{
	"id": "c3bf3f56-9c86-4d4e-babb-5b863b7d73e6",
	"created_at": "2026-04-06T00:08:16.207193Z",
	"updated_at": "2026-04-10T03:36:37.109196Z",
	"deleted_at": null,
	"sha1_hash": "808c465d1faae1c497b510d9f3cc8dacc61c8ffb",
	"title": "Microsoft: Iranian hacking groups join Papercut attack spree",
	"llm_title": "",
	"authors": "",
	"file_creation_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
	"file_modification_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
	"file_size": 2471629,
	"plain_text": "Microsoft: Iranian hacking groups join Papercut attack spree\r\nBy Sergiu Gatlan\r\nPublished: 2023-05-08 · Archived: 2026-04-05 15:03:11 UTC\r\nMicrosoft says Iranian state-backed hackers have joined the ongoing assault targeting vulnerable PaperCut MF/NG print\r\nmanagement servers.\r\nThese groups are tracked as Mango Sandstorm (aka Mercury or Muddywater and linked to Iran's Ministry of Intelligence\r\nand Security) and Mint Sandstorm (also known as Phosphorus or APT35 and tied to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard\r\nCorps).\r\n\"The PaperCut exploitation activity by Mint Sandstorm appears opportunistic, affecting organizations across sectors and\r\ngeographies,\" the Microsoft Threat Intelligence team said.\r\nhttps://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/microsoft-iranian-hacking-groups-join-papercut-attack-spree/\r\nPage 1 of 4\n\n0:00\r\nhttps://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/microsoft-iranian-hacking-groups-join-papercut-attack-spree/\r\nPage 2 of 4\n\nVisit Advertiser websiteGO TO PAGE\r\n\"Observed CVE-2023-27350 exploitation activity by Mango Sandstorm remains low, with operators using tools from prior\r\nintrusions to connect to their C2 infrastructure.\"\r\nThey follow attacks linked to Lace Tempest by Microsoft, a hacking group whose malicious activity overlaps with the\r\nFIN11 and TA505 cybercrime gangs connected to the Clop ransomware operation.\r\nRedmond also found that some intrusions led to LockBit ransomware attacks but couldn't provide more information when\r\nasked to share additional details.\r\nCISA added this bug to its catalog of actively exploited vulnerabilities on April 21, ordering federal agencies to secure their\r\nPaperCut servers within three weeks by May 12, 2023.\r\nThe PaperCut vulnerability exploited in these attacks and tracked as CVE-2023-27350 is a pre-authentication critical remote\r\ncode execution bug in PaperCut MF or NG versions 8.0 or later.\r\nLarge companies, state organizations, and education institutes worldwide are using this enterprise printing management\r\nsoftware, with PaperCut's developer claiming more than 100 million users from over 70,000 companies. \r\nSecurity researchers released PoC exploits for the RCE bug soon after the initial disclosure in March 2023, with Microsoft\r\nwarning several days later that the vulnerability was being used for initial access to corporate networks by the Clop and\r\nLockBit ransomware gangs.\r\nWhile multiple cybersecurity companies have released indicators of compromise and detection rules for PaperCut exploits,\r\nVulnCheck shared details on a new attack method last week that can bypass existing detections, allowing attackers to keep\r\nexploiting CVE-2023-27350 unobstructed.\r\n\"Detections that focus on one particular code execution method, or that focus on a small subset of techniques used by one\r\nthreat actor are doomed to be useless in the next round of attacks,\" VulnCheck vulnerability researcher Jacob Baines said.\r\n\"Attackers learn from defenders' public detections, so it's the defenders' responsibility to produce robust detections that\r\naren't easily bypassed.\"\r\nDefenders are encouraged to immediately upgrade theirPaperCut MF and PaperCut NG software to versions 20.1.7, 21.2.11,\r\nand 22.0.9 and later, which address this RCE bug and remove the attack vector.\r\nhttps://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/microsoft-iranian-hacking-groups-join-papercut-attack-spree/\r\nPage 3 of 4\n\nAutomated Pentesting Covers Only 1 of 6 Surfaces.\r\nAutomated pentesting proves the path exists. BAS proves whether your controls stop it. Most teams run one without the\r\nother.\r\nThis whitepaper maps six validation surfaces, shows where coverage ends, and provides practitioners with three diagnostic\r\nquestions for any tool evaluation.\r\nSource: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/microsoft-iranian-hacking-groups-join-papercut-attack-spree/\r\nhttps://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/microsoft-iranian-hacking-groups-join-papercut-attack-spree/\r\nPage 4 of 4",
	"extraction_quality": 1,
	"language": "EN",
	"sources": [
		"ETDA"
	],
	"references": [
		"https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/microsoft-iranian-hacking-groups-join-papercut-attack-spree/"
	],
	"report_names": [
		"microsoft-iranian-hacking-groups-join-papercut-attack-spree"
	],
	"threat_actors": [
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			"id": "d8af157e-741b-4933-bb4a-b78490951d97",
			"created_at": "2023-01-06T13:46:38.748929Z",
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			"deleted_at": null,
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				"Operation Tovar",
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				"TA505",
				"TEMP.Warlock"
			],
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			],
			"source_id": "ETDA",
			"reports": null
		}
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