Threat intelligence / Malware

Bumblebee

[Bumblebee](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S1039) is a custom loader written in C++ that has been used by multiple threat actors, including possible initial access brokers, to download and execute additional payloads since at least March 2022. [Bumblebee](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S1039) has been linked to ransomware operations including [Conti](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0575), Quantum, and Mountlocker and derived its name from the appearance of "bumblebee" in the user-agent.(Citation: Google EXOTIC LILY March 2022)(Citation: Proofpoint Bumblebee April 2022)(Citation: Symantec Bumblebee June 2022)

Malware

TypeMalware

External ID—

First seen2026-08-14

Last seen2026-08-14

Confidence

—

[Bumblebee](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S1039) is a custom loader written in C++ that has been used by multiple threat actors, including possible initial access brokers, to download and execute additional payloads since at least March 2022. [Bumblebee](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S1039) has been linked to ransomware operations including [Conti](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0575), Quantum, and Mountlocker and derived its name from the appearance of "bumblebee" in the user-agent.(Citation: Google EXOTIC LILY March 2022)(Citation: Proofpoint Bumblebee April 2022)(Citation: Symantec Bumblebee June 2022)

Labels

malware

41 recorded

Relationships

uses

to Archive Collected Data

Technique

uses

to Asynchronous Procedure Call

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to Bypass User Account Control

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to Component Object Model

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to Data from Local System

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to Debugger Evasion

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to Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information

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to Dynamic-link Library Injection

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to Exfiltration Over C2 Channel

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to Fallback Channels

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to File Deletion

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to Ingress Tool Transfer

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to Malicious File

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to Malicious Link

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to Match Legitimate Resource Name or Location

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to Obfuscated Files or Information

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uses

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to Process Discovery

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to Process Injection

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to Query Registry

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to Scheduled Task

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to Security Software Discovery

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to Shared Modules

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to Spearphishing Attachment

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to Spearphishing Link

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to Standard Encoding

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to Symmetric Cryptography

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to System Checks

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to System Information Discovery

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to System Owner/User Discovery

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to Time Based Checks

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to Virtualization/Sandbox Evasion

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to Visual Basic

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to Windows Command Shell

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to Windows Management Instrumentation

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from EXOTIC LILY

Group

uses

from TA578

Group

4 external

References

mitre-attack

S1039

Symantec Bumblebee June 2022

https://symantec-enterprise-blogs.security.com/blogs/threat-intelligence/bumblebee-loader-cybercrime

Proofpoint Bumblebee April 2022

https://www.proofpoint.com/us/blog/threat-insight/bumblebee-is-still-transforming

Google EXOTIC LILY March 2022

https://blog.google/threat-analysis-group/exposing-initial-access-broker-ties-conti/