Visual Studio Code Tunnel Shell Execution

calendar Sep 2, 2024 · attack.command-and-control attack.t1071.001  ·
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Detects the execution of a shell (powershell, bash, wsl...) via Visual Studio Code tunnel. Attackers can abuse this functionality to establish a C2 channel and execute arbitrary commands on the system.

Sigma rule (View on GitHub)

 1title: Visual Studio Code Tunnel Shell Execution
 2id: f4a623c2-4ef5-4c33-b811-0642f702c9f1
 3status: test
 4description: Detects the execution of a shell (powershell, bash, wsl...) via Visual Studio Code tunnel. Attackers can abuse this functionality to establish a C2 channel and execute arbitrary commands on the system.
 5references:
 6    - https://ipfyx.fr/post/visual-studio-code-tunnel/
 7    - https://badoption.eu/blog/2023/01/31/code_c2.html
 8    - https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/tunnels
 9author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
10date: 2023-10-25
11tags:
12    - attack.command-and-control
13    - attack.t1071.001
14logsource:
15    category: process_creation
16    product: windows
17detection:
18    selection_parent:
19        ParentImage|contains: '\servers\Stable-'
20        ParentImage|endswith: '\server\node.exe'
21        ParentCommandLine|contains: '.vscode-server' # Technically one can host its own local server instead of using the VsCode one. And that would probably change the name (requires further research)
22    # Note: Child processes (ie: shells) can be whatever technically (with some efforts)
23    selection_child_1:
24        Image|endswith:
25            - '\powershell.exe'
26            - '\pwsh.exe'
27        CommandLine|contains: '\terminal\browser\media\shellIntegration.ps1'
28    selection_child_2:
29        Image|endswith:
30            - '\wsl.exe'
31            - '\bash.exe'
32    condition: selection_parent and 1 of selection_child_*
33falsepositives:
34    - Legitimate use of Visual Studio Code tunnel and running code from there
35level: medium

References

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  • Let’s Go (VS) Code - Red Team style

    Let’s Go (VS) Code - Red Team style or the Microsoft signed and hosted Reverse Shell TL;DR; MS is offering a signed binary (code.exe), which will establish a Command&Control channel via an official Microsoft domain https://vscode.dev. The C2 communication itself is going to https://global.rel.tunnels.api.visualstudio.com over WebSockets. An attacker only needs an Github account.


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  • Remote Tunnels

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