Embargo is a ransomware variant written in Rust that has been active since at least May 2024.[1][2]Embargo ransomware operations are associated with “double extortion” ransomware activity, where data is exfiltrated from victim environments prior to encryption, with threats to publish files if a ransom is not paid.[1][2]Embargo ransomware has been known to be delivered through a loader known as MDeployer which also leverages a malware component known as MS4Killer that facilitates termination of processes operating on the victim hosts.[2]Embargo is also reportedly a Ransomware as a Service (RaaS).[2]
22
TechniquesTop 16%
7
Tactics68th pct
1
Threat groupunranked
0
CampaignsNone recorded
Enterprise ATT&CK only. Any Mobile or ICS rows on the same ATT&CK page are not carried.
Embargo has utilized MS4Killer to detect running processes on the victim device.10Embargo has also captured a snapshot of active running processes using the Windows API CreateToolHelp32Snapshot().11
Embargo has leveraged MS4Killer to deliver a vulnerable driver to the victim device, sometimes referred to as Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD).13Embargo has utilized the vulnerable driver probmon.sys version 3.0.0.4 which had a revoked certificated from “ITM System Co.,LTD.”13
Privilege Escalation88 detection rules
Standing S1247
Reach is how much of ATT&CK this malware touches. Coverage is how well defended each thing it does is, as a median per technique rather than a total — a total would just restate the reach. Each figure is ranked against all 825 ATT&CK software entries only where that population actually spreads. Where most of the population shares one value, a percentile would rank the tie instead of the entity, so the raw value is shown and no rank is claimed.
Reach
Techniques22Top 16%
84th percentile · 84% of 825 ATT&CK software entries have this many Enterprise techniques or fewer.
Tactics768th pct
68th percentile · 68% of 825 ATT&CK software entries have this many tactics spanned or fewer.
Threat group161% tie · 22 values
61% of the population shares a single value across only 22 distinct values, so a percentile here would rank the tie, not the entity.
Campaigns085% tie · 8 values
85% of the population shares a single value across only 8 distinct values, so a percentile here would rank the tie, not the entity.
Coverage
Rules / technique28med68th pct
68th percentile · 68% of 825 ATT&CK software entries have this many detection rules per technique or fewer.
Tests / technique8.5med74th pct
74th percentile · 74% of 825 ATT&CK software entries have this many atomic tests per technique or fewer.
Data comps / technique4.5med54% tie · 11 values
54% of the population shares a single value across only 11 distinct values, so a percentile here would rank the tie, not the entity.
Mitigations / technique1.5med65th pct
65th percentile · 65% of 825 ATT&CK software entries have this many mitigations per technique or fewer.
5 of 8 axes carry an honest rank on this page. Coverage medians are taken across this malware’s 22 Enterprise techniques.
Range
Technique Campaign use over its cumulative rule count.
Detects when AppLocker "Audit only" enforcement mode reports that an Application, DLL, Script, MSI, or Packaged-App would have been blocked if AppLocker "Enforce rules" enforcement mode was enabled.
The following analytic detects modifications to the Windows error recovery boot configurations using bcdedit.exe with flags such as "recoveryenabled" and "no". (...)
The following analytic detects the use of CertUtil.exe with the 'decode' argument, which may indicate an attempt to decode a previously encoded file, potentially containing malicious payloads. (...)