sigmacriticalHunting

Suspicious Cobalt Strike DNS Beaconing - Sysmon

Detects a program that invoked suspicious DNS queries known from Cobalt Strike beacons

MITRE ATT&CK

command-and-control

Detection Query

selection1:
  QueryName|startswith:
    - aaa.stage.
    - post.1
selection2:
  QueryName|contains: .stage.123456.
condition: 1 of selection*

Author

Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)

Created

2021-11-09

Data Sources

windowsDNS Query Events

Platforms

windows

References

Tags

attack.command-and-controlattack.t1071.004

Raw Content

title: Suspicious Cobalt Strike DNS Beaconing - Sysmon
id: f356a9c4-effd-4608-bbf8-408afd5cd006
related:
    - id: 0d18728b-f5bf-4381-9dcf-915539fff6c2
      type: similar
status: test
description: Detects a program that invoked suspicious DNS queries known from Cobalt Strike beacons
references:
    - https://www.icebrg.io/blog/footprints-of-fin7-tracking-actor-patterns
    - https://www.sekoia.io/en/hunting-and-detecting-cobalt-strike/
author: Florian Roth (Nextron Systems)
date: 2021-11-09
modified: 2023-01-16
tags:
    - attack.command-and-control
    - attack.t1071.004
logsource:
    product: windows
    category: dns_query
detection:
    selection1:
        QueryName|startswith:
            - 'aaa.stage.'
            - 'post.1'
    selection2:
        QueryName|contains: '.stage.123456.'
    condition: 1 of selection*
falsepositives:
    - Unknown
level: critical