Mirai Sample Detected: boatnet.mpsl

This article was originally published on ThreatChain — decentralized threat intelligence.

Your home router might be attacking websites right now and you'd never know. Millions are already compromised.

A new Mirai sample was identified by threat intelligence feeds on 2026-05-29 09:57:43. This post breaks down what we know about the specific sample, how to recognize related activity on your network, and what to do if you or your organization might be affected.

The Sample at a Glance

What Mirai Does

Mirai is a family of IoT botnets that spread by brute-forcing default credentials on routers, cameras, and other embedded devices. Infected devices are typically used to launch DDoS attacks or as proxies for other criminal activity.

Seeing this family on your network — or finding a file matching this hash — is a red flag. Mirai samples are typically distributed through phishing emails, malvertising, fake software downloads, or cracked installers. Once executed, the malware usually establishes persistence on the host, harvests credentials and sensitive data, and establishes an outbound channel to command-and-control infrastructure operated by the attackers.

Detection Landscape

Multiple security vendors have weighed in on this specific sample:

• CERT-PL_MWDB: mirai
• YOROI_YOMI: Legit File
• vxCube: malware2
• Intezer: not_supported
• Triage: mirai
• Spamhaus_HBL: [{'detection': 'suspicious', 'link': 'https://www.spamhaus.org/hbl/'}]
• FileScan-IO: UNKNOWN

Indicators of Compromise

If you're hunting for this sample or related Mirai activity, here are the concrete indicators to feed into your SIEM, EDR, or host-based searches:

• SHA-256 hash: d157b6505220f50d286020848830814a51b32cd58a82cd77ee51b2ebfb54e2ab
• Filename pattern: boatnet.mpsl
• File type: elf
• Behavioral tags: elf, Mirai, upx-dec
• YARA rules matched: botnet_Yakuza, linux_generic_ipv6_catcher, Linux_Trojan_Gafgyt_28a2fe0c, Linux_Trojan_Gafgyt_ea92cca8, Mirai_Botnet_Malware

How to Check If You're Affected

1. Search your endpoint logs for the SHA-256 d157b6505220f50d286020848830814a51b32cd58a82cd77ee51b2ebfb54e2ab. Most EDR platforms support historical hash searches across all monitored hosts.
2. Check for the filename boatnet.mpsl in recently downloaded files, email attachments, and installer bundles.
3. Look for outbound connections to uncommon TLDs or newly registered domains — Mirai typically beacons to command-and-control infrastructure shortly after execution.
4. Review scheduled tasks and registry run keys — this family commonly establishes persistence through standard Windows autorun locations.
5. Run an updated AV or EDR scan across potentially affected hosts. Because this sample is already in public threat intel feeds, current signatures should flag it.

What to Do If You Find It

If you find evidence of this sample or related activity on your systems:

1. Isolate the affected host from the network immediately to prevent lateral movement.
2. Capture memory and disk images before rebooting. Reboots destroy critical forensic evidence, especially in RAM.
3. Rotate credentials that may have been exposed — browser-saved passwords, VPN credentials, SSH keys, and any service accounts used on the affected host. Mirai frequently targets these.
4. Check for secondary payloads. Mirai is often a stepping stone for additional malware including ransomware or banking trojans.
5. Report the incident to your security team. For larger organizations, consider notifying your regional CERT.

Free Threat Lookups

You can verify any suspicious hash against the ThreatChain database for free — no signup, no API key required. Paste any MD5, SHA-1, or SHA-256 at threatchain.io/lookup and get results across multiple intel sources in seconds.

For cross-referencing this specific sample, you can also look it up directly on MalwareBazaar where the original submission and vendor analysis is recorded.