File Download with Headless Browser

 1title: File Download with Headless Browser
 2id: 0e8cfe08-02c9-4815-a2f8-0d157b7ed33e
 3related:
 4    - id: ef9dcfed-690c-4c5d-a9d1-482cd422225c
 5      type: derived
 6status: test
 7description: Detects execution of chromium based browser in headless mode using the "dump-dom" command line to download files
 8references:
 9    - https://twitter.com/mrd0x/status/1478234484881436672?s=12
10    - https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/research/23/e/managed-xdr-investigation-of-ducktail-in-trend-micro-vision-one.html
11author: Sreeman, Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
12date: 2022-01-04
13modified: 2025-10-07
14tags:
15    - attack.command-and-control
16    - attack.t1105
17    - attack.t1564.003
18logsource:
19    category: process_creation
20    product: windows
21detection:
22    selection:
23        Image|endswith:
24            - '\brave.exe'
25            - '\chrome.exe'
26            - '\msedge.exe'
27            - '\opera.exe'
28            - '\vivaldi.exe'
29        CommandLine|contains|all:
30            - '--headless'
31            - 'dump-dom'
32            - 'http'
33    filter_optional_edge_1:
34        Image|startswith:
35            - 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\'
36            - 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\EdgeCore\'
37            - 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\EdgeWebView\'
38            - 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Edge\Application\'
39            - 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft\EdgeCore\'
40            - 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft\EdgeWebView\'
41            - 'C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge'
42        Image|endswith:
43            - '\msedge.exe'
44            - '\msedgewebview2.exe'
45            - '\MicrosoftEdge.exe'
46        CommandLine|contains: '--headless --disable-gpu --disable-extensions --disable-plugins --mute-audio --no-first-run --incognito --aggressive-cache-discard --dump-dom'
47    filter_optional_edge_2:
48        Image|contains:
49            - '\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\'
50            - '\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge'
51        Image|endswith:
52            - '\msedge.exe'
53            - '\MicrosoftEdge.exe'
54        CommandLine|contains: '--headless --disable-gpu --disable-extensions --disable-plugins --mute-audio --no-first-run --incognito --aggressive-cache-discard --dump-dom'
55    condition: selection and not 1 of filter_optional_*
56falsepositives:
57    - Unknown
58level: high