PUA - Ngrok Execution
Detects the use of Ngrok, a utility used for port forwarding and tunneling, often used by threat actors to make local protected services publicly available. Involved domains are bin.equinox.io for download and *.ngrok.io for connections.
Sigma rule (View on GitHub)
1title: PUA - Ngrok Execution
2id: ee37eb7c-a4e7-4cd5-8fa4-efa27f1c3f31
3status: test
4description: |
5 Detects the use of Ngrok, a utility used for port forwarding and tunneling, often used by threat actors to make local protected services publicly available.
6 Involved domains are bin.equinox.io for download and *.ngrok.io for connections.
7references:
8 - https://ngrok.com/docs
9 - https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2021/05/shining-a-light-on-darkside-ransomware-operations.html
10 - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/42442320/ssh-tunnel-to-ngrok-and-initiate-rdp
11 - https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/58d21840d915aaf4040ceb89522396124c82f325282f805d1085527e1e2ccfa1/detection
12 - https://cybleinc.com/2021/02/15/ngrok-platform-abused-by-hackers-to-deliver-a-new-wave-of-phishing-attacks/
13 - https://twitter.com/xorJosh/status/1598646907802451969
14 - https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/how-to-use-ngrok/
15author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
16date: 2021-05-14
17modified: 2023-02-21
18tags:
19 - attack.command-and-control
20 - attack.t1572
21logsource:
22 category: process_creation
23 product: windows
24detection:
25 selection1:
26 CommandLine|contains:
27 - ' tcp 139'
28 - ' tcp 445'
29 - ' tcp 3389'
30 - ' tcp 5985'
31 - ' tcp 5986'
32 selection2:
33 CommandLine|contains|all:
34 - ' start '
35 - '--all'
36 - '--config'
37 - '.yml'
38 selection3:
39 Image|endswith: 'ngrok.exe'
40 CommandLine|contains:
41 - ' tcp '
42 - ' http '
43 - ' authtoken '
44 selection4:
45 CommandLine|contains:
46 - '.exe authtoken '
47 - '.exe start --all'
48 condition: 1 of selection*
49falsepositives:
50 - Another tool that uses the command line switches of Ngrok
51 - Ngrok http 3978 (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/bot-service/bot-service-debug-channel-ngrok?view=azure-bot-service-4.0)
52level: high
References
Related rules
- Communication To LocaltoNet Tunneling Service Initiated
- Communication To LocaltoNet Tunneling Service Initiated - Linux
- Communication To Ngrok Tunneling Service - Linux
- Communication To Ngrok Tunneling Service Initiated
- PUA - 3Proxy Execution