External IP Lookup from Non-Browser Process

Identifies domains commonly used by adversaries for post-exploitation IP lookups. It is common for adversaries to test for Internet access and acquire their external IP address after they have gained access to a system. Among others, this has been observed in campaigns leveraging the information stealer, Trickbot.

Rule type: eql

Rule indices:

logs-endpoint.events.*

Severity: low

Risk score: 21

Runs every: 5m

Searches indices from: now-9m (Date Math format, see also Additional look-back time)

Maximum alerts per execution: 100

References:

Tags:

Elastic
Host
Windows
Threat Detection
Discovery

Version: 7

Rule authors:

Elastic

Rule license: Elastic License v2

Rule query

edit

network where network.protocol == "dns" and
    process.name != null and user.id not in ("S-1-5-19", "S-1-5-20") and
    event.action == "lookup_requested" and
    /* Add new external IP lookup services here */
    dns.question.name :
    (
        "*api.ipify.org",
        "*freegeoip.app",
        "*checkip.amazonaws.com",
        "*checkip.dyndns.org",
        "*freegeoip.app",
        "*icanhazip.com",
        "*ifconfig.*",
        "*ipecho.net",
        "*ipgeoapi.com",
        "*ipinfo.io",
        "*ip.anysrc.net",
        "*myexternalip.com",
        "*myipaddress.com",
        "*showipaddress.com",
        "*whatismyipaddress.com",
        "*wtfismyip.com",
        "*ipapi.co",
        "*ip-lookup.net",
        "*ipstack.com"
    ) and
    /* Insert noisy false positives here */
    not process.executable :
    (
      "?:\\Program Files\\*.exe",
      "?:\\Program Files (x86)\\*.exe",
      "?:\\Windows\\System32\\WWAHost.exe",
      "?:\\Windows\\System32\\smartscreen.exe",
      "?:\\Windows\\System32\\MicrosoftEdgeCP.exe",
      "?:\\ProgramData\\Microsoft\\Windows Defender\\Platform\\*\\MsMpEng.exe",
      "?:\\Users\\*\\AppData\\Local\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe",
      "?:\\Users\\*\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Fiddler\\Fiddler.exe",
      "?:\\Users\\*\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Microsoft VS Code\\Code.exe",
      "?:\\Users\\*\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\OneDrive\\OneDrive.exe"
    )

Framework: MITRE ATT&CK^TM

Tactic:
- Name: Discovery
- ID: TA0007
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0007/
Technique:
- Name: System Network Configuration Discovery
- ID: T1016
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1016/

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