sigmamediumHunting

Outbound Network Connection To Public IP Via Winlogon

Detects a "winlogon.exe" process that initiate network communications with public IP addresses

MITRE ATT&CK

defense-evasionexecutioncommand-and-control

Detection Query

selection:
  Image|endswith: \winlogon.exe
  Initiated: "true"
filter_main_local_ranges:
  DestinationIp|cidr:
    - 127.0.0.0/8
    - 10.0.0.0/8
    - 172.16.0.0/12
    - 192.168.0.0/16
    - 169.254.0.0/16
    - ::1/128
    - fe80::/10
    - fc00::/7
condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*

Author

Christopher Peacock @securepeacock, SCYTHE @scythe_io

Created

2023-04-28

Data Sources

windowsNetwork Connection Events

Platforms

windows

References

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2023/04/11/guidance-for-investigating-attacks-using-cve-2022-21894-the-blacklotus-campaign/

Tags

attack.defense-evasionattack.executionattack.command-and-controlattack.t1218.011

Raw Content

title: Outbound Network Connection To Public IP Via Winlogon
id: 7610a4ea-c06d-495f-a2ac-0a696abcfd3b
status: test
description: Detects a "winlogon.exe" process that initiate network communications with public IP addresses
references:
    - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2023/04/11/guidance-for-investigating-attacks-using-cve-2022-21894-the-blacklotus-campaign/
author: Christopher Peacock @securepeacock, SCYTHE @scythe_io
date: 2023-04-28
modified: 2024-03-12
tags:
    - attack.defense-evasion
    - attack.execution
    - attack.command-and-control
    - attack.t1218.011
logsource:
    category: network_connection
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith: '\winlogon.exe'
        Initiated: 'true'
    filter_main_local_ranges:
        DestinationIp|cidr:
            - '127.0.0.0/8'
            - '10.0.0.0/8'
            - '172.16.0.0/12'
            - '192.168.0.0/16'
            - '169.254.0.0/16'
            - '::1/128'  # IPv6 loopback
            - 'fe80::/10'  # IPv6 link-local addresses
            - 'fc00::/7'  # IPv6 private addresses
    condition: selection and not 1 of filter_main_*
falsepositives:
    - Communication to other corporate systems that use IP addresses from public address spaces
level: medium