Threat Group Cards: A Threat Actor Encyclopedia Archived: 2026-04-02 10:53:58 UTC Home > List all groups > List all tools > List all groups using tool COATHANGER Tool: COATHANGER Names COATHANGER Category Malware Type Backdoor Description (MIVD) The COATHANGER malware provides access to compromised FortiGate devices after installation. The implant connects back periodically to a Command & Control server over SSL, providing a BusyBox reverse shell. Notably, the COATHANGER implant is persistent, recovering after every reboot by injecting a backup of itself in the process responsible for rebooting the system. Moreover, the infection survives firmware upgrades. Even fully patched FortiGate devices may therefore be infected, if they were compromised before the latest patch was applied. Furthermore, COATHANGER is stealthy: it is hard to detect using default FortiGate CLI commands, because it hides itself by hooking most system calls that could reveal its presence, such as stat and opendir. It does so by replacing them for any process that is forced to load preload.so. Note that COATHANGER is distinct from BOLDMOVE, another RAT targeting FortiGate devices. Information MITRE ATT&CK Last change to this tool card: 19 June 2024 Download this tool card in JSON format All groups using tool COATHANGER Changed Name Country Observed https://apt.etda.or.th/cgi-bin/listgroups.cgi?u=afab8ba9-b296-4bcd-a5c4-986b185b768b Page 1 of 2 APT groups   [Unnamed groups: China] 2018-Mar 2025 1 group listed (1 APT, 0 other, 0 unknown) Source: https://apt.etda.or.th/cgi-bin/listgroups.cgi?u=afab8ba9-b296-4bcd-a5c4-986b185b768b https://apt.etda.or.th/cgi-bin/listgroups.cgi?u=afab8ba9-b296-4bcd-a5c4-986b185b768b Page 2 of 2