Identifies built-in Windows script interpreters (cscript.exe or wscript.exe) being used to download an executable file from a remote destination.

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Cobalt Strike is a threat emulation platform commonly modified and used by adversaries to conduct network attack and exploitation campaigns. This rule detects a network activity algorithm leveraged by Cobalt Strike implant beacons for command and control.

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Halfbaked is a malware family used to establish persistence in a contested network. This rule detects a network activity algorithm leveraged by Halfbaked implant beacons for command and control.

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Identifies the creation of a new port forwarding rule. An adversary may abuse this technique to bypass network segmentation restrictions.

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This rule detects a known command and control pattern in network events. The FIN7 threat group is known to use this command and control technique, while maintaining persistence in their target's network.

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Detects a Roshal Archive (RAR) file or PowerShell script downloaded from the internet by an internal host. Gaining initial access to a system and then downloading encoded or encrypted tools to move laterally is a common practice for adversaries as a way to protect their more valuable tools and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). This may be atypical behavior for a managed network and can be indicative of malware, exfiltration, or command and control.

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This rule detects outbound connection attempts from unusual Linux process locations or common living-off-the-land utilities to autonomous systems associated with bulletproof or high-abuse hosting. Adversaries often stage payloads in world-writable or web directories and beacon to infrastructure that ignores abuse reports, including providers such as Storm Industries, Ecatel/IP Volume, Aeza, and Proton66.

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Identifies suspicious commands written to the Windows Run dialog history (RunMRU) by explorer.exe. Adversaries socially engineer users to copy and paste malicious commands for execution, a pattern commonly seen in Fake CAPTCHA (ClickFix) campaigns. Investigate the process tree for a child of explorer.exe that matches the stored command.

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Identifies suspicious commands written to the Windows Explorer address bar history (TypedPaths). Adversaries socially engineer users to paste a command into the address bar of File Explorer or of a browser's file upload dialog, a pattern known as FileFix; the writing process is therefore explorer.exe or the browser hosting the dialog. Stored commands that invoke PowerShell, cmd, mshta, msiexec, rundll32, or another living-off-the-land binary are unusual for this key, which normally contains file and folder paths. Investigate the process tree for a child of the writing process that matches the stored command.

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Detects when curl is executed via a shell profile upon login. This indicates a curl command was added to the user's shell profile (like .zshrc or .bashrc) and is executed automatically at login, which could be used for persistence and payload delivery.

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Detects successful Anthropic audit activity where the user agent matches scripting HTTP clients, offensive scanners, or automation libraries (for example curl, python-requests, Go-http-client, axios, nuclei). Browser and first-party Claude clients normally present recognizable browser or product user agents; raw HTTP library agents on successful control-plane or product activity often indicate scripted access, stolen-session reuse, or unauthorized automation. Known benign automation patterns (axios or Go HTTP clients on file upload/delete, trusted device enrollment, and environment creation) are excluded.

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Identifies DNS queries to known Large Language Model domains by unsigned binaries or common Windows scripting utilities. Malwares may leverage the capabilities of LLM to perform actions in the affected system in a dynamic way.

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Detects suspicious child process execution from the OpenClaw, Moltbot, or Clawdbot AI coding agents running via Node.js. These tools can execute arbitrary shell commands through skills or prompt injection attacks. Malicious skills from public registries like ClawHub have been observed executing obfuscated download-and-execute commands targeting cryptocurrency wallets and credentials. This rule identifies shells, scripting interpreters, and common LOLBins spawned by these AI agents.

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Detects when GenAI tools connect to domains using suspicious TLDs commonly abused for malware C2 infrastructure. TLDs like .top, .xyz, .ml, .cf, .onion are frequently used in phishing and malware campaigns. Legitimate GenAI services use well-established domains (.com, .ai, .io), so connections to suspicious TLDs may indicate compromised tools, malicious plugins, or AI-generated code connecting to attacker infrastructure.

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Detects GenAI tools connecting to unusual domains on macOS. Adversaries may compromise GenAI tools through prompt injection, malicious MCP servers, or poisoned plugins to establish C2 channels or exfiltrate sensitive data to attacker-controlled infrastructure. AI agents with network access can be manipulated to beacon to external servers, download malicious payloads, or transmit harvested credentials and documents.

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Detects non-allowlisted curl activity on Linux, macOS, and Windows hosts and uses an LLM to assess whether the activity is malicious, benign, or requires investigation. The rule parses and normalizes the destination, redacts sensitive command-line values, and aggregates activity by host and destination before invoking the ES|QL COMPLETION command. Only true positive or suspicious verdicts with confidence above 0.7 generate alerts.

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Detects non-allowlisted curl activity on Linux hosts via Auditd Manager or Auditbeat and uses an LLM to assess whether the activity is malicious, benign, or requires investigation. The rule parses and normalizes the destination, redacts sensitive command-line values, and aggregates activity by host and destination before invoking the ES|QL COMPLETION command. Only true positive or suspicious verdicts with confidence above 0.7 generate alerts.

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Detects non-allowlisted wget activity on Linux, macOS, and Windows hosts and uses an LLM to assess whether the activity is malicious, benign, or requires investigation. The rule parses and normalizes the destination, redacts sensitive command-line values, and aggregates activity by host and destination before invoking the ES|QL COMPLETION command. Only true positive or suspicious verdicts with confidence above 0.7 generate alerts.

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Detects non-allowlisted wget activity on Linux hosts via Auditd Manager or Auditbeat and uses an LLM to assess whether the activity is malicious, benign, or requires investigation. The rule parses and normalizes the destination, redacts sensitive command-line values, and aggregates activity by host and destination before invoking the ES|QL COMPLETION command. Only true positive or suspicious verdicts with confidence above 0.7 generate alerts.

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Detects curl or wget from the ESXi shell. These tools download a file or contact a remote URL from the hypervisor. A successful transfer can place a package or script on the host, often under /tmp, where a later command can execute it against the datastore.

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Identifies execution of software whose reported code-signature subject matches a known remote monitoring and management (RMM) publisher with a download origin on a commonly abused web service. Adversaries use these services to deliver remote-access software during social engineering and intrusion campaigns.

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Identifies an Internet-delivered remote monitoring and management (RMM) executable whose filename disguises it as a document, invitation, or another company's application. Attackers may use that lure, often through social engineering, to gain remote access to the endpoint.

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Identifies the Amazon SSM Agent invoked with "-register" and a hybrid activation argument on a Linux host. Hybrid activation is how non-EC2 hosts are onboarded as managed nodes, but adversaries with local access can repurpose the pre-installed, root-privileged SSM Agent as a covert remote access trojan by registering it to an attacker-controlled AWS account, gaining a persistent command channel that blends in with legitimate management traffic. On an EC2 instance that already runs the agent under an instance profile, a hybrid registration is highly unusual. The query cannot tell which account received the registration; the investigation guide explains how to confirm it.

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Identifies AWS IoT Secure Tunneling localproxy started in destination mode that then resolves and connects to the Secure Tunneling data plane, data.tunneling.iot..amazonaws.com, on TCP/443. Destination mode opens no listener; once the operator joins the tunnel the proxy forwards streams to a local service such as SSH on 127.0.0.1:22. Public red-team research shows this signed, documented binary used as post-exploitation C2 that resembles legitimate IoT device management. OpenTunnel and access tokens live in the operator's AWS account, not the victim's.

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Identifies DNS query patterns associated with tunneling, including rare NULL queries, repeated TXT queries with unusually long names, and clients generating many unique, long subdomains under one registered domain within a five-minute window.

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This rule leverages the "new_terms" rule type to detect unusual file creations originating from web server processes on Linux systems. Attackers may exploit web servers to maintain persistence on a compromised system, often resulting in atypical file creations. As file creations from web server processes are common, the "new_terms" rule type approach helps to identify deviations from normal behavior.

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Identifies the first MQTT relationship from an internal source to an external broker that was not observed during the previous 14 days. MQTT is commonly used by IoT and messaging applications, but malware including BambooToken, IOCONTROL, MQsTTang, and WailingCrab has used publish/subscribe traffic for command and control.

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Detects curl downloading over HTTP(S) with a short argument list, writing output to a file or launched via a shell, when the process ancestry includes a Node.js npm package execution (npx-cli.js or an npx cache path). Malicious npm packages and supply-chain compromises commonly fetch a second stage from install or postinstall scripts.

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Detects PowerShell launched with an encoded command or a download cradle whose process ancestry includes a Node.js npm package execution (npx-cli.js with a scoped or versioned package). Malicious npm packages and supply-chain compromises commonly run this from install or postinstall scripts to fetch and execute a second stage.

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Detects when a package service such as npm, gems, or a script interpreter makes an outbound network connection to an OAST (Out-of-band Application Security Testing) domain. Threat actors have been using OAST domains to exfiltrate sensitive data from compromised systems via malicious packages.

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Flags exec into a pod when the URL-decoded command payload resembles reverse-shell or bind-shell one-liners invocation patterns. Legitimate debug sessions sometimes use similar building blocks, but together these patterns align with post-exploitation interactive access and command-and-control.

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Detects pod or attach exec API calls where the decoded request query implies curl or wget fetching an https URL. Attackers with permission to exec into workloads often run one-liners to stage tooling, pull scripts or binaries, or exfiltrate data over HTTPS—activity that should be rare compared to shells, debuggers, or expected health checks. The rule decodes the audit requestURI, reconstructs a readable command string from repeated command parameters, and applies noise filters for common cluster health and OIDC/JWKS endpoints so benign automation is less likely to alert.

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This rule identifies outbound IPSEC NAT Traversal (NAT-T) traffic to an external destination IP that was not observed during the previous 5 days. IPSEC is a VPN technology that allows one system to talk to another using encrypted tunnels. NAT Traversal encapsulates IPSEC ESP traffic in UDP and, once a NAT device is detected, both peers float to UDP port 4500 for the tunnel data channel. Newly observed external NAT-T peers may indicate unauthorized VPN use or an adversary tunneling command and control or exfiltration traffic over the Internet.

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This rule detects network events that may indicate the use of Telnet traffic. Telnet is commonly used by system administrators to remotely control older or embedded systems using the command line shell. It should almost never be directly exposed to the Internet, as it is frequently targeted and exploited by threat actors as an initial access or backdoor vector. As a plain-text protocol, it may also expose usernames and passwords to anyone capable of observing the traffic.

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Detects execution via the Apple script interpreter (osascript) followed by a network connection from the same process within a short time period. Adversaries may use malicious scripts for execution and command and control.

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Detects the execution of the VScode portable binary with the tunnel command line option indicating an attempt to establish a remote tunnel session to Github or a remote VScode instance.

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Detects the use of the AWS CLI with the "--endpoint-url" argument, which allows users to specify a custom endpoint URL for AWS services. This can be leveraged by adversaries to redirect API requests to non-standard or malicious endpoints, potentially bypassing typical security controls and logging mechanisms. This behavior may indicate an attempt to interact with unauthorized or compromised infrastructure, exfiltrate data, or perform other malicious activities under the guise of legitimate AWS operations.

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Identifies the execution of Living Off the Land Binaries (LOLBins) or GTFOBins on EC2 instances via AWS Systems Manager (SSM) SendCommand API. This detection correlates AWS CloudTrail SendCommand events with endpoint process execution by matching SSM command IDs. While AWS redacts command parameters in CloudTrail logs, this correlation technique reveals the actual commands executed on EC2 instances. Adversaries may abuse SSM to execute malicious commands remotely without requiring SSH or RDP access, using legitimate system utilities for data exfiltration, establishing reverse shells, or lateral movement.

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Detects successful AKS pod exec sessions whose command resembles reverse-shell or bind-shell one-liner patterns, including /dev/tcp, /dev/udp and gawk /inet redirection, interactive invocation of any common shell, the netcat and ncat exec/listener forms, socat command-execution and listener addresses, mkfifo and mknod pipelines, socket idioms across Python, Perl, PHP, Ruby, Lua and Node, and tooling such as gsocket, openssl s_server and xterm. Legitimate debug sessions sometimes use similar building blocks, but together these patterns align with post-exploitation interactive access and command-and-control.

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Identifies unusual processes connecting to domains using known free SSL certificates. Adversaries may employ a known encryption algorithm to conceal command and control traffic.

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Adversaries may implement command and control (C2) communications that use common web services to hide their activity. This attack technique is typically targeted at an organization and uses web services common to the victim network, which allows the adversary to blend into legitimate traffic activity. These popular services are typically targeted since they have most likely been used before compromise, which helps malicious traffic blend in.

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This rule detects the execution of curl or wget binaries through a GTFOBin (living-off-the-land) technique in Linux environments. Attackers may exploit these utilities to download and execute malicious files from the internet while attempting to evade detection. The rule specifically targets binaries that are capable of executing shell commands directly from the proxied binary, rather than just spawning a shell.

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Detects execution of curl or wget from processes whose title aligns with runc init, a common fingerprint for workloads running inside OCI/runc-backed containers on Linux hosts instrumented with Auditd Manager. After breaking out of an application container or abusing a privileged workload, attackers often pull ingress tooling (stagers, scripts, implants) or stage exfiltration with minimal HTTP clients. Those utilities are also used benignly in images, so context matters; the runc init anchor narrows the signal to the container runtime boundary where unexpected download clients are more worthy of review than the same binaries on a bare-metal admin shell.

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This rule detects when Node.js, directly or via a shell, spawns the curl or wget command. This may indicate command and control behavior. Adversaries may use Node.js to download additional tools or payloads onto the system.

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This rule detects the use of the "curl" command-line tool with SOCKS proxy options, launched from an unusual parent process. Attackers may use "curl" to establish a SOCKS proxy connection to bypass network restrictions and exfiltrate data or communicate with C2 servers.

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This rule detects the use of the "curl" command-line tool with SOCKS proxy options. Attackers may use "curl" to establish a SOCKS proxy connection to bypass network restrictions and exfiltrate data or communicate with C2 servers.

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This rule detects the use of the default Cobalt Strike Team Server TLS certificate. Cobalt Strike is software for Adversary Simulations and Red Team Operations which are security assessments that replicate the tactics and techniques of an advanced adversary in a network. Modifications to the Packetbeat configuration can be made to include MD5 and SHA256 hashing algorithms (the default is SHA1). See the References section for additional information on module configuration.

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Identifies successful outbound TLS sessions that negotiate deprecated protocol versions (SSLv3, TLS 1.0, or TLS 1.1) or weak cipher suites such as RC4, 3DES, NULL, EXPORT, or anonymous Diffie-Hellman. Adversaries-in-the-middle and legacy malware often force these negotiations to decrypt or intercept traffic. Modern clients and services should negotiate TLS 1.2 or 1.3 with strong ciphers on internet-bound connections.

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A machine learning job detected unusually large numbers of DNS queries for a single top-level DNS domain, which is often used for DNS tunneling. DNS tunneling can be used for command-and-control, persistence, or data exfiltration activity. For example, dnscat tends to generate many DNS questions for a top-level domain as it uses the DNS protocol to tunnel data.

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Detects executable file downloads via wget to suspicious locations such as /tmp or /Users/Shared. Threat actors commonly use wget to download malicious payloads and additional tools for post-exploitation.

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This rule detects when a process creates a file inside of a running container, followed by its execution. This could indicate a potential container breakout attempt, an attacker's attempt to gain unauthorized access to the underlying host, or to evade detection by security controls.

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This rule detects the download of files from inside a container. The files are downloaded using the "curl" or "wget" command-line tools. Adversaries may use these tools to download files from the internet to gain access to sensitive data or communicate with C2 servers.

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This rule detects when a file is downloaded by curl or wget, and piped to an interpreter. Attackers may use this technique to download and execute payloads for various malicious purposes, such as establishing persistence or exfiltrating data.

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Detects DNS queries to commonly abused remote monitoring and management (RMM) or remote access software domains from processes that are not browsers. Intended to surface RMM clients, scripts, or other non-browser activity contacting these services.

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Adversaries may install legitimate remote monitoring and management (RMM) tools or remote access software on compromised endpoints for command-and-control (C2), persistence, and execution of native commands. This rule detects when a process is started whose name or code signature matches commonly abused RMM or remote access tools. New Terms type: the host.id and process.name pair has not been seen before within the configured 7-day history window.

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Identifies a newly observed RMM-related code-signature subject across the Windows Elastic Defend hosts. Attackers often use RMM tools to gain remote access to victim machines and deploy malware.

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This detection correlates FortiGate's application control SOCKS events with Elastic Defend network event to identify the source process performing SOCKS traffic. Adversaries may use a connection proxy to direct network traffic between systems or act as an intermediary for network communications to a command and control server to avoid direct connections to their infrastructure.

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This rule detects the use of git to clone a repository or download files from GitHub using wget or curl, followed by the creation of files in suspicious directories such as /tmp, /var/tmp, or /dev/shm. This behavior may indicate an attempt to download a payload, exploit or tool.

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Detects successful GKE pod exec sessions whose command resembles reverse-shell or bind-shell one-liner patterns, including /dev/tcp and /dev/udp redirection, netcat/ncat exec-style flags, socat shell handoff, mkfifo pipelines, and common language socket idioms. Legitimate debug sessions sometimes use similar building blocks, but together these patterns align with post-exploitation interactive access and command-and-control. Common localhost /dev/tcp health-check ports are excluded. GKE records the command in gcp.audit.labels.command.gke.io/command when an explicit command is passed to exec.

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Detects successful GKE pod exec sessions where the executed command implies curl or wget fetching an HTTPS URL. Attackers with pods/exec often run one-liners to stage tooling, pull scripts or binaries, or exfiltrate data over HTTPS—activity that should be rare compared to shells, debuggers, or expected health checks. Common cluster health, localhost, and OIDC/JWKS endpoint patterns are excluded to reduce benign automation noise. GKE records the command in gcp.audit.labels.command.gke.io/command when an explicit command is passed to exec.

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Detects a two-stage Google Calendar C2 pattern where a scripting runtime (Node.js, Python, osascript) first connects to calendar.app.google to retrieve a hidden C2 address, then initiates a secondary connection to the decoded C2 host. This sequence is characteristic of packages using Unicode steganography in Google Calendar events to stage dynamic command-and-control endpoints.

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This rule detects a high number of egress network connections from an unusual executable on a Linux system. This could indicate a command and control (C2) communication attempt, a brute force attack via a malware infection, or other malicious activity. ESQL rules have limited fields available in its alert documents. Make sure to review the original documents to aid in the investigation of this alert.

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Identifies downloads of executable and archive files via the Windows Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS). Adversaries could leverage Windows BITS transfer jobs to download remote payloads.

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This rule monitors for the execution of commands that enable IPv4 and IPv6 forwarding on Linux systems. Enabling IP forwarding can be used to route network traffic between different network interfaces, potentially allowing attackers to pivot between networks, exfiltrate data, or establish command and control channels.

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Identifies a recently dropped or modified javaw.exe process started from a user-writable path to run a JAR or Java classpath application, followed by a DNS lookup. Adversaries may drop Java payloads into user directories and execute them immediately to establish command and control while evading application control focused on native Windows binaries.

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This rule detects potential kubectl network configuration modification activity by monitoring for process events where the kubectl command is executed with arguments that suggest an attempt to modify network configurations in Kubernetes. This could indicate an adversary trying to manipulate network settings for malicious purposes, such as establishing unauthorized access or exfiltrating data.

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This rule monitors for X11 forwarding via SSH. X11 forwarding is a feature that allows users to run graphical applications on a remote server and display the application's graphical user interface on their local machine. Attackers can abuse X11 forwarding for tunneling their GUI-based tools, pivot through compromised systems, and create covert communication channels, enabling lateral movement and facilitating remote control of systems within a network.

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This rule detects when a process executes the curl or wget command with an argument that includes the api.telegram.org domain. This may indicate command and control behavior.

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A supervised machine learning model has identified a DNS question name that is predicted to be the result of a Domain Generation Algorithm (DGA), which could indicate command and control network activity.

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A supervised machine learning model has identified a DNS question name with a high probability of sourcing from a Domain Generation Algorithm (DGA), which could indicate command and control network activity.

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A supervised machine learning model has identified a DNS question name that used by the SUNBURST malware and is predicted to be the result of a Domain Generation Algorithm.

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Identifies a Windows host where two or more distinct remote monitoring and management (RMM) or remote-access tool vendors are observed starting processes within the same eight-minute window. Legitimate MSP environments may run multiple tools, but this pattern can also indicate compromise, shadow IT, or attacker staging of redundant access. Processes are mapped to a single vendor label so multiple binaries from the same vendor do not inflate the count.

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Identifies execution of the NetSupport remote access software from non-default paths. Adversaries may abuse NetSupport Manager to control a victim machine.

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This rule monitors for the execution of the cat command, followed by a connection attempt by the same process. Cat is capable of transfering data via tcp/udp channels by redirecting its read output to a /dev/tcp or /dev/udp channel. This activity is highly suspicious, and should be investigated. Attackers may leverage this capability to transfer tools or files to another host in the network or exfiltrate data while attempting to evade detection in the process.

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This rule monitors for network connections from a kworker process. kworker, or kernel worker, processes are part of the kernel's workqueue mechanism. They are responsible for executing work that has been scheduled to be done in kernel space, which might include tasks like handling interrupts, background activities, and other kernel-related tasks. Attackers may attempt to evade detection by masquerading as a kernel worker process.

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Identifies DNS queries to commonly abused Top Level Domains by common LOLBINs or executables running from world writable directories or unsigned binaries. This behavior matches on common malware C2 abusing less formal domain names.

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This detection rule addresses multiple vulnerabilities in the CUPS printing system, including CVE-2024-47176, CVE-2024-47076, CVE-2024-47175, and CVE-2024-47177. Specifically, this rule detects network connections initiated by a child processes of foomatic-rip. These flaws impact components like cups-browsed, libcupsfilters, libppd, and foomatic-rip, allowing remote unauthenticated attackers to manipulate IPP URLs or inject malicious data through crafted UDP packets or network spoofing. This can result in arbitrary command execution when a print job is initiated.

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Detects network connections originating from a binary located in a potentially suspicious location, followed by a file creation event. This behavior is consistent with C2 agents such as Poseidon and Athena, connecting to a C2 framework such as Mythic. The agent polls the C2 for commands through a web request, after which the command gets executed.

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Detects when the ScreenConnect client (ConnectWise Control) connects to a newly observed host server that is not the official ScreenConnect cloud. ScreenConnect is a common RMM/remote access tool abused for C2 and persistence. Self-hosted or non-standard relay servers may indicate abuse or compromise. The rule aggregates by server host (parsed from the client command line), requires first-time observation within the rule window, and limits to a single host to reduce noise.

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Identifies modifications in registry keys associated with abuse of the Outlook Home Page functionality for command and control or persistence.

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This detection correlates Palo Alto Networks (PANW) command and control events with Elastic Defend network events to identify the source process performing the network activity.

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This rule detects when a payload is downloaded by an interpreter, and piped to an interpreter. Attackers may use this technique to download and execute payloads for various malicious purposes, such as establishing persistence or exfiltrating data.

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This rule detects when a payload is downloaded and piped to a shell inside a running container. This could indicate a threat actor downloaded a payload and executed it using a shell without the payload being stored on the filesystem.

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Detects when Perl makes an outbound network connection to a non-private IP address. Perl is a scripting language that comes pre-installed on macOS and offers extensive capabilities for adversaries. Its use for network connections on macOS systems is uncommon and potentially suspicious.

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Identifies instances of Internet Explorer (iexplore.exe) being started via the Component Object Model (COM) making unusual network connections. Adversaries could abuse Internet Explorer via COM to avoid suspicious processes making network connections and bypass host-based firewall restrictions.

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A population analysis machine learning job detected potential DGA (domain generation algorithm) activity. Such activity is often used by malware command and control (C2) channels. This machine learning job looks for a source IP address making DNS requests that have an aggregate high probability of being DGA activity.

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This rule identifies a large number (15) of nslookup.exe executions with an explicit query type from the same host. This may indicate command and control activity utilizing the DNS protocol.

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Detects when a scripting interpreter makes an outbound network connection to an Ethereum blockchain endpoint for command and control purposes. Adversaries may leverage Ethereum blockchain infrastructure as a covert C2 channel to receive commands and exfiltrate data, as observed in campaigns like SleepyDuck malware.

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Detects when curl or nscurl is spawned by a shell or osascript to make a JSON-RPC request to a blockchain endpoint for command and control purposes. Adversaries may leverage blockchain smart contracts as a covert C2 channel to retrieve commands or payload staging information, as observed in ClickFix campaigns.

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Identifies headless browser execution from a suspicious parent process with arguments consistent with scripted retrieval. Adversaries use browsers because they are trusted, signed binaries that proxy and application-control policies allow through, bypassing restrictions on direct download tools.

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Identifies Certreq making an HTTP Post request. Adversaries could abuse Certreq to download files or upload data to a remote URL.

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Identifies Curl for Windows making an HTTP request. Adversaries could abuse Curl to download files or upload data to a remote URL.

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Identifies ICMP Echo traffic from an internal host to an external destination with a larger-than-typical transaction size. Covert channels and ICMP tunneling tools embed data in echo payloads that exceed normal OS ping behavior, which is usually limited to small fixed-size packets.

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This rule monitors for a set of Linux utilities that can be used for tunneling and port forwarding. Attackers can leverage tunneling and port forwarding techniques to bypass network defenses, establish hidden communication channels, and gain unauthorized access to internal resources, facilitating data exfiltration, lateral movement, and remote control.

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This rule monitors for potential tunneling and/or port forwarding activity on Linux systems via command line utilities. Attackers may use various tools to create covert communication channels, allowing them to bypass network security measures and maintain persistent access to compromised systems. By leveraging these utilities, attackers can tunnel traffic through legitimate protocols, making detection more challenging.

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This rule detects the use of SSH options that may indicate tunneling or port forwarding on Linux systems. This behavior is commonly associated with malicious activity, such as establishing a port forward, proxy or an encrypted tunnel to exfiltrate data.

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This detection identifies a Linux host that has potentially been infected with malware and is being used to conduct brute-force attacks against external systems over SSH (port 22 and common alternative SSH ports). The detection looks for a high volume of outbound connection attempts to non-private IP addresses from a single process. A compromised host may be part of a botnet or controlled by an attacker, attempting to gain unauthorized access to remote systems. This behavior is commonly observed in SSH brute-force campaigns where malware hijacks vulnerable machines to expand its attack surface. ESQL rules have limited fields available in its alert documents. Make sure to review the original documents to aid in the investigation of this alert.

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This rule monitors for common command line flags leveraged by the Chisel client utility followed by a connection attempt. Chisel is a command-line utility used for creating and managing TCP and UDP tunnels, enabling port forwarding and secure communication between machines. Attackers can abuse the Chisel utility to establish covert communication channels, bypass network restrictions, and carry out malicious activities by creating tunnels that allow unauthorized access to internal systems.

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Identifies the use of Cloudflare Tunnel (cloudflared) to expose a local service or create an outbound tunnel. Adversaries may abuse quick tunnels (e.g. tunnel --url http://127.0.0.1:80) or named tunnels to proxy C2 traffic or exfiltrate data through Cloudflare's edge while evading direct connection blocking.

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Identifies the execution of the EarthWorm tunneler. Adversaries may tunnel network communications to and from a victim system within a separate protocol to avoid detection and network filtering, or to enable access to otherwise unreachable systems.

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Identifies execution of Yuze, a lightweight open-source tunneling tool used for intranet penetration. Yuze supports forward and reverse SOCKS5 proxy tunneling and is typically executed via rundll32 loading yuze.dll with the RunYuze export. Threat actors may use it to proxy C2 or pivot traffic.

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Identifies known file and registry traces of the REMCOS Remote Access Trojan, including log files, persistence values, and cleanup artifacts. Adversaries use Remcos to maintain persistent remote access to compromised hosts.

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Identifies potential use of an SSH utility to establish RDP over an SSH Tunnel. This can be used by attackers to enable routing of network packets that would otherwise not reach their intended destination.

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Identifies completed outbound TLS connections to external destinations where the server presents a recently issued, likely self-signed certificate whose issuer and subject distinguished names are equal. C2 frameworks frequently use freshly generated self-signed certificates instead of publicly trusted CAs. This behavioral logic complements hash-based C2 certificate rules, such as default Cobalt Strike team-server certificates, by catching rotated or custom infrastructure that does not reuse default tooling certificates. Distinguished-name equality identifies self-issued certificates but does not cryptographically prove that the certificate signed itself. The rule does not cover private-CA signed certificates, where issuer and subject differ, or C2 that uses publicly trusted certificates such as Let's Encrypt.

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Identifies the use of Windows OpenSSH or Plink to create a reverse SSH port forward or reverse dynamic SOCKS proxy. Adversaries may abuse reverse forwarding to expose an internal service or proxy listener through an external SSH server, establishing an outbound tunnel that bypasses direct inbound connectivity controls.

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Identifies the use of the QEMU hardware emulator to potentially tunnel network traffic between Virtual machines. This can be used by attackers to enable routing of network packets that would otherwise not reach their intended destination.

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Identifies the use of Tailscaled to potentially tunnel network traffic. This can be used by attackers to enable routing of network packets that would otherwise not reach their intended destination, or to bypass network restrictions and/or hide traffic from network monitoring.

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This rule monitors for the execution of the ProxyChains utility. ProxyChains is a command-line tool that enables the routing of network connections through intermediary proxies, enhancing anonymity and enabling access to restricted resources. Attackers can exploit the ProxyChains utility to hide their true source IP address, evade detection, and perform malicious activities through a chain of proxy servers, potentially masking their identity and intentions.

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Identifies when Microsoft Quick Assist sharing mode is set to FullControl on a Windows host. This grants the remote helper full interactive control of the target device and may indicate IT help desk fraud, unauthorized remote access, or lateral movement preparation.

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This rule detects network events that may indicate the use of RDP traffic from the Internet. RDP is commonly used by system administrators to remotely control a system for maintenance or to use shared resources. It should almost never be directly exposed to the Internet, as it is frequently targeted and exploited by threat actors as an initial access or backdoor vector.

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Identifies attempts to open a remote desktop file from suspicious paths. Adversaries may abuse RDP files for initial access.

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Identifies an executable or script file remotely downloaded via a TeamViewer transfer session.

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Identifies the desktopimgdownldr utility being used to download a remote file. An adversary may use desktopimgdownldr to download arbitrary files as an alternative to certutil.

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Identifies the Windows Defender configuration utility (MpCmdRun.exe) being used to download a remote file.

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Identifies PowerShell being used to download an executable file from an untrusted remote destination.

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Detects an MSI installer execution followed by the execution of commonly abused Remote Management Software like ScreenConnect. This behavior may indicate abuse where an attacker triggers an MSI install then connects via a guest link with a known session key.

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Identifies Windows Installer (MSI) packages that originate from commonly abused web services and install a recognized remote monitoring and management (RMM) product. Adversaries may abuse legitimate RMM software in social engineering campaigns to gain remote access and control over victim systems. This rule does not establish that the origin, installer, or RMM product is inherently malicious. Origins outside this set are covered by the companion rule "RMM Software Installation from an Internet-Originated MSI".

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Identifies a Windows Installer package (MSI) originating from the internet, which when executed, installs a recognized RMM product. Attackers use RMMs commonly in social engineering campaigns to gain access and control over the victim's system. This rule does not establish that the origin, installer, or RMM product is inherently malicious. It also excludes installations covered by the companion rule "RMM Software Installation from a Commonly Abused Web Service".

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Identifies instances where GDB (granted the CAP_SYS_PTRACE capability) is executed, after which an outbound network connection is initiated by UID/GID 0 (root). In Linux, the CAP_SYS_PTRACE capability grants a process the ability to use the ptrace system call, which is typically used for debugging and allows the process to trace and control other processes. Attackers may leverage this capability to hook and inject into a process that is running with root permissions in order to execute shell code and gain a reverse shell with root privileges.

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Detects the execution of a script interpreter followed by an outbound network connection to a raw IP address on a non-standard port. Many initial access scripts and malware implants connect directly to C2 or payload servers using non-standard ports to avoid detection.

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This rule detects shell executions via Elastic Endpoint. Elastic Endpoint has a built-in response action console that can be used to execute shell commands on compromised systems.

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This rule detects connections accepted by a simple HTTP web server in Python and PHP built-in modules. Adversaries may create simple HTTP web servers to establish persistence on a compromised system by uploading a reverse or command shell payload to the server web root, allowing them to regain remote access to the system if lost. This event may occur when an attacker requests the server to execute a command or script via a potential backdoor.

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This rule detects the creation of a simple HTTP web server using PHP or Python built-in modules. Adversaries may create simple HTTP web servers to establish persistence on a compromised system by uploading a reverse or command shell payload to the server web root, allowing them to regain remote access to the system if lost.

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This rule detects events that may indicate use of SMTP on TCP port 26 from an internal host to an external destination. This port is commonly used by several popular mail transfer agents to deconflict with the default SMTP port 25. This port has also been used by a malware family called BadPatch for command and control of Windows systems. The rule is scoped to outbound traffic (internal source to external destination) to focus on the command and control and exfiltration use cases, rather than benign internal mail relays or unrelated transit traffic observed by the sensor.

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A statistical model has identified command-and-control (C2) beaconing activity. Beaconing can help attackers maintain stealthy communication with their C2 servers, receive instructions and payloads, exfiltrate data and maintain persistence in a network.

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A statistical model has identified command-and-control (C2) beaconing activity with high confidence. Beaconing can help attackers maintain stealthy communication with their C2 servers, receive instructions and payloads, exfiltrate data and maintain persistence in a network.

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This detection correlates Suricata alerts with Elastic Defend network events to identify the source process performing the network activity.

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Detects suspicious network events executed by the APT package manager, potentially indicating persistence through an APT backdoor. In Linux, APT (Advanced Package Tool) is a command-line utility used for handling packages on Debian-based systems, providing functions for installing, updating, upgrading, and removing software along with managing package repositories. Attackers can backdoor APT to gain persistence by injecting malicious code into scripts that APT runs, thereby ensuring continued unauthorized access or control each time APT is used for package management.

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Detects when a script interpreter (osascript, Node.js, Python) with minimal arguments makes an outbound connection to AWS S3 or CloudFront domains. Threat actors have used S3 buckets for both command and control and data exfiltration. Script interpreters connecting to cloud storage should be investigated for potential malicious activity.

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This rule detects the execution of command line arguments capable of spawning shells or establishing network connections through Busybox. This technique can be used to execute commands while attempting to evade detection.

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Detects the use of curl by a macOS application binary to connect to a raw IP URI and download a second stage payload. Threat actors often utilize a benign looking or legitimate application as a first stage dropper. Curl is commonly used as it doesn't enforce Gatekeeper checks.

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Detects the use of curl to a Google Script endpoint for the purpose of downloading a second stage payload or tool. Threat actors utilize exposed Google Script endpoints to host payloads as Google URLs are generally whitelisted and bypass security controls.

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Identifies suspicious file download activity from a Google Drive URL. This could indicate an attempt to deliver phishing payloads via a trusted webservice.

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Detects the execution of a MacOS installer package with an abnormal child process (e.g bash) followed immediately by a network connection via a suspicious process (e.g curl). Threat actors will build and distribute malicious MacOS installer packages, which have a .pkg extension, many times imitating valid software in order to persuade and infect their victims often using the package files (e.g pre/post install scripts etc.) to download additional tools or malicious software. If this rule fires it should indicate the installation of a malicious or suspicious package.

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This rule detects when a process executes a suspicious interpreter command inside a container. These commands are commonly used by attackers to execute malicious code or exfiltrate data.

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This rule detects the creation of unusually labeled named pipes (FIFOs) by the mkfifo command, which is often used by attackers to establish persistence on a target system or to execute commands in the background. Through the new_terms rule type, this rule can identify uncommon process command lines that may indicate the presence of a malicious named pipe.

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This rule monitors for network connectivity to the internet from a previously unknown executable located in a suspicious directory. An alert from this rule can indicate the presence of potentially malicious activity, such as the execution of unauthorized or suspicious processes attempting to establish connections to unknown or suspicious destinations such as a command and control server. Detecting and investigating such behavior can help identify and mitigate potential security threats, protecting the system and its data from potential compromise.

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Detects suspicious network events executed by systemd, potentially indicating persistence through a systemd backdoor. Systemd is a system and service manager for Linux operating systems, used to initialize and manage system processes. Attackers can backdoor systemd for persistence by creating or modifying systemd unit files to execute malicious scripts or commands, or by replacing legitimate systemd binaries with compromised ones, ensuring that their malicious code is automatically executed at system startup or during certain system events.

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This rule detects commonly abused network utilities running inside a container. Network utilities like nc, nmap, dig, tcpdump, ngrep, telnet, mitmproxy, zmap can be used for malicious purposes such as network reconnaissance, monitoring, or exploitation, and should be monitored closely within a container.

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This rule detects commonly abused network utilities running inside a container. Network utilities like nc, nmap, dig, tcpdump, ngrep, telnet, mitmproxy, zmap can be used for malicious purposes such as network reconnaissance, monitoring, or exploitation, and should be monitored closely within a container.

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Detects the execution of an unsigned or untrusted binary followed by an outbound network connection to a raw IP address on a non-standard port. Many malicious payloads will connect directly to C2 or a payload server using non-standard ports.

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Identifies suspicious processes being spawned by the ScreenConnect client processes. This activity may indicate execution abusing unauthorized access to the ScreenConnect remote access software.

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Detects shell executions (cmd, PowerShell, rundll32) spawned by Velociraptor. Threat actors have been observed installing Velociraptor to execute shell commands on compromised systems, blending in with legitimate system processes.

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This rule monitors for the execution of suspicious linux tools through ProxyChains. ProxyChains is a command-line tool that enables the routing of network connections through intermediary proxies, enhancing anonymity and enabling access to restricted resources. Attackers can exploit the ProxyChains utility to hide their true source IP address, evade detection, and perform malicious activities through a chain of proxy servers, potentially masking their identity and intentions.

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This rule detects when a process creates a file inside of a system binary location, inside of a running container. The system binary locations are /etc, /root, /bin, /usr/bin, /usr/local/bin, and /entrypoint. Adversaries may use these locations to create files that can be used to execute commands on the underlying host, or to evade detection by security controls.

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Identifies DNS queries to known public IP address lookup web services from suspicious Windows processes, which can reveal external IP or internet-connectivity discovery before follow-on activity.

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This rule detects the use of tunneling and/or port forwarding tools inside a container. This could indicate a threat actor is using these tools to communicate with a C2 server, is attempting to exfiltrate data from the container, or is attempting to pivot within the container network.

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This rule detects uncommon DNS requests via Bun or Node.js. Adversaries may leverage these tools via a supply chain attack of a compromised developer's package to execute malicious code and steal/exfiltrate data.

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A machine learning job detected a rare and unusual DNS query that indicate network activity with unusual DNS domains. This can be due to initial access, persistence, command-and-control, or exfiltration activity. For example, when a user clicks on a link in a phishing email or opens a malicious document, a request may be sent to download and run a payload from an uncommon domain. When malware is already running, it may send requests to an uncommon DNS domain the malware uses for command-and-control communication.

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This rule detects unusual DNS queries to commonly abused top level domains. Malware authors may use these domains to host command and control infrastructure, exfiltrate data, or to download payloads for later execution.

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This rule monitors for the unusual occurrence of outbound network connections to suspicious top level domains.

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This rule monitors for the unusual occurrence of outbound network connections to suspicious webservice domains.

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Identifies unusual instances of rundll32.exe making outbound network connections. This may indicate adversarial Command and Control activity.

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A machine learning job detected a rare and unusual URL that indicates unusual web browsing activity. This can be due to initial access, persistence, command-and-control, or exfiltration activity. For example, in a strategic web compromise or watering hole attack, when a trusted website is compromised to target a particular sector or organization, targeted users may receive emails with uncommon URLs for trusted websites. These URLs can be used to download and run a payload. When malware is already running, it may send requests to uncommon URLs on trusted websites the malware uses for command-and-control communication. When rare URLs are observed being requested for a local web server by a remote source, these can be due to web scanning, enumeration or attack traffic, or they can be due to bots and web scrapers which are part of common Internet background traffic.

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A machine learning job detected a rare and unusual user agent indicating web browsing activity by an unusual process other than a web browser. This can be due to persistence, command-and-control, or exfiltration activity. Uncommon user agents coming from remote sources to local destinations are often the result of scanners, bots, and web scrapers, which are part of common Internet background traffic. Much of this is noise, but more targeted attacks on websites using tools like Burp or SQLmap can sometimes be discovered by spotting uncommon user agents. Uncommon user agents in traffic from local sources to remote destinations can be any number of things, including harmless programs like weather monitoring or stock-trading programs. However, uncommon user agents from local sources can also be due to malware or scanning activity.

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This rule detects network events that may indicate the use of VNC traffic from the Internet. VNC is commonly used by system administrators to remotely control a system for maintenance or to use shared resources. It should almost never be directly exposed to the Internet, as it is frequently targeted and exploited by threat actors as an initial access or backdoor vector.

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This rule detects network events that may indicate the use of VNC traffic to the Internet. VNC is commonly used by system administrators to remotely control a system for maintenance or to use shared resources. It should almost never be directly exposed to the Internet, as it is frequently targeted and exploited by threat actors as an initial access or backdoor vector.

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This rule detects the exploitation of a web server through the execution of a suspicious process by common web server user accounts. Attackers may upload a web shell to a web server to maintain access to the system.

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This rule detects potential command injection attempts via web server requests by identifying URLs that contain suspicious patterns commonly associated with command execution payloads. Attackers may exploit vulnerabilities in web applications to inject and execute arbitrary commands on the server, often using interpreters like Python, Perl, Ruby, PHP, or shell commands. By monitoring for these indicators in web traffic, security teams can identify and respond to potential threats early.

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This rule detects potential Remote File Inclusion (RFI) activity on web servers by identifying HTTP GET requests that attempt to access sensitive remote files through directory traversal techniques or known file paths. Attackers may exploit RFI vulnerabilities to read sensitive files, gain system information, or further compromise the server.

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This rule detects potential SQL injection attempts in web server requests by identifying common SQL injection patterns in URLs. Such activity may indicate reconnaissance or exploitation attempts by attackers trying to manipulate backend databases or extract sensitive information.

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The malware known as SUNBURST targets the SolarWind's Orion business software for command and control. This rule detects post-exploitation command and control activity of the SUNBURST backdoor.

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This rule identifies unusual destination port network activity originating from a web server process. The rule is designed to detect potential web shell activity or unauthorized communication from a web server process to external systems.

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