "neexportfolio.azurewebsites.net" or siteurl like "neexportfolio.azurewebsites.net" or domainname like "businessstartup.azurewebsites.net" or url like "businessstartup.azurewebsites.net" or siteurl like "businessstartup.azurewebsites.net" or domainname like "smartconnect.azurewebsites.net" or url like "smartconnect.azurewebsites.net" or siteurl like "smartconnect.azurewebsites.net" or domainname like "business-deegital.azurewebsites.net" or url like "business-deegital.azurewebsites.net" or siteurl like "business-deegital.azurewebsites.net" or domainname like "businessmixture.com" or url like "businessmixture.com" or siteurl like "businessmixture.com" or domainname like "thehealth-life.com" or url like "thehealth-life.com" or siteurl like "thehealth-life.com" or domainname like "tjconsultingservices.com" or url like "tjconsultingservices.com" or siteurl like "tjconsultingservices.com" or domainname like "toadreport.azurewebsites.net" or url like "toadreport.azurewebsites.net" or siteurl like "toadreport.azurewebsites.net" or domainname like "business-startup.azurewebsites.net" or url like "business-startup.azurewebsites.net" or siteurl like "business-startup.azurewebsites.net" or domainname like "maadinglobal.com" or url like "maadinglobal.com" or siteurl like "maadinglobal.com"

    Detection Query 2 :

    dstipaddress IN ("172.86.98.113") or srcipaddress IN ("172.86.98.113")

    Detection Query 3 :

    md5hash IN ("42F847597109DA2A220391BB09D00676","5FA15EF96808EA82F0A6176F0BB4B386","6038D42AF0AFFD1FB263F470C0956F6B","D09B14A2FE01C7363ECC56F5D046162C","F7D36CC5904A53252D2BB3D21615134F","A239E655709A2518DD0B7BDBED163679","C90F0EFADBF322E5EB1C4103A38C30E6","AFB1C1583606599C7272CFB33CC6F498","AE628EFA305387B633DCE82F9364875B")

    Reference: 

    https://securelist.com/mirage-kitten-new-tools/120811/     


    Tags

    MalwareThreat ActorIranAPTBackdoorCyber EspionageThe Middle EastRATAfricaCommunicationsTransportation SystemsFinancial Services

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