Warlock Group

THREAT ACTOR PROFILE

Warlock Group

GOLD SALEM

Warlock Group is a China-linked ransomware-as-a-service operation that emerged in mid-2025, exploiting on-premises Microsoft SharePoint flaws to breach enterprises across North America, Europe and beyond. It deploys the Warlock ransomware, a customized LockBit 3.0 variant, and leans on living-off-the-land tooling, BYOVD EDR killers and the DFIR tool Velociraptor as a precursor to encryption.

Country:

China

Ransomware

First seen

2025

Latest IOC

IP indicators

Hosts

SHA256 hashes

Posts

IP indicators

Hosts

SHA256 hashes

Posts

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Names and aliases

Group profile

Attack lifecycle

Malware and tooling

IOCs

Notable campaigns

NAMES AND ALIASES

Warlock Group, GOLD SALEM and Storm-2603

Warlock Group is tracked under several vendor names. It maps to one entry among the ransomware operations we track, and its Warlock encryptor is a customized variant of LockBit 3.0.

GROUP PROFILE

SharePoint exploitation into Warlock ransomware

Warlock Group is a RaaS operator that favors fast, exploitation-led intrusions. It targets internet-facing SharePoint servers, moves through networks with legitimate and offensive tooling, and encrypts both Windows servers and ESXi virtual machines.

Our record places its origin as China and ties it to ransomware. Secureworks documented GOLD SALEM intrusions using the SharePoint ToolShell chain for initial access, with Warlock, LockBit 3.0 and Babuk observed in its operations.

The group's tradecraft includes DLL sideloading to Cobalt Strike, IIS web shells, Velociraptor and Cloudflare or VS Code tunnels for C2, BYOVD AV and EDR killers, and rclone for data exfiltration.

Facts:

Initial Access

Russian Federation · GRU

Initial Access

Russian Federation · GRU

Initial Access

Russian Federation · GRU

Initial Access

Russian Federation · GRU

Victims reported in our records and posts:

ATTACK LIFECYCLE

ToolShell exploitation into encryption

The stages below come from Warlock Group, GOLD SALEM and Storm-2603 activity in posts we track on our IOC Hunter feed.

Initial Access

Spear-phishing remains the front door. In the 2026 campaign Hunt.io tracked as Operation Neusploit, APT28 sent convincing spear-phishing from already-compromised government accounts and abused a Microsoft Office security bypass (CVE-2026-21509) to kick off a fileless chain. A separate June 2026 cluster delivered the LameHug malware through spear-phishing ZIP archives using double-extension lures.

Initial Access

MALWARE AND TOOLING

Warlock ransomware and living-off-the-land tooling

Initial Access

CVES EXPLOITED

SharePoint ToolShell and supporting flaws

CVE-2026-21509

A Microsoft Office security bypass used to open the fileless chain in Operation Neusploit, and again in the PixyNetLoader intrusion chain. Both campaigns paired the exploit with spear-phishing from compromised accounts rather than mass exploitation.

CVE-2026-21509

RECENT {{name}} IOCS

Latest IOCs

We currently track - IP indicators, - hosts, and - SHA256 hashes for Akira across - intelligence posts, with the most recent indicator dated -. The sample below is limited to indicators from the latest posts. It is not the full set.

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NOTABLE CAMPAIGNS

ToolShell, Velociraptor and SmarterMail

Recent reporting tracks the group's tradecraft and tooling.

PixyNetLoader tracking

A clustering of roughly 90 loader samples across four sub-families from 2024 to 2026, with steganography and cloud C2, also linking to related APT28 tooling such as SlimAgent and Graphite.

PixyNetLoader tracking

A clustering of roughly 90 loader samples across four sub-families from 2024 to 2026, with steganography and cloud C2, also linking to related APT28 tooling such as SlimAgent and Graphite.

PixyNetLoader tracking

A clustering of roughly 90 loader samples across four sub-families from 2024 to 2026, with steganography and cloud C2, also linking to related APT28 tooling such as SlimAgent and Graphite.

PixyNetLoader tracking

A clustering of roughly 90 loader samples across four sub-families from 2024 to 2026, with steganography and cloud C2, also linking to related APT28 tooling such as SlimAgent and Graphite.

Track {{name}} across campaigns, IOCs and infrastructure

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Track {{name}} across campaigns, IOCs and infrastructure

This page shows a sample of recent indicators and recent campaigns. Sign up free to pivot through