TLP White: NSA | APT5: Citrix ADC Threat Hunting Guidance - December 2022

Executive summary

APT5 has demonstrated capabilities against Citrix® Application Delivery Controller™ (ADC™) deployments (“Citrix ADCs”). Targeting Citrix ADCs can facilitate illegitimate access to targeted organizations by bypassing normal authentication controls. As such, NSA, in collaboration with partners, has developed this threat hunting guidance to provide steps organizations can take to look for possible artifacts of this type of activity. Please note that this guidance does not represent all techniques, tactics, or procedures (TTPs) the actors may use when targeting these environments. This activity has been attributed to APT5, also known as UNC2630 and MANGANESE.

Introduction

NSA recommends organizations hosting Citrix ADC environments take the following steps as part of their investigation. Treat these detection mechanisms as independent ways of identifying potentially malicious activity on impacted systems. Artifacts may vary based on the environment and the stage of that activity. As such, NSA recommends investigating any positive result even if other detections return no findings.