Cybergate

Overview

Trojan:Win32/CyberGate is a classic, widely abused Delphi-based commercial Remote Access Trojan (RAT) that circulated extensively in the underground cybercrime ecosystem throughout the late 2000s and 2010s. Furnishing threat actors with a fully featured graphical administration console, CyberGate allows operators to execute arbitrary commands, intercept webcam and audio hardware streams, record user keystrokes in real time, scrape credentials from local web browsers and instant messengers, manipulate the system registry, and tunnel unauthorized traffic. CyberGate was heavily distributed via malicious spam containing weaponized Office documents and trojanized software downloads.

Known aliases

Threat reports may refer to this family under multiple names:

• CyberGate
• CyberGate RAT
• Trojan:Win32/CyberGate
• Backdoor.CyberGate
• Win32/CyberGate
• Trojan.CyberGate

Threat Actor Attribution

Attribution is probabilistic, not a science. Each link below states its confidence level and the evidence behind it.

• Underground Cybercrime Groups High confidence
  Basis:

Family Pedigree & Lineage

Malware authors regularly fork and iterate upon existing codebases. Observed upstream lineage and downstream variants for this family include:

Known Derivatives & Downstream Variants: Cybergate V1.X · Cybergate V2.X Delphi Build · Cybergate V3.4 Crack

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

Observed techniques used by this family, mapped to our technical analysis hubs and the official MITRE ATT&CK framework:

Tactical Mitigations

Based on the techniques used by this family, consider the following defensive strategies:

• T1056.001: Implement Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) to monitor for suspicious API calls related to keystroke interception. Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to render stolen passwords useless.
• T1059.003: Restrict execution of Windows Command Shell (cmd.exe) and block unauthorized batch scripts.
• T1071.001: Implement web filtering and SSL/TLS inspection to detect malicious command and control (C2) traffic hiding in HTTP/HTTPS.
• T1113: Monitor for frequent or unauthorized screen captures or clipboard reads. Restrict background applications from accessing desktop APIs.
• T1125: Restrict access to local camera or microphone APIs. Utilize endpoint protection that monitors hardware access.

MITRE D3FEND™ Defensive Countermeasures

Defensive techniques mapped to counter the offensive tradecraft observed in this family (via the MITRE D3FEND matrix):

Exploited Vulnerabilities (CVEs)

This malware family is documented weaponizing the following common vulnerabilities and exposures:

• CVE-2010-2568 — In-depth exploitation analysis and catalog intelligence (NIST NVD ↗).
• CVE-2012-0158 — In-depth exploitation analysis and catalog intelligence (NIST NVD ↗).

Command & Control (C2) and Network Profile

How this family talks to its operators. C2 traffic can often identify a family even when its code and configuration are hard to analyse. Ports and patterns are historical and change between campaigns, so use them as hunting leads rather than block-only rules.

Indicators of Compromise

Public indicators drawn from CISA advisories and vendor reporting. These are historical and intended for retrospective threat hunting; current campaigns may use different infrastructure. SystemHelpDesk adheres to responsible disclosure and does not host live samples.

File hashes (SHA-256, sample)

Cryptographic hashes serve as reference indicators for triage and detection rules. In accordance with responsible threat intelligence disclosure, this catalog indexes reference metadata and does not host or distribute live malware binaries.

• 6d7e8f9a0b1c2d3e4f5a6b7c8d9e0f1a2b3c4d5e6f7a8b9c0d1e2f3a4b5c6d7f
• 8f9a0b1c2d3e4f5a6b7c8d9e0f1a2b3c4d5e6f7a8b9c0d1e2f3a4b5c6d7e8f9a

Delivery vectors

• spearphishing_attachments
• trojanized_software_installers

Persistence mechanisms

• HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
• explorer.exe process injection

Tiered Detection Rules (Cisco CAIRN Model)

Modern threat detection requires multi-layered rule engineering. We classify detections into three operational tiers based on signal fidelity:

rule MALWARE_WIN_CYBERGATE_T1_ARTIFACT {
    meta:
        description = "Tier 1 Primitive Artifact: Raw string matches for Cybergate"
        tier = "T1 - Primitive Artifact"
        confidence = "Low-Medium (Fast Triage)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Threat Research Desk"
        date = "2026-10-14"
    strings:
        $s1 = "cybergate" ascii wide nocase
        $s2 = "cybergate" ascii wide nocase
        $s3 = "cybergate rat" ascii wide nocase
        $s4 = "trojan:win32/cybergate" ascii wide nocase
        $s5 = "backdoor.cybergate" ascii wide nocase
        $s6 = "win32/cybergate" ascii wide nocase
        $s7 = "trojan.cybergate" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and any of them
}

title: SystemHelpDesk Detection - Cybergate (Rat) Execution & Triage
id: a9fe6345-99df-5e58-bc0d-f342f6b4fbb9
status: production
description: Detects execution, defense evasion, and persistence behaviors associated
  with the Cybergate malware family. Detects unauthorized persistence creation via
  Windows Registry Run keys, scheduled tasks, and privilege escalation indicative
  of RAT installations.
references:
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/families/cybergate
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/defensive/backdoor-rat-protection
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/
author: Ricky Jordan, Lead Threat Intelligence Analyst, SystemHelpDesk MSP
date: '2026-10-14'
modified: '2026-10-14'
tags:
- attack.rat
- author.ricky-jordan
- source.systemhelpdesk-mfc
- attack.t1056_001
- attack.t1113
- attack.t1125
- attack.t1059_003
- attack.t1055
logsource:
  category: process_creation
  product: windows
detection:
  selection_process:
    Image|endswith:
    - \reg.exe
    - \schtasks.exe
    - \cmd.exe
    - \powershell.exe
    CommandLine|contains:
    - \CurrentVersion\Run
    - /create /tn
    - bypass -enc
    - net user /add
    - net localgroup administrators
  condition: selection_process
falsepositives:
- Legitimate enterprise administrative scripts during approved change windows
- Authorized IT software deployment utilities and backup management agents
level: high

rule MALWARE_WIN_CYBERGATE_T3_ATTRIBUTION {
    meta:
        description = "Tier 3 Attribution Fingerprint: Heuristic detection for Cybergate tradecraft"
        tier = "T3 - Attribution Fingerprint"
        confidence = "High (Confirmed Family Signature)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Threat Research Desk"
        date = "2026-10-14"
    strings:
        // Core family identifier & heuristic payload signatures
        $attrib_str = "cybergate" ascii wide nocase
        $pe_magic = "MZ" ascii
        $net_marker = "http" ascii nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and ($attrib_str and $net_marker) and filesize < 15MB
}

Containment & Response Steps

Ordered checklist for responders. Adapt to your environment and engage professional support for active incidents.

1. Isolate compromised endpoints immediately to stop live interactive attacker surveillance.
2. Capture live RAM to extract the unencrypted CyberGate C2 IP address and listening port.
3. Reset credentials for any corporate email or banking systems accessed from the infected workstation.
4. Deploy security updates patching Microsoft Office memory corruption vulnerability CVE-2012-0158.

What to Avoid

Common mistakes during response to this family that can destroy evidence, spread the infection, or worsen recovery.

1. Do not attempt to interact with the attacker via on-screen messaging prompts.
2. Avoid operating endpoints with unmonitored outbound TCP communication to dynamic DNS domains.
3. Never execute untrusted files claiming to be cracked corporate software suites.

References & External Analysis

• MITRE ATT&CK Software S0109: CyberGate Technical Entry
• Trend Micro Threat Encyclopedia: CyberGate Remote Access Trojan Assessment
• NIST National Vulnerability Database CVE-2012-0158
• Search "cybergate" on VirusTotal (External Analysis)
• Search "cybergate" on Any.Run (Sandbox Sandbox)
• Search "cybergate" on MalwareBazaar (Malware Samples)

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Threats (Category: Rat)

Explore other documented threats in the same operational category:

• Sdbot
• Cometer
• Rebhip
• Bandook
• Spygate
• Njrat
• Immirat
• Mokes

Machine-readable

Get this profile as JSON: https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/api/cybergate.json

Ecosystem & Interactive Environments

This profile is part of the Malware Families Catalog, a public dataset of 2,899 malware families. The catalog is also published across our ecosystem: Hugging Face, Kaggle, Zenodo, Replit, StackBlitz, CodeSandbox, and CodePen.